Every construction and building guide on Speak Arch, grouped by stage: planning and quantities, foundations, structure, concrete and steel, masonry, and finishes. For quick numbers, use the quantity surveying calculators and the construction cost calculator.
Interiors: False ceiling design guide covers POP, gypsum, and lighting — see also gypsum board for board specs.
All construction guides
Planning, areas and quantities
- Parts of a building: names, functions and Hindi meanings
- Load-bearing vs framed structure
- Carpet area vs built-up area vs super built-up area
- Plinth area: what it is and how to calculate it
- Cement, sand and steel for a 1000 sq ft house
- How many bricks in 1 sq ft and 1 m³
- Construction cost rates by city (2026 study)
- FSI in Pune: Basic, Premium and TDR by Road Width (UDCPR 2020)
- FSI in Hyderabad: What the Telangana Building Rules (G.O. 168) Say
- House Construction Cost per Sq Ft in Bengaluru (2026 Rates)
- House Construction Cost per Sq Ft in Hyderabad (2026 Rates)
- House Construction Cost per Sq Ft in Pune (2026 Rates)
- How to plan a detached garage
Soil and foundations
- Alluvial soil: features and building on it
- Isolated footing: types and design
- Combined footing: design and types
- Isolated vs combined footing
- Standard footing size for a 2-storey house
- Raft (mat) foundation: design and types
- Stitch slab (stitch raft)
- Pile foundations: types and design
- Tension pile vs compression pile
- Underpinning: what it is and methods
Beams, slabs and walls
- Plinth beam vs tie beam vs grade beam
- Lintel vs beam, and chajja (sunshade)
- One-way slab: reinforcement details and design
- One-way vs two-way slab
- Shear wall: types and construction
- Shear wall vs Mivan
- Mivan shuttering technology
- Centering and shuttering: materials and work
- Retaining wall design
- Toe wall vs retaining wall
- Parapet wall: types, construction and designs
Concrete, cement and steel
- PCC vs RCC
- RCC full form and how it is reinforced
- M20 vs M25 concrete
- Fe500 vs Fe550 TMT bars
- OPC vs PPC cement
- Portland slag cement (PSC)
- Hydraulic cement
- Bogue compounds in cement
- Ready mix concrete (RMC)
- Concrete slump test
- Workability of concrete
- Curing of concrete: how many days
- GFRC (glass fibre reinforced concrete)
- Ferrocement
Bricks, blocks and stone
- AAC blocks vs red bricks
- Fly ash bricks
- Reinforced thermal block
- Artificial stone in construction
- Paver block shapes, sizes and price
- Bungaroosh and its repairs
Damp-proofing, plaster and finishes
- Damp proof course (DPC)
- Sunk slab in bathrooms
- Cement plaster vs gypsum plaster vs POP punning
- Gypsum plaster vs neeru plaster
- Sand-faced plaster and other plaster finishes
- Gypsum board in construction
- Roof sarking boards
Site tools
More hubs: Construction guides · House design & Vastu · Door designs · Wall designs · Ceiling designs · Floor, paving & railing designs · Roof designs · Free tools & calculators