Local engineers are evaluating alternative building materials with the objective of making housing solutions in Jamaica more affordable. Arguing that current real estate prices are above the reach of the majority of persons seeking a home, expanded polystyrene (EPS) and timber are among the materials that are being explored by the Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) which could finally result in a unit that will be priced somewhere in the J$3 million to J$3.5 million range.

Timber is commonly used to build homes in the USA and the use of EPS -- an insulated form of the widely used packaging material, polystyrene -- is being explored agressively in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago. A company in Jamaica is also promoting that it can produce a building for under $4,000 per square-feet through the use of EPS. The normal cost is about $6,000 per square feet, so this could bring tremendous cost savings to developers and by extension persons seeking to buy a home in Jamaica.

Hurricane-concious buyers should be aware that both EPS and timber construction solutions have a concrete component which makes them resistant to hurricane-force winds. Read more here.