djungle:

Another wacko! Why not shut the hell up or better still, mind your damn business.

Abuloma80:

@Nexthomes/Brabus,you are a typical Ngerian,sweet mouth at the bigging just to dube people at the end.God will not leave you to go free.

Costa2000:

Can u prove that?

spyder880:

I salute the courage of Brabus, at least for trying. I praise his cool headedness, at least for apologizing to his client and trying to correct the mistakes. If any of us have never made mistakes, let them stand up and say so. Our acting like the whole world has ended because some things were not done right is rather regrettable, yes we have been hitting too hard at Brabus like he has killed anyone. Is it not in this same country that builders collect their client's cash and disappear? And we cannot give some credit for those who even tried, although their efforts were not fantastic, and they have been going back to repair the damage.

For those saying they wont give him jobs anymore, well we shall like to see the pictures of thier works after it was completed, banking on the future that we can do better than another is like criticizing Yakubu for missing that goal that even my grand mama can score, come out and play, wear the eagles shirt and enter stadium make we see, its not easy o!.

I am sick and tired of people just drawing cobclusions and throwing fuel into on on fire to look good, someone mentioned that Brabus duped someone some posts back, last two weeks someone posted that he diverted the cash meant for this work, and another even suggested that he must have used the cash to build his own house! How preposterous!

Seems i will get off the construction industry before anyone thinks the cash I use to build is clients money, like I am not building my house even before these contracts?

Now, take your punch on me, go ahead, hit me! Must we pull each other down to prove some points? Is every Nigerian business venture doomed from the start? Killing someone online dont mean the person will fall down and die, did Ekene Dili Chukwu, Dangote or Mike Adenuga build houses on Nairaland to succeed?

I am expecting fireworks, so feel free and rant on me anyone that feels like that!

5. He refuses to be accountable and take responsibility for his mistakes. I have made several concessions and am still willing to make more but he must be prepared to act aright and turn around the situation as we have limited time under this current dispensation of grace.

6. Till date he has not given me my outstanding reciepts. The only one I have is for my first payment. He proposed a new one last week but I referred him to our email correspondence of September 6th, 2011 where I articulated what he should state in the reciept and the format to follow. I await his response.

7.On the issue of refunds. It is clear that he is currently either insolvent or incapable of depleting his "fee" to settle a client. That is an issue for another day. All I know is that one way or the other justice will be served.

spyder880:

I salute the courage of Brabus, at least for trying. I praise his cool headedness, at least for apologizing to his client and trying to correct the mistakes. If any of us have never made mistakes, let them stand up and say so. Our acting like the whole world has ended because some things were not done right is rather regrettable, yes we have been hitting too hard at Brabus like he has killed anyone. Is it not in this same country that builders collect their client's cash and disappear? And we cannot give some credit for those who even tried, although their efforts were not fantastic, and they have been going back to repair the damage.

For those saying they wont give him jobs anymore, well we shall like to see the pictures of thier works after it was completed, banking on the future that we can do better than another is like criticizing Yakubu for missing that goal that even my grand mama can score, come out and play, wear the eagles shirt and enter stadium make we see, its not easy o!.

I am sick and tired of people just drawing cobclusions and throwing fuel into on on fire to look good, someone mentioned that Brabus duped someone some posts back, last two weeks someone posted that he diverted the cash meant for this work, and another even suggested that he must have used the cash to build his own house! How preposterous!

Seems i will get off the construction industry before anyone thinks the cash I use to build is clients money, like I am not building my house even before these contracts?

Now, take your punch on me, go ahead, hit me! Must we pull each other down to prove some points? Is every Nigerian business venture doomed from the start? Killing someone online dont mean the person will fall down and die, did Ekene Dili Chukwu, Dangote or Mike Adenuga build houses on Nairaland to succeed?

I am expecting fireworks, so feel free and rant on me anyone that feels like that!

prince_onx:

You personally said that it's in Nigeria that contractors disappear with people's money, what make you think or believe that this fund was not missused or diverted to a different half done project somewhere like some said? what could possible hold or make a 15days project last for almost 3 moths even though all funds/fees are paid in full? Lets stop backing failures all in the name of naija! if that happen here in the US, I will get that job for 50% off and the contractor will be morethan happy to comply with me for not dragging him to court. FYI too you need permit from the city to do most jobs on your property and you can't get a 4days permit to re-roof your house and 2weeks later you're still killing neighbours with dust and noise. And for those people you mentioned above, if they go on www and claim that they will do something in 1 month and 3 months later its not done, trust me even you yourself will be here blasting them or calling them lire. Nobody here is attacking the contractors on the street. I am also facing some challenges with my own project but this are with guys that I don't even know their names and that is far from someone that set himself aside to make name and set example. And by the way when you post something on a public forum, this is what you get if yawa gazzzz!

ftmom:





Fairly accurate! Let me also add that from experience - most of the so-called professional builders will still go to the street corners and hire painters who used to be laborers and with little or no experience. Yes, they do this even for big money jobs. Why?? That kind of labor is cheaper plus there is a serious dearth of REALLY SKILLED artisans in the industry. What you have for the most part today are artisans with no formal apprenticeship talk less of doing "freedom" like in the old days when some of us dinosaurs were growing up.

Finishing is what does a lot of developers/professional builders in. Arranging blocks and pipes is not rocket science for a fairly experienced builder but that thing called "fine finish" is the bane of the industry. To make a sight pleasant to the eyes - very few builders understand that because they cannot visualize a perfect finish no matter how hard they try. If you cannot visualize something, it's hard to set out to create it.

Good finishers are few and far between in Nigeria, that is just the way it is. In order to manage your artisans, even with a contractor, you often have to be physically present almost every step of the way when it comes to the finishing because often times, the contractor is only slightly better than the artisan. Of course, physical presence when you have a job in Lagos traffic is tough. Unfortunately, most builders cannot execute with excellence at that finishing stage if your appreciation for finishing is eons away from theirs.

Oh and just FYI - some of those million naira properties in Ikoyi (even Banana Island) and VI exhibit poor finishing too regardless of how much money was put into them. Perhaps that is why you find the really wealthy folks will bring in an expatriate artisan to supervise our Naija tradesmen. The super wealthy simply give out almost all the finishing work to expatriates (for the actual labor and supervision).

For those of us who can't afford that but insist on fine finish, you must be  on site to supervise yourself, that's the truth. Even at that, mistakes will still happen because once you leave the plumber to connect your sink in one bathroom at an agreed height, before you come back from the living room, he would have installed it lower than that height and he will wonder why you are so fussy 

For our Nairaland builders, I am eagerly waiting for the finishing stage because that is what will set you apart from the rest.

question:

People, please cool your temper.
As you may have noticed Nexthome and his client have not posted on this thread since the last one week. That shows they are sorting out the issue behind the scene as they have both mentioned.

So no need making cynical comments about the builder or trying to add insult upon injury.

Some Nigerian builders are worse off. They will not even apologize or have any remorse, The shabby or uncompleted and abandoned projects all over the country is an evidence to this

love-tosin:

@spuder880:good day spider,I hope u r learning from this.I admire your courage n enthusiasm in this your lofty idea of building cheap affordable homes for d masses but do not forget to watch your back cuz this same set of pple singing your praise for cheap quotes will be d first to put u to d sword wen ever u make any little mistake.my lil advice 4 u is to charge accordingly w/o sentiment cuz u will never be afforded dat opportunity wen things go wrong. Client n contractor r trying to stay offline n look for possible ways to end d imbroglio,others dat don't even have d balls to hire a contractor r busy trying to aggravate d situation.thanks for those with their constructive criticisim,I hope Brabus learns from it n apply it to his future endeavours but for those quick to condemn others , I say keep up your good work n hope u find a career out of it n for d client,for not firing your contractor n insisting on him finishing d job, I guess u av d believe in him for capable of doing a better job.I hope u resolve your issues quickly so u cld enjoy your sweat,

spyder880:

Thank you Love-tosin, to tell you the truth I have been rethinking this whole idea of building online, or even doing contract building because of my sensitive nature, I love to assist people build their houses so they can be happy but sometimes the Nigerian factor in us makes things difficult. I know people are waiting for me to fail so they can laugh, but I am still doing all these for the real friends I have made online, so they dont say I abandoned them. I have had cause to refuse some few contracts in the past few months because the client sounded as if he will be troublesome.

spyder880:

Building construction is not easy, was not easy and never will be in the future, you are faced with all the negative influences plaguing our country,
Armed robbers
Kidnappers
Dupes
Bad workmen
Troublesome family of owner (siblings and spouse)
Disgruntled friends
Troublesome community
Accidents
Late nights
Etc

spyder880:

I have seen plenty in this short while I have been building houses, although I have some good momories but the negatives have been mind boggling! If not for the courage to carry on, and the encouragement of our nairaland community here, I would have quit long time ago. Anyone who have never built houses dont know what its like, honestly! Its not like any other business, rain beats us on site, the sun, working long hours till night. Its not easy o, and I ask again, how much can you charge to cover your expenses? Fuel, car repairs, other hanging expenses.

spyder880:

I praise anybody who will take building houses as business, owners want to spend only N100k and complete one 6 storey building! And if you try to explain to them why it should be costlier, they think you have finished their money. Friends will be on the side and telling the home owner that the contractor is cheating him, if the contractor changes his shirt, people will say he used the client's cash, even without proof!

Honestly, I don tire.