Thanks to this platform,also to dubemcapital.

I'm always called an engineer whenever i visit my site.
My neighbour asked if I'm a builder because every space in my house is functional.
I laughed,me wey no sabi.

But all thanks to the group.

My structure still stands out in the estate.

n3xt:





How come you're not getting the environmental factor part sir? This is a major reason for building collapse in recent times.

Do you mean I should blame my builder/engineer for waters percolating round my building as a result of my next door neighbours refusal to install proper drainage?

______

I recently cleared about 3 acres of land behind my plot. Just last week, I got a report that all my roof eaves have almost fallen off. Should I blame the roof installer for doing poor job? A roofing job that was done over 1 decade ago without issues until we cut off some trees

Even action has a consequence. You need to understand and play your part and stop looking for someone else to blame.

While we were clearing the land, it never occured to me I was removing the wind breakers and exposing the roof/building to extreme weather.

Na who I go blame bayi o! The person who cut the trees or the roofer who didnt think of when the trees would be cut down in the future or the owner who gave the order to remove the trees without considering the consequences.

If you host a 200 person party inside your building, will you still blame the contractor for any eventuality?

I believe this is why a professional builder consider all factors before starting a building.

A professional building company I believe have a team of various professionals to consider every factor that may jeopardize the end-product.

Except the client refused to listen to advises, then you can assign appropriate blames to him /her.

Let each party be responsible for the parts they played in any failed project.

To balantly blame house owner for all the woes is what I will never agree with.

Hosting parties in an unfit building still goes back to the builder.

If the building is fit, then it's another story all together.
If such building collapses, then we cant see it as any of the factors we have been debating on since morning.

The phrase that homeowners are rushing, hence the demolition, collapsing and flooding of their buildings and should be held 100% responsible is what started this discussion in the first place.

Before any professional takes up a project, all factors must be considered and if not safe, the professional should reject the offer or find acceptable ways to litigate these factors.

Even if the owner wants such professional to continue like that, he or she should walk out to save both the owner and the community from disaster.

n3xt:


What will happen to the owner who bought the land with his own money? Rent it out to tenants? Put his family members there?

______

There's one person I will forever respect here. He paid over 1m to conduct soil test for a land in Ogombo in 2011 just to be sure it's worth it. When we gave him the soil report, he decided to walk away from the land and went to buy land in Agbowa where he does not need raft and Baba lati can successfully deliver a good house for him without breaking bank.

How many clients here will do this?

______

I have a client who got 24m depth in his report. He still went ahead with the project.

Let me give you ideas of how deep 24m is, It's like 7 stories building or length of 2 and half Dangote Truck.

______

If you say professional should walk out, may I ask at what point? At the beginning of the project, when he's just meeting the client?
Or when the building has gone up only to realize how stubborn his client is?

I believe you'd agree with me that no builder has x-ray vision to know difficult clients neither can he force him/her to pay for what he didnt plan for. He can only advice.

Such should either pay through his or her teeth for a standard building or abandon the land but we know quacks will jump on the job because of what to eat.

It's not impossible to build on water but the person must be ready to spend by contracting professionals.

The set of homeowners I am talking for aren't those who turned contractors /engineers overnight o.

Not those who doubles as the architect and structural engineer.

Only talking for those who employed certified builders/contractors.

somehow:
The set of homeowners I am talking for aren't those who turned contractors /engineers overnight o.

Not those who doubles as the architect and structural engineer.

Only talking for those who employed certified builders/contractors.

The set of homeowners I'm talking for are those who do more than writing cheques.

I'm talking about those who take up the role of supervising the big picture, getting the funds and managing the professionals as well (directly or indirectly) all stakeholders.

I'm actually representing those homeowners who understands that long before there is a contractor, he/she makes what may be the most vital decisions on the construction project: what contractor, architect, engineer, consultants... to use.

_________

This explains why I loved the man I learnt from.

Late Dr Alex Ekwueme despite his status and experience in construction would never go to sleep on any project. He meets every contractor every forthnight in a roundtable session to discuss deliverables, dependencies and change order requests. He never go to sleep assuming he has engaged professionals. He play his role as the project director (owner).

The difference here is that he's a professional who understands what it costs to build a solid house and the role of the owner.

Despite the multibillion naira projects handled for the late vice president and the former president of the Nigeria Institute of Architect, he will always visit the site every forthnight.

_________

Good night!

Jasobry:
Thanks to this platform,also to dubemcapital.

I'm always called an engineer whenever i visit my site.
My neighbour asked if I'm a builder because every space in my house is functional.
I laughed,me wey no sabi.

But all thanks to the group.

My structure still stands out in the estate.

I go collect one room for that your house

n3xt:





The set of homeowners I'm talking for are those who do more than writing cheques.

I'm talking about those who take up the role of supervising the big picture, getting the funds and managing the professionals as well (directly or indirectly) all stakeholders.

I'm actually representing those homeowners who understands that long before there is a contractor, he/she makes what may be the most vital decisions on the construction project: what contractor, architect, engineer, consultants... to use.

_________

This explains why I loved the man I learnt from.

Late Dr Alex Ekwueme despite his status and experience in construction would never go to sleep on any project. He meets every contractor every forthnight in a roundtable session to discuss deliverables, dependencies and change order requests. He never go to sleep assuming he has engaged professionals. He play his role as the project director (owner).

The difference here is that he's a professional who understands what it costs to build a solid house and the role of the owner.

Despite the multibillion naira projects handled for the late vice president and the former president of the Nigeria Institute of Architect, he will always visit the site every forthnight.

_________

Good night!

Because it's his line and also experienced in construction even though I visit my site especially when the contractor is on site, ask questions too and chat him up almost everyday for updates.

While I don't know up to what he knows when it comes to construction, I still ask questions to understand why he's doing what he's doing.

If i have such experience and knowledge, I wouldn't employ any "contractor" since I can do the job of the contractor.

somehow:


Because it's his line and also experienced in construction.

If i have such experience and knowledge, I wouldn't employ any "contractor" since I can do the job of the contractor.

On any of his project, there are over 30 contractors and subcontractors. Everyone from Civil Engineers to IPTV installers attend our meetings.

Even me mysef, I engage engineers for my personal build. As a matter of fact, most of my personal builds are done in my absence

Lets wait to get more insight on this issue . Thanks

Dooooooo:

Value Paint said 2 to 3 months.
Really? I have never heard of such. I have never seen such.
So far, we apply the roofing sheets immediately the wood work gets completed.
I will need to be educated on why roofing wood work needs to be left for a month or more before covering.

Uncleteeh(OAKGroup)

somehow:


While I don't know up to what he knows when it comes to construction, I still ask questions to understand why he's doing what he's doing.

That's a very good one sir. Continue to use your curiosity to understand what is happening and what is going to happen and not just what has happened.

The bottomline is to get more involved. Don't use your construction inexperience as an excuse!
Ask questions. Take charge!

Let everyone know you're in it together and there's a win for everyone.

n3xt:


On any of his project, there are over 30 contractors and subcontractors. Everyone from Civil Engineers to IPTV installers attend our meetings.

Even me mysef, I engage engineers for my personal build. As a matter of fact, most of my personal builds are done in my absence

Contractor is the word.

Being a contractor does not mean you won't be needing engineers and the likes.

Enyinne:
Lets wait to get more insight on this issue . Thanks

Make I tell you something? Promise not to laugh...

n3xt:


That's a very good one sir. Continue to use your curiosity to understand what is happening and what is going to happen and not just what has happened.

The bottomline is to get more involved. Don't use your construction inexperience as an excuse!
Ask questions. Take charge!

Let everyone know you're in it together and there's a win for everyone.

This is why I get extremely angry when he does not respond on time when I ask him some questions or ask him what he intend doing for the day, the next day or for the week on the project.

Most times I get blanket response. All in all, if I employ you as my contractor, you should not expect me to still be doing a contractor's job. .

I have tired, taking my leave.

Talk joor

n3xt:


Make I tell you something? Promise not to laugh...

somehow:


This is why I get extremely angry when he does not respond on time when I ask him some questions or ask him what he intend doing for the day, the next day or for through the week on the project.

Most times I get blanket response. All in all, if I employ you as my contractor, you should not expect me to still be doing a contractor's job. .

I have tired, taking my leave.

Bros in mine project the Engineer no better, he send me video of work progress at end of the day or first thing the next day. That is how the Engineer take his job so serious, l give him a lot of respect for doing that on daily basis.

Enyinne:
Talk joor

There was this project of mine I wanted to roof 10 years ago. It was 2 building and I have limited resource to take up the roof installation at the same time. So I decided to buy wood for both building with the hope that fund will come in to do the roofing at once.

Lo and behold, I was only able to raise fund for one of the units. So we roofed only one and we started working hard to raise fund for the other building. It took me almost 5 months to raise the fund and the woodwork has been done.

To my rudest shock (though I wasn't completely surprised because of the quality of wood I bought), nothing happened to the woodwork. I'd find time to visit the building and take pictures.

As much as I wont encourage you to do it my way, I dont really think anything will happen if you use quality woods for you roofing project. The problem is where to find such quality of wood.

_________

Attached below is one of the wood installed 10 years ago. It has been on the ground since 10 years ago and it hasnt shown any sign of rot.

I love this thread so much, check the threads i’ve created and now i feel so stupid

If to sey i dey this thread ni, i fhoor no create such threads.

Thank God i paused my building then, now i can now carefully make my choice

n3xt:


There was this project of mine I wanted to roof 10 years ago. It was 2 building and I have limited resource to take up the roof installation at the same time. So I decided to buy wood for both building with the hope that fund will come in to do the roofing at once.

Lo and behold, I was only able to raise fund for one of the units. So we roofed only one and we started working hard to raise fund for the other building. It took me almost 5 months to raise the fund and the woodwork has been done.

To my rudest shock (though I wasn't completely surprised because of the quality of wood I bought), nothing happened to the woodwork. I'd find time to visit the building and take pictures.

As much as I wont encourage you to do it my way, I dont really think anything will happen if you use quality woods for you roofing project. The problem is where to find such quality of wood.

_________

Attached below is one of the wood installed 10 years ago. It has been on the ground since 10 years ago and it hasnt shown any sign of rot.

Here's one of the reasons why I didn't just jump into conclusion.
I expect woods used for roofing to last as long as 50 years while covered, therefore it can lasts some months without covering.
But I haven't seen where a smoothly going building project's roofing carcass stays 2 weeks without been covered.
Uncleteeh (OAKGroup)

Dooooooo:

Here's one of the reasons why I didn't just jump into conclusion.
I expect woods used for roofing to last as long as 50 years while covered, therefore it can lasts some months without covering.
But I haven't seen where a smoothly going building project's roofing carcass stays 2 weeks without been covered.
Uncleteeh (OAKGroup)

#smoothlygoing

Tbh, I didn’t plan to keep the woodwork uncovered for more than a week.

n3xt:


#smoothlygoing

Tbh, I didn’t plan to keep the woodwork uncovered for more than a week.

Okay

Pocket keeps overflowing....consumer's pockets gets emptied.....Nigeria a gift that keeps giving to the rich....

https://www.nairaland.com/6641288/bua-cement-holds-agm-declares

Enyinne:
Goodmorning people, i need answers to this .How long after roofing wood work should roofing sheet( stone coated ) can be installed. I hv heard 28days after . Pls share ur opinion. Thanks

Hard wood can resist weather conditions for a considerable length of time beyond 28 days when truly dried.

There are two challenges roofing woods will have in this situation. One, the woods may not have dried properly before use, so there's the danger of warping before sheet installation if left for too long. A second challenge is the points at which nails penetrated the woods. The 'wounds' the nails created. Persistent rain water may penetrate the wounds leading to rot.

If you are having this challenge, look for a wood preservative and apply on the woods. You should be good for up to a year depending on the quality. A good quality wood preservative will prevent too rapid drying leading to warping and rain water resistant.

There should be wood preservative in Nigeria or talk to paint manufacturers like gbadexy. I'm sure they should be able to knock up something for a half decent price. Wood preservatives are bible for wooden structures in the US and UK even for raw untreated wood lasting for years in snow, rain and sun.

diordaves:


Hard wood can resist weather conditions for a considerable length of time beyond 28 days when truly dried.

There are two challenges roofing woods will have in this situation. One, the woods may not have dried properly before use, so there's the danger of warping before sheet installation if left for too long. A second challenge is the points at which nails penetrated the woods. The 'wounds' the nails created. Persistent rain water may penetrate the wounds leading to rot.

If you are having this challenge, look for a wood preservative and apply on the woods. You should be good for up to a year depending on the quality. A good quality wood preservative will prevent too rapid drying leading to warping and rain water resistant.

There should be wood preservative in Nigeria or talk to paint manufacturers like gbadexy. I'm sure they should be able to knock up something for a half decent price. Wood preservatives are bible for wooden structures in the US and UK even for raw untreated wood lasting for years in snow, rain and sun.

Very correct.

I’ve been trying to get old pics of the roofing woodwork. I actually applied wood preservatives and black motor oil on all the woods.

They were all painted while on the ground and after installation.

Born2conquer:
I love this thread so much, check the threads i’ve created and now i feel so stupid

If to sey i dey this thread ni, i fhoor no create such threads.

Thank God i paused my building then, now i can now carefully make my choice

Glad you got value from here.

Learn from other people’s mistake. Don’t be the mistake

Got an offline msg that I should shed more light on subsoil investigation and the importance.

______

We’ve actually done this many times here but I’d share something from the Test we carried out in 2011.

_______

No matter the size of your house, it is highly advisable to investigate the compaction characteristics of the soil you want to build on as this will tell you if the soil is a satisfactory foundation material.

Soil test is not just a means of enriching engineers/builders/town planners but a scientific way of confirming the suitability of soil for a proposed development.

_________

A soil might be satisfactory for one type of construction but might require special treatment for other building. The test will confirm the suitability of soils for foundation based on strength, cohesion and consolidation characteristics of the soil.

n3xt:


I go collect one room for that your house

No wahala

n3xt:
Urgent!!!

[s]I need a sure plug for demolition permit in Oshodi area.

Pls dm me +234 80 234... 29122 if you have one.

Thanks.[/s]

Resolved.

How did you handle the SARS people working in LIRS?
My client pay Tax in FCT and LASG is pushing another XX million for ordinary small duplex.

For those who recently file for building permit/planning permission in Lagos, how did you handle double taxation?

Cutting corner is not an option here.

Thanks.

dongc:
Pocket keeps overflowing....consumer's pockets gets emptied.....Nigeria a gift that keeps giving to the rich....

https://www.nairaland.com/6641288/bua-cement-holds-agm-declares

Ooh. You saw the news as well.

n3xt:


Exactly my point above!

The approach is what we call “fix-along-as-you-build” approach.

So you don’t expect such approach to fix anything. There’ll always be flooding, building collapse and failures because we failed to do things the right way.

There's nothing wrong with "fix along as you build" approach......as long as it's done right using the necessary information. I say this most especially for flood prone areas.
Flooding and earth moving equipments are not the reason for building collapse. As far as nigeria is concerned building collapse among many factors is as a result of using inexperienced hands/heads and cutting corners.

n3xt:


I guess incompetent contractor built the miami collapsed building. Maybe he also used substandard materials from Nigeria

I always laugh when I read stuffs here. The only thing we know about is cutting corners, corruption, substandard materials blah blah. We often dont think of environmental influence as a major cause of collapse.

When building regulations request for 9m setback for certain building, we often half it or even do whatever we like on site. For us, it is a waste of space. Those who requested for it must be stupid. They don't know how much they sell land in Lekki....

I have nothing less than 9m setback on 3 sides in my personal abode. Do you think I'd suffer same catastrophe as someone who had lesser setback? If there's fire outbreak, would I have issues like someone who manage to fit his building in 10m plot. What about vibrations? Think about standing waters - it can never get to my building. What about land subsidence? Is that a case of lack of competence?

I think you should read up more on causes of building collapse sir.

Miami building collapse: What could have caused it? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57651025


__________

All I can say is that if my building collapse, hold me responsible because I don't take chances. Where there are no standards, I become the standard.

___________

Pics from The Contractor (Miami Building Collapse)

I did not do a follow up story on the Miami build.....but I do know there were investigations done on the build prior to this actual collapse. According to their investigation and report specific remediation work on the build was supposed to have been carried out but the authorities or management of the build did not heed to the advice.


Also not abiding to set back(s) be it 9m or 3m is not the reason behind building collapse. One of the purposes for setbacks is for utilities.

Dooooooo:

Value Paint said 2 to 3 months.
Really? I have never heard of such. I have never seen such.
So far, we apply the roofing sheets immediately the wood work gets completed.
I will need to be educated on why roofing wood work needs to be left for a month or more before covering.

Uncleteeh(OAKGroup)

It's assumed that a good roof wood work is expected to last 6 months to direct atmospheric conditions in the absence of funds before installation of roofing sheets. Free from rot/wear/tear. This I have seen and not some classroom theory.

That is not to say a client is expected to wait that long. If there are no funds to commence both the roof wood work and aluminum sheets within the shortest possible duration in between then such job should be put on pause.

bixton:



There's nothing wrong with "fix along as you build" approach......as long as it's done right using the necessary information. I say this most especially for flood prone areas.
Flooding and earth moving equipments are not the reason for building collapse. As far as nigeria is concerned building collapse among many factors is as a result of using inexperienced hands/heads and cutting corners.

Construction activities which includes but not limited to blasting, piling, compaction, deep excavations, and construction traffic can produce vibrations that can cause damage to neighbouring buildings and structures.

Read more:

https://guardian.ng/property/flooding-to-trigger-building-collapse-in-major-cities/

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-53097480

Regardless the quality of construction and the experience of the construction manager, I don't think it is advisable for anyone in his right senses to leave his/her building inside standing water. There are too many causes of building collapse that we pay little or no attention to especially in flood prone areas (especially Lagos) eg. weak soil, continuous dredging activities, vibration induced by construction activities can cause different types of structural damage.

Once again, regardless of the materials you use to build your house, extended exposure to vibration, prolonged flooding or dredging activities over a period of time can cause more densification resulting in more settlement of the soil. When the soil beneath the foundation fails, the structure will surely fall and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0XNrekP3U