What local building materials are available in Haiti?

Q. What building materials are readily available to construct housing in post-quake Haiti? Is their concrete production local or imported? Do they have wood available and if so what kind (hardwood, softwood, timber)? Also are earth-made dwellings common in vernacular architecture?

I'm doing a school design project on this topic and I'd like to her from preferably a first hand source who has been there and had a chance to see for themselves what the situation is like.

A. I was there in July 2010. They haven't really started re-constructing any buildings that were damaged in the earthquake. Most of the buildings in Port-au-Prince were made out of concrete blocks but they are mostly demolished now.
At the church I was working with, they had hired a group of guys to build a wall around the property. The guys mixed their own cement and molded the blocks with it. So they do build with locally made concrete blocks.
The people who have been relocated after the earthquake are mostly living in designated "tent cities", in houses made from tin sheets, cardboard, and tarps if they can get one.
Samaritan's Purse also are providing houses for some villages. They are very simple and small- pretty much a wood frame with some tarps stretched across it.

tent city- http://www.flickr.com/photos/59993791@N08/5474414499/
port-au-prince after earthquake- http://www.flickr.com/photos/59993791@N08/5475010422/
samaritans purse village- http://www.flickr.com/photos/59993791@N08/5475010384/

Have home building material prices decreased since the home building boom went bust?

Q. few years ago I had an estimate done for a home addition. They claimed back then prices were high because the housing boom in the Southeast and Southwest was pushing up the prices of building materials. Given that the boom has gone bust, anyone know if the price of construction materials has eased?

A. Some building materials have in fact increased in price. It's a case of supply and demand. In the UK there are the effects from the high demand from Europe and the rest of the world.
Ja.

How can I find out what company supplied the cement and building materials for a state construction project?

Q. If anyone knows about the building materials used in Boston's Big Dig... that would be helpful. I am very interested in the cement...not the bolts holding up ceiling.

A. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of separate contracts for the project known collectively as "the big dig". "Aggregate Industries" supplied much of the concrete, but virtually every plant in the New England area supplied at least some of the mix used on the project. Many construction contracts included both construction and materials, so the concrete supplier did not submit a separate bid, but was priced in with the contractor's bid.

The custodian of records at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has a list of all bid opportunities and all bidders selected. The material is public record.

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
State Transportation Building
10 Park Plaza
Suite 4160
Boston Massachusetts 02116
617-248-2800

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