Material list and cost for a 1, 2 or 3 room house
Two 4 m by 3 m rooms in double skin stock brick take about 6,400 bricks, 87 bags of cement, 10.4 m3 of building sand, 4.4 m3 of stone and 26 IBR roof sheets. At Cashbuild prices on 26 October 2026 the bricks, cement and sheeting come to about R31,400, against about R17,950 for one room and R44,800 for three. That is the shell only. Sand and stone are priced by your local yard, so enter their rates below to add them.
Last updated 26 October 2026. Prices checked on the Cashbuild online store, East London branch, on 26 October 2026. They vary by store, so replace them with your own quotes.
What a two room house is, in metres
Nobody searching for a two room material list has the same plan in mind, which is why the retailer bundles all quote a different quantity of bricks. This calculator takes the rooms as a single row of equal rooms sharing internal walls, which is the shape of nearly every one to four room house built on a stand in South Africa. Two 4 m by 3 m rooms give 24 m2 of floor inside. With double skin external walls the building is about 8.55 m by 3.44 m over the outside, a footprint of about 29.4 m2, and the slab and the roof are worked from that outside size.
If your plan is an L or a square with a passage, run the two legs separately and add them. The brick count will be a little high because the corner is counted twice, which is the safe side to be wrong on.
How each quantity is worked out
Every rule below is a rule of thumb from the cement makers' own published mix guides, not a structural design. The two that move the most, cement per 1000 bricks and plaster coverage per bag, are inputs so you can put your own figure in.
| Item | Rule used | What changes it |
|---|---|---|
| Bricks | Net wall area times bricks per m2, plus 5% waste. Maxi 35, single skin stock 50, double skin stock 100. Internal walls at 50. | Joint thickness, breakages, cutting at openings. |
| Mortar cement | Bags per 1000 bricks, default 5. | Class of mortar and joint thickness. Class II at 1:6 uses fewer bags than a rich mix. |
| Mortar sand | 0.6 m3 per 1000 bricks. | Same as above, plus how wet the sand is delivered. |
| Plaster | Faces chosen times net wall area, at your coverage per bag. Default 8 m2 per bag at 12 to 15mm. | Thickness. A wall that is out of plumb eats plaster. |
| Concrete | Strip footing under every wall at the width and depth you enter, plus the slab at the thickness you enter. 6 bags, 0.7 m3 sand and 0.7 m3 stone per m3. | Soil class sets the footing. Strength class sets the bags per m3. |
| Roof sheets | Duo-pitch roof, sheets cut to rafter length, two rows across the building length at the cover width of the profile. | Overhangs, which are not included, and side laps on corrugated. |
What the merchant bundles are, and what to check
Cashbuild, Build it, BUCO and the independents all sell one, two and three room material packages. They are useful, and they come priced for a plan the merchant chose. Two things to check before you compare one against this list. First, what plan the bundle is for, because the room sizes are rarely on the shelf label and a 3 m by 3 m room needs about a third fewer bricks than a 4 m by 3.5 m one. Second, what the bundle leaves out. Foundations, plaster sand, stone and roof timber are the usual gaps, and they are not small.
The point of a quantity list is that it prices from any merchant on any day. The defaults above are one merchant on one day, so take the list to three yards and put their prices in.
What this list does not include
- Roof timber, purlins, wire and fixings, and the ceiling.
- DPC, brickforce and lintels over the openings.
- Doors, frames, windows, glass and ironmongery.
- Floor screed, paint, plumbing, electrical and drainage.
- Labour, delivery, plan drawing and municipal approval fees.
- NHBRC enrolment, which is charged per home on its value.
On a small house these are not a rounding error. They can add up to as much again as the shell materials, which is why a bundle price for the walls and roof is not a house price.
Approval, the NHBRC and the wall you are allowed to build
A house of any size needs approved plans from the municipality before you start, under section 4 of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977. Some municipalities exempt very small outbuildings under section 13, but a room someone will live in is not one of them. Building without approval is an offence and the municipality can order demolition.
The deemed-to-satisfy rules that apply to a small masonry house are in SANS 10400: Part H for foundations, Part J for the floor, Part K for the walls and Part L for the roof. Part K is the one that catches the single skin option. A 110mm external wall is limited in length and height between returns and needs piers or a thicker wall past that, so check it before you order 50 bricks per square metre for the outside.
If the house is being built for sale or for a housing consumer, the builder must be NHBRC registered and the home must be enrolled before construction starts, with the application in at least 15 days ahead. See the NHBRC registration guide for the fees and the difference between registration and enrolment.
Price the list and schedule the build in one place
Built Simple turns a material list into a priced estimate, tracks who is on site each day and keeps the plan approval and NHBRC paperwork with the job. Free to start.
Start free with Built SimpleFrequently Asked Questions
How many bricks do I need for a 2 room house? For two 4 m by 3 m rooms with 2.6 m walls in double skin stock brick, about 6,400 including 5% waste. In maxi brick it is about 2,450, and in single skin stock brick about 3,300. Room size, wall height and the number of openings change it, so run your own figures above.
How many bags of cement for a 2 room house? Around 87 bags for the same 2 room example in double skin: 32 for mortar, 17 for plastering both faces and 38 for the footings and floor slab. Leave out the plaster and it drops to about 70.
How much does it cost to build a 2 room house in South Africa? The shell materials for the example above come to about R31,400 at Cashbuild prices on 26 October 2026: about R16,000 for bricks, R10,950 for cement and R4,490 for IBR roof sheeting. That is before sand, stone and roof timber, and before everything in the exclusions list. A finished, approved, enrolled house is a multiple of that figure, and the multiple depends on your area and finishes.
Are the Cashbuild material packages accurate? They are priced for a plan the retailer defines, so they are accurate for that plan and that day. Check the room sizes the bundle assumes and what it leaves out before comparing it to a list you worked out yourself.
Do I need plans for a 2 room house? Yes. Municipal plan approval is required under the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act before any habitable building starts, whatever its size.
Can I build the outside walls in single skin stock brick? Sometimes, within limits. SANS 10400-K caps the length and height of a 110mm wall between returns and requires piers or a thicker wall beyond that. Maxi brick at 140mm or a double skin at 220mm is the safer default for external walls.
Why are sand and stone not priced? Because they are quote-only in South Africa and the price depends on your town and the truck. The calculator gives the cubic metres, and adds the rand line the moment you enter a rate.
Related calculators and guides
- South African building cost calculator
- NHBRC registration explained
- SANS 10400 explained
- All South African calculators
Sources
- National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977, sections 4 and 13.
- SANS 10400 Parts H, J, K and L, SABS store. Cited, not reproduced.
- NHBRC, Home Building Manual and enrolment requirements.
- Published mix guides from South African cement producers for mortar, plaster and concrete, used as the rules of thumb stated in the output.
- Brick Stock Cement, 220 x 100 x 70mm, Cashbuild, R2.50 each in the East London store, including VAT, checked 26 October 2026.
- Cemza Cement 42.5N, 50kg, Cashbuild, R125.85 in the East London store, including VAT, checked 26 October 2026. Cemza 32.5N was R115.75 and AfriSam All Purpose 42.5N R136.10 the same day.
- Dumuzas AZ85 IBR, 0.4mm, 686mm cover, 3.6 m, Cashbuild, R348.95 a sheet in the East London store, including VAT, checked 26 October 2026.
