The two questions every investor asks first

When a project owner decides to build a factory or warehouse in Syria, the first questions are never about appearance. They are about money and time: what will each square metre cost, and when can the facility start operating. Those two questions are the whole comparison between a steel hangar and a conventional reinforced-concrete building.

Below is the comparison the way we walk clients through it in our office, with rough figures and a clear logic. Each method has its place; the point is to match the method to the project.

Cost per square metre

The cost of a steel hangar comes down to three items: the weight of steel (priced per tonne), fabrication, coating and erection, and the roof and wall cladding, insulated or not. As a working rule, a hangar 20 to 30 metres wide and 8 metres high uses roughly 25 to 40 kilograms of steel per square metre of covered area, depending on loads, use, and whether an overhead crane is planned.

A concrete building spreads its cost across deeper excavation and foundations, concrete columns and beams, blockwork, plastering, and a roof slab that weighs several times more than a steel roof. The larger the clear span between columns, the faster concrete costs climb: beams get deeper, heavier, and need more reinforcement and more complex formwork.

In practice, small buildings with short spans can cost about the same either way. From spans of 15 metres and areas above 500 square metres, steel starts to win on total cost, often by 20 to 35 percent once lighter foundations, the shorter programme and lower supervision costs are counted.

Time is where steel settles the argument

With a steel hangar, foundations are poured on site while columns and rafters are fabricated in the workshop at the same time. Once the members arrive, erection takes days, not months. A 1,000 square metre warehouse can be handed over within 8 to 12 weeks of contract signing, provided the land and building permit are ready.

Concrete cannot skip its cycles: foundations, then columns, then beams and slab, with two to four weeks of curing before each stage can be stripped and loaded. The same floor area in concrete usually takes 6 to 9 months, longer in winter or when cement and rebar deliveries slip.

For an investor, every month of delay means rent on a temporary warehouse, an idle production line, or capital tied up with no return. Four months of difference can easily equal the entire construction cost gap, before counting lost market opportunities.

Points that must not be overlooked

  • Thermal insulation: an uninsulated hangar is hot in summer and cold in winter. Insulated sandwich panels add a little cost but are essential for food plants and cold stores.
  • Corrosion protection: industrial paint systems or galvanising determine service life, especially in humid coastal areas.
  • Future flexibility: a steel hangar can be extended by adding bays, or dismantled and relocated. Concrete offers neither.
  • Office blocks: for multi-storey offices and amenities, concrete remains sensible. Most projects combine both.

When we recommend concrete

If the project is a multi-storey office, residential or commercial building with short spans, reinforced concrete is an excellent choice. If it is an open production or storage space that needs wide spans, clear height and a fast start, steel wins on cost and time together, which is why hangars dominate the industrial cities of Sheikh Najjar, Adra and Hasya.

Next step

The best way to decide is a preliminary study on your actual plot: area, use, loads and climate zone. From that we can give a tonnage and schedule estimate within days, a far better basis for comparison than general figures.