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It is no longer news that Nigerians have elected a new president and he’s really working hard as we’ve obviously witnessed a tremendous increase in the price of all basic commodities in the market.
This increase in price has affected everything including construction and this is not far from the fact that construction workers need to buy these expensive commodities from the money they get paid from your site. We’re here to discuss how you can reduce the losses of money when building your house in Nigeria.
Truth is, even when the cost of construction has risen tremendously, it is still possible to achieve your construction goals without wasting your money and these are the main reasons why we’re making this post to guide you on how to go about it!
How to Avoid Losing Money when Building a House In Nigeria
Consider the 9 points below as bearing them in mind would help you reduce the amount of monetary losses when building your house in Nigeria!
1. Hire only Professional Hands
Have you ever witnessed a situation where already constructed columns or walls had to be broken because they were erected at the wrong position or didn’t meet the conditions or didn’t follow what exists in the building codes?
Now do you know this would’ve amounted to a waste of materials used to construct this element, the cost of erecting it as well as the time used to erect it?
Do you know this would’ve been prevented if professional hands were hired in the first place?
Well, now that you’re reading this, be ready to scrutinize the next workman that is introduced to you to ensure he’s capable of handling your work in a professional way as this would help prevent losses.
Having a professional hand handling your project actually helps you sleep knowing your resources, time and materials are in the right hands!
So that Architectural design? have a professional handle it as it’ll save you money too!
2. Know the Estimates
If there is one big step you must take towards your construction, after buying an erf, your next move should be searching out the best architectural edifices you’d love to have as yours, and this you can do by searching “Latest Building Designs” on Google.
It is normal to find architectural designs that don’t exist in Nigeria since you’re viewing designs from architects around the world. Now pick 1 design that suits your taste, and class and have our local-based architects make it come to reality!
With this design, approach any cost estimator or quantity surveyor (if you have the money) and ask them to estimate the average cost of building your home.
It is important to have an estimate as doing so enables you to plan the budget and possibly spread it according to your Income! You don’t want to go hungry while erecting an edifice so plan it in such a way that you’ll be able to have some savings to foot your bills and feed as well.
3. Spread the Cost After Estimation
In point 2 above, we identified having an estimate as one effective way to build without wasting resources. Now that we have an estimate, your next step is to spread this cost.
For instance, let’s say you need around NGN100,000 (one hundred thousand Naira to fence your house), but you earn just NGN 25,000 monthly.
Recommended: Most costly aspects of Building a house in Nigeria
Spreading the estimate will help you determine how many months you’d need to work or save to be able to execute the project successfully without going hungry
This would also help you ensure every material you buy for the project is used judiciously.
4 Avoid Repetition
Repetition is another wasteful occurrence on site and this is very common when you hire the wrong hands for the job or when the site engineer is not always around to monitor and direct the workmen on site.
Do you know that in most cases, repetitive work could take around 1% of the entire construction budget?
Now that you’ve known, save that percentage for the next phase of the project cos I’m sure you’ll really need it
5 If possible, Avoid Family Labor
Family labor is very cheap. It creates jobs for the people at home as they’re always paid for whatever tasks they carry out on the site.
But do you know most times, using a family hand to execute a project is like shooting yourself in the legs?
Do you know if your family member hired to execute a project ended up using the wrong materials or wastes a lot of your resources, it’s often difficult to hold them accountable?
At the point of trying to hold them accountable, a lot of people are going to come begging, pleading that you let go since it’s your brother or cousin or uncle that is Involved.
This would’ve meant losing all that materials, money, and time for nothing.
I’ve seen a scenario where a family person employed to carry out the wiring on a project ended up using the wrong wires even though he’d been supplied 2.5mm cables, he used 1.5mm and when loaded, appliances won’t function perfectly.
You could imagine the amount of embarrassment this caused to the contractor as he ended up putting his reputation at stake and losing a client.
6 Mold your own blocks
In a previous post, we’ve shared some of the benefits you stand to enjoy whenever you mold your own blocks. Molding your own blocks helps you save over 17% of total cost of money required for blocks! Now imagine saving 17% of 3 Million Naira!
While hiring a molder to mold blocks on your site might seem to be a time-consuming venture. I’ll cite 2 benefits you’ll derive from doing this.
Just ensure they dry well before using them and ensure the sharp sand used is allowed to drain well. Also, ensure the molder gives you at least 35 5-inch blocks for every bag of cement you buy (Some give up to 40 blocks though)
- It has been proven countless times that whenever you buy 500 blocks, you’re unknowingly dashing out 87 blocks to whoever you buy from.
Now at this time in Delta state, a 5-inch block sells for About 250 Naira (Could be cheaper in other locations).
This means you’d be dashing away 250 x 87 = NGN 21750. Do you know this money can be used to pay bricklayers?
Well, mold your own blocks, the benefits are much for you.
7 Salvage used Materials
I know you might be too busy to pay attention but read carefully. Do you know during wall erection, wood is used as a scaffold, formworks, etc.?
Now do you know these could be salvaged? You’d ask how isn’t it? Well, salvaging is in 2 forms.
One is to monetize these wastes, the other is to safeguard them when they can be used in other phases of the project. Let us assume you decide on the first option (Monetizing the waste materials) do you know you can earn enough money to pay a workman or his server’s daily work?
Now that’s some savings right there. Imagine selling off all the woods used for decking which could fill up a truck. Good cash isn’t it?
8 Buy Only the Right Materials.
Another reason why there exists a lot of material or monetary waste during construction is the purchase of wrong materials.
As you know construction materials are classified into grades, the measurements aren’t the same and so is the durability.
Therefore, whenever you receive a quotation from a contractor, ensure you buy the correct one.
In most cases, it is recommended that you follow the contractor to the market in order to procure these materials as he’s the only one that can confidently choose the most suitable materials for his job.
9 Always Approach the Direct Source.
When you build your home, do well to speak directly to suppliers or sellers. This is another effective way to avoid Losing Money when Building your house in Nigeria!
If possible, do some market research as your contractor might in some cases pad the estimates for selfish reasons best known to him or her.
Buying directly from the source doesn’t mean you don’t trust your supplier, it’s just a way to put a check and ensure you’re buying the right materials and paying the right amount for it.
Conclusion: How to avoid wasting Money when Building your house in Nigeria
It becomes very important to hold tight whatever resources you’re dishing out towards your construction projects as the economy has gotten tougher.
But knowing what areas to hold tight is important and this is what this article on How to avoid Losing Money when Building your house in Nigeria has tried to help you do. It is normal to find other areas that were never mentioned in this post, so do well to add them in the comment section or send them to our email, WhatsApp or
