Good

Sometimes, when you buy plenty cement, they may Cake Up! We lost up to 40 bags in one instance!

condralbede:
Use cotter sand...mobilize some young boys to get u that!

You mean Gutter Sand ??

smh!!!

ghetto101:
[/color][color=#770077][color=#000000][/color]


plz i will need more of ur advice,let me knw how i can contact you when i'm ready-

Plz join us in nairaland property section. You will learn more from experienced builders there.
The little i have posted is from my little experience. The thread was meant to be contributory from other more experienced builders in the house.

Moulding blocks in advance is another way of saving costs.Mould your blocks before starting your projects.Some people don't know that a lot of money could be saved by moulding the blocks instead of buying.However endeavour to dig the borehole or well whichever before embarking on the block moulding.

My contribux is dat, plan 2 buy land in less pupulated n romote area, the land where i leave today was bought 4 200k about 7years ago but now it is a choice area n now d least plot of land now cost 1.5milion. When i was taken 2 buy d land, i ran away becos of d wild animals that i saw n there were scanty houses around then. So, stop saving ur life to build house in leki n VI. D true is that there ar stil lands 4 400k. I leave in magboro near Berger in Lagos. U can get good n genuine land in n around Redeem Church/Ibafo in ogun state. Most people dat work in Lagos are Landlord ln this places. 09039166756

Group similar works, especially when you are building in stages. Planks that were used in the decking can also be used to cast lintels and pillars of the first floor. Same scaffolds that were used in external plastering will still be useful in mounting window hoods and casement windows. Do your conduit wiring before plastering to avoid breaking the walls again. Install your window frames and make sure they are perfectly plumbed before installing the window hoods and dressing them (I learnt this lesson the hard way. I had to higher labour again to remove the hoods in order to correct the misaligned window frames). If you have chance to move around, buy the building materials yourself and only pay the engineer his workmanship

sara888:
My contribux is dat, plan 2 buy land in less pupulated n romote area, the land where i leave today was bought 4 200k about 7years ago but now it is a choice area n now d least plot of land now cost 1.5milion. When i was taken 2 buy d land, i ran away becos of d wild animals that i saw n there were scanty houses around then. So, stop saving ur life to build house in leki n VI. D true is that there ar stil lands 4 400k. I leave in magboro near Berger in Lagos. U can get good n genuine land in n around Redeem Church/Ibafo in ogun state. Most people dat work in Lagos are Landlord ln this places. 09039166756

I can't agree less.

mercylicious:

This is my first topic on properties section. I want us to contribute on tips to reduce your building cost. I will start with mine.
1. Do your soakaway when you are doing your foundation. Use sand from soakaway to cover the foundation. You can then buy sand to fill up the foundation if you need more sand , then do ur german floor. This will reduce the cost of sand to fill up your foundation.

2.If you are building on a rocky terain like me, sure, the cost is higher. But you can reduce the cost by using the rocks in your house. I dont kow how to explqin this but my ppl call it cracking the stones. Gather the big stones you got while digging ur foundation, call the ppl dt crack stones to crack it for you and use it to build your house. I still have left over from the stone i cracked on my site... Will be using it for the mqin building.

3.Do the roof carcass and ceiling together. if you do ur roof wood works, and later call pl again do he ceiling, the total cost will be higher.

4.For some ppl, the first thing they do in any land they intend to build is sinking borehole or.any oer water source.. The argument is dt since they will later sink borehole, why not sink it first so dt u will cut down on the cost of water during building.

Plz add more.

Sir,
what if u are building in a water log area, can one do soak away first and use the sand to fill foundation?

Thank you.

Saying you will refund money if one isnt satisfied just proved that you cant be trusted.
This is a complete lie and almost doesnt happen anywhere in Naija so stop selling yourself cos your words already paints the picture of a desprate man that can't and shouldnt be trusted.
I rest my case.

omonuan:
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sako28:


Sir,
what if u are building in a water log area, can one do soak away first and use the sand to fill foundation?

Thank you.

nope. i have answered dt b4 by refering to lekki.

ITbomb:
It is best to pour the foundation for the fence when pouring for the building, you can leave the fence at foundation level, it would be much cheaper to complete than to start pouring after the building has been raised

Sounds nice on the surface but does anyone else concur?

CityNG:


Sounds nice on the surface but does anyone else concur?

NO

jerryben12:
Do it yourself. No contractors, no engineers.

Not always true... doing it yourself may eventually cost you more unless you are experienced in the construction field or you are just doing a small and simple building. Maybe you should have said 'use trusted and experienced hands'.
A friend of mine was ''doing it himself'' and has spent 7 million naira without going past foundation stage.
Another client of mine was ''doing it herself'' and the project is abandoned after spending millions.
If u must do it yourself, assume you are a project manager directing sub-contractors i.e only co-ordinate. don't try to get your hands into too much hence you'll lose money by trial and error.

Tips at planning stage:
1. Don't plan a bigger building than what you actually require. Each additional square meter costs a lot. If u have 10 square meters more than u actually need, u may be losing about 400k already without even starting the building construction.
2. Avoid or minimize too much embellishment... too much concrete not for structural purpose may be a waste. eg excessive concrete fascia(if u love it, by all means do it) may cost up to a million extra in some cases.
Also decorative columns are just that...decorative. Avoid them if you are on a tight budget.Who says your house would not look beautiful by buying higher quality paints instead of trying too hard.
Less is more.Don't think you building is made beautiful by making it busy.At times, going for quality instead of quantity pays off cost wise and aesthetically.
3. Open plans where you have minimal interruptions between spaces are cheaper to build and more modern.

janykute:
Moulding blocks in advance is another way of saving costs.Mould your blocks before starting your projects.Some people don't know that a lot of money could be saved by moulding the blocks instead of buying.However endeavour to dig the borehole or well whichever before embarking on the block moulding.

is better to buy blocks that are moulded by machines and not self hand made blocks. The machine blocks are stronger cos they are more compressed than hand made blocks and d difference is not that much.

idris4r83:
is better to buy blocks that are moulded by machines and not self hand made blocks. The machine blocks are stronger cos they are more compressed than hand made blocks and d difference is not that much.

An opposing viewpoint.

1) Making blocks manually is cheaper and the difference when spread over a lot of blocks is commendable. A N50 savings on 10,000 blocks equals N500,000

2) You can guarantee a better quality of blocks and consistency by making your own. How stronger is a block produced by a machine using improper ratio mix compared to a manually produced block made of properly produced mix?

idris4r83:
is better to buy blocks that are moulded by machines and not self hand made blocks. The machine blocks are stronger cos they are more compressed than hand made blocks and d difference is not that much.

bross , i really doubt dis, from experience so far , molding block by onesef is the best and cheapest

vonchulxy:
[/color] bross , i really doubt dis, from experience so far , molding block by onesef is the best and cheapest

Of course it is.

vonchulxy:
[/color] bross , i really doubt dis, from experience so far , molding block by onesef is the best and cheapest

I will agree with you about cheapness but of what use is cheapness without quality? What I came to realize in building houses is that cutting unnecessary corners to save cost has a kind of repercussions on the building. Research has shown that handmade blocks tear more easily and therefore causes cracks on buildings. machine compressed blocks can never be compared to handmade blocks even if they have the same sand cement mix ratio. Machine compact the blocks "wella" cos more pressure is been applied when compressing than hand moulded.

vonchulxy:
[/color] bross , i really doubt dis, from experience so far , molding block by onesef is the best and cheapest

of what use is quantity without quality? Try nailing a wall that is built with hand moulded blocks and then compare it with machine compressed block made wall, experienced biilders will know what am talking about.

idris4r83:
of what use is quantity without quality? Try nailing a wall that is built with hand moulded blocks and then compare it with machine compressed block made wall, experienced biilders will know what am talking about.

it is really a misconception from different people, it i not a rule that the so called machine made blocks in Nigeria are better in strength than the manually made blocks.

hollow sancrete block is required to have a strength of about 3.5N/mm2 but most block produced in Nigeria has lower strength of between 0.5 to 1.0N/mm2 due to the practice of not using right mix ratio of say 1:6, mixing sharp sand with plaster sand in other to make molding easy, poor curing etc.

for economic reason while building a house support the building with concrete column, make you block manually since you can regulate the strength considerably.

sako28:


Sir,
what if u are building in a water log area, can one do soak away first and use the sand to fill foundation?

Thank you.

fill your foundation with laterite soil, since the cut away from a water lodge area contain mostly of clay soil which expand and contract at different temperature and season.

CityNG:


An opposing viewpoint.

1) Making blocks manually is cheaper and the difference when spread over a lot of blocks is commendable. A N50 savings on 10,000 blocks equals N500,000

2) You can guarantee a better quality of blocks and consistency by making your own. How stronger is a block produced by a machine using improper ratio mix compared to a manually produced block made of properly produced mix?

I monitored a block industry close to my site for 2 weeks and realized that some of the blocks were hand made and not machine vibrated. Well I saw them many occasion using hand. Guys, how can one now differiate machine made and hand made from this block industries. I was disappointed because I bought 500 blocks from this place.