Utilization of plastered-bamboo for postdisaster residential wall construction: a study on cost efficiency compared to masonry wall

Plastered-bamboo wall construction has long been known and has been built as a post-disaster shelter in several locations in Indonesia and is starting to be introduced to people in big cities as an alternative to brick walls. This study aims to assess the cost efficiency of plastered-bamboo walls compared to brick walls. The object of the study was a residential house measuring 5 m x 6 m located in Makassar city. The analysis of the unit cost of work refers to the SNI and observations during the construction process. The result shows that the cost savings obtained using plastered-bamboo walls is 11%. The ratio between labor and material costs is 65%:35% while the ratio of labor and material costs for brick wall construction is 44%:56%. Cost savings are obtained from the low cost of materials; however, the construction wage cost of plastered-bamboo walls is 20% higher than brick walls. The highest labor costs are in plastering and painting work, which are caused by the longer process of plastering columns and beams which require accuracy and neatness in the process. This research recommends a prefabricated plaster brick wall construction system to overcome the high labor costs.