spyder880:

I prefare the first option because it will take less portion of land to build and there are more flat renters than bungalow renters. Some people cannot agree to live downstairs in a bungalow.

Please dont bet on the second option being cheaper to build, I have good reasons to believe it will be more expensive to build 6 flats on the ground than on a single 2 storey block.

spyder880: Please, can you tell me which of these strips of roofing sheets is NOT aluminium?[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]

This question is the opening statement on this page, and 3 days later, nobody has tried to identify the non aluminium? Does it mean we all agree that we cannot identify when you will be cheated and sold zinc instead of aluminium, even when the price variance is up to 500 naira per sq. meter? A dishonest roofer can make a huge killing, more than 400k from this variance and we cannot identify the fake by looking at it? Nuff said before some roofers will shut me up

gmiky: Oga Spyder, the project is moving at a very interesting pace. Well done for all the nice Job for it has been an eye opener. This is one tread I follow closely on NL. Possible to have the estimated expense on this project to date? This would help some us with similar projects to estimate and plan accordingly. God bless you.

spyder880:

Till this stage in the last picture, N5m for all materials, labour, wooden work house and even the designed pillars.

question: Spyder, why do you have does blue PVC pipes on the wall?

question: Spyder, why do you have does blue PVC pipes on the wall?

prince_onx:
I believe those are the water and waste pipes. They're been installed internally (conduit).

DCGUY: @Oga Spyder, how many tons of iron did you use for the decking of the house in Owerri? if you dont mind, kindly break down the tons in the sizes used.

spyder880: [b]After looking deeply for so long into the building industry in this country, I feel there is a need to look at ways of bridging the gap between elegance and affordability in private and commercial properties. Most times when you look at buildings, you find out that the pretty ones always cost so many millions of naira to build. The type of money you get as quotes will make the fearful to tremble, and some will even abandon the idea to build because of the huge sums mentioned. This should not be so.
Based on the knowledge we have gathered in the Nigerian building industry for a very long time, I hereby present this thread, a place where I plan to update my numerous readers on the latest building techniques, the latest products in the market, the originals and the fakes, the different approaches to building houses and the easy ways to get the best of your men and materials as you build your house, with an eye on the efficiency of the building process. This will mean cutting off some middlemen in the building supply chain, while ensuring that all safe building protocols are observed to the letter.
I have a team of very young men who think alike with me, we believe that we can give this country a better image, and we hope to achieve this by building trust, creating alliances and expanding the boundaries of knowledge as new technology enters the market. We have decided to make hard work our culture, to commit ourselves fully to our passion, which is to make building houses safe and affordable.
We can negotiate anything and uproot all obstacles in our way to building success, we know the terrain and have proved we can do this before. We have never had any problems with any of our previous clients (more that 10 right now on nairaland alone) but we will like to respect their privacy as always.
What we do for our clients include,
To first listen to their preferences
To understand their choices and tastes, and to use it to arrive at the best advice for them
To keep communicating with them until together, we get a plan that satisfies all their housing needs
To advice them on costs as it affects timelines and project durations
To embark on the project and improve on the tastes of our client
To add value to the process, ensuring that our client makes a profit on the contract.
Are there any reasons to bore you guys with words? No, Right now, we shall use this thread to showcase some of our current works for different projects; there are those we cannot show because the clients asked for privacy on the project, we only update them on their personal mails.

PERFECTION IS OUR GOAL, EXCELLENCE WILL BE TOLERATED
[/b]

spyder880: internal plumbing is also very much in progress

MaxNdu:
Hi Spyder,
I like this internal laying(conduit) of fluid pipes. But, apart from the physical beauty it gives the house, what other advantages does one get laying pipes internally, and also include ease of maintenance in a situation where there is a leak. Thanks and well done, you are doing a great job!!!

Fhemmmy: Still following the thread . . . .

spyder880: I am enjoying the evening with a friend who is building a 6 flats, two storey building. He has a problem right here, they did his decking without inserting the continuation pillar rods for the cantilevered sections of the deck. Meaning that the place the pillar rods are supposed to be are bare, and this is the edges.

Weekend question:

Is it better to chisel the decking, insert the rods and continue the upper floors?

OR

Place the rods on top of the decking and cast the pillar like that?The purpose of pillars (columns) is not only to help evenly spread dead and live load, but also to tie the upper-structure of the build to the sub-structure (foundation)for both dead and live load to be transmitted to the foundation. If you cast pillar on top the decking just like that, you lose this safe load transmission mechanism and run the risk of huge differential settlement which may cause the building to buckle at this point (pillar to decking), there by bringing down the building. Just chiselling the decking may not be enough because there is a recommended length overlap between two rods to be bind to form a column (ie the "original rods" and the "continuing rod" ) so ask your friend to revert back to his civil/structural engineer.

I have already adviced the guy (a friend) but what do you think?

Learning continues.

spyder880:

Plumbing wastes internally makes for very neat walls and reduces the chance that rodents will be climbing upstairs from the external pipes. There is also the reduced risk of physical damage by falling ladders, kids playing and even cars damaging it if it is close to where vehicles park. Some also say that internal pipes lasts longer since it is not exposed to rain or sun or wear and tear occasioned by vibrations and strong wind.
But the maintenance is always problematic in case of bursts or leaks internally. Thats why I spend extra to go for top of the range pvc materials when shopping for internal toilet pipes.