And we just got new neighbours starting their houses around here.

Hello Spyder, please what is the rough estimate of this building?

Of course I heard the information late like many people, up to 12 hours after it made it into the dailies that business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is about to slash cement prices by up to 40%. I got quite a number of calls from friends and readers of many of my articles on the supposed impact of this news in the building industry. My perspective on the whole thing are to be listed down in my points below;

1. How soon are we going to start buying cement for N1000.00?

I quickly called some of my heavy dealers in Dangote cement and questioned them about this, they said the company asked them yesterday to wait till 2 weeks so they could exhaust the old stock of cement before buying the new batch with lowered costs.

2. How much will you be selling the cement to us the unit consumers?

When I asked them this question, they were of the opinion that since they are supposed to be buying from Dangote at N1000.00 advertised, they will add their offloading charges and profit to the price, which means that you and me might be buying cement for between N1,100-N1,200, depending on your location.

3. Is this new cement exactly the same with the ones in the shops now?

They said its not! They said this cement will be of the 32.5 capacity, instead of the 42.5 in circulation now. Meaning that there is a possibility that this new cement coming in might not be as strong as the ones we are using now.

4. Will this mean that construction costs will fall overall?

Well it needs to be seen first, how much the prices will drop to and how the quality might turn out to be. If the fall is drastic and supplies constant, it might well ease off on project costs and benefit builders and home owners alike. It has the capacity to bring a construction boom if well managed.

5. What impact will this have on the other cement manufacturers and importers?

Do you that there is some news in the grapevine about the real reasons for the price drop being as a result of intense competition and a need to command more market share among cement producers? In this case the competition is expected to react, either reduce prices as well or increase quality, or even drop supplies, creating a heavy scarcity since Dangote is expected to flooded with a deluge of orders. What happens next? Another price increase to scare off surplus demands. Competition is unpredictable.

6. Will it affect the cost of rents, will landlords reduce rents?

That is like wishing for too much, since we have not even seen the reduction, but however there are other factors in construction which needs to drop before rents can drop. What about land costs and illegal fees? What about rods, sand, granite and labour costs, will they all soft-pedal like Dangote?

7. Does this have political undertones, especially ahead of 2015 general elections?

Don't put me in trouble, I don't know!

I have been working on identifying any other places there might be cracks in this building, there are two more but we are now making arrangements to fill them. They are not as bad as I previously thought. This still remains the same as the first time we noticed it.

New houses springing up around here,

But meanwhile, more tenants are moving into the units, more than half of the house is already taken up.

Inside one of the remodelled units.

spyder880:
Inside one of the remodelled units.

The remodelling is lasting longer than expected. I noticed parts of the remodelled sections are not yet painted, the wires still dangling. What is behind the delay?

Dr. Spyder...How are we doing on this project? We need to close out. Kindly update us, your ever hungry students with the total cost for the initial structure before the remodeling and snags began to show up.

Op, please, how much did it cost initially to complete the project, I mean before the faults? Any immediate plans for repairs? From the comments, this project started with so much energy and expectations but ended on a sad note. May God strengthen and replenish the source. Thanks.

Hello friends, 
It is my pleasure to find time to communicate with you all, and to review our activities in the last 12 months. We have been interacting here all year long in peace and harmony, and that's why I feel its good to provide you all with a round up of all our various projects and ventures which we worked on in the outgoing year, 2014. 

It was a very eventful year, and incidentally my first full year working as a building contractor. We crafted houses and structures in various parts of the country. On my part, I will say it was very fulfilling, because for the first time I felt I am doing what I am well suited for, building houses. I also hope you enjoyed the journey and details as we moved from state to state, site to site, task to task.

We built houses in 3 states of the federation in 2014, we built 6 houses in Enugu state, 3 houses in Rivers State and 1 house in Imo State. Altogether, we built a total of 10 houses in 2014, all the houses, with the exception of two houses in Enugu state are all online here and owned by members of this Nairaland. The remaining 2 houses belongs to private individuals in Enugu who saw what I was doing on the ground and contacted me to build their houses. All the houses are in their finish stages, expect for the luxury flats we are working to get to the roof in Port Harcourt. 

My passion has always been to build houses, and I enjoy what I do. But of course life will never move on a straight and level plane. We experienced a fair share of challenges as we worked in some of the projects in 2014. Some of the problems were as a result of natural occurrences, some from bad workmanship, by some of our workers while the rest was as a result of weak supervision on the part of men I placed in positions of authority in the periods I might be out of the site. 

There were a few desperate situations, some small errors and some not too small work failures. In all, we reacted in good time to either arrest the situation or totally reverse the errors. It is our belief that we came out stronger from every challenge, and we learnt a lesson or two in the process. We also took steps to forestall a future occurrence. I have had to tinker with my team many times, dropping workers whom I found out were not entirely honest, or just refused to learn. I have also added to my team, more men I think they understand my needs, and share my values and aspirations. The improvements to our work are obvious, I have also taken steps to reduce the number of projects I accept in any time, I will like to complete some projects before starting another one. 

I can also recall some wonderful results, some high quality jobs which we all agreed came out top class. There are some houses which I can smile about whenever I am passing the area, buildings which I can point at with pride and satisfaction. For those projects, I also learnt a lot from them, and will put the lessons to use in the coming year.

2014 also marked a change in my approach to the housing sector, I added another branch to my housing business, estate management. I initiated a move to develop 100 plots of land in a remote community in Enugu East LGA. The properties are on sale to interested members of the public, I am acquiring the lands with my registered company name, Tigerkenn Homes Nig LTD. We have sold over 20 plots of land and are still collecting deposits from interested investors, in and out of nairaland. 

We have offers for home building next year, we are finalising some deals on the projects we are going to start by next year 2015. We have a new duplex project planned for Port Harcourt, a super renovation work planned in Anambra , our new estate works in Enugu will also take off in the first quarter of 2015. We are already poised to give the estate a good lift, with a view to developing the place so the area can appreciate. It will be a very busy year, but we are up to the task as usual. We want to deliver more quality and less quantity. 

I am using this opportunity to thank you all, especially my clients, for your steadfastness, your trust and belief in us. I have never met many of you in person, only phone calls and emails, and yet we relate like brothers and sisters. Please forgive us if there are things we did not do very well in 2014, we are only human, and we will continue to improve in all respects. We promise you lower costs and higher quality projects. We appreciate you, may GOD himself bless you all.

For all my workers, you are the best, we may fight and quarrel, for all the misunderstanding and all the harsh words, for the shouting matches and corrective actions, please forgive and forget, its not a personal thing, we must do these to improve our work so we can impress our clients. 

For all our suppliers, we thank you for your timely and not too timely deliveries, but please serve us better next year and don't connive with cement sellers to rip us off.

For all my friends and readers, na una be the real Oga, the people I am really serving. I promise more action next year, lets do it again in 2015!

There is a possibility that my phone might not be connecting in the next few days till the end of this year. I plan to travel to my village in Nomeh Unateze in Nkanu East LGA in Enugu state with my family for this Christmas festivities, my village usually has very poor MTN network coverage. We are supposed to travel later this morning and I might be in the village till the new year, with one or two visits to some sites in between.

This is an opportunity to spend some time with my wife and children, visit the farm, go fishing in the village stream, prepare village foods and attend village meetings. 

In case anyone wants to contact me, please send me a text message on my normal line 08033350750 or send a mail to ckenneths@yahoo.co.uk, I will be checking from time to time.

Merry Christmas to you all, we thank you all. 

PERFECTION IS OUR GOAL, EXCELLENCE WILL BE TOLERATED.

Lots of love bro...!

Homes available for sale at Casavilla Estate. Pay 1.5 Million and Move into your OWN HOME!!! Pay the balance of N5m over 5-10 years! Just 100 Units available in this batch!! See prototype below!

The type of HOME available are 3 bedroom semi detached bungalows, all rooms ensuite with finishing including POP CEILINGS, FLOOR TILES, etc (find prototypes below). This goes for N6.5m but when you pay N1.5m (Instalmental payment available), you move in and pay balance over 5-10yrs. (Call or email us for more details.)

We also offer for sale, plots of land at a discounted price of ₦1.5m (Instalmental payment available). Buy a plot and get a loan of up to ₦5m-₦15m to build at 6% interest rate and repay in 10-25yrs.

How does this work?
1.Call or email us to schedule inspection or for more information.
2. Pay for your plot(s) outright or using our budget friendly instalment plans
3. As soon as we receive your first instalment, we open a free cooperative savings account on your behalf and pay your minimum monthly deposit to your cooperative account for one year at no extra cost to you.
3. We also help you open a free National Housing Fund account with Federal Mortgage Bank or link your existing NHF account with our partner mortgage bank, so you can access your loan to build!
4. We will work with you to ensure all necessary documents are processed.

Casavilla estate, located in a fast developing area of Magboro, Ogun state, was conceived with comfort, class and ambiance in mind. Upon completion, the estate, will provide recreational areas, green areas, walk ways, good road networks, water drainage system, electrification, commercial areas and 24hours security. These facilities are professionally planned and developed, to help you live the quality life that you deserve.

All plots and houses in Casavilla Estate are authentic, legally documented, and come with a global c of o, letter of allocation, deed of assignment and an approved survey and estate lay out plan and also, you have no fear of harassment from omoniles.

This Offer is brought to you by Casafina Cooperative Multipurpose Society, in partnership with Tavern Development Company LTD and AG Homes Mortgage Bank.

To locate Casavilla estate, turn off Lagos Ibadan express way, before Mountain of Fire, into the road with a 'welcome to Magboro' sign post (on the right side if you're coming from Berger). Turn under the bridge and enter the main Magboro road, turn left at gas line junction and drive down gas line road until you get to Casavilla Estate. Generally, its about 10-12 minute drive from the express.

This offer is available for a limited time. So start calling now!

Contact us via

Phone Numbers: Nora (09080702018), Seyi (07015311431, 08082183471)
Office Address: Casafina Cooperative Multipurpose Society, 2b Oyetola street, off Ajanaku street, off Salvation road, Opebi, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.casafinacooperative.org
Email: infocasafinacooperative.org, norao@casafinacooperative.org

For your soil tests ; contact me, Engr. Ezekiel@ 08060244464.....We deliver in all types of soil tests