For a typical double-storey 5 marla house in Pakistan, plan about 4,500 to 7,500 hollow concrete blocks. A single-story house on the same plot needs fewer units because there is only one floor of masonry. The exact number depends on covered area, wall height, doors and windows, and whether inner walls are 4 inch or 8 inch.

Do not convert plot size straight into blocks. In Punjab, 5 marla is usually 1,125 sq ft of land (225 sq ft per marla). Some older records and parts of Sindh use a larger marla. The walls sit on the built house, not on the full plot, so the drawing is what matters.

Most houses use hollow concrete blocks in 16x8x8 for outer walls and 16x8x4 for partitions.

First Decide Which Walls Get Which Block

Count 8 inch and 4 inch walls separately. Mixing them in one total will over-order one size and short the other.

8 inch walls

Use 16x8x8 hollow blocks on external walls and any wall the engineer marks as load bearing. This is the common outer-wall size in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Haripur, and most of Punjab.

4 inch walls

Use 16x8x4 hollow blocks on inner partitions only. Do not put a 4 inch block on an outer wall just to save money. It will not give the same stability or heat break as an 8 inch wall.

Where a wall must take heavy load and the engineer does not want cores, switch that line to solid concrete blocks instead of forcing hollow units into the wrong job.

The Simple Site Formula

Pakistani sites use the face of the block, not the thickness, to count pieces.

A 16 inch × 8 inch face covers 0.89 sq ft. That gives a working figure of 1.125 blocks per sq ft of wall. Thickness changes the wall, not the piece count on that face. An 8 inch wall and a 4 inch wall of the same length and height need the same number of blocks. Only the product size changes.

Step-by-step count

1. From the plan, list every wall length in feet.
2. Multiply length by clear wall height (floor to slab soffit). Most houses use 10 ft per storey.
3. That is gross wall area.
4. Subtract doors and windows. A 3 ft × 7 ft door is 21 sq ft. A 4 ft × 5 ft window is 20 sq ft.
5. Multiply net area by 1.125.
6. Add 8% to 10% for cuts, corners, and breakage.

If you want a tighter number, include the mortar joint (about 10 mm) in the face size. For ordering, the 1.125 method plus wastage is what most contractors actually buy against.

Worked Example: Double-Storey 5 Marla House

Assumptions for this example only:

• Punjab 5 marla plot, house footprint about 25 ft × 32 ft
• Two storeys, wall height 10 ft each
• External walls in 16x8x8
• Inner partitions in 16x8x4
• Ground floor: 2 external doors, 8 windows
• First floor: 1 balcony door, 8 windows

External walls (8 inch)

Ground-floor outer length: 25 + 32 + 25 + 32 = 114 ft

Area: 114 × 10 = 1,140 sq ft

Openings: about 200 sq ft

Net: 940 sq ft

Blocks: 940 × 1.125 = 1,058

With 10% extra: 1,164

The first floor is similar if the outline is the same. Allow about 1,140 after openings and wastage.

External total: about 2,300 blocks of 16x8x8

Inner walls (4 inch)

A 5 marla plan often has 70 to 100 ft of partition per floor. Use 80 ft as a mid figure.

Area per floor: 80 × 10 = 800 sq ft

Deduct inner doors, about 80 sq ft

Net: 720 sq ft

Blocks: 720 × 1.125 = 810

With 10% extra: 891 per floor

Internal total for two floors: about 1,780 blocks of 16x8x4

House masonry total in this example

Item	Size	Qty (approx.)
Outer walls, both floors	16x8x8	2,300
Inner walls, both floors	16x8x4	1,780
House walls only	—	4,080

Add a boundary wall only if it is in the same order. A 5 marla plot boundary is often 130 to 150 ft. At 6 ft high in 8 inch blocks, that is another 900 to 1,200 pieces after openings and wastage.

So a double-storey 5 marla house plus boundary commonly lands between 5,000 and 6,500 blocks. Larger covered area, 11 ft storey height, extra rooms, or a mummy can push the order toward 7,000+. That range matches what quantity guides in Pakistan use for a 5 marla grey structure.

For a published size and mortar table you can cross-check, see this concrete block quantity method used in Pakistan.

What Changes the Number Fast In Hollow Concrete Blocks

Storeys. Two floors almost double the wall area. Do not copy a single-storey estimate onto a double-storey file.

Height. A 10 ft storey and an 11 ft storey on the same plan differ by 10%. Measure to the slab, not to the parapet, unless the parapet is also blockwork.

Openings. Large living-room windows cut more blocks than people expect. Measure each opening. Do not use a flat “20% deduction” on every house.

Boundary and garage. Count them as extra lines. They are not inside the 1,125 sq ft plot figure.

Waste. Machine-made blocks with even edges waste less than poorly moulded units. Still keep 8–10% on site. Corners, jambs, and half-blocks always appear.

How to Order Without Shortfall

Write two lines on the purchase order:

• 16x8x8 hollow blocks – outer walls + any 8 inch inner load walls + boundary if included
• 16x8x4 hollow blocks – partitions only

Ask the plant for the actual face size of the batch. Some local moulds are 16x8x16 or 8x8x16 in name but a few millimetres off. A uniform block from an automated plant is easier to count because the joint stays even.

Prime Crete makes these units at Hattar Industrial Estate, about 25 km from Islamabad, for sites across the north and the wider Pakistan market. If the house also needs a driveway or parking bay later, keep that as a separate take-off in interlocking paver blocks, not inside the wall count.

Confirm compressive strength with the engineer before the truck leaves. Outer walls need a load-bearing grade. Partition blocks can be lighter, but they still have to hold plaster and door frames.

Quick Checks Before You Pay the Bill

• Net wall area was taken from the latest drawing, not from an old 5 marla “standard house” post.
• Doors, windows, and the stair opening were deducted.
• 4 inch and 8 inch quantities are split.
• Wastage is sitting on top, not hidden inside the 1.125 factor.
• The boundary wall is either in or out, not half-guessed.

If the covered area on both floors is close to 1,600–1,800 sq ft and walls are 10 ft, the example above is a fair starting point. If the plan is a tight single-storey 5 marla with few inner walls, you may finish nearer 2,200 to 3,000 blocks for the house only.

For plant capacity, standards, and where the blocks are made, see the company profile. Then send the two size quantities, not a single mixed number, when you request a delivery date.