My Wooden House: Unit Cost of Popular Housing in Acre state, Brazil

Housing deficit is a problem that affects low-income populations in Brazil, with over 6 million families affected nationwide and approximately 631 thousand in the North region of the country. Ordinance no. 318/2014 of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities authorized the construction of popular housing using timber as raw material in that region. The objective of this study was to establish the unit cost of a wooden dwelling, referenced in the project Popular Wooden Housing (PWH) developed by the Laboratory of Forest Products and the University of Brasilia (UNB) for the National Rural Housing Program (NRHP). The Basic Unit Cost (BUC/m(2)) methodology was used, with collection of prices in Rio Branco, capital of the state of Acre, for composition of the Final Unit Cost (FCU/m(2)) of a wood construction. Mean cost of R$ 934.52/m(2) was observed from September 2015 to April 2016. Feasibility of wood construction was demonstrated by a final cost per m(2) 28.06% lower than that of a conventional masonry house.