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With N3m, You Can Build Your Own House - Properties - Nairaland

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With N3m, You Can Build Your Own House by Imeobong(m): 4:17pm On Dec 30, 2013
Source: http://www.punchng.com/business/homes-property/with-n3m-you-can-build-your-own-house/

Despite the huge amount that Nigerians spend on constructing their houses and the 16 million unit housing deficit, experts have demonstrated that affordable homeownership is possible. MAUREEN AZUH writes on the choices that are available to the people

Owning a home is perhaps the most important achievement in life. The journey towards that can be daunting, especially in a growing economy where individuals are responsible for their own welfare.

For those who depend on the federal and state governments’ minimum wage, and even those who earn less than N3m per annum, building a house or accessing mortgages to buy into the various private housing projects is a near impossibility.

Experts in the built environment, however, say that building a house to suit one’s pocket and needs, is not rocket science but an achievable dream.

According to experts, an individual who wishes to build a personal house for a budget of between N2.5m and N3m must first consider the location they can acquire land cheaply, which in most cases will be on the outskirt of cities.

A piece of land in the heart of any major town will require the entire money and more.

“If you must build a house with between N2.5m and N3m, you must know that you can’t acquire land in the city. You have to go to the outskirts where you can get a plot of land or half for N300, 000 to N500, 000. That is the first step,” the Managing Director, Bolyn Construction Company, Elder Rufus Akinrolabu, says.

Akinrolabu adds that care must also be taken not to invest in a marshy or swampy area as sand filling and piling may be as expensive as building a house itself.

According to him, to be able to do a good job of managing the money, there must be an estimate for the builder and the owner on the quantity and quality of materials required.

“There will be a need to examine all the items for construction one after the other without leaving any. A material specification is essential as there are different types of items that can be used for the same purpose,” he states.

Location of the building also plays an important role, according to a quantity surveyor and Managing Partner, JIMS Partnership, Mr. Jide Oke.

“A building in Lekki area will cost more than a building in Ibafo, for instance, because of the soil condition. We also have to look at the specifications or the choices available to the owner. That will depend on the kind of materials to be used; if you are using granite, marble or some expensive tiles in the sitting room, you know you have to spend more than someone using PVC tiles or something cheaper,” he explains.

But for someone who wants to live in an affordable place, on a farm or dry land, the odds are that N2.5m can build a standard and comfortable two-bedroom bungalow with quality but affordable materials.

Oke says, “Your roof may not be so expensive; you may be looking at using a typical 0.55 gauge of long span aluminium instead of 0.7, which is more expensive.

“If you are looking at what you can do with a half or even a quarter plot of land, you can look at a two-bedroom of about five metres by 13 metres, which is barely less than 70 square metres. By the time you provide a frontage and a parking lot for one or two cars, you may be having around 150 square metres that is like quarter of a plot because a plot of land is about 600 square metres.

“If one quarters of a plot is maximised, it will build a standard family-sized house that is not opulent but has minimum level of comfort.”

The immediate past President, Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. Chucks Omeife, says direct labour procurement method, where an individual buys his own materials and engages the services of a builder to manage the construction process, is another way of saving cost.

“Once the substructure is well constructed, the building would have met with good quality standard and reduce to the barest minimum the problem of maintenance,” he explains.

According to him, this method saves cost by between 20 and 25 per cent.

For a two-bedroom flat consisting a sitting room, dining room, kitchen, store, toilet and bathroom, Akinrolabu estimates that the foundation will require about 40 bags of cement, four loads of granite, three loads of sharp sand and about 420 pieces of nine-inch sandcrete blocks at a cost of about N400,000.

For labour, he says clearing of the site, digging of foundation trench, concreting, laying of block walls and filling, and back filling will cost about N110, 000, with a sub total of N450, 000 for the foundation work.

The brick wall to roof level will require about 5,160 blocks, 101 pieces of half-inch rods, 31 quarter-inch rods, binding wire, one load of gravel, three loads of sharp sand, 25 bags of cement, planks and nails at the cost of about N720,000, including labour.

Roofing and ceiling, ground floor and screeding work are estimated at N490, 000 and N173, respectively.

“A unit of two-bedroom house, including preliminary work, foundation up to DPC, walling above DPC, lintel, beams and columns, doors, windows and lock fixing, plastering, painting, electrical works, plumbing and sanitary wares will cost about N2.8m,” Akinrolabu says.

Building a three-bedroom flat with the same materials, on the other hand, will cost an estimated N3.4m.

The Marketing Director, Nigerite Limited, manufacturers of roofing products and accessories, Mr. Toyin Gbede, says the foundation to ceiling level of an affordable two-bedroom building should not be more than N1.1m assuming that the land is already available.

According to him, the problem is with the finishing, which takes up between 40 and 50 per cent of the total cost of the building.

For this, he suggests starting little and working with the budget until the job is done. For the roofing, he suggests the use of fibre cement, which according to him, is not expensive but can give the desired result.

Gbede adds that if the building is about 80 square metres, and the fibre cement costs N1,200, and the ceiling, N800 to N900 per square metre respectively, that will give approximately N168 ,000 to N170,000.

For the windows and floor, he suggests the use of conventional louvers and normal floor rendering.

He says, “The beauty of finishing is that you can start little, if you are really desperate to get your own house. You have to look at your needs and not what the society dictates.

“As your income grows, you can change some of those things to suit your needs and new status as long as the super structure is already there.”
Re: With N3m, You Can Build Your Own House by goodyearsam123(m): 4:50am On Jun 30, 2014
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