My name is Osarenkhoe Osayanmon and am a Civil Engineer with enough experience in design and building. I have worked as a building consultant for some time now and supervised some projects on my own from start to finish. I want to share my experience and ideas with you guys. I can be reached via 08068280130 anytime.


I end up correcting 70% of any architectural drawing given to me to develop. The reason is because architect drawings are almost always not achievable or realistic.
Yeah they look so beautiful on paper and their 3d awesome.

Stay tuned and pick no offence but learn

i agree with you bro, its difficult to actually build what you see on the PC screen. these days we have so many
computer aided drawing software's, most people can draw what they think, but building it in real life is a big problem and most of our engineers and technicians are not competent. i have worked with many of them.

Location Plan
Location plan is supposed to help anybody locate the site. It is necessary you take it from a known road or building. Don't be too lazy to signify other buildings around. Google Maps can help you do this properly.


Site Plan
Its important you study the survey plan well before you make your site plan.
1. Don't be tempted to use all the available land for the fence. You need to reserve some in front for the gutter, some flowers for beauty, and for waste disposal.
You should have enough space between d road and fence. Just in case your governor decides to expand the road in future.

2. You should have enough space between the building and the fence. Don't ever use 1m or less. Only If you want water to flow from your roof to the next compound or flowers to grow into it.

3. Include the area of land available, area of to be developed, area to be developed later and area undeveloped. In some cases the longitude and latitude of the site, the direction of north and hatch or colour codes key.

4. All dimensions are important. The building boundary and distance to any element in the compound.

5. Place the gates well. To allow his car move in smoothly. Dont place the gate in a way car will have to turn several times before it's enters.
I have seen a house, were the owner has to come from the street behind his house to maneuver his way through the gate.

6. Should the security post share the same wall with fence. You must plan this properly. Few houses from mine, the man uses electric fence. But the security post roof can be used to gain access into the house with just a ladder.

7. When considering packing space. The space should take the cars when all doors are open.

Before you draw

Its the dream of any architect to see his design built as he drew. You must ask you client some questions. Take note most of them don't know what's right for them. So try to bring yourself to their level before you advice them.

1. First, You have to be sure your client wants to pay for your drawing. Do you know there are some old architects here on Nairaland who will give a task to several young architects who are full of ideas. At the end they will always pick faults in what you design until you are frustrated to give up. What they do is combine ideas from several architects and do it themselves. All your time and efforts will be wasted.
Maybe one day you will see what you designed being built and no penny was given to you.
I don't think there is a solution to this problem. If you have, please share with us. You just have to be careful. You could also be a victim of fake clients. People who have no land or intention to build. They will contact you for a design and when you are done, they will tell you THANKS.

2. Can your client afford this?
You have to think twice before you design a building that will cost millions for someone who does not see a million in a year. Design what your client can afford.
Always make dem simple.

3. Can the features I put on the drawing be found?
You design a house with pergolas. Who knows where I can buy one?

Now tell me how the cars entered this building.
The 3d is beautiful, it shows 2 Cars in the compound.
I don't know the cars drove through the gate and made a perfect turn to the right.

Even if the cars where dropped with helicopter. The driver can not open the door. Because it will be obstructed by the fence.

This is what happens when the site plan isn't properly planned.

Parlour and ante room
Planing this isn't as easy it seems. Back then all we considered was space.
Now you need a free wall without windows for the TV.
You cant have your flats screen TV between windows or directly opposite any window. The light will affect the view.

You can't put a wall bracket above where the TV will be.

There is a required distance from TV to eye you must consider.

Plan the space using a good furniture layout.

The door that leads here should be big enough to allow passage of big objects. Above 1100

[b][/b]You should have enough space between d road and fence. Just in case your governor decides to expand the road in future.
I quite disagree with you on this, and I will give you my reasons. If my building plan is approved by the ministry of urban development and I follow the plan, if any government decide to expand or carry out any construction on the road that will affect my building then appropriate compensation should be paid. It's only in Nigeria that you see individual developers going to develop an area without the master plan of that area. The best practice is for the government to map out all available infrastructure. E.g access road, drainage, walk way, electric line etc.

Nice post

Am loving this, nice one OP

@OP some of the the things you see as mistakes most times are from the clients.

I love this thread .
Op,pls continue

I love this thread .
Op,pls continue

Disco/partying Architects evrywhere

This is a very good thread.
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thanks.

I'm really impressed with all these observations. But frankly speaking, we have many quacks or CAD drafters whom ddnt go to school of Architecture @ol or have little/No experience. More so, i feel clients have a lot to contribute in this aspect too, because they always want anything CHEAP without considering the consequences, So they end up falling into wrong hands who are mere CAD DRAFTERS. Our building agencies don't do their homework as well, because there are ethics in the building industry too. I can't imagine them (building agencies) approving a design without proper check on all the necessary requirements.
My advice are these:
1. Clients should check for architects portfolio before assigning him to design.
2. Every site has its unique features, some clients are fund of buying designs from clients or quacks without knowing their site analysis. Instead of inviting an Architect to design.
3. Architects should get a brief from client, study it well to know if all will fit in the site.
4. Set backs should be provided, depending on the building agency requirements.
5. Building Agencies should check drawings before approval..........
...............

Good

OP this thread is inspiring and a very big lesson for the upcoming landlords.

Maybe you have been supervising a draftman or a quack architect's work, this is BLACKMAIL!

well, am engineer too but what I notice was that the AutoCAD software is easily learn anywhere..... people without the knowledge of building or drawing don't have the knowledge of what the building entails, once u can draw line ,offset it,trim it etc and using different modeling software, u have automatically become an engineer/ architect.. ...

and again clients cause the problem.. they want cheap package and better results..... example u go to architect for a building plan of 3 bedroom, he said minimum of 40k but u go to a road side architect,he said oga bring 20k jare..... u see d different.. but now the engineer would face many challenges about the drawing on site.....

ministry also partake, because dey don't check drawing b4 approval, once u have paid d necessary dues....dey just sign and approved... no checking it

Impressive

It came just in time !

Following...

Nice one bro

Nice article op.... Am a civil engineer by profession. Dere's a day a young lad came 2 nd told me dat, he draws/design building plans, I looked @ him and asked him, wat's ur decipline ? He told me' accounting, dat he has learnt auto-cad.. I laughed nd asked him wat sizes of block is 225mm, he couldn't interprete in inches. I told him dat' he should focus on his decipline. My point is.... In 9ja, anybody now draws building plans. Dat is another factor affectin architecture profession

site meetings between the Engineer and the architect is always very necessary in construction wher differences in views are addressed.

what's the difference between civil engnr, building tech and architects ?

Learning. ......

1st of all, the Hogwash u put up here shld be retitled 'MISTAKES DRAUGHTSMEN MAKE'.
If u are not a quack and truly a registered engineer (as u so claim) u Shld know better that this rubbish presentation is against ur COREN ethics of professional practice. An Architect is the head of a project team and u correct his drawings?!!!.... Under what moral authority?
Buildings are falling down all over lagos & u haven't deemed it fit to address that log in ur eye, rather u occupy urself with the vain pursuit of removing a speck in the eye of some profession u know nothing about.
Come to think of it, so u think this trash u put up equates to what is taught in 6yrs of architecture school?
With all ur hallowed experience u deem it fit that a 1metre setback is Better than the 3m as contained in building bye-laws? U are a wonder! Pity the ignorant public cld still applaud ur quackness.
Pple like u are the reason why we are where we are as a country. Jack of many trades, master of zilch.

Jaymaestro:
what's the difference between civil engnr, building tech and architects ?

civil engineer supervise the building tech in carrying out the drawing drawn by the architect.....
civil engineer interpreted both the architectural and structural drawing for the build tech to carry out....


i stand to be corrected ooo


but nowaday no different.... everybody is engineer

You must be working with inexperienced or lazy architects.

(1) Locational sketch: Google maps to draw a locations sketch? I have to drive down to the location to do the sketch myself, indicating each building and the number of floors. I just use Google maps to confirm the orientation of the location.

(2) Site plans: An Architect has to visit the site to take measurements personally to confirm the site is close to the survey plan in dimensions. Those survey plans are hardly accurate in dimensions.

(3) Have you wondered why it seems air doesn't flow through a room despite the Windows open? Your building is too close to the fence. It also results in rain water degrading the walls in that tight area.

(4) Design your spaces so that traffic can flow through it without obstructing or disrupting activities within that space.

(5) cross ventilation of every room is possible. Start by locating your room at the 4 corners of the building.

(6) Wide stairways are always a big plus in buildings.

(7) For residential buildings, maintain a 3m set-back for the sides and rear. 6m is required in front from the fence to the building.

( For commercial buildings, 9m in front and 4.5m at the sides and rear.

(9) Corner piece lands also require 9m from the 2 sides Facing the roads but I was given permission to use 1.5m towards the rear once since the setbacks had eaten up available space.

(10) When designing a Shooting Range, it's best your walls are concrete...... and just sink the shooting range into the ground. Ricochet of bullets can be unpredictable , even with high level Windows. Ventilation, the bullet trap and it's access are the most important issues during this design.

(11) When designing a Horse Race course, the inner race lane must meet the minimum requirement for the turning radius of a Horse in full flight. If not, the horses on the inner lanes will drift into the outer lanes at the turns.

(12) Before I forget, blocks of flats must have a main stairway and an escape stairway. It's a safety requirement.

Perfect timing OP, just started making my building proposal plan yestarday. Due considerations would be made to the points you pointed out here. Thanks

wilcox:
[b][/b]You should have enough space between d road and fence. Just in case your governor decides to expand the road in future.
I quite disagree with you on this, and I will give you my reasons. If my building plan is approved by the ministry of urban development and I follow the plan, if any government decide to expand or carry out any construction on the road that will affect my building then appropriate compensation should be paid. It's only in Nigeria that you see individual developers going to develop an area without the master plan of that area. The best practice is for the government to map out all available infrastructure. E.g access road, drainage, walk way, electric line etc.

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very smart man,just build on the road itself.as if u need any expert to tell you to leave enough space for possible future expansion of the road.

Oga. Let me shoot you down immediately. I thought your critic will be towards man and his built environment not the usual lazy tirade against challenges the way a river finds its course. The basic premise of engineering is finding solutions to problems and successful engineers are those who do in the context of the Nigerian consumer. So leave the net and return to your books and laboratories.

One of the reasons why Nigerian professionals are serially undermined by charlatans and cross dressers (architects doing engineering and engineers doing design and quantity surveyors building projects and architects making bills) is that the quest for excellence by professionals is so badly lost that mediocrity and mean standards have become the order leaving the door open to fake practitioners.

When professionals learn to raise standards and pursue excellence, education and research will become important and the fakes will fall away and the consumer will be forced to pay better and respect more.

You cannot be respected if you are not a solution provider. Stop complaining.