Good response, to add to your point too.
@Op
1.Send Structural drawings with layouts to others to quote, from experience a lot of people quote without knowing what is entailed you might end up paying more when important details are omitted.
2. You can also ask a QS do an estimate for you to verify the quotation.
3 . also, ask anyone giving you a quote on the procedure he will take, numbers of mixers, labours and duration you might end up spending more on labour and time wastage.
4.Research on the materials well o, don't allow suppliers to supply @ night when there is a very high discount a lot of things a played down.

deking:
My thoughts based on previous experience.

1. Two similar buildings are not the same, the so called little difference in location and size can affect cost of the building significantly.
2. Most times greed and bad quality jobs go hand in hand.
3. At most you will get a 300 to 350K difference from a newbie to the site which you may have to pay for a new concern later.
4. Negotiate with your current builder for price reduction if the quality of his job so far has been standard and satisfactory.
5. Scrutinize the cost items on a line by line basis. Granite ? Iron ? (Type and Cost) Sharp Sand?
6. Try to supply some of the materials yourself if you are bent on cost reduction ( a couple of (trusted ) suppliers from nairaland exists -chekiaut,crib,HSL$broker,Xzevian etc). Validate their claims about honesty independently.
7. Avoid people who avoid open forums such as this to solicit for the job.

And in fairness to your builder, the quotes given by your builder for the materials are within acceptable contracts markups.

All the best.

You just made the best comment, one thing I have realized is people see a lot of people with Civil Engineering certificate as structural engineer who can design and build, not minding to find out the area of specialization, if you give a building design to someone who specializes in highway, public health/water or environmental management what do you expect. Also, when an architect negotiate structural design fee without consulting a competent structural engineer what do you expect, I have seen cases where an architect who collected a standard architectural fee for design of a building in Lekki negotiated N40,000 for structural design and detailing of a twin duplex with Raft foundation and he actually got someone to do it for him and the so called engineer submitted only 3No. A4 size tracing paper for the whole job.
I have never seen a job given to a competent civil / structural engineer failed, every professions has quacks doctors, lawyers even draftmen calling themselves architects.
If you pay the right price you will surely get the best for you money.

einsteino:
The hard truth is an architect draws pretty pictures that he has no idea how to make stand. There is no limitation to what an architect can model. One can model a completely suspended building in revit, archicad.. Can cantilever 40 metre span.. Can have an overhang of 400 sq metre supported by just a brick wall.. It is all just pictures and models.. The civil engr tells him what is obtainable within the budget and the prevailing technical conditions in the country. The way the industry works, engrs call architects dreamers and architects call engrs killjoys.


You dont hve to feel bitter about it. It is one thing to dream, it is another to make it work. It is not too late to go get a second degree in civil engineering so you can have all the competent technical know how you require to make your projects be the way you wish.
moreso nigeria isnt dubai, it is the truth. Such pojects require a lot of money for an engr to be able to explore alot of options and assmeble a large team. Here it is hard to even specialise, i have done many projects that budgetary constraints made me negotiate modifications with the architect. Heck it is almost mission impossible to produce grade 40 concrete in Nigeria which is the minimum grade of concrete in eurocode. The yield strength of rebars in nigeria mkts can not be vouched for, some are as low as 300N/mm for socalled high yield meanwhile it ought to be 460 minimum. What are engrs to do? The client doesnt want to spend money on his own project, the engr isnt paid something that even encourages thinking outside the box.

Yes there are incompetent engrs. I have met a number of them, but the truth is alot of folks who parade themselves as civil engrs are not, even Architects also parade themselves as engrs and i too have met a good number of incompetent architects. I work as a consultant/design structural engr and i know the sacrifices and efforts it takes to be a competent engr. Civil engineering is very tasking, mentally and otherwise. Yet an architect would dare ask an engr to carryout structural designs for peanuts. They want you to offer competence at the fees of quacks.

If you want competence, you must be ready to pay for it. You shy away from employing the service of a competent engr because you want to cut cost, only to run to quacks and come out here and insult an entire profession based on your experience with the quacks, it is not nice a thing to do at all. If i wrote an epitsle detailing the level of incompetence of some architects i have worked with, generalising and ridiculing your entire profession, how would you feel? There are many civil engineering consulting firms in Nigeria and they are very competent, employ their services. Most of the foreign construction firms employ their services, I dont think you know better than them. I too am a competent civil engr and you can reach me for your structural designs. I have expertise in steel and reinforced concrete structures and software proficiency in STAAD PRO, Tekla Structures, Revit Structures, Robot Structural Analysis, SAP 2000, Orion and Auto Cad.

Oh that reminds me, you made mention of detailing in Orion being bad. Oh yeah every software has its limitations but it doesnt make one incompetent to employ them. Orion slab detailing is a disaster, its foundation details isnt a sight to behold either. I only endorse its beam detail but that needs some tweaking too. Personally draughting using Autocad is still the best but it is a painstaking process and involves too many repetitive and time wasting actions. To avoid this, Cads RC and revit structure can be employed if one can survive the learning curve. To engrs please make sure you understand the software you use perfectly well. Orion doesnt span slabs purely in one way, doesnt matter if u change the slab type.. Also be sure to introduce hinges before analysis because its details doesnt cater for fixity. Its foundation footing sizing is also too conservative. Personally, good old manual structural designs and calculation is a favourite and is always a good backbone, however automating the process makes it speedy.

Lastly engrs please a software is a garbage in, garbage out tool. You cat get what you didnt give. It is only to automate what you already know not what you dont. An engr reads more on graduation more than he did in all his years in Uni combined, keep developing yourselves. Hopefuly we would take our profession back from quacks someday.

I've checked your website, nice concept, I just have some questions to ask about your statement "eliminate the use of coarse aggregate"
1) Is this valid for all concrete mixes and what batching process is most adequate when using the product since most people use volume batching on site.
2) From the test results you presented, am seeing 3/8"stone which I know is coarse aggregate, is this the highest size that can be used.
3) Also, Have you done a comparative study on the use of the product against not using it for a certain volume of concrete in terms of cost, cause most Nigerians are particular about cost.

Thanx

Flets:


Wouldn't it be nicer to allow olumide4christ respond to the half queries as they come? Or are you same as the OP as I see you just registered 3 days and already having a go at why there are uncompleted buildings everywhere.

There are ballpack and generic estimates without sufficient estimate basis. Its left for the QS to qualify his estimates highlighting the vulnerabilities that can only be cleared with sufficient details. This would even attract him more businesses rather than telling a potential customer to either provide all details or go to hell.

@Flet,
We are all here to learn. Saying I registered 3 or so days again doesn't mean anything. If you're in anyway offended by my comment, it's just my view and it's not directed to anyone in particular. Also, if one has additional information on a subject one can add without being the OP as long as it's constructive. We all have various experiences in our fields and I believe we are here to help ourselves out.

The cost of rent or buying is high for a small business owner or a beginner coupled with service charges etc, added to cost of starting up, it will take awhile to break even or someone goes bankrupt.

Get the architectural drawings first and budget, then you can communicate your taste, am seeing costs without knowing the architectural design, site conditions and a whole lot of information. When you have the architectural drawings, get a structural Engr to do the design & a QS to quantify. It will save you a lot of stress and you can hold someone responsible if there is an error or problem. The cost of engaging these professionals is usually less than 10% of the cost of building.
I have seen different construction procedure on NL (pictures) because everyone in Nigeria can build a house lol, but not all methods are right and not everyone is a trained builder/Engr.
Just my advice

Remodelers:

The cost of building a bungalow varies based on clients taste, building design and intended finishes. While one can spend less than 5m for a bungalow, another client can spend over 20million. The challenges faced as previously stated are often accompanied by fluctuations and variations of building materials prices and changes in design observed during construction.
An advice would be working around an estimate to suit your budget. Builder A might have been in construction with high end clients, wherein a 3 bedroom bungalow project would have been in the region of 10, 15 to 20m, on the average, while Builder B might have experiences with 5, 6 to 7m.

You can contact us via mail on info@nethgribltd.com or via phone on 08030959438 for more info on this.
Happy New Year 2016

The best response so far.

Everyone in Nigeria believe he/she knows everything about building design and construction that is why we have a lot of abandoned projects everywhere. If professionals are properly engaged clients will get value for money.
People are asking for cost of building a structure without having an idea of dimensions & other parameters, the QS isn't a magician or sorcerer we only work on information given and market factors.
It really cost less to employ the services of architect, civil Engr, QS, ME Engrs because they will look at your budget and advise you on methodology and alternative materials.

Nice response, like you pointed out a lot of other factors drive cost. At your end just try and find a way of reducing cost of production and identify your market target eg Low income earners and see how you can convince them to use your product. I appreciate the risk you are taking

Poster, what I believe everyone is asking is cost per sqm, so that it can be compared with using sandcrete block which is 10No. Blocks=150*10=1500/sqm(excluding mortar) for 9" .And we can be able to compare easily. Sometimes the client that you think is unserious will end up giving more jobs. I check on this property section to check prices and compare alternatives. Also remember that most people are experienced engineers with many years in practices. I respect your views too.