The average budgeted cost of classrooms being rebuilt with NAFA funds in Nepal is approximately $11,000 per classroom, based on estimates provided by the Nepalese architect who designed them. Factors affecting the cost include: whether the classroom blocks are two storey or one storey; how far the villages are from the end of the road-head (which affects transport costs); the size of the classrooms (three sizes being built in accordance with local school student numbers); and the local cost of materials, labour and transport.
Passing the trays of concrete
Budgets for the classrooms are more than double the budgeted cost for classrooms built before the 2015 earthquakes due to earthquake resistant components that are now required in buildings constructed in Nepal. These features include: deeper foundations and more substantive cement pillars and buttresses; reinforcing iron rebars, concrete (sand, cement and aggregate) in the foundations, floors and walls; and metal plates tying the roof trusses together.
Local volunteer labour has kept the budgets at a low enough level for NAFA to fulfil its rebuild commitments and to reinforce local ownership of the schools.