Building options in Mexico outlying pueblos have expanded a lot in the last decade or so. The option of using a steel lid on the lower foundation has saved us a lot of time and was a bit cheaper than the traditional method. You could use this method with steel beam support or with concrete and rebar support or with wood support. So, factoring in the current price of lumber, concrete, rebar , steel beams and galvanized steel decking, you can choose a method that aligns with your needs regarding time and budget; i.e. concrete and rebar beams with galvanized corrugated decking, or steel beams with corrugated, or wood beams with corrugated etc.
The main advantage of this system is the time factor. Building the forms with cimbra concrete forms for the traditional concrete roof is tedious and time consuming, taking weeks (when you include curing) even on a smaller structure like this one.
Obviously it's difficult to compute exact costs when comparing options but as far as we can tell it comes out pretty close, price-wise - so the savings are with time and added structural stability..
