Hi Everyone! We're building again and this construction journal serves as a record of the daily activity associated with the new project we're doing. The journal will be accessible to all interested parties (suppliers, subcontractors, decorators, architects, builders, prospective home owners and many others) but particularly useful to the owners of these beautiful project. The thread will serve as a record describing who was on site, what was done, problems that arose and progress made daily. Please feel free to post comments or questions to this thread.

So here we go again, bookmark or follow this thread to find out how it goes and I do hope this inspires you to get out and just do it.

Pics: As built pictures

The House

We're building 2 units of 4-bedroom fully detached single family house including 2-bedroom maid's quarters for each house in one of the fastest growing estate on the Lekki/Epe express corridor.

The Design

I love designing homes, so this was a great opportunity. We (myself and the home owners) took the layout principles we liked and worked tirelessly to make them work. We were able to wound up a functional design - spacious kitchen, more windows, large rooms, good flow and air circulation, more storage, and a really cool staircase. It's great working together with home owners.

Pics:

1. Rear Elevation
2. Front Elevation
3. Right Elevation

Today, I finalized the construction contract for this project which means there's no turning back. We've signed off on the final plans, material lists, work schedule, and of course - the price. In the next few hours I'll be appending my signature on the contract document.

The project begins tomorrow with the Preliminary works.

Watch this space for the work schedules.

From Paper to Brick will attempt to be a guide for home owners looking to do exactly what my clients are doing: build a great, affordable home with no prior experience.

Subscribing...

Me too.......

@ Brabus,

Congrats on this job/ construction process.
Please try and include what items (template) were included in the contract
and how you arrived at the quality of materials to be used and the finishings.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL: TIME TO START BUILDING

Before we commence work, I think it's fair to have Pre-construction meeting on site to explain the project plan in detail, access site for safety and security concerns so we can reduce inconveniences or losses in the construction. Loss in this case is not limited to materials, but time is of essence. I'll be meeting with stakeholders, supervisors and everyone working on this project to discuss salient issues.

Other things we'll be doing today includes:

1. Storage: where materials will be delivered and stored?
2. How rubbish is dealt with?
3. Providing accommodation for the site workers.
4. Dealing with factors that might cause the project to be delayed - Water

When beginning a construction project, it is important to take great care in properly setting up the foundation. The success of the project, whether it is a large house or small shop, relies heavily on the care and effort that has been put into the site preparation and layout. Today's meeting was fruitful.

We were able to secure accommodation for our workers, get a store to keep materials (temporarily), stake out the lot and and meet the big guys in the estate.

Why stake out the lot?

The reasons for doing this are twofold: economics and aesthetics. It costs money to clear the construction site (in fact, one Mr. Aboki Malam was charging me N15,000 to clear the 1350 sqm parcel of land). Since we know in advance what needs to be done, we decided to save some time and money by marking out the actual area we need to clear.

Also, we don't want to remove more trees than necessary and save the trees that don't really need to come down.

The Neighbourhood: One visit to this neighborhood and you'll agree, the community has a lot to offer.

Here are couple of still photos from the construction site:

1. The Land
2. Construction Works
3. Materials

Sagewood: @ Brabus,

Congrats on this job/ construction process.
Please try and include what items (template) were included in the contract
and how you arrived at the quality of materials to be used and the finishings.

Thanks so much sir. The contract for now is to supervise and provide labour to deliver the shell (foundation to roofing) of 2 units of 4-Bedroom fully detached duplex and 2 units of 2 Bedroom Maids quarters.

Of course, there's Specification document, Statement of Work (SOW) document and Project Schedule which are all attachments to the Contract Document.

I love the question asked here. As much as we get impatient–wanting to get past the small stuff (that really matters) to the big thing of having to see the house growing, it is very imperative to do a constant check on the small stuffs to avoid conflicts and issues.

I don't think we rushed things. We took our time to cross the t's and dot the i's.

It has been 1 day since this project has begun.

OUR DESIGN PASSED THE TESTS

Having met all requirements and received letter of compliance, we got the letter of authority to start construction.

Strict compliance and adherence to industry standard is of paramount importance to us and the estate managers.

We submitted the full set of Architectural drawings, Structural drawings and the M&E to the estate consultants on each aspect.
Our design were checked for comformity, functionality and safety.

We now have an approved construction documents and specs which gives me a shiver and thrill - we're gonna deliver this structure!

We are close to ground breaking. At that stage, we’ll have lots of photos to share of the construction progress.  In the mean time, here are a couple of screen grabs from the site.

More view

Congratulations my man, I know you will deliver this project, looking forward to seeing more action as the work starts

Go on buddy... we are with you in the spirit & also physically on NL. You've done it before, you'll surely do it again. God bless Nigeria.

Subcribing...Good luck on the project

In the past few days, we’ve begin construction–and now there's physical or say con­crete evi­dence of all the hours of prep work we’ve put in in the past months.. Thanks today to our guy at MagicTouch Studio, who has given us a new look.

We're casting the ground beam today.

Pic Update

More Pic

And more

Pictures live from the construction site

1. Concrete work in progress
2. Filling sand coming in

Another good educative post, can you please share the nature of the terrain and also who is supplying materials ? Is it the client ?

If I may also ask, is this a private or government estate and was the area water logged ?

Thanks.

Live from construction site.

baba_eko: Another good educative post, can you please share the nature of the terrain and also who is supplying materials ? Is it the client ?

If I may also ask, is this a private or government estate and was the area water logged ?

Thanks.

Baba Eko, this is a private project and as can be seen the area isn't water logged.

Materials? We're doing that for the clients to meet up schedule. The project is meant to reach substantial completion stage by Dec. 15

That means the house should be roofed before Christmas.

Now it’s get­ting exciting. It’s start­ing to feel like the house we’ve been imag­in­ing, with the foundation walls that show the out­lines of the rooms as laid out on the land and a gen­eral phys­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the house that will soon become a home.


Building a house is won­der­ful as you watch it become real.

Casting of unit 2 on my mind!

What we've done!

brabus: In the past few days, we’ve begin construction–and now there's physical or say con­crete evi­dence of all the hours of prep work we’ve put in in the past months.. Thanks today to our guy at MagicTouch Studio, who has given us a new look.

We're casting the ground beam today.

Congrats, my man. I just stumbled on this thread.

Its nice working with you(though I never had an idea that you were the one I talked to on phone, until I saw my design on this thread)

Please note, its now officially www.masterstouchstudios..com and not magic touch studios.

Goodluck and speedy delivery on your project.

We stand behind our work.

Site signboard erected.

Main Contractor: NextHome Builders
Architecture and 3D Rendering: Masters Touch Studio
Client: Nairaland Friends
Substantial Completion Date: December 2012

ihebrooke:


Congrats, my man. I just stumbled on this thread.

Its nice working with you(though I never had an idea that you were the one I talked to on phone, until I saw my design on this thread)

Please note, its now officially www.masterstouchstudios..com and not magic touch studios.

Goodluck and speedy delivery on your project.

Thanks ihebrooke. You haven't failed me. In fact, my clients claim you are the best.

The Man Behind the Scene

Blogging is my life and Construction, my passion. The two process doesn’t always bring out the best in us. However, I do believe that research and open communication between owners and the contractors is the key to not get­ting ripped off or taken advan­tage of. My ratio­nale is that know­ing as much as pos­si­ble about architect’s work­ing ways, what builders do, how real­tors work and what the laws are con­cern­ing real estate and con­struc­tion will keep clients safe from preda­tory design­ers, builders, real­tors and lawyers.


Have a great weekend!


Greetings to all my friends especially my clients in Ile-Oluji. Happy Ile-Oluji Day!!!