These simple tips and many others that will be shared here by successful homeowners are meant to help your building project run well and ensure you know how to build a quality house.

1. Plan well, thinking about how the build will work for you now and in the future (and for future owners).

But How? Read on..

2. Understand the nittygritties of constructing a house. Get acquainted with the building stages so you can prepare ahead, know what's happening next, understand timeframes, be aware of the dependencies and meet your obligations as quick as possible. Take some time to get your design finalised. Do not rush! Some times, it may take up to two - three months to finalise on the plan based on your choices. Give the build another six months or more and watch every stage of work.

What do I need to understand? Read on..

Get familiar with few basic factors like the color of your wall, location of the mirror, window and doors. Let the architect show you on paper and probably demonstrate the sizes in a room. Resolve the following on paper and model drawings:

1. Furniture placement in various rooms
2. Accessories placement in kitchen and bathroom
3. Color choice for paints on different rooms
4. Color choice of the Blinds/Curtains and choice of materials for different rooms and exteriors wall color.
5. Arrangement of electrical/electronic appliances like inverters, washing machine, microwave in proper places. Most people leave the architects or the artisans to decide this for them.
6. Choice of plants to be put inside or outside your home and plants to be avoided in the building. Standard building plan ought to show all this details.
7. Many more as you deem fit.

Now that you've decided what's best for you on paper and have worked with your architect in ensuring this is done to your taste and budget. What's next?

3. Contact your local planning authority to obtain a planning permission and approval for your new build. They have a lot of information that can help you build it right especially on issues of setbacks, right of way, height restrictions, and a lot more information about the area you want to build.

This might also be the right time to conduct a physical investigation of the proposed site with your builder, architect and a soil scientist to determine the best type of foundation for your build based on experience, design and scientific approach.

You don't wanna assume at this point! Neither do you want to walk alone from this point.

4. Budget well! Be mindful of what should be quality upfront and areas where you can make do with cheaper alternatives. Be practical by allowing for changes and increased costs, which is inevitable in Nigeria context. Most people miss this part and stick to a budget that's not only realistic but very harmful to the project.

Be clear about your budget with your design professional (check and pick tiles, Windows, doors and everything you need based on room configuration, know their prices and work with the figures). You may need to do the same for all materials and fixtures that will make up the new house. More importantly, consider using a Professional quantity surveyor to help you determine costs.
If you're working with a builder, Avoid Guess-timates, get more than one quote. Be sure to identify exactly what the job will entail.

Remember, never walk alone.

"No bottom to how cheap you can build"

A home can be built with no supports, too small of a foundation, no building plan, no special windows. It can be built on solid rock, unstable soil or on water (as they do in Makoko slum).

Develop a budget, but be careful not to make it too low. Essentially, do not get too caught up in how to make your home cheaper stay focused on how to make you home a good investment.

5. Don't make assumptions. Ask questions if you have them. Write down responses, to help everyone remember.

Be detailed!

Almost everyone want to have an idea of average build cost of their new home. But is that really possible without full information?

NO!

Guess-timate is a terrible way to budget for a home, because there are so many variables involved that the contractor may overlook or simply ignore.

Here are your cost determinants:

- Are you using top-of-the-line cabinets and appliances for your kitchen, or will mid-range or maybe standard ones do?
- Are you planning to paint the house with cheap emulsion paint or expensive stone tiles?
- How big is 'BIG' enough?
- How many floors do you want?
- What kind of shape are you building? Is it a rectangular house that minimize the materials and the labor required, or unusual shapes like octagons or trapezoid?
- What sort of flooring?
- What sort of ground are you building? Is it murky sand, hilly site, gentle slope or steep slope?

These are few pointers that can help you make rough cost calculations.

Interview at least three contractors and check their references.
Once you've found someone you like and trust, take your preliminary budget and work backwards, including the must-haves and
eliminate the nice-to-haves as money allows.

Always set aside at least 10% to 20% of the total project cost to cover last-minute changes, delays and other problems you can't foresee.


Architects and Builders aren't "Mind Readers"

6. Involve the Right People and Be Involved

Involve the right people for your project, so that you get the right results. Some tasks might be simple and others might require you to use licensed building professionals or qualified specialists.
Decide who will be the project manager, whether it's You (the homeowner), builder, architect or maybe someone experienced in construction will be dedicated to the role (the size of your project will probably determine how much work is involved and how much experience is required). The right person will keep the project running, coordinate subcontractors, keep up with requirements and stick to the budget.

Unless you're a Politician with too much money, the best person for the role of Project Management is You.

7. Keep good records on site, somewhere safe and accessible to everyone (plans, specification documents, manual, building plan, record of work with dates). You could also keep a brief build diary to note key dates and deliveries.

You'll need this to keep tab on progresses made. This helps you to make firm decision to slow down when you're running too fast or buckle up when you're working against time.

8. Do-It-Yourself but Build-It-Right!

We all want good structures at a great savings but...

Nowadays, almost everyone claims to be an expert in house construction and people are ready to accept opinion of any one as “ expert” opinion even if he's a specialist in one the so-many aspects of building!

I've read on the internet many articles where 'experts' are sharing tips and design methods on how to build a low-cost houses. When I read all these 'too-good-to-be-true' articles, I keep wondering what the true definition of low-cost is.

Could low-cost mean cost saving on material or reduced labour/overhead? I've seen so many articles recommending saving on materials cost at the expense of increasing labour. 'Low cost indeed".

What's is low cost construction?

Low cost construction is the use of appropriate design and carefully selected materials and labour (with professional guidance) with the aim of bringing down cost of construction and cutting down excesses which is a major cost of increase.

It isn't the use of 1 bag of cement to produce 50 bricks. Neither is it, the use of 8mm instead of 16mm.

Be Guided!

Wow so nice tips you've got here and will be very very helpful to all those who are currently thinking of going into the construction of their dream houses and those of us who in the nearest future will get ours done

Nairalanders if you feel this recipe is good enough for a standard building project click like

Good tips

Just follow the rules

[color=#990000][/color]quite nice[i]quite nice[/i]quite nice

Thanks.

Good

adding to my memory for my future project. good morning op and thanos

Nice.
Insist on good materials, whenever substandard are used, it cost twice to re fix.

Op.. Godbless You.

A

I am here to learn oo

omowolewa:
Nice.
Insist on good materials, whenever substandard are used, it cost twice to re fix.

Nice one omowolewa.

To add to this I'll say people should be mindful of how ORDERING AND DELIVERY OF MATERIALS are managed on site.

I used to have the feeling that timely procurement of materials would aid completion date but now I know that a late delivery, and incomplete load, damaged materials can dramatically slow the building cycle costing not only time but money.

Success Tips:

1. Always have supplies delivered a day early to the site.
2. Check the delivery for accuracy and compliance.
3. For a small project, work with a smaller company. Forget the big names! The newbies suppliers are still searching for clients and would likely want to impress you.

is this good recipe for building success or for building a house?

Misleading.

ChinonsoDike2:
Misleading.

Sorry about that. I wanted to make a correction to the heading but I couldn't edit the topic again.

Aspireahead:
is this good recipe for building success or for building a house?

It should read GOOD RECIPE FOR BUILDING YOUR OWN HOUSE

cc: mynd44

9. Put your ideas together, separating out the must-haves and nice-to-haves, so that you can think about priorities, budget and timing. You can also get some idea of cost from designers or builders and others who have successfully completed their projects, so that you know whether it’s a realistic project.

10. The location of your land, and the position of the building can also have a big impact on your project. You need to think about the finished building and how it needs to sit in relation to:

1. sun (most people ended up abandoning their rooms because of heat from the sun due to placement of the room in relation to where the sun rise and sets each day)
2. wind
3. water, electricity and other services
boundaries (a check with the town planning authority won't be a bad idea)
4. neighbours
5. access onto and around the site
6. any hills or slopes (and how they might affect your building)
7. existing features on the land that you want to retain (trees, valley, hillysides, water features etc)

These are sure success recipe for building a house.

11. As you pull your ideas together for your building project, think again about what you can afford and how you will pay for it.

12. DON'T OVERBUILD!

There will be many things that you think you are "supposed to have" as a successful professional that are really just a waste of money and space, try to fight that and use the money elsewhere.
We all wanted to have a gym, an home office, an ante room, a porch, a library, prayer room, men's room, bar and other suites to show friend and families our status have changed. That I consider duplicity and lack of creativity because we really don't need them.

Always value your location and ample space in the compound over the actual house itself.


Pic: A simple bungalow design by a Nairaland Architect

Nice, better than snake thread