jam04:


Thought you said you are doing raft foundation?

We poured the ground beam (raft) on Day 8 - 18/12/2013

Day 18 - Lintels and Columns (28/12/13)

The Cotonou Boys did justice to the formwork and reinforcement for the lintels and columns. Here are few pix from today's work.

More pix

And...

B is for Brabus; B is for boomerang
They throw you away but you keep coming back
Nice to read you've dealt with your clients fairly
I am watching closely n Qc-1's project
Nice job so far
Well done

lawali: I believe this is the best time to sneak into the class after watching (reading) all drama through the window. Men, chairs and tables have been flying around. I can only assume that Brabus has same problem just like me. There is time to say NO and stay within your limit/boundary rather than rubbish yourself. Over the weekend, my wife reminded me how I managed construction of my 1st house. I allowed friends, workers and suppliers get away with many things (poor quality & high price), I could see them but kept mute, just because I don't want to cut relationship. I later learnt business is not meant to done as such. My sincere advice to Brabus is set your boundaries for your project and come rain or shine, ensure you do not go out of it. At the stage you are now, you should stop jumping on available jobs rather finish one well and let clients refer you based on quality job done. Learn from Spyder's experience. Money and jobs do not come easy. Fumbling on available ones is not acceptable to anyone. Kindly resolve your current problems and move on. Please let's hear happy ending on Qc-1 project. Wish you well.

Oga/madam lawali, thanks very much for your comments. I as well have been watching the flying chairs and tables from the window so as not get get hit by a flying chair or table. Your advice to brabus was extracted right out of mind. He is no doubt an experience builder, that would always get jobs. never will he lack calls from potential client(In jesus name), but oga brabus, if negotiations between you and clients doesn't favour you, do not further ooo, and also a quote that had been submitted more that 2months before, must be reviewed/re-submitted before commencing work, because I am sure that one of the two reasons had put you is this situation, might not particularly be with this client, but some1 else that will have now spread into the Job of this client. Anyway my brother i feel your pain. and wish you all the best as I consider this situation as a turning point for you and your team of excellent workers

^^^ Thank you!

Now, let's talk real problem. The pix below illustrate a major challenge on my site that I'm currently working on. It's no joke and we need to do the needful now unless we want to build another leaning Tower of Pisa.

Brabus NG: APOLOGIES

While not shying away from the issues and problems on ground, I will like to apologize one again to everyone for falling short of your expectation on the chateau and other projects. I'll be back on this thread again to share the good news that all issues have been resolved.

Madam Gabby, DUNKA, esoorita, daroseconcept, Hajji, Neophyte-Mason, vimo3, love-tosin, dayoagboola, lawyer, gtrust, jaydacorsia, spyder880, diordavies, sagewood, kuntash, kopell, olubuffet, blank, blink32, seun, deebabe, Qc-1, segcy.moor, chekitaut, aventures, junapril, sandee575, helpee, ahonohia, TBrownauto, Demain-man, whitecat007, benimegou, oseun001, Jamesqu, Fhemmmy, rotecch77, borisgbenga, Wede3, Jussi, floridarcar, Degis, amicdan, Ricky_olu, eghosa_johnny, Timmi, orepe, Farm+, goride1, defashan, akeweje, raqueal, oilsubsidy, kolamilan, onuokwu and all other silent readers.

I'm very sorry.

Brabus, I'm indeed very embarrassed that I'm on the list of the people to whom you tendered apology. Brabus, you didn't owe me or indeed all the people you listed any apology because we are just by-standers, the only people you owed apology are your aggrieved clients and as long as you've settled and come good with them chikena. I as a person has got nothing against you because you strike me as a well educated and intelligent young man who has the world as his oyster and that is the more reason I'm at a loss as to why you keep making the same mistake the umpteenth time. You should sit back and rethink your strategy about giving quotes that can stand on it's feet for any project you are undertaking because you owe it to yourself to be adequately rewarded financially whenever you execute a project rather than going through stress due to giving extremely low quote in order to secure the job. There is no contesting the fact of the quality of your job but you should adequately address the issue of giving the right quote for jobs so that the outcome will be acceptable to you and your clients. I wish you good luck in your current project.

Day 19 - Lintels and Columns Poured (29/12/13)

Brabus NG:

Now, let's talk real problem. The pix below illustrate a major challenge on my site that I'm currently working on.
It's no joke and we need to do the needful now unless we want to build another leaning Tower of Pisa.

Now that we are all back on topic.
So, Oga Brabus.. what is the fix for this type of water situation?

Hajji Mufutau

Hajji, I'll be back to share my proposed solution to the problem later this evening. Meanwhile, this is open discussion. I'll like to hear from other experts in the house for suggested fix. It's a good thing to share!

Just in

Marine boards for the first floor slab formwork have been delivered to site.
Come 2014, we intend to make building cheaper and easier for our clients by reducing cost spent on woods. The marine plywood for this project was rented. At NextHome, we are already preparing ready-made forms/templates for the parapet, columns and lintels (precast).

Adding finesse

@Brabus you have not show us from your picture illustration the first thing you did to stop or absorb the under ground water, or stop it of getting into the bottom of the foundation. Can you pls tell us what you did in that regard. I mean, when getting to mud water at the bottom of the ground when digging the foundation, before those raft casting.

Sorry for the late response. The body needs a very good rest.

While we were staking out the lot as seen in the pix earlier uploaded on the thread, we never had so much water on the land. Nature has been doing its part in filling it up! In actual fact, we used most of the water ponding around the foundation to soak the filling sand and the foundation was very dry.

Where's the water coming from? - The Source

Before we begin to find solution, we decided to do the first and most important thing - identify the source. Shocking! The land has been filling up a lot more quickly than we imagine from the surrounding land which has also been draining through the top metre of porous soil.

Pics of the land - before we fill the foundation with earth

My Fix 1

One of the main problem with this plot is the slope. The land slopes toward the house and surface water ponds near the foundation wall. I intend to construct a V-ditch around the house (especially on the sloping side) to allow surface drainage from both the foundation wall and the other yard areas to a storm drain further downhill.

This fix applies to plots where the front street is higher than the land/foundation or when the house is built on the side of a hill.

It's Monday morning! - Day 20

I planned to implement 3 fix, one of which I've just discussed. I'll share other fixes as soon as I tidy up today's work schedule. The team needs me now. Have a fun filled week!

In the meantime, here is my suggested fix to the future owner of the next plot. I also live on water and a sloping site (more than 6ft below the main road level) though we did some earthwork in other to make the house sit properly. So, whatever fix I'm sharing here are based on tested and proven solutions.

Just Pix

Water Problem: Another source found

Waste water drain pipe from the neighbours was directed into the plot and buried underground. The underground drain leading water away from the neighbours building does not have sufficient slope to carry water away because the street is higher than their land. As a result, they choose to empty their waste water in our plot.

The Fix

We intend to introduce a perimeter drain immediately after the final backfilling of the house to redirect all waste waters away from the house.

Brabus NG,

I don't know you personally but I applaud your level headedness to jettison pride and apologize to those of us that believed in you and your work.

Brabus,

Why don't you just tell the neighbour to take is pipe off and fix the problem.

Degis: Brabus NG,

I don't know you personally but I appluad your level headedness to jettison pride and apologize to those of us that believed in you and your work.

Bros, you all deserve the apology because I failed on my part. The two clients complaining on this thread have given me over N70m in a single year. They deserve better. They are my biggest loss in 2013.

I've already tidied up the next projects with them before the saga. So, it's a very painful loss to me.

olubuffett: Brabus,

Why don't you just tell the neighbour to take is pipe off and fix the problem.

The neighbour cannot afford that at the moment. So, we are fixing it for him.

Oga brabus this is new dawn,keep it up,may God be with you and all the followers of thread

Brabus NG:

The neighbour cannot afford that at the moment. So, we are fixing it for him.

When it comes to things like this I am very notorious, given that the neighbors did not even tell you this until you find it yourself;
I would re-routed the pipes back to his own house, something like a U-Turn. I am sure what he did was illegal anyway. You guys are good..

Hajji Mufutau

The bungalow pictured above, why is it sitting on a stilt foundation ? Is this safe ? or is it because its just ground floor only ?

Also, if a plot is away from a major mainroad lets say 1KM away, and there is a side street leading onto the plot from the highway, which road level will you use ? The highway or that of the side street ?

Brabus NG:

The neighbour cannot afford that at the moment. So, we are fixing it for him.

Dont understand this, if the neighbour is causing nuisance, why not just redirect the pipe back into his plot ?
People shouldnt be allowed to get away with, I cannot afford to fix it, clearly the neighbour is passing his own problem to another person.