Sometimes some of the toughest decisions look so simple initially until we are faced with its reality. Consider you have the opportunity to take a loan facility of 10million naira at your workplace. You intend on using the loan for your five bedroom bungalow house project, and based on the project details from the contractor it would cost you 8 million naira, and would take a year to complete. Your landlord just increased your house rent from 600,000 naira to 900,000 naira per annum, and you will have to pay that rent while you are still building yours. Shortly after getting the loan, you get a flier that informs you of a massive deal in town which would make you a home owner in a few days if you could just pay 12million naira. It is a five bed room bungalow too and in a similar location. You like this idea of buying a house so much except that a cost benefit analysis favours you building rather than buying. Naturally it seems so logical to build, but in reality it might not be the right choice; building or buying both have their pros and cons and this article shows you just that.

Building gives you great taste. During the design phase you have the freedom to play around with the features you want in your house. You remember a friend’s house you visited and liked the way his garage was designed and so you tell the architect to incorporate it. You also like how a friend’s house had an atrium, and how the large dining room of your pastor’s home made you feel you were in a palace; so you add all this features to your requirements and your architect creatively works round it to give you what you want. In a short while you realise your apartment is an all star home with all the best features you borrowed from other designs. The design fits you, in fact it defines you. People might be able to tell a little about your personality from your home design. It really feels good to build, don’t you think.

Buying is fun. How do you feel when you have always walked round a new estate in your neighbourhood while it was under construction. You liked the location and design and always wished you could start your family in it. Suddenly few days after the apartment was open for sale, you got some favourable business deal and realised you could now buy your dream house. The thrill of having what you cherished pushes you to the door step of the real estate agent and in a matter of days you are already standing at the porch – a proud home owner. It would have taken a year to build, and during that time you would have had to pay your house rent. But buying and moving in immediately saves you a years rent and a year’s stress (building your house could be stressful).

When building your house you realise some things do take time. You have to file your plans for approval; a solid concrete foundation requires a minimum number of days for the poured concrete to set; and work goes faster during the dry season. Some activities just can not be hastened and facing that reality could be frustrating. Generally the time to complete your project takes longer than what you have in the plan. In fact the plan might eventually look like a process of activities rather than a time stamp due to so many unforeseen circumstances. Delays increase the cost of the project as you spend more on labour, materials and equipment. Also Construction material prices fluctuate frequently; often weekly and, sometimes, even daily, due to the supply and demand of specific materials. Common factors that drive the cost of materials include natural disasters, government regulations on specific materials and building booms. Most of the time, but not always, prices go up. Going back to our original scenario, by the time you are done with your construction project, you might realise you have spent well over 13million naira as against the 8 million naira budgeted.

Buying a house is like eating at a fast food restaurant. You enjoy the ease with which you get your meal, but the taste doesn’t seem tailored for your specific needs. Chances are the salt might not be to your taste. Same goes with buying a house. It solves an immediate need quickly, but then again it doesn’t totally address your needs. The guest room might have been located too close to other family bedrooms, the windows might be too small, and you might realise after paying the mortgage that half of the sockets are not actually working. Seriously it is not possible for you to check everything in a house at the time of purchase. You might also doubt the quality of the materials used for the construction and finishes, sadly these are things whose quality failures would only start showing about a year after using the house. You might end up spending a couple of millions to get the house back in shape and according to your taste. So, going back to our original scenario, buying might not be the best deal.

The decision to build or buy ultimately rests on you. Consider the pros and cons of each option, and choose what best suits you.

Visit the blog on www.cribpark.com to read more about housing related issues. Cribpark.com is Nigeria's first online building materials marketplace where you can buy all the building materials you need at the lowest prices, best quality and free delivery. Call 08025059733 to contact us

hw much wil it cost in buying a simple or building a simple 3bedroom house.if u hv 900,000 naira

girly90:
hw much wil it cost in buying a simple or building a simple 3bedroom house.if u hv 900,000 naira

Ideally, it would cost you from 2,500,000naira upwards to build a 3 bedroom bungalow in most urban areas. However it all depends on your location, the physical features of the land, and your specific interests

Locations like Ajah, Ikoyi, Lekki do cost more to build on because some building materials have a higher price in such areas. If you are building outside Lagos, transporting some materials down there would increase the cost of construction too.
The physical features of your site also matters. If there are existing structures around it and you just want to attach your bungalow to it then you could spend a bit less. Also, soils with significant low bearing capacities like those found in some places in Lekki, and Ajah would require you to spend more.
An important point to consider is the extent of the finishing you expect. Due to financial reasons, some people do not plaster the exterior walls and continue living in it while others plaster the walls but do not paint. The extent you are willing to go aesthetically adds up to the cost.

In urban areas like Lagos it is quite rare to find a 3-bedroom bungalow for 900,000 naira as the cost of land alone exceeds a million naira in most places. However in places outside Lagos where land is cheap, it is not uncommon to find a land with an old bungalow that could go for a low amount. However in most cases such existing structures (bungalow) do require a lot of renovation and in some cases reconstruction. Eventually, the cost of carrying out the renovation/reconstruction might equate to buying a land and building from scratch

900,000 naira is quite on the low side, but if you can give more details about what you need, i can offer advice on how to go about your project. You can call 08025059733

What we do on Cribpark.com is to sell the building materials you need at the lowest prices, best quality and free delivery. However we also help people out by giving them professional advice on their building projects

"People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are PEOPLE without homes"- Shelia Mackechnie