About N5.1m spent so far, bulk of it sitting as UNused blocks.

In my head, "planned" cost for carcass plus windows, doors & roofing should be around N10m.
Guessing:
- Oversite, side blocks, lintel, above lintel N1.5m
- roof, N2.5m
- doors n windows, N1.5m

5% of this earmarked for 'wastage' or losses eg external pillar design, community development fees, inflated costs etc.

Water should have cost between N250k and N750k, not checking this. I no wan cry.
Still we build!

MackyNaija:
Soakaway - complete. Used to refill the foundation, possible saved us at a minimum 4 trips for laterite.
Laterite filling is almost complete, having delays with the plumbing work.

Added pictures from the backside, that's the best way I can identify this construction without confusion.

Costing coming soon, the number of blocks used for the foundation is blowing my mind! Over 2300, how's that even possible?
Anyway, I'll find out if this was inflated when we start raising blocks after oversite concrete.

There are multiple set-ups like for the dining area and also the entry chilling area so not everything was 5 courses for DPC.

over 2300 blocks for foundation is a very serious red flag,that's enough blocks for a simple three bedroom flat complete, your costs are not making sense, I'll look into it later.

greenermodels:
over 2300 blocks for foundation is a very serious red flag,that's enough blocks for a simple three bedroom flat complete, your costs are not making sense, I'll look into it later.

Not necessarily Sir. All 4 bedroom bungalows aren't equal. Some are larger and have more partition walls than others. It all depends on the architectural design of the building. I'm doing something similar and I can confirm my foundation took over 2000 blocks as well, while the superstructure took over 4000 blocks.

And before you say my builder has scammed me, note that this is a DIY project. I buy all materials and supervise everything myself.

greenermodels:
over 2300 blocks for foundation is a very serious red flag,that's enough blocks for a simple three bedroom flat complete, your costs are not making sense, I'll look into it later.

3594 9" were moulded.

501 + 640 + 747 + 529 = 2417 were the stacked/dpc blocks the masons were paid for.

What's left should be 1177.

We can easily count this. I can arrange this for Sunday or Monday while we pour laterite.

Rany4all:
Not necessarily Sir. All 4 bedroom bungalows aren't equal. Some are larger and have more partition walls than others. It all depends on the architectural design of the building. I'm doing something similar and I can confirm my foundation took over 2000 blocks as well, while the superstructure took over 4000 blocks.

And before you say my builder has scammed me, note that this is a DIY project. I buy all materials and supervise everything myself.

The numbers are well above all estimates i have but I guessed the partitions and some extra courses to 6 levels might have caused this, my calculations bothered majorly on the external walls and main internal partitions. I underrated the partitions.

This means one thing: we'll need to mold more as the plan is 10 courses before lintel and very likely 4 courses after lintel.
An expensive and time consuming process.

MackyNaija:
About N5.1m spent so far, bulk of it sitting as UNused blocks.

In my head, "planned" cost for carcass plus windows, doors & roofing should be around N10m.
Guessing:
- Oversite, side blocks, lintel, above lintel N1.5m
- roof, N2.5m
- doors n windows, N1.5m

5% of this earmarked for 'wastage' or losses eg external pillar design, community development fees, inflated costs etc.

Water should have cost between N250k and N750k, not checking this. I no wan cry.
Still we build!

10m? I think you may just be underestimating the size of the project you have undertaken Sir. That building is large.

Except you plan on terminating the columns at DPC level, not doing German floor, not chaining your lintel, not doing parapet and doing flat long span or cheaper roofing, I'd suggest you raise your budget to 15m plus or minus.

Rany4all:
10m? I think you may just be underestimating the size of the project you have undertaken Sir. That building is large.

Except you plan on terminating the columns at DPC level, not doing German floor, not chaining your lintel, not doing parapet and doing flat long span or cheaper roofing, I'd suggest you raise your budget to 15m plus or minus.

Rany4all, It's N10m for carcass only, no single finishing.
Lintel chaining, post lintel and roofing are the major targets.
Windows are doors are secondary.

I even had the Architect reduce the original building size, it was bigger than this previously.
Seeing it on ground shows it's still bigger than I had imagined.

Na bungalow so it wouldn't be hard to complete.
There's technically no budget or timeline, it will be financed till completion.

Rany, taking into consideration the unexpected blocks surprise, what other surprises await me?

Pop, parapet, roofing cost. What did each cost you on average?

Rany4all:
Not necessarily Sir. All 4 bedroom bungalows aren't equal. Some are larger and have more partition walls than others. It all depends on the architectural design of the building. I'm doing something similar and I can confirm my foundation took over 2000 blocks as well, while the superstructure took over 4000 blocks.

And before you say my builder has scammed me, note that this is a DIY project. I buy all materials and supervise everything myself.

Supervising the work yourself doesn't necessarily change anything sometimes except you know what exactly to supervise. Some of us think that being on site looking at workers while they work means supervising them. No. There's more to it. You must know their tricks. You must know the exact quantity and quality of materials needed for a particular work and insist on that, else, they will waste double of your materials and still give you a less quality work.

Hatesin:


Supervising the work yourself doesn't necessarily change anything sometimes except you know what exactly to supervise. Some of us think that being on site looking at workers while they work means supervising them. No. There's more to it. You must know their tricks. You must know the exact quantity and quality of materials needed for a particular work and insist on that, else, they will waste double of your materials and still give you a less quality work.

That's right, on my site we had to pay a worker day rates to supervise the mix ratio. Guard against too little or too much materials.

That's why I mentioned at the beginning, if this will cost a lot at least, let me try to ensure the money is spent appropriately.

MackyNaija:

Rany4all, It's N10m for carcass only, no single finishing.
Lintel chaining, post lintel and roofing are the major targets.
Windows are doors are secondary.

I even had the Architect reduce the original building size, it was bigger than this previously.
Seeing it on ground shows it's still bigger than I had imagined.

Na bungalow so it wouldn't be hard to complete.
There's technically no budget or timeline, it will be financed till completion.

I meant 15m for carcass only Sir, but let's see how it goes.

MackyNaija:
Rany, taking into consideration the unexpected blocks surprise, what other surprises await me?

Pop, parapet, roofing cost. What did each cost you on average?

My entire carcass cost me about 13m, even as I did the foundation back in 2018 when a bag of cement was about 2.7k or so and a 30T trip of chippings went for just 280k, plus my foundation filling was also achieved with zero material cost and I didn't even do oversite concrete.

Can't say exactly how much my parapet cost me because I did the entire superstructure (from DPC to roofing beam and parapet) at the same time with same materials, but I know we used up to 144 bags of cement for it. Entire superstructure cost about 5m though.

Roofing cost me about 4.9m. Woodwork was done with about 1.7m, while stone coated roofing sheets were installed with about 3.2m.

Hatesin:


Supervising the work yourself doesn't necessarily change anything sometimes except you know what exactly to supervise. Some of us think that being on site looking at workers while they work means supervising them. No. There's more to it. You must know their tricks. You must know the exact quantity and quality of materials needed for a particular work and insist on that, else, they will waste double of your materials and still give you a less quality work.

Yes, you are absolutely correct, but does not apply in my case though.

I meant 15m for carcass only Sir, but let's see how it goes.

My entire carcass cost me about 13m, even as I did the foundation back in 2018 when a bag of cement was about 2.7k or so and a 30T trip of chippings went for just 280k, plus my foundation filling was also achieved with zero material cost and I didn't even do oversite concrete.

Can't say exactly how much my parapet cost me because I did the entire superstructure (from DPC to roofing beam and parapet) at the same time with same materials, but I know we used up to 144 bags of cement for it. Entire superstructure cost about 5m though.

Roofing cost me about 4.9m. Woodwork was done with about 1.7m, while stone coated roofing sheets were installed with about 3.2m.

This is absolutely a threat to my life!

Are you sure yours was not a duplex??

Rany4all:
I meant 15m for carcass only Sir, but let's see how it goes.

True to that, we'll keep building and see how the costing goes.

What I am sure of is I'll build with an appreciable quality irrespective of the cost.

When I roof, then I'll take a break.

Superstructure should be concluded within the next 4 weeks.
Continuous rains almost daily is currently helping with the laterite sinking, will save N50k to N100k buying water to do this.

Waiting on sand delivery for oversite to commence.
Thursday should be the start date, should be sunny that day and for 3 straight days.

MackyNaija:

This is absolutely a threat to my life!

Are you sure yours was not a duplex??

MackyNaija:

True to that, we'll keep building and see how the costing goes.

What I am sure of is I'll build with an appreciable quality irrespective of the cost.

When I roof, then I'll take a break.

Good to know you're up for it, irrespective of cost. At least with that mindset, you'll hardly get discouraged and abandon the project due to cost.

Best of wishes man.

Rany4all:
Good to know you're up for it, irrespective of cost. At least with that mindset, you'll hardly get discouraged and abandon the project due to cost.

Best of wishes man.

Thanks for the morale boost It's good I get a feel of what lays ahead.

Laterite filling is now complete.

The journey so far:

1.1 Block molding - Done
1.2 Foundation to DPC - Done
1.3 Soakaway and Filling - Done (final costs incoming)
1.4 Oversite concrete - Next
1.5 DPC to lintel
1.6 Lintel to roof
1.7 Roofing


1.4.1 Initial Plumbing Work:
Materials bought and on site, it cost 4x my expectation. Mentally, N50k materials but reality almost N200k in materials and logistics.

Received and matched physical materials to Plumber's BOM and everything is complete.

Kudos man. You're really not compromising on quality. Even using BRC mesh for your oversite concrete...any particular reason for that?

Your 4" pipes seems a bit much though. I thought that was just for the 5 toilets or are you doing the outdoor piping as well?

Rany4all:
Kudos man. You're really not compromising on quality. Even using BRC mesh for your oversite concrete...any particular reason for that?

It's all in the spirit of "buy once and cry once" as I hate "had I known".
Remediation works are more expensive so I'd rather do everything possible to ensure there's no future foundation or superstructure cracks.

Your 4" pipes seems a bit much though. I thought that was just for the 5 toilets or are you doing the outdoor piping as well?

If this is the only item with a semblance of an inflated price, then there's no problem.
No idea what the piping work covers! What I know is that all the plumbing materials will be used ensuring money spent remains on that site.

Plumbing Work done. Neat job with heavy workmanship cost @N50k for a days job.

Oversite prep should start tomorrow.

2x additional damp proof nylons bought
Prep for oversite concrete pour.

Concrete pour was done over 2 days, kitchen and dinning sides first then the rest the next day.

Kitchen pour complete
Prep of every other area and pour

Complete work for Right backside and left front pictures.

The most difficult part of the entire project has been completed successfully.

Cost breakdown incoming (losing track of this, only thing I am sure of is how much I have sent ).
To keep track of costs hard like to physically build the house; supervising Architect deh try.

Superstructure and parapet should not take more than 1 week.

MackyNaija:
The most difficult part of the entire project has been completed successfully.

Cost breakdown incoming (losing track of this, only thing I am sure of is how much I have sent ).
To keep track of costs hard like to physically build the house; supervising Architect deh try.

Superstructure and parapet should not take more than 1 week.

you just de follow up this project bumper to fender, this 9ja economy no reach your side at all.congratulations once more.

greenermodels:
you just de follow up this project bumper to fender, this 9ja economy no reach your side at all.congratulations once more.

Thanks but no be say money long o, me na office man but earning in usd is the major differentiator; some money deh remain when month end.

Labour cost is also not expensive in Nigeria so building can be achieved as a bulk of the money goes to materials.

MackyNaija:

Thanks but no be say money long o, me na office man but earning in usd is the major differentiator; some money deh remain when month end.

Labour cost is also not expensive in Nigeria so building can be achieved as a bulk of the money goes to materials.

bros,show me the way na, I don tire for this 9ja so tee I de reason to migrate to Benin republic or Cape Verde. This country de very toxic now.

Currently finalizing plans for window sizes throughout the house.
They'll all be larger than normal.

When this is complete, we kick off forming and raise the blocks to lintel.

The journey so far:

1.1 Block molding - Done
1.2 Foundation to DPC - Done
1.3 Soakaway and Filling - Done

The costing for stage 3 is attached. I wish I didn't do these breakdowns as it breaks my heart seeing how much this things I thought were simple cost.

Laterite trip here rolls over/continues from the previous cost posted.
Your site size and especially the foundation depth heavily affect this cost.

Note: For sub or superstructure, 1 cement bag binds 70 to 90 blocks.

The journey continues:

1.1 Block molding - Done
1.2 Foundation to DPC - Done
1.3 Soakaway and Filling - Done
1.4 Oversite concrete - Done

Oversite is now officially done for Nairaland purposes. I add cost and close the phase.
"Missing" about N150k as it is not on the Architect's report and we don't know what it was spent on i.e. money sent but never shown on the report.

If you wanna save cost, NEVER skip damp-proof nylon as capillary action go make water finish upto 1meter from foundation towards lintel.
About N4.6m spent so far (Block moulding cost NOT part of this).