₦airaland Forum

esoorita: This is a very intresting project. What is the cost of the project please? We are following you religiously.

Thanks for your interest in this project. I may have to seek the consent of my client to disclose the project cost.

10 tons of iron rods purchased at Akure Building Market. We got to site late last night and had to switch on the generator to offload the rods.

It has been almost a day since my last post, but this is not due to a lack of site activities. In fact, its quite the opposite, I've been extremely busy arranging materials for The Chateau. Yesterday, the foundation was laid, foundation walls have started going up and the iron bender has commenced work on the column extensions.

I shall add separate posts detailing progress made yesterday. Sorry for the wait, to those following along with our projects.

Nice one. Following you closely at the back

No longer in the bush

We've opened up the site for clearer visibility.

Things are getting better

After series of delays on this project due to weather, things are finally moving again at scheduled pace. It's been raining in Ile-Oluji in the past one week and the effect it had on this project was significant. The heavy rain made it impossible for our suppliers to drop materials closer to our building site. Frustratingly, we had hoping for a break in the rain for five clear days so that the ground would be firm enough for the suppliers to deliver blocks, sand and chippings to the site, but for a week now it was not to be.

Today, we have completed the blinding of the foundation and installed some of the starter columns and we hope to commence setting of the foundation walls from tomorrow.

Expect some magic going forward.

More Pictures

Today in pictures

segcy.moor:
...Observation: are u doing piling foundation here...pls educate us with piles of rebar

We are not doing piling. "Piles of rebar" as in quantity of reinforcement stacked together in a heap.

Meanwhile, we employed the service of 2 labourers to pack the granite closer to the building site.

Piles of rebar have been prepared and work is well advanced with the footing excavations and foundation trenches. We are blinding today

Blocks Delivered

Even with best effort, we discovered one of the delivery truck is not sound enough to do the job. The first set of blocks (5,000 pcs of 9in block) ordered are now been delivered to site.

Pic 65 & 66: Block delivery. Supplier 2's truck stucked on the driveway.

The Driveway, The Uphill Task

Taking the driveway through uphill into the site was an incredibly arduous task. We knew it had to be done, but at what cost? How long? What are the alternative solution? How close could our materials get to the land and the project still continue with a reasonable expectation of survival in the season?

Yesterday, excavation work was completed early enough but we had to resolve the major challenge of the site. Prepare the driveway so that building materials can get closer to the home site. Of course, the client who's physically present at the project site at the moment sees reasons with us and he's kind enough to forgive schedule slip due to good reasons. The project won't survive long if we have to move materials over 100m drop spot.

To help everyone understand the topography of the build site, the land is broken up into three distinct areas. First, we have the river bottom (approximately 4 plots) with 40m setback from the river. Next, the land rises approximately 60 feet to create a long, narrow ridge (about 3 plots) which is our building site. And lastly, the wooded area at the backside (with really beautiful soil and a nice landscape when we're done!). This means there were many hikes across the field, uphill face to the land and its obvious we needed a solid driveway to reach the top of the ridge, the home site.

This driveway posed many challenges. First, it is long. Second, it is uphill. Third, it must not demand a four-wheel-drive vehicle OR high clearance.

We worked tirelessly yesterday to fix the driveway.

Pic 64: The land subdivision as shown from the bridge leading into the estate

jam04: You are surprised by the quantity and quality of granite stone supplied because we are yet to handle your supply. As soon as you are back in lagos, holla at us at penthouse nig ltd. It is always good to patronise a company that has a DIRECT dealership agreement with chinese quarry owners.

I better be surprised when I'm back. It's a complete rip off in the time past and I'll encourage CLIENTS to patronize companies and not the road side suppliers in order to get value for their money. Our current project is massive but I'm not worried with the quantity of granite on ground.

^^^At this point, we may need to digress so as not to derail the thread. We are making other plans to make the road usable. Let's talk on the other thread. Oga Spyder, well done!

mufutau55: That is Nigeria Spyder/Brabus for you. If was here in obodo and you are building house in a rural area and there is no existing road, you will need to construct the road to your house.. Why can't the client make more temporary provision for that 500m? Only in Nigeria you find beautiful houses built by millionaires and there is no/or bad road to get there.. no such thing as community developments, everybody leaves everything to Govt. claiming it's not their problem.. God help us.

Hajji Mufutau

Oga, the Local Govt cant do more than what my client has done so far for a new site. 105 loads of filling sand, a standard bridge (30ft wide by 8ft height) and dredging of the waterway. That's well over N1.5m

spyder880: 500m? How are your men going to be lifting it? I just looked at your thread, nice work and lovely foundation lines there. Well done.

Open a new thread for site challenges and how to tackle them. You'll see mind-boggling questions

5 Wheelbarrows, 5 Shovels, 8 labourers on permanent contract for 2 months to take care of materials delivery to site and lot of "Alomo Bitters" to reward hard-working guys.

Well done bro! Your challenge is minor compared to mine. I was only able to drop materials at a location almost 500m away from my site. Wetin man go do, work must go on .

Construction of The Chateau: Save the Dates

Break Ground - 5th July, 2013
Substantial Completion Date - September, 2013
Full Completion - December, 2013

Watch this space for more updates on the landscaping works, estate gate design, perimeter fencing work and other related construction activities.

Granite So Full

Of all the items delivered to site, I'm so astonished to see the quantity and quality of the granite supplied to the site. I can say it that I've never seen such quantity in my years of building. It's so full than I can ever imagine.

Goodluck to the 'Lagos Cheat Suppliers'. God dey watch us all in 3D!

Pic 61: Granite supplied
Pic 62: Delivering the 1st load (35995kg)
Pic 63: Delivering the 2nd load (35190kg)

Chekitaut: Weldone bro, Good work wot is the measurement of the dept of the foundation...?

1m (deep) x 850mm (width)

Our foundation depth was designed based (slope nature and gravel sand) on the ground conditions and issues with the trees (as trees draw a considerable amount of moisture from the ground beneath the foundation).

More obstacles in the way - Operation All must go!

Pic 60: Roots extending over 6m into the foundation.

More progress pictures with some more 'wth' concerns.

Pic 56, 57, 58: Excavation in progress
Pic 59: Tap roots in the foundation

Construction Has Begun: We broke ground, and now we have moved from "Paper to Dirt".

Today we broke ground and I am excited to see this happen. I'm excited because this is where my client begin to see where he will live for many years to come. Yesterday, we marked out the house, the property line and road to make sure that they were right and so that we could have time to double-check all measurements.

Pic 54: Day 1 - Foundation trench and footing excavation
Pic 55: Benne giving it a long throw

Quick Update:

The construction crew has arrived and we're now ready to break ground. We are happy to see construction is ready to begin.

Excellent speed! Keep it up

Pic 52 & 53: Rebar Cutting/Bending Team at Work

How much? +2348023429122

What will it cost to unlock this iphone 012644005436531? And how long? Thanks.

Pic 50: Non-selective treatment of the building area
Pic 51: Applying glyphosate onto the surface of the shrub stump