The short answer
A framed RCC house with 1,500 sq ft on the ground floor and 1,500 sq ft on the first floor (about 3,000 sq ft built-up) needs, in round numbers, 100 MT of 20mm jalli, 26 MT of 40mm, 5 MT of 12mm, 113 MT of M-Sand, 28 MT of P-Sand and about 42 MT of crusher dust for plinth filling. That is roughly 315 MT of aggregate and sand, or 17 to 18 ten-wheeler tipper loads, taken in six or seven stages over the build.
The rest of this page shows where those numbers come from, stage by stage. It is an estimate for planning loads and cash flow; your structural engineer's bill of quantities (BOQ) governs.
What we assumed
Quantities depend on the drawing far more than on the square footage, so here is the house behind the table.
- Area: 1,500 sq ft (139 m²) footprint, ground plus one floor, roughly 3,000 sq ft built-up. If your 1,500 sq ft is the total (say 750 + 750), see the scaling section.
- Structure: RCC framed, 16 columns on a grid of about 4 m, isolated footings at about 1.5 m depth, plinth beams all round.
- Concrete: M20 nominal mix (1 : 1.5 : 3) with 20mm graded jalli (முக்கால் ஜல்லி) for all RCC; 12mm for lintels, sunshades and the staircase; PCC 1 : 4 : 8 with 40mm under footings and as the ground-floor flooring bed.
- Slabs: 125 mm (5 in) roof slabs on both floors; beams 230 × 450 mm; columns 230 × 380 mm.
- Walls: 230 mm external and 115 mm internal brickwork in 1 : 6 cement mortar with M-Sand; 12 mm plaster in 1 : 5 with P-Sand on both faces and all ceilings.
- Filling: plinth filled with earth or gravel, finished with a 150 mm compacted layer of crusher dust (கிரஷர் டஸ்ட்) under the PCC.
- No wastage added. Add 5 to 10% when you order; slab pours in particular need a margin.
The per-cubic-metre rule behind the table
Every line in the table is concrete volume multiplied by a per-cubic-metre quantity. For M20 nominal mix, one cubic metre of finished concrete takes about 0.84 m³ of coarse aggregate and 0.42 m³ of sand (dry-volume factor 1.54) plus about 403 kg, or 8 bags, of cement. In weight:
For scale, a 1,000 sq ft, 5-inch slab is 11.8 m³ of concrete: about 15 to 16 MT of 20mm and 8 MT of M-Sand, or one 10-wheeler of jalli and under half a load of sand. The house below is that arithmetic repeated per stage. See which jalli size goes where for why the footing bed uses 40mm and the lintels 12mm.
Stage-wise estimate
Volumes are concrete or mortar volumes worked from the assumptions above. Units are the Chennai trade unit (யூனிட், 100 cft = 2.832 m³), converted at the mid-point of the loose-density range for each material: 20mm 4.3 MT per unit, 12mm 4.25, 40mm 4.5, M-Sand and crusher dust 4.75, P-Sand 4.6. Loads are 10-wheeler tippers at a typical 18 MT.
| Stage | Work | Approx. volume | Material | MT | Units | 10-wheeler loads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PCC 1 : 4 : 8 under 16 footings (100 mm) and ground-floor flooring bed (75 mm) | 14 m³ | 40mm jalli M-Sand | 20 10.5 | 4.5 2.2 | 1 + part part |
| 2 | Footings, pedestals and plinth beams, M20 | 19 m³ | 20mm jalli M-Sand | 25 13 | 5.8 2.7 | 1.4 0.7 |
| 3 | Plinth filling, top 150 mm compacted layer | 21 m³ compacted | Crusher dust | 40 | 8.5 | 2.2 |
| 4 | Columns, ground and first floor, M20 | 9 m³ | 20mm jalli M-Sand | 12 6 | 2.8 1.3 | 0.7 0.3 |
| 5 | Roof beams and 125 mm slabs, two floors, M20 | 50 m³ | 20mm jalli M-Sand | 65 35 | 15 7.4 | 3.6 2 |
| 6 | Lintels, sunshades, staircase, M20 with 12mm | 4 m³ | 12mm jalli M-Sand | 5 3 | 1.2 0.6 | part part |
| 7 | Brickwork mortar 1 : 6, about 85 m³ of walls | ≈ 26 m³ mortar | M-Sand | 45 | 9.5 | 2.5 |
| 8 | Plaster 12 mm, 1 : 5, about 14,000 sq ft of surface | ≈ 16 m³ mortar | P-Sand | 28 | 6 | 1.5 |
| 9 | Optional: 300 sq ft paver driveway, 100 mm base + 40 mm bedding | 2.8 + 1.1 m³ | 40mm or GSB Crusher dust | 6 2 | 1.3 0.4 | part part |
Three things stand out. The two roof stages take about two-thirds of the jalli. Brickwork mortar quietly consumes more M-Sand than all the slab concrete. And the plinth filling, which most people forget, is two full loads of crusher dust; if you fill with gravel or earth instead, drop that line.
The mortar and plaster lines use the same dry-volume method: wet mortar volume times 1.33, sand as its share of the mix, at about 1.6 t per m³. On that arithmetic one tonne of P-Sand (பி சாண்ட்) covers about 500 sq ft of plastered surface at 12 mm, or roughly 250 sq ft of wall done on both faces, after taking off openings.
Totals in MT, units and tipper loads
| Material | Total MT | Units (100 cft) | 10-wheeler loads | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20mm jalli | 102 | ≈ 24 | 6 | Footings, plinth beams, columns, beams, slabs |
| 12mm jalli | 5 | ≈ 1.2 | part load | Lintels, sunshades, staircase |
| 40mm jalli | 26 | ≈ 6 | 1.5 | PCC beds, driveway base |
| M-Sand | 113 | ≈ 24 | 6.3 | All concrete, PCC and brickwork mortar |
| P-Sand | 28 | ≈ 6 | 1.5 | Wall and ceiling plaster |
| Crusher dust | 42 | ≈ 9 | 2.3 | Plinth filling, paver bedding |
| Total | ≈ 315 | ≈ 70 | 17 to 18 | Excluding 5 to 10% wastage |
Cement for the concrete stages alone is about 700 bags (8 per m³ of RCC, 3.4 per m³ of PCC); mortar and plaster cement are extra. The unit figures are approximate by nature: the same 18 MT is about 4.2 units of jalli or 3.8 units of M-Sand depending on moisture and how loosely it sits in the body, which is why we sell by weighbridge tonne, not by unit.
Scaling it to your house
Nobody builds exactly this house, so treat the table as ratios, not a shopping list.
- Per 1,000 sq ft of built-up area (framed G+1, this specification): about 35 MT of 20mm, 38 MT of M-Sand, 9 MT of P-Sand, 9 MT of 40mm and 14 MT of crusher dust. Multiply by your built-up area in thousands of square feet.
- If 1,500 sq ft is your total (roughly 750 sq ft per floor): take about 55 to 60% of the table, not half. Footings, plinth beams and PCC scale with footprint and column count, and a small house still needs a full set of them.
- Load-bearing walls instead of a frame: jalli drops sharply (only the slab, lintels and a strip footing remain) while M-Sand for mortar rises. Take the concrete volumes from your engineer and apply the per-m³ rule.
- Ready-mix concrete for the slabs: remove stage 5 from the jalli and M-Sand totals; the RMC plant supplies its own aggregate.
- Deeper footings or a filled plot: substructure concrete and filling can double. This is the line that most often catches self-builders, so fix the footing depth before you place the first-stage order.
How to phase the loads
You do not want 17 loads on a 1,500 sq ft plot at once; stacked material blocks the site and jalli left in the open collects mud. A workable sequence:
- Footing stage: one load of 40mm, one to two loads of 20mm, one load of M-Sand. Pour footings and plinth beams.
- Plinth stage: two loads of crusher dust for the fill, then the balance of 40mm for the flooring bed.
- Ground-floor roof: two loads of 20mm and one of M-Sand a day or two before the pour; columns are cast from the same stock.
- First-floor roof: the same again, plus a part load of 12mm for lintels and the stair if you have not taken it already.
- Masonry: two to three loads of M-Sand spread across the two floors as the walls rise.
- Finishing: one to two loads of P-Sand for plaster, and any driveway base last.
A full 10-wheeler needs a firm approach and room to tip; if your street is narrow, tell us and we will schedule 6-wheeler loads (9 to 12 MT) instead, which changes the load count but not the tonnage. Every load leaves with a weighbridge slip, GST tax invoice, AP e-transit pass and e-way bill where applicable, so the tonnage on the bill is the tonnage on the ground. Before each pour, run the site checks for jalli and M-Sand: a silt jar test on the sand and a look at the shape and dust on the jalli.
What the material costs ex-works
At our indicative ex-works rates (20mm ₹660, 12mm ₹520, 40mm ₹450, M-Sand ₹780, P-Sand ₹800, crusher dust ₹460 per MT), the 315 MT above comes to roughly ₹2.1 lakh at the gate, before royalty, transport and 5% GST (HSN 2517). Transport moves with your address: Gummidipoondi is approx. 82 km by road from the Perindesam works, Ponneri approx. 85 km, Avadi approx. 89 km and Tiruvallur approx. 67 km. Read ex-works versus delivered price explained and check the current rate list; figures here are indicative and confirmed at the time of order.
Ready to book your footing-stage loads? Put your tonnage into the delivered-cost estimator for an indicative delivered figure for your area, or request a quote with your site pin and pour date. You can also WhatsApp or call +91 90039 03003 with a photo of the drawing; we will reply with a stage-wise load schedule.
Quick answers
How many loads of 20mm jalli for a 1,500 sq ft G+1 house?
For a framed house with 1,500 sq ft on each of two floors, expect roughly 100 MT of 20mm jalli for footings, columns, beams and slabs. At 16-20 MT per 10-wheeler that is about six tipper loads, spread over the footing, plinth and two roof stages.
How much M-Sand per sq ft of construction?
Our stage-wise estimate works out to about 38 MT of M-Sand per 1,000 sq ft of built-up area for a framed G+1 house, covering concrete, PCC and brickwork mortar. Plaster needs a further 9 MT or so of P-Sand per 1,000 sq ft. Add 5-10% for wastage.
Can I use M-Sand for plastering instead of P-Sand?
Zone II M-Sand is graded for concrete and gives a coarse, hard-to-float plaster. Use P-Sand (finer, graded to IS 1542, typically all passing 2.36 mm) for 12 mm wall and ceiling plaster; keep M-Sand for concrete and brickwork mortar.
Is this estimate a substitute for my engineer's BOQ?
No. It is built on typical column spacing, 5-inch slabs and 230 mm walls. Your structural engineer's drawings and bill of quantities govern; use this to plan how many loads to book and when.
How many units is one 10-wheeler load of jalli?
A 10-wheeler tipper carries a legal payload of 16-20 MT. At 4.1-4.5 MT per unit for 20mm jalli that is about 4 to 4.5 units per 18 MT load; for M-Sand at 4.5-5 MT per unit it is nearer 3.5 to 4 units. We sell by weighbridge tonne, not by unit.