Building materials supply in Alexandria, from cement to tiles

Structural materials: what to order and what to check on arrival

Check structural materials on the lorry and before you sign the delivery note, because a fault is hard to prove once the material is on site or in the concrete.

Finishing materials: tiles, paint, sanitaryware and electrical supplies

Most problems with finishing materials are a difference between what you ordered and what arrived: a shade, a batch, a size or a model, so check before anything is opened or fitted.

Turn away anything that differs from the order before it is unloaded, and write your remark on the delivery note.

The price of cement and steel today? What moves the price of an order

We do not publish prices, because building-material prices move from week to week and a figure on a page would not describe your order. What sets the price of any order:

• The type, grade and producer: every type of cement, grade of steel and grade of tile has its own price.
• The quantity and the packing: bags or bulk, cartons or pallets.
• The market on the day, especially for steel and cable, which follow metal prices.
• The site and the access: street width, the floor, whether there is a lift, and who unloads and carries up.
• Extra work, such as cutting and bending rebar to a schedule.

Send the quantities and we reply with a written quotation for exactly your order.

How an order works: from quantities to a written quotation

1. Send the quantities

   Quantities, a bill of quantities (BOQ), drawings, or a photo of your list on WhatsApp. If you have not worked them out yet, the building-materials calculator gives bricks, cement and sand for walls, plaster and tile beds; the tile and paint calculators give tiles and paint; and the finishing-cost-by-size guide estimates a whole flat’s quantities from its area.

2. Get a written quotation

   Itemised, for exactly what you asked for, not a price list.

3. Supply-only: approve and pay the supplier

   You approve the quotation and pay the supplier, with the invoice in your name, and you see the material and the invoice before it moves.

4. Or within a finishing contract

   If the materials are part of finishing your flat, we visit, measure and write the quantities into the finishing quotation, and you pay each supplier directly at their price.

5. Check on arrival

   Check the material against the two tables above before you sign for it.

Sea air: store materials properly

Alexandria’s damp, salty air spoils badly stored material before it is used, so storage is part of the order, not an afterthought.

• Cement: it draws moisture from the air itself. Keep the bags off the ground on timber or pallets, away from external walls, covered with a sheet, in low stacks, and use the oldest first. If storage space is tight, order in batches that follow the pace of the work.
• Rebar: on timber bearers off the ground, away from sand piles and standing water, and covered near the sea, because salt air quickly turns light rust into pitting.
• Tiles: cartons in a dry, covered place, because a wet carton falls apart and the tiles break when moved.
• Paint, cables and pipes: inside the flat or in a locked store, out of direct sun.

Sulphate-resisting cement belongs in concrete that touches salty ground or groundwater, such as footings, ground beams and buried tanks, and the decision is your structural engineer’s, in the specification. For mortar, plaster and tile beds, use the type named in your project’s specification.

Narrow streets and upper floors without a big lift

In older buildings and narrow streets, getting material up to the flat needs arranging before you order, not on the day it arrives.

• Unloading: ask the building management and the neighbours where a vehicle can stop to unload, and at what time of day, so the street is not blocked.
• The lift: find out whether it may be used for materials, measure its door and car, and note the load printed in it.
• Carrying up the stairs: agree in advance who carries the bags and cartons, to which floor, and how the stairs and entrance are protected.
• Large tiles and marble slabs: measure the stair turns and the flat’s door before choosing a large format, because a piece that cannot go up in one piece changes the choice, or its joints must be set from the start.
• Sand: agree where it is tipped, or whether it is bagged, and cover it so wind and rain do not carry it off.

Write these arrangements down with the order, so you know what the quotation includes and what it does not: loading, transport, unloading and carrying up to the floor.

Itmam and building materials supply in Alexandria

Itmam is a finishing and supply company from Alexandria: head office in El Ibrahimya, marble and granite showroom in El Deresa, Moharram Bey. Itmam was founded in 2016, with 20+ years in the trade. Phone and WhatsApp +20 106 926 2572, Saturday to Thursday, 09:00 to 18:00.

Supply-only is available: you send the quantities, receive a written quotation for exactly your order, and pay the supplier, with the invoice in your name. On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly at their price and the tax invoice is in your name; our management fee for supervision and execution is agreed in writing before we begin, and we add nothing to the price of materials.