One advantage of a rammed earth house is that the broken walls can be used as padding for the foundation.
But the roof of the rammed earth house, made of platycodon and wheat straw, needed to be transported away.
Seventy-six strong men were there just for show; such a small construction site didn’t require so many workers. Ge Xiao Tian left twenty-six strong men behind, while the remaining fifty went to the brick kiln and cement factory…
The old house was demolished quickly.
By noon, the house had already been leveled.
The twenty-six strong men were divided into several teams.
According to the blueprint, they dug the foundation, broke the walls, sorted the materials, installed the water pump, and followed the “Four Not-Like” (a type of vehicle) to transport the soil…
To make it easier to enter and exit, the courtyard wall was also torn down.
At noon, the number of villagers who came to watch the commotion didn’t decrease but instead grew more and more. They smoked, drank water, and ate sunflower seeds, all with great interest.
Uncle Four, who had fainted from squatting in the pit for too long, had already woken up. At this moment, he was sitting next to the brick pile with a smile on his face, chatting and joking with a few old men.
Seeing so many construction workers and their neat attire, he had completely let go of his worries.
Perhaps he should really find time to visit the boss’s house and take a look at the old sow. According to his calculations, she should be giving birth soon.
“Uncle Four!”
“Ah! Little Tian, what’s up?”
“You need to order the cement boards and main beams!”
“Is it urgent?”
“It takes at least seven or eight days to install the main beams, let them set and dry. If we wait any longer, we won’t make it in time!”
“Alrighty, I’m on my way!”
“Remember, make sure to tell the cement factory not to mess up the rebar models, cement models, and rebar spacing! Everything must be done strictly according to the blueprint!”
“Got it, don’t worry!”
In the countryside, the popular design is the “big three rooms.” To save time, cement factories usually mass-produce prefabricated cement slabs and main beams with similar specifications.
However, Ge Xiaotian designed a new type of house with different spans for the rooms and the hall, so the floor slabs and main beams needed to be customized.
When making these things, rebar that is too thin is not sturdy, and rebar that is too thick is also not ideal. It must be made according to the load-bearing and compressive levels.
Actually, using poured concrete for the new design is best, but sadly, the construction period is much longer than using prefabricated slabs, the cost is higher, and it involves tying rebar and setting up supports. It’s simply not as simple and convenient as using prefabricated slabs.
By 4:30 PM, half of the foundation had been excavated.
This was different from building a high-rise. All they needed to do was dig out the foundation for the walls, tamp it down, lay some stones, and then set up the scaffold to build the walls.
Although Ge Village had mountains, it was still considered a plain area. There hadn’t been an earthquake in nearly a hundred years, and there wouldn’t be one in the next twenty years either, so the single-story houses here rarely had ground beams and ring beams.
After estimating the progress, Ge Xiaotian called for a tamping machine to arrive first thing in the morning.
After hanging up, he put his phone in his pocket and suddenly realized that all of his pockets were bulging with stuff – wallet, keys, cigarette case, business cards, notebook, pencil, tape measure…
Ge Xiaotian quickly ran into Da Mao’s store to grab a file bag.
Just as he was putting all the odds and ends away, his newly bought phone suddenly rang.
“Hello?”
“Is this Xiaotian?”
“Yes!”
“I’m your Second Great Uncle!”
“Huh?” Comrade Ge Feng was the eldest, so I only had a second uncle, a third uncle, and a fourth uncle. Where did this Second Great Uncle come from?
“Ge Shunfeng!”
Ge Xiaotian suddenly remembered – his distant Second Great Uncle! “Oh, right! Second Great Uncle, weren’t you out of town? What’s up with the call?”
“I heard you set up a construction team? And it’s quite big?”
“Yes, we’ve started work on my fourth uncle’s house!”
“I heard about that. Six rooms for 8,000 yuan, right?”
“Correct!”
“Alright, you go to my house first and take a look, estimate how much materials we’ll need! I’ll rush back tomorrow!”
“Huh?”
“I want to build a house too! Anyway, phone calls are pretty expensive, gotta hang up now!”
“Beep, beep…”
What?! A business opportunity just came knocking?
Ring, ring…
“Hello?”
“Is this Xiao Tian? It’s your Seventh Uncle!”
“Uh?” In the same village, everyone addressed each other based on seniority. Since Xiao Tian rarely returned, he couldn’t quite remember who was who.
“What do you mean ‘uh’? Your Seventh Aunt just called me, saying you can build houses?”
“Yes, that’s right, Seventh Uncle!”
Finally, Xiao Tian remembered who this was – the ‘tycoon’ from the west side of the village!
He wasn’t that old, about the same age as his father, but his seniority was unbelievably high!
He made his fortune collecting scrap outside the village. He was the first in the village to buy a color TV, ride a motorcycle, and the first to build a new brick house.
However, his house seemed to have been built only a few years ago.
“Xiao Tian, can you add a floor to my house?”
“Well… I need to check the foundation first. We might have to add some beams!”
“As long as it’s possible, I’ll be back in a few days!”
“Beep, beep…”
Hanging up the phone, Xiao Tian smacked his lips, still savoring the conversation.
He turned to look at the crowd that had gathered to watch the excitement.
The day went by, and the number of people hadn’t diminished. The hustle and bustle resembled a theatrical performance.
Uncle Ge the fourth had already returned from the cement factory and was now surrounded by a group of middle-aged women asking him various questions.
“Fourth brother, where did you buy the red bricks?”
“From the brick kiln in Zhanglou Village. The second one from the east, 15 cents each! Don’t go to our village’s kiln; theirs cost 16 cents!”
“Do they deliver?”
“If you want delivery, it’s an extra 10 dollars per truck!”
“How about loading and unloading?”
“You do that yourself! If you let the brick kiln handle it, they’ll charge you more, like 20 cents per brick!”
“My husband can’t come back, he just told me to supervise the construction, but I don’t know how to mix the materials!”
“Then you should ask Xiao Tian!”
“Is he reliable?”
“Pfft, you want him to help build the house, who cares if it’s reliable or not?”
“Well, that’s true!”
Ge Xiaotian, who was eavesdropping, saw the middle-aged woman coming over. He quickly clamped the file bag under his armpit, stood up straight and pretended to make a phone call.
Huh?
Why does this scene look so familiar?!
“Xiaotian?”
“Ah! Auntie, what’s up?”
“Well, can you help my family with the materials? Your uncle’s factory won’t give him leave, and he can’t come back!”
“Materials, huh?”
Ge Xiaotian took out his notebook. “Auntie, are we sure we want to build the house?”
“Your uncle said that if it really costs 8,000 yuan for six rooms, we don’t have to worry about anything but the materials. So, let’s build it!”
“Alright, I’ll go to our house first to take a look! However, I also have another way of building – a package deal that includes both labor and materials. For six rooms, it would be around 35,000 yuan!”
His uncle had mentioned before that buying materials for the six rooms alone cost more than 30,000 yuan.
35,000 yuan for a package deal would definitely attract some people.
What? Making even less money?
His uncle bought red bricks for 1.5 yuan each, while Ge Xiaotian could get them for 1 yuan.
As for cement, his uncle bought the 325-grade cement for 23 yuan a bag, while Ge Xiaotian could buy the higher-grade 425 cement for just 18 yuan!
(Grades are different, and so are the strengths. From low to high, they are P.O 32.5, P.O 42.5, and P.O 52.5. 325-grade cement is sufficient for ordinary houses, while large-scale buildings and factories require 425-grade or higher. Portland cement also comes in various types, such as ordinary, slag, fly ash, volcanic ash, etc., and the appropriate cement is selected based on the type of building and environment.)
As for steel bars, white lime, precast cement panels…
We have connections in the factory!
The middle-aged woman felt hesitant because she couldn’t make decisions for the family:
“I… I have to discuss this with your uncle!”
“Alright, you go ahead!”
People always have a competitive mentality, especially in the countryside where saving face is important.
If three or four families start building new houses, and the labor costs are cheap and hassle-free, then this business will be like a floodgate, unstoppable…
In no time at all, two more aunties arrived in a group, eager to inquire…
In a small village where everyone is related, the construction team came running from the countryside in the morning, carrying a banner, and so on…
Beep beep beep…
“Huh? Ah? A shophouse by the village street? Alright, let’s do it tomorrow. I’m too busy today…”
