In our ministry center we are constructing a guard shack/storage facility. We want it to be very sturdy and near impossible to break into. To accomplish this we must pour a cement roof and fabricate steal doors. However, building a cement roof with hand tools can be delicate and dangerous. We are always looking to save a buck, but we don’t want to sacrifice safety.

While the cement roof is being poured and setting it needs to be propped by supports. Normally to support a roof this size a construction crew would purchase and cut 100, 10 ft. long 2×4 planks. This can be very expensive.

Our job foreman came up with a great plan to save money and not sacrifice safety. Bamboo is plentiful in Armenia Bonito and very strong. We hired several guys to chop down bamboo with machetes. We purchased it off them at about $1 a section. This provided a resourceful solution that created a job and saved us about $400.

After they were cut we hauled 100 pieces of bamboo in our truck and relocated them to the worksite. The roof is now framed and supported and ready to be poured.