There's this man who is overseeing my project, a 3brdroom building. It is of moderate size, all the rooms are en-suite. I recently released 1m naira to him after the roofing, all he could do were; plastering, plumbing works+ soak away, electrical works and burglary proof. Pls note that he didn't fit heaters @ the bathroom. I was baffled when he called me to informed me that the carpenter that'll fit the door keys which I bought and paid for it to be put in place separately will be collecting 1500naira per door, I felt that should be part of the workmanship I paid for fitting the doors but he said that its different. I used to trust this man because he's being the 1 monitoring the project for me but am becoming sceptical abt him now. He said ab initio that 1m naira will cover casement aluminium windows, in addition to the above works and I'll only be left with tiles. Now, he said that I have to send money for the casement aluminium windows which will cost me abt 280k in total.
I want the experienced builders in the house to pls help me look into this, am I being reaped off? The building is somewhere around abeokuta.

Its just best to find time to oversee your project yourself coz any one given a contract would desperately want yo make his life out of your own sweat.

Pampers:
Its just best to find time to oversee your project yourself coz any one given a contract would desperately want yo make his life out of your own sweat.

You are right sir but it mayn't be feasible to monitor it myself cos am nt staying close to abeokuta.

May be u shld av been releasing the money jn bits so dat he specifies wat he achieves wt whatever amount given. Releasing a bulk of 1m gives d contractor d impression that u are loaded

drkay:
There's this man who is overseeing my project, a 3brdroom building. It is of moderate size, all the rooms are en-suite. I recently released 1m naira to him after the roofing, all he could do were; plastering, plumbing works+ soak away, electrical works and burglary proof. Pls note that he didn't fit heaters @ the bathroom. I was baffled when he called me to informed me that the carpenter that'll fit the door keys which I bought and paid for it to be put in place separately will be collecting 1500naira per door, I felt that should be part of the workmanship I paid for fitting the doors but he said that its different. I used to trust this man because he's being the 1 monitoring the project for me but am becoming sceptical abt him now. He said ab initio that 1m naira will cover casement aluminium windows, in addition to the above works and I'll only be left with tiles. Now, he said that I have to send money for the casement aluminium windows which will cost me abt 280k in total.
I want the experienced builders in the house to pls help me look into this, am I being reaped off? The building is somewhere around abeokuta.

The expensive part of building is the finishing. That money is not too much for the work he did.
1. Plastering of the whole house
2. Plumbing
3. Soak-aways
4. Electrical Works (what especially, wires or just conduit pipes?)
5. Burglary Proof (how many windows and sizes?)

How big in size is the building?
How many windows an their sizes? What kind of Aluminum; local or imported? Casement windows is expensive than sliding.
The door fixing at N1500 is not bad at all, and that should be with keys. (I paid N2000 for fitting doors & keys)

Next time pay him bits for any segment of work. Request estimates/quotations for each job and inquire before doing it, that is what I do.

Hajji M.

mufutau55:


The expensive part of building is the finishing. That money is not too much for the work he did.
1. Plastering of the whole house
2. Plumbing
3. Soak-aways
4. Electrical Works (what especially, wires or just conduit pipes?)
5. Burglary Proof (how many windows and sizes?)

How big in size is the building?
How many windows an their sizes? What kind of Aluminum; local or imported? Casement windows is expensive than sliding.
The door fixing at N1500 is not bad at all, and that should be with keys. (I paid N2000 for fitting doors & keys)

Next time pay him bits for any segment of work. Request estimates/quotations for each job and inquire before doing it, that is what I do.

Hajji M.

Thank you sir, I don't know the precise size of the building off hand. He convinced me to do surface electrical wiring because of the consequences of conduit later. As for the windows; 5x4=7, 4x4=2, 2x2=4, 7x4=2. We are planning to do it locally. I showed him a pictorial sample of what I what(I actually saw it on nairaland). He said its better than those chinese made. One thing about this man is that he sees me as a novice. I told him to hold on to the burglary proof and do the windows first bt he wudn't listen.

drkay:

Thank you sir, I don't know the precise size of the building off hand. He convinced me to do surface electrical wiring because of the consequences of conduit later. As for the windows; 5x4=7, 4x4=2, 2x2=4, 7x4=2. We are planning to do it locally. I showed him a pictorial sample of what I what(I actually saw it on nairaland). He said its better than those chinese made. One thing about this man is that he sees me as a novice. I told him to hold on to the burglary proof and do the windows first bt he wudn't listen.

NO.. No... Surface electrical wiring? Nobody does that anymore unless cost is an issue... (Now I believe he knows nothing).
Can you post the sample windows? I can gather the cost for those windows for you later, if you so want.
Even though he said the local windows is better, unless he is using aluminum like TOWER, then he might have used imported aluminum for you and you won't know the difference since you never see it anyway. Make sure they use TOWER aluminum, that is what I mean by local.
If he sees you as a novice, then prove him wrong with the knowledge and stuffs you have been learning here on Nairaland.
If you need a job done, look for a reputable contractor for that particular work here on Nairaland, let him go to the site for estimate
the cost and let you know and bargain with him, then send him to the site and let your person just handle the money, because then you will know the exact cost for the work.
You are right, best thing to do is the windows first before the burglary.. (If you do burglary first, you will go thru hell to install the windows properly).
And who is this man and your relationship? Is this your older or younger brother, family member are the worst to handle your project for you, and believe me I have various personal experience. I trusted some known friends and some friends here on Nairaland than my own family members.
Good luck... and if you need any other info, people will surely help you here... you just need to give the thread few days for awareness.

Hajji M.

mufutau55:


NO.. No... Surface electrical wiring? Nobody does that anymore unless cost is an issue... (Now I believe he knows nothing).
Can you post the sample windows? I can gather the cost for those windows for you later, if you so want.
Even though he said the local windows is better, unless he is using aluminum like TOWER, then he might have used imported aluminum for you and you won't know the difference since you never see it anyway. Make sure they use TOWER aluminum, that is what I mean by local.
If he sees you as a novice, then prove him wrong with the knowledge and stuffs you have been learning here on Nairaland.
If you need a job done, look for a reputable contractor for that particular work here on Nairaland, let him go to the site for estimate
the cost and let you know and bargain with him, then send him to the site and let your person just handle the money, because then you will know the exact cost for the work.
You are right, best thing to do is the windows first before the burglary.. (If you do burglary first, you will go thru hell to install the windows properly).
And who is this man and your relationship? Is this your older or younger brother, family member are the worst to handle your project for you, and believe me I have various personal experience. I trusted some known friends and some friends here on Nairaland than my own family members.
Good luck... and if you need any other info, people will surely help you here... you just need to give the thread few days for awareness.

Hajji M.

The man is actually our family friend, he was my mums colleague at work before she retired, he lives close to the site. I appreciate your advice sir, I will take to them. I'll find time to handle the aluminium window works and tiling by myself.

drkay:

The man is actually our family friend, he was my mums colleague at work before she retired, he lives close to the site. I appreciate your advice sir, I will take to them. I'll find time to handle the aluminium window works and tiling by myself.

I have told people close to me that the easiest way to cheat on a project is at the carcass stage because cement and other materials can be stolen but at finishing, it is difficult to cheat somebody because you can easily get several quotations for any of the tasks you want to do and you do a comparison and choose the best. When i was to do my roofing with step tiles, i got 5 quotes for it and i then chose the best. That best was not necessary the lowest and it was also not the highest.

Pampers:
Its just best to find time to oversee your project yourself coz any one given a contract would desperately want yo make his life out of your own sweat.

Hmmn. Have you thought otherwise.
Don't they have contract agreement sign and sealed. How can you just released money without clearly stated the purpose. ....that sounds ridiculous

segcymoor:

Hmmn. Have you thought otherwise.
Don't they have contract agreement sign and sealed. How can you just released money within clearly stated the purpose. ....that sounds ridiculous

That depends on the credibility of the Contractor. Even with agreement or contract signed, some Contractors are not up to par.
With the legal system in Nigeria, all they need to do is bribe their way out, and you will be left in limbo.
That is why my tag says "Choose your Contractor carefully and wisely".

Hajji M.

Men I don't think the man is that bad for what he as done for 1 million, like hajji had say your family's are your worst enemy when it's comes to building house in Naija. This is another trick I will advise you to do, get someone that as nothing to do with all the parties involved pay him little money to get you daily progress picture report thru whatsApp on the site. You could buy him recharged card which cost N1000 or less weekly, with this you see for yourself what your money is used for on daily.

With all what he did with the one million naira. You should count yourself lucky

kopell:
Men I don't think the man is that bad for what he as done for 1 million, like hajji had say your family's are your worst enemy when it's comes to building house in Naija. This is another trick I will advise you to do, get someone that as nothing to do with all the parties involved pay him little money to get you daily progress picture report thru whatsApp on the site. You could buy him recharged card which cost N1000 or less weekly, with this you see for yourself what your money is used for on daily.

Very nice suggestion, Dr. Kopell. I like the suggested idea of the Whatsapp.

Hajji Mufutau

Thanks to everybody for your contribution. Av gained one so many things from ur advice.