Capital247:
@ Mayor u need to add the money you gave to your friend, it is an incidental charge to encourage purchase at low cost while maitaining quality and quick delivery

Thanks for that clarification, I will revise the figure to accommodate that in my next financial update coming soon.
Thanks again @Capital247.

erico2k2:

Damn we are lucky at PH them I did mine for N90 Bore hole plus Pump inclussive.

Your dam too lucky. A friend told me earlier that it cost his about N400K inclusive at Kubwa but the interesting thing to me was that he said it was done under 2hrs with a drilling machine by an Indian company. I am like Waoh!

If only I was able to find one at that price around Onitsha, I wouldn't complain. You are lucky @90K. Welldone

Chukazu:


I did mine @45 tabs per bag.

I saw a lot guys here did between 30-35/bag, and I ask my architect and said 30-35 is OK. But I observe that in some cases they did up to 38/bag I don't know why that. But I observe that on average they did 36/bag going by the number they have achieved so far from the number of cements they used. I will update that later.

PRODUTIM1:
Congrats OP, may ur dead body never be sent home. Am also doing mine and at finishing level. Hoping to move in before Easter by the grace of God.

Amen to this Ultimate Prayer.

Congrats and reserve our Palm wine as you mingle among local friends and families in celebration of your achievements. Surely one of the best Easter, Enjoy it and please share some of your costs with us.
Thanks again

tomdon:
followes

Welcome Tom!

Mayor78:


Amen to this Ultimate Prayer.

Congrats and reserve our Palm wine as you mingle among local friends and families in celebration of your achievements. Surely one of the best Easter, Enjoy it and please share some of your costs with us.
Thanks again

Yeah! I will definitely do that bro!

kenjava20:
for the 9inches block they should be able to get at least 45blocks per bag of cement. while for the 6inches should be around 50blocks per bag of cement. most of the time the reason why the number of 9inches reduces is because of the stress it takes in carrying it and getting it done. but the one your cousin produce would still be strong.

It seems there is wide variations on the number of this block moulding thing. Can other experts please shed more lights, Abdulwastecx if you still dey please!

We started doing 6" per bag. They started with 40 per bag but I told them following information to increase it to 45-48 per bag and the guys said that I would increase their money from N700 to N800 per bag if they have to increase the quantity per bag, I want to believe that they prefer to do less in other to maximise their bag count and as such tell you that you risk loosing blocks during packing as such number will not be solid enough.

Somebody need to help us here as I wouldn't want to increase the load on the house simply because the artisans wants to maximise their outputs. I would prefer to achieve quality with less if it is possible. That's the overall aim anyway. Somebody help please!!

innocent1:
I will really learn a lot on this threand. By His grace I will be staring mine by May this year. This forum will be of help to me.

Good to hear that. You are welcome to ask you question anytime.

southniyikaye:
oga unless you are using stone dust to mix,this is a very wrong mixing ratio

Are you saying that the use or not of cement dust determines the number of blocks? Please expatiate.
Thanks

cmonek:
Cool thread.. @OP, All the best bro.. The thread is really encouraging for me who is yet to start though, VERY SOON... Goodluck bro

Thanks.
Put your self in other immediately and start with block molding. I found that it was really encouraging as quiet moments are spent thinking of what next on the project. That's the draw-in in starting. Guys here are very helpful too. So stop further hesitations and get going please.
Thanks again

princejones:
Mr major you already on point doing well in your management approach and l see the work going very far before you know it,more grace

Thanks Prince, struggling to follow una leads as your encouragements kept me alert.
Thanks my Prince

Ilaje44:


@Mayor78

Data is not all that reliable, and most importantly cheap in Nigeria. Else, Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber would be great choices. I don't know where you live, but I have been using www.rebtel.com for a number of years now. They are not the cheapest, but cheaper than Skype (the paid service) to Nigeria at least, and call quality is better than most other VOIP services. Give it a try.

I just bought the 600mins for 15euro for a trial. It sounds cheap if the call quality is good.
Thanks for the direction, that's the spirit here. Keep it up.

EgunMogaji:


I was going to buy quite a lot of stuff from over here, my shipper here offered me a sweet deacon shipping household stuff and I have the source to get well priced items.

Now that I've discovered two people Senator Ben Bruce with his #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira and Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, Executive Chairman & Founder of the Econet Group. Between these two people I came to realize that I have to be the change that I seek. So I will be buying quite a bit of my stuff in Nigeria but some will still come from here, things like Carbon Dioxide sensor and smoke dectectors, wall switches, etc

Fun times ahead

It makes sense, you can hand-carry those stuffs as they are tiny items. You would be amazed the quality and stuffs you can access in Naij. The market may not be structured by there are surely quality goods and loads of them for that matter if you search well or get a good help. Good to buy at home bruv!

Mayor78:


It makes sense, you can hand-carry those stuffs as they are tiny items. You would be amazed the quality and stuffs you can access in Naij. The market may not be structured by there are surely quality goods and loads of them for that matter if you search well or get a good help. Good to buy at home bruv!

I don't doubt the quality and availability of products at home but I have my own personal and comfortability reasons why some specific stuff MUST come from the US.

In US and her product testing labs I trust. This is not to say that the ones at home are not safe but it's more of a personal preference. I have a 50lb check in as well as a 50n carry on luggage filled strictly with site stuff.

A prayer, "olorun ma je ki aje oun ti abari, oun ti oun wa ni aoti owo bapo mowo lati ra"

EgunMogaji:


I don't doubt the quality and availability of products at home but I have my own personal and comfortability reasons why some specific stuff MUST come from the US.

In US and her product testing labs I trust. This is not to say that the ones at home are not safe but it's more of a personal preference. I have a 50lb check in as well as a 50n carry on luggage filled strictly with site stuff.

A prayer, "olorun ma je ki aje oun ti abari, oun ti oun wa ni aoti owo bapo mowo lati ra"

You can fit in a lot with such luggage allowance, and I trust that you are already packed and ready to go. Since you have that much luggage allowance and nothing else much to carry other than building materials, you will surely be good to go with some of those tiny tiny stuffs as sensor, switches, even door knobs etc as you have the advantage of picking them u easily without having to junket from merchants to merchants. It saves time to have them here if you can. Yeah its true you are more sure of what you get due high quality control standards in the west than you would ordinarily get in Naij. Yeah, it makes sense for sure buying here all things being equal. God will see us through.

Sometimes in life you have brave up and leave the shallow end and dive in @ the deep end.
But until you do, you will never know that it is easier to swim @ the deep end.
KUDOS!

Mayor78:


Are you saying that the use or not of cement dust determines the number of blocks? Please expatiate.
Thanks

stone dust makes your blocks stronger and it reduces the amount of cement you use to mould

Mayor78:


Eric You mean you did 9" solid blocks @30-35 per bag?

Isn't that too heavy to work with?

Nah I did 6"solid @30-35/bag

***sets up camp***

mavverick:
Oga

I very much salute your courage, I was in your shoes a few months ago and whilst the thought could be daunting at first, its the best thing to have ever happened I can tell you that. As previously pointed out, get a smart phone and use whatapp a lot, from here you can even use whatapp web. Allows you to type faster and easier, you also get free calls.

*Very key - you need someone that you can trust on site, to count deliveries (materials, sand anything), ensure your workers are not stealing your materials, get you first hand info on what is happening on site, get you workers/suppliers if necessary. If you can get someone who lives on site or closeby, that would even be better.

* Encourage your workers to have a smartphone etc whith whatapp. You can be keeping tabs on this and track whats happening on site, if its not the way you want it, you can highlight it ASAP. Not so important, if you have a site engineer with whatsapp etc.


Try to go on ground if possible to see yourself, a deadly mistake was averted on my foundation because I was there. No matter how much money you send, some people will always be greedy.

When shopping around for prices, get people to get you the number of like 3 suppliers and then you can compare your own prices.
Try to keep family away from your house builds, limit their involvement.

I dont know how close you are to your family etc, but my own preference is to limit involvement and deal with people only on a professional basis, you cant pick and choose family, but if the relationship is professional you can hire and fire anytime for people who are not performing up to expectation.

Wish you all the best, and remember dont let it stress you too much. Good health is better than riches.

Lastly, watch out for my blog called " BUILDING FROM THE DIASPORA"

Do let us know when the blog is up sir

Mayor78:


Oboy, I don't know of buckets ooo! The supply comes in tipper trips, perhaps that's what guys here call 5 tons I don't know. I dont know of buckets too. In my area in Anambra East, usuall tipper is Bedford and as I said the current cost of sharp sand is N8,500. Somebody here may help with further info or enquire from your suppliers and please share with us here.

Ok that's one bucket.
What I had for 28 was 30tone.
It's cheaper if you get the bigger to age truck

erico2k2:

Ok that's one bucket.
What I had for 28 was 30tone.
It's cheaper if you get the bigger to age truck

OK I want to believe that this is definitely more than three tipper trips, It looks like 3 trips and at N28k its very close to N8,500 we buy per trip.
The sand is clean. Welldone Eric.

Any idea of current price of rods Y16,12,10,and 8?

erico2k2:

Nah I did 6"solid @30-35/bag

Your block will be concrete solid at this rate. I did 9" hole at 30-35/bag

Mayor78:


OK I want to believe that this is definitely more than three tipper trips, It looks like 3 trips and at N28k its very close to N8,500 we buy per trip.
The sand is clean. Welldone Eric.

Any idea of current price of rods Y16,12,10,and 8?



Your block will be concrete solid at this rate. I did 9" hole at 30-35/bag

That's two trips of the so called 30 tone tipper but I know it's 25 tone. And 5 buckets each.
Regard blocks yes very strong afterall it's my personal house.
I won't know the right price of Iron rod atm.but the cost I gt mine are on my page
In other news the rise of the dollar might have made it jump a bit.

Please any builder around Otukpo in Benue, I need an estimate to fence a 2 plot of Land. A friend told me that 2000 blocks would cost me #240,000. Trip of sand #25,000 per trip. cement #1500 per bag. Please help a brother.

@Mayor ordinarily using machine we mould 60 blocks of 6" per bag but using hand mould you can mould 50-55 even 60 if you can supervise them. if you can get this variant of sand - soft sand (Best for plastering), Gum sand ( how to identify this is to take the sand and mould with palm, if it mould after few secs then that is it) then get sharp sand. if they measure with standard wheel-birrow. you could mix 4-2-1 for a bag of cement. the first mix, should be dry mix, then second mix water comes into it(mind u you wet mix after like an average of half-while-birrow) then the third mix is the final mix. with that i can assure you of strong 60 per bag block

Mayor78:


It seems there is wide variations on the number of this block moulding thing. Can other experts please shed more lights, Abdulwastecx if you still dey please!

We started doing 6" per bag. They started with 40 per bag but I told them following information to increase it to 45-48 per bag and the guys said that I would increase their money from N700 to N800 per bag if they have to increase the quantity per bag, I want to believe that they prefer to do less in other to maximise their bag count and as such tell you that you risk loosing blocks during packing as such number will not be solid enough.

Somebody need to help us here as I wouldn't want to increase the load on the house simply because the artisans wants to maximise their outputs. I would prefer to achieve quality with less if it is possible. That's the overall aim anyway. Somebody help please!!

Mayor78:


It seems there is wide variations on the number of this block moulding thing. Can other experts please shed more lights, Abdulwastecx if you still dey please!

We started doing 6" per bag. They started with 40 per bag but I told them following information to increase it to 45-48 per bag and the guys said that I would increase their money from N700 to N800 per bag if they have to increase the quantity per bag, I want to believe that they prefer to do less in other to maximise their bag count and as such tell you that you risk loosing blocks during packing as such number will not be solid enough.

Somebody need to help us here as I wouldn't want to increase the load on the house simply because the artisans wants to maximise their outputs. I would prefer to achieve quality with less if it is possible. That's the overall aim anyway. Somebody help please!!

Good question sir. Hand mould block lacks proper compaction and I believe 45 per bag for 6'' hollow block is OK.

The mix should be purely very sharp and and cement in areas where stone dust is very expensive, in Abuja and it's environs where stone dust is as cheap as sand, stone dust is preferable.

Some people make a costly mistake of mixing plaster sand with sharp sand For block moulding in other to save cost of cement but the truth is plaster or any silt reduce the strength of block.

I think you should also increase their money

Uberness:
Sometimes in life you have brave up and leave the shallow end and dive in @ the deep end.
But until you do, you will never know that it is easier to swim @ the deep end.
KUDOS!

True talk @Uberness, nothing ventured nothing gained. One of the slogans advertising Euro Million lottery is "You need to be in it to win it". Being in it simply means clearly risking loss of hard earned money by staking. Unfortunately that's the only action to have any chance of winning.
It's often worth it to brave up and take the first steps because at the end you either realize your objective or improve your learning curve.
Thanks for the thought.

abdulwastecx:


Good question sir. Hand mould block lacks proper compaction and I believe 45 per bag for 6'' hollow block is OK.

The mix should be purely very sharp and and cement in areas where stone dust is very expensive, in Abuja and it's environs where stone dust is as cheap as sand, stone dust is preferable.

Some people make a costly mistake of mixing plaster sand with sharp sand For block moulding in other to save cost of cement but the truth is plaster or any silt reduce the strength of block.

I think you should also increase their money

Yeah, at the moment they are doing 40-45 6" blocks per bag of cement.
Why do I need to increase their money Abdul when the bag of cement remains the same?

Meanwhile thank you for your details explanations interpretation of 31-Y1205-200 c/c B and 23-y1206-200 c/c T.

It was hectic getting a local man to acquaint self with the use and basic technical features of smartphone. But it has to be done and with help from other more streetwise locals my cousin was able to get around using one especially pictures, whatsapp and its call feature.

Here are some of the pics from the site showing blocks already on ground

I have been informed this evening that they have reached water table of the borehole at about 100feet, how they measure that is beyond my knowledge. They are demanding N65-75K for the Sumo. Any ideas about the price and reliable brand to buy please share. He is the borehole at infancy and near maturity.

And without the borehole we may have to access our water for domestic shores from the stream below, which I must confess has served for generations as the major source of drinking water for my town. Indeed many would still prefer the stream as source of drinking water but even though I grew up with this stream as one of the sources both during rainy and dry season, I doubt if my current immunity can withstand its impurities. Not with minimal level of stomach microflorva the result of living in germs obsessed environment.

Well welcome to the golden stream known to have NEVER gone dry at least in the last 100years. If this stream was to exist in the UK, it could have been designated a special stream with a tag 'Heritage Site' please keep off. Then momuments of nature tourist will be flocking their for site seeing and photographs.

But no, the stream is in Anambra East LGA of Anambra State in South Eastern Nigeria where I doubt the local council ever knew it exist, talkless of its significance. Nigeria I hail thee.

I forgot to mention that even though the borehole is near completion, that the initial group that I bargained with and who commenced the job were not the group completing the job.

After collecting N10,000 the second day after resuming the job, they left and didnt turn up again. They initially requested that I give them N70,000 out of the N200,000 we agreed in that second day, but I told my cousin not to release more than N10K untill the get to a reasonable depth. Again I instructed that before any money should be release to them that I must see the bore hole in picture and the estimated depth gone.

I reckon that if I had released the 70k the boys could have vanished leaving me teary and dry. Oloshi!

The current group are not Calabar's but Hausa men from Jos. They are hardworking didnt demand a dime of the agreed N210,000 untill recently when they demanded N20K to stock their food stuff. Good guys, yet unaware that I would be compensating them beyond the N210K agreed. I'm just happy that they tackled the job with all humility and sense of purpose and now found water at last.

I have to thank some nairalander's who encouraged me to consider permanent source of water for the site. That advice seems to have worked out at last and without breaking bank. Thanks guys. Please whenever I say guys, I mean both men and women. Before you turn me to Djokovic.