₦airaland Forum

Ayohbk:
I checked their website and their social media accounts I couldn't find specific contacts. Thanks

They still have numbers on their profiles, I just checked.
I saw their web address had changed.
Instagram profile and Uyo office on Google maps both have numbers.

All interior walls plastered.

Tiling will need to be reworked in multiple parts of the flooring.

Tiler did am excellent job, I'll continue to use the services of the crew.

See the matte tile 1st pix), looks better cleaned up and wouldn't look so uninspiring when furnitures are placed around the room.

Entire tiles used was Nigerian made porcelain.
Brand is CDK, I believe about 90% of what was purchased was 60x60... Remaining 10% was 30x60.
Unsure but all sizes were the same price of N13,500 per m2 (around Mar/April 2025).

Paccus:
Wow… how time flies, I remember years ago, I discovered this thread and it sparked a dream in me, before coming here I have never imagined that I will be stepping my foot in the US one day.I must have come back over and over to read this thread and taking notes even though life circumstances made it look impossible that this dream that has been sparked can become reality. How can considering my background. But little by little plans were put into motion and what seems impossible years ago starts looking possible and finally this fall 2025 I resumed for my masters program in industrial engineering in a top university in the US. Thanks a lot for this thread MackyNaija and God will continually bless you, it gave me the greatest thing any human needed which is Hope for a better day.. It’s the beginning of another journey and let’s see where it takes me.

Paccus, this one sweet me die!

Timiofak and all others that braved the trials to get here, it might get rough but you will survive, you are in the greatest country on earth!
Stories abound of people that pushed through! You'll tell your stories someday.

And for the prayers and well wishes, thank you all!
I have truly been blessed! Started at FAANG a few months back, it will only get better

Continue to Surprise Yourself!!!

Bathroom doors cost about N150k or N160k each at PH, they put a low price like N120k online and change it when you come to purchase.

Bought POP materials and paid for workmanship.
- This way, they won't reduce ceiling quality which is possible if they managed it as a quoted contract.
- I asked for and they added crown moulding on the transition zone between ceiling and walls in all the interior spaces.

Finishing Progress:
2.1 Windows - Done
2.2 Doors - 3 exteriors & 1 guest toilet doors installed
4 rooms & 2 kitchen entryways still need doors. Curtains cover them for now.


Has to get the house ready for a burial:
2.3 Ceiling - Done for the whole house using POP
My plans to use polished wooden slates were resisted , it also would have been difficult to accomplish in the short timeframe I had.

2.4 Tiling - Done for the whole flooring minus the kitchen (undecided on what to do here)
Some of the tiling work will be broken and replaced:
* Had to use matte/non glossy for the bedrooms, my mama say she no like am , tile shop ran outta tiles
* Had to mix glossy & non glossy to make some rooms serve during the event.
Tile shop ran out of tiles.
* Errors made in the bathroom due to miscommunication and mixing due to tile shortage.

All Bathroom work will be revisited when I'm present, hard managing this remotely to get what I want.

Door Pictures: Front , Kitchen , Back , Back
Good quality and I love it!

great job Macky!!


on most naija real estate channels i watch, I don't know why the guest room and toilet is talked about with some disdain

..they cant be too comfortable,
...just small size- nothing fancy
..away from the main house

Those are your guests!

or with the entryway/anteroom...you don't want people in your house- they are already in your building!

very well detailed project- the high roof is the only mismatch from the initial drawing and looks like the fence is a bit close to the front pillars, perhaps just the camera angles

Abeg, I go do the toilet nice so I go fit stay there eat.

I had the same concerns you shared about the closeness to the front fence but there's about a 5.3m/17ft space from the fence (pictures attached).

I had asked for a 5ft to 10ft setback from the motorable road during fencing so that ate into what we had planned.

For reference -
Almost 3 cars can back into the gap assuming no car-to-car spacing.

@MackyNaija To build house and actually complete the project since last till now is by the grace of God because what 😅it’s not easy anymore

There was no bulk money on ground to run the project but I had to start as you can never finish what you never started. It's originally planned to take approx 3 years.

The complete house can be finished and moved into in 6 months if all the money was on stand by.

Personally, my greatest delays are on material quality and excellent workmanship; I don suffer while searching for the level of quality I want - people resist what I intend to do or choose to do it their own way.

I deh find cabinet markers now and na stress, all the proven capable hands are in Lagos or Abuja.


Yep, the EdoTS YT page is also growing very large. Their information is fresh and very accurate as they sample multiple perspectives.

patiymar:
I really like these doors, kindly share the contact of the door seller

Jiuhua group d0t com, check the M-J08 and J09 styles.
They have Lagos and Uyo offices, sub dealers also carry the door for about N800k.

Doors purchased.
First picture: Planned to buy the black by the right but bought the dark brown by the left.

Needed to add color to the work.

Qty 1 4ftx7ft front door, 8 to 9in frame, 3in bottom stopper & 100mm material thickness; N850k in the 'open market'. [+- N50k depending on where you buy it]. I paid less.

Qty 3 3ftx7ft doors for back, kitchen and guest toilet; N650k I believe.
- Architect said no need for a fancy door for the guest toilet ...
I just needed the design from the front door to flow into the little ante room where the guest toilet is located.

Interior doors will be sorted in the future.


Door seller changed the cost he had given a week earlier citing rising forex cost.
In reality, Dollar was N1650 and falling from about N1720, it even dropped to about N1550 a day after purchase.
All men just wan cut everybody throat

Woodwork estimation
https://www.nairaland.com/1789513/how-calculate-hardwood-needed-house

Roofing sheets calculation
https://www.nairaland.com/4778694/how-practically-calculate-quantity-m2

POP Ceiling
Currently costs about N10k to N11k per m2 for installers to purchase materials and do the work.
N3k per m2 when you buy materials.
You will need to provide them scaffold and water.

Current Pricing
On YouTube, these pages show current prices for building related activities with even price for cow and goat
Ed0 talk sh0w
Ed0 CBC

Vlogger 'Flo F1nance' also helps explain what's involved in building and shares estimates.

Doors
I especially like 'Mr Sunny 0kpala' and 'BK Fr3d' on Ed0 talk sh0w & CBC.
They clearly explain all you need to know about doors with current prices. You'll understand why prices are different and learn about frame width + material thickness.
Sunny also has 1 video that talked about tiles.
Hopefully we see numerous more videos from them.

Tiles
I learned from multiple sources the differences and applications of ceramic vs porcelain vs vitrified tiles (don't use ceramic in water absorbing and traffic areas).
S0mluxury tiles on Instagram has good eyes for tiles (Spanish and Italian).


I believe all these links/guides will be very useful when completing your projects especially those not on ground to do market survey and physically weigh their options.

Journey so far:

1.1 Block molding - Done
1.2 Foundation to DPC - Done
1.3 Soakaway Digging and Foundation Filling - Done
1.4 Oversite concrete - Done
1.5 DPC to lintel - Done
1.6 Lintel - Done
1.7 Lintel to Roof beam - Done
1.8 Parapet - Done
1.9 Borehole - Dug and cased, Fence completed
1.10 Roofing - Woodwork + Sheets Done
Carcass complete

Finishing starts:
2.1 Windows - Done
2.2 Doors - planned to fully enclose the house

Will take a long break after 3 exterior doors are installed.


Finishing largely depends on the needs of the project owner, might not add those costs here as it'd vary widely from project to project.

Will add links as guides to how I navigate this.

What went well with the windows:
- Controlled the material quality and sure of what I was getting
- lots of windows allowing for good daylight penetration

What would I have done differently for the windows?
- Used a casement style and possibly save about N1m as I can't see anything special with the Frameless except my eyes no deh see well
- Used less demarcations as all the cuts into 4 or 6 sections use a lot of 'structural' and other materials.


Overall a job well done, costs spread over 25 to 50 years of house service is quite small.

Well done. No be small something.

Thank you dDaves.


Mounting complete and total cost was about N4.5m, N300k of it was incurred post fabrication and related to installation and everything else was for materials.

All the costs with an asterisk below make up the N300k & are questionable but I didn't dispute them, 5 to 10% of costs at every stage is earmarked for "unaccountable expenses/choppings".
Transportation= N150k
Window hanging = N25k*
Transport = N20k*
Chocking = N40k*
Labourer = N15k
Cement = N40k

Oct/Nov 2024: Cement is N10k per bag.


Installed and as planned, there is so much daylight coming in.

Fabrication complete and it came out beautiful.

Frameless with top quality grey aluminium, 5mm reflective glass, nets, galvanized pipes and 16mm rods embedded.

Each requirement above came with a large added cost that increased the price way beyond costs for a casement style.

Materials not enough due to so many demarcations on the windows:

Oct 15 additional purchase:
7 transom for the new window and for the shortfall,
8 structural both for the new window and for the shortfall

Transom 7pcs 45,000×7 = N315,000
Structural 8pc = N160,000
1 role of brush N12,000


Oct 26 additional purchase:
3 more structural = N60,000
11 heavy duty compass = ~N50,000

This added about N600k to estimate 3.
Transportation to site and bricklayer not included.


Grey aluminium material looks to be of very good quality, don't know if this is what Trans0m is (inscription says Sup3rKing).

23 windows quoted for, 1 was missed by the first person that measured all:

Quote 1: Frameless and Casement, no 16mm rod.

Quote 2: Frameless and also no 16mm rod.

Quote 3: From a seller of materials, viewed the sizes and gave us a quote.
I used route 3 but had to buy lots more materials for 1 window that was missed + ongoing discovery as quotes fall short.

I always wonder what workmen would have done when what they quoted was inadequate to complete the job.

House has 20+ windows as I want lots of natural light and cross ventilation, this has resulted in a huge cost.

Got two quotes but they kept adding conditions and changing costs...
- they'll always say high quality but I was not confident in their material quality
- told me 16mm rods were impossible to incorporate
- refused to allow us buy materials that matches our desired quality insisting they must buy the material
- raised workmanship cost by N200k if we were to buy the materials

To much headache so it drove us to the 'manage it yourself' model where we buy the materials and pay someone to execute.

Planned to do the Plumbing + Electrical next but changed my mind.

Need to fully enclose the structure before embarking on Finishings which is a major phase.

As I said before, I stopped tracking cumulative cost for the sake of my sanity.
Project pass wetin my brain ever reason but glad it's progressing.

This brings us to September where discussions for windows started.

Early June 2024: Gates and toppers done.
N750k + N250k + N2.4m

Won't advice anyone to use this laser cut for fence work due to the cost except you absolutely love it and it's cost doesn't bother you.
It's less functional than the parapet I did but had little welder intervention and is beautiful.

About the gates, they cost N750k and N250k for the large front and small back gates; pictures soon.

For the toppers, we had 10 openings in the fence.
I understood it to mean N120k per opening and committed to using the laser cut sheets to close them.

A long way into the implementation, I realized it was actually N120k per sheet, 2 sheets needed per opening meaning almost N250k per opening - doubled the cost

What I choose - sample with small openings cut through
VS
What the welder bought - openings too large, he had to return all back to the market.

Olumighty123:
It's not even finished yet and you are here judging

OluM, oya you judge the work na.

Setting aside the structural integrity, I believe it's very very functional and also aesthetically pleasing.

southsouthking:
What you ordered Vs what you get.
Bros both no follow at all.

Choi! SSKing don finish me

No be even say actual no follow, you say both cast!

Welcome to the thread, you can also provide inputs on what should have been done differently.

Let's see the actual vs the plan..
Looks like we are on track

April 2024: Discussions for gates (1 large and 1 small) were ongoing.
Also decided to use laser cut sheets to top off the 10 open fence gaps we made (I call these toppers).

Decision to use precut toppers and simple gate designs was to get it done and move ahead, I needed the least welder intervention as possible.

Made a big miscalculation here, should have used a different option for the toppers if the cost was more clear to me.

Additional material/2nd purchase done; all Sw1ss Metrotiles.
Installer confirmed the quality was higher than what he'd ever installed, hard to cut and the difference is clear.

Kingpost tooooo high... Totally sheets cost about N9m
Woodwork was N3m

Total for roofing was N12m
Na now I confirm say I don enter trouble with this project

What would I have done differently?
- Pushed more for a lower kingpost
- Built a duplex with smaller footprint/perimeter
- Used a flat roof design to cut cost to a 3rd of what was spent here


What did I do well?
- Very good quality wood and sheets I could afford
Buy once and cry once, remediation will cause more tears

Another quote for Roofing sheet work showing what is involved including accessories; N7,200 per m2 quoted for sheets that's readily available.

This guy did the work and the Actual spend for 1st purchase of the sheet material is attached, I bought 600m2 at N9,250 a unit.

Had to go back for extras, the wahala plenty.

Settled on using stone coated tiles.
Total surface area installed was about a few meters less than 620m2.

Two trips to buy roofing sheets and we had left over as I bought a little extra.

Na here I confirm say this project na grand project.

***I can only attach pictures once a day...
Subsequent attachments never show until when I return the next day and reattach so l be back to modify the post above.

Always thought each of these phases was meant to be 1week long.
It takes approximately 3 to 6weeks to get most phases completed.

Ties me down emotionally when I want to complete and move ahead.

Woodwork was completed in about 3 weeks, had to go buy additional wood and final cost was N2.9m including workmanship.
About 20 PCs of wood remained.

The wood purchased was greater than planned, here I learned to be very careful about given estimates as they could fall short.

The entire job moved to a model of us buying materials and the work crew get paid for execution.

2nd woodwork quote for N2.2m total material and workmanship.
Planned to use this crew for the work but they could not arrive at an agreement with the Site Supervisor on initial payment

Added cost of metc0pp0, st3ptiles and l0ngspan around that timeframe.

February 2024: Naira very volatile, I think we were trending towards N1,800 to 1$

Market survey for roofing sheets -1st picture from a store during market survey
Shingles any colour 6,900 per m2
Classic 6,800
Milano 6,800

My supervisor said my target W1cht3ch should be around N25k for 1m2.

I used the website 'filta dot ng' and their prices for high quality sheets were accurate (2nd attached pictures are from the website today today)

***Retried uploading pictures, no success. Be back tomorrow