Op, it all depends on the quality of the house you want him put for you. The kind of roofing, or fittings you want to be used.
Building materials are too high now. What I will suggest you do is to just take a trip down to have a look at what he has put in place and take the cost of what he has already put in place before sending any money to him. I am not saying for now that he has cheated on you.

building a house to the stage you have just mentioned is just the beginning of the project. Finishing is where you spend money. The quality of the roofing materials you needed, the type of electrical work, plumbing and other relevant things needed are what maters. Plastering of the house and other things costs a lot. Building a house this days is not a child's play. Materials has gone to high.

I put up a 5 bedroom ensuite, and I can tell you that I spent a lot on tiles for the floors, toilet fittings and other electrical works.

Travel down to see things yourself before the roofing.You can ask him to hold on and pay him a surprise visit. Never tell him that you were visiting in order to take him by surprise.

ifyalways:
1 million to roof,plaster etc a 3 bed? Your are either ignorant when it comes to building or actally trying to rip off your cousin. 1M would barely roof not to add plaster.

2.5M to get up to lintel stage is a good deal sef.

Going forward, ask for quotes for each stage so you'll know what exactly you are spending on and what to expect.

SirJeffry, this is the best comment so far on this thread as far as I'm concerned because it's very objective n lack any pint of sentiment.


As a professional, there are lots of factors that could influence the cost of building a structure. Critically, the soil nature, topography (land terrain), and site location are the first to look into.


Also, put into consideration the material types used as well as thw quality of job done by the artisans.


In addition, 1m is way too small for electrification, rendering/plastering, and the roofing. Lemme not talk too much on this as most of the posters have already dissected it.


In conclusion, I would advice that you to do a little bit of monitoring because that's the only way you'll know how judiciously you're spending your money. Get the plan, analyse what's needed to be done, get a QS or a professional to help you do the quoting so that it'll serve as a control for spending. Please, do not spend above the quote prepared by the QS except there's a variation as per what's met on site.


Thanks

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

Op do you want to die

People don't do things like this anymore naw!


Don't you have brothers or sisters or is your mum too old to supervise the project?


I really feel for you now cos if you decide to withdraw the project from your cousin the may become decide to harm you by going diabolical

Are you even sure anything has been done on the land?

Pls be wise!


It's even better to get an outsider like a company that handles stuff like this than giving a family member


That amount should have finished the house with the best finishing


I'm sorry for you, just be careful

Business and family shouldn't be mixed together. But even if you must involve family in handlin your project(s), it's preferable you use your parents or sibling(s). They are more trustworthy than other family members like cousins, uncles, etc. Talkin from xperience

I can assure you that 1m can't handle a good roofing, condiut piping and plastering.....
Just the labour for the wood work n roof cover can't be less than 150k, labour for electrical conduit 30k, plastering n dressing say 200k now u hv not bought wood dat may cost 300k roof cover depends on your choice brother my advice is always ask for an estimate n stick to it
Cheap is expensive

danowena:


Okay o o...I and the person I quoted below still maintain my adopted rule of thumb - Do not mix family with business. I do not even want to find out if they are beasts or not. I have seen enough cases and heard enough stories.

So true.

That way, family will be reporting any unusual things they see. Which of course family members could have done worse. Let family be your watchdog. Not do the work. You can hire & fire an outside contractor. With family, it could cause bad blood for ever.

Let every step be broken down: like roofing include number of sheets, nail types/quantity, wood, transport, workmanship, supervision fees, etc. Same for ceiling, plumbing, etc All the way from foundation stage using the building plan to estimate.

The more lump sum you send, the more the impression you have more money to send.

NEVER do that. We have gone through all that before, talking from experience.

Your cousin might be honest, but hard to know now.

Ask for breakdown. Another person can do another estimate to compare.

@ Mrjeffry thank God u wake up in time, though Some contractor does that while some are pure. mind you N2.5m can't do that. For the Electrical work pls contact me

Good day my Bro.,
You are paying for not using professionals (QS) before you enbark on your project.
If a QS had given you the Preliminary Estimate for your project before you engage your Brother (the Contractor) you will be able to monitor your finances.
However, like some member have said, there lots of factor to determine your project cost. Such as:
1. Location: Cost of Labour & Materials in your place
2. Type of soil/foundation
3. Size/Area of your buildg
4. How many toilets/is all room ensuite?
5. Does german floor involved?
6. etc.
All this factors play big roles. There could be 3bedrooms flat of not less than 7mill
However, irespective of this factor, roof alone cannot be less than 800k.

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

The problem here is inability to handle your project to a professional Builder who will charge you per his/her professionalism.

People like you will be afraid of the charges of a professional Builder who his/her charge won't exceed 20-25% of overall cost but crying out loud for a fake contractor.

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

I don't believe it's possible for 1m to do all that

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

sorry can I see d plan

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

sorry can I see d plan. I am a professional QS

aaronson:
You can't just send him money like that, there is something called "break down analysis".

Get him to send you the list together with the total amount of the items listed then you go find out for yourself the legitimacy of the quoted amount and how much those materials cost before sending him money.

He did send the list but I'm not on ground to do some verifications. I never planned to spend that much, I thought few amount of money could put up something small but nice.

time and time again.. people are warned.. never ever use family for business.. they almost always 99% fail to deliver or cheat you.

who are you going to report to.. your mum

danowena:


You need to listen to the 10 crack commandment by Biggie. Never mix family and business. Your construction is business n ur cousin is family.
Op, I have a relative who is into dstv, one very close one is an electrician and another supplies diesel but I do not deal with any of them. That way I can sack or send the person to jail.

For me to know if you are being cheated, it will be nice knowing the location of the project and a plan of the house. There are a lot of factors to consider when 'costing' a house. Factors like local labour, cost of materials in that environs, etc.
If your project were to be in Lagos, I might have made an offer.

The location is Anambra and my cousin is a professional contractor. The house benefactor is my aunt as well as his aunt so I thought it would be wise to patronize him since he's into such business.

It's just that I've spent more than I thought should be spent on the project that's why I sought you guys opinion. He said roofing alone will gulp almost 800k and I had to cut the call to put my mind together abeg.

aftatechbiz:


1M cannot do the works you listed here o. It even depends on the type of roofing sheets. That 1m cannot buy some types of stone coated roofing sheet only.

Did u read 3 bed room flat?

koboko69:


Did u read 3 bed room flat?

SO?

LastProphet:
except you are using zinc otherwise 1m is crap, roofing longspan aluminum should be about 750k without labour

So he's right afterall. He said something about "almost 800k for a good roofing"

Thanks.

andyanders:
Op, it all depends on the quality of the house you want him put for you. The kind of roofing, or fittings you want to be used.
Building materials are too high now. What I will suggest you do is to just take a trip down to have a look at what he has put in place and take the cost of what he has already put in place before sending any money to him. I am not saying for now that he has cheated on you.

building a house to the stage you have just mentioned is just the beginning of the project. Finishing is where you spend money. The quality of the roofing materials you needed, the type of electrical work, plumbing and other relevant things needed are what maters. Plastering of the house and other things costs a lot. Building a house this days is not a child's play. Materials has gone to high.

I put up a 5 bedroom ensuite, and I can tell you that I spent a lot on tiles for the floors, toilet fittings and other electrical works.

Travel down to see things yourself before the roofing.You can ask him to hold on and pay him a surprise visit. Never tell him that you were visiting in order to take him by surprise.

Thanks for this sir but I can't come down to check the work.

Your cousin is an honest man. If you want to build just two shops, then the money you have spent so far is capable, but going by your taste of material and description of the house, budget almost 8 million for a very good job done. And most of all, ask for the break down analysis and cross check per stage of construction.

aftatechbiz:


1M cannot do the works you listed here o. It even depends on the type of roofing sheets. That 1m cannot buy some types of stone coated roofing sheet only.

Don't mind the OP,just look at everything he listed to be done with just 1million.It's not easy to build a house for somebody that reside abroad,they always think they are smarter and you are trying to scam them
According to his post,the person helping him is doing a good job

@Jeff,u shld av gotten a Bill of Quality (BOQ) b4 commencement.BOQ will show u d Total cost of d project with detailed n break down of how the total cost was arrived at.That would av saved u all dse!!Now d question is what was d basis for d last N1m u sent 2him?..As it's now,u jst av 2b smart orelse,ur contractor will build 2 3bedroom flats from ur one 3bedroom..Thats how they do..Sorry abt it.

SirJeffry:
The location is Anambra and my cousin is a professional contractor. The house benefactor is my aunt as well as his aunt so I thought it would be wise to patronize him since he's into such business.

It's just that I've spent more than I thought should be spent on the project that's why I sought you guys opinion. He said roofing alone will gulp almost 800k and I had to cut the call to put my mind together abeg.

That was why I asked for the dimensions of the house. The size matters when costing . 1 million to do plastering, piping and roofing of a standard 3 bedroom flat will be a serious challenge.

Building a house is a project and sometimes you need to have a cold glass of water at hand when reading quotations otherwise you go faint. Just wait for the cost of tiling, aluminium windows and other finishings; you will be in for a shocker.

Please politely ask for cost break down. That way you can both be on same page and you will have a better grasp of what he is doing. Cost of building varies by location.

ifyalways:

Thank you jare
I see people that have never bought a block in their whole existence already casting aspersions on the cousin.

1M that can barely buy better roofing sheet sef. Abeg this thread is so funny with all the ignorant posts.

Madam,

How are you sure they have never bought a block? Are u their banker or parents? Imagine judging people you know little or nothing about with such certainty. Please use correct tenses like MIGHT NOT,MAY NOT,PROBABLY NEVER. Rather than speak with all certainties. You and everyone here is entitled to their opinions. Some of these people may be older and may be far richer than you think.QED.

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

bro next time u want to embark on a project of this kind, get ur contractor (not a family member, not safe) to prepare an unpriced bill of quantities for the project.
Take the bill to the building material market and get the unit price for each item. Compute the total sum for the project(for the materials).

Negotiate the price for payment of Labourers with ur contract. By the time u guys arrive at a price, u should be able to deduce the possible cost(+ or -) of the project.

When the project kicks off, make sure u reimburse ur contractor in phase (I. e foundation, flooring, walls/partitions, lintel etc. Don't reimburse unless he completes the present task, otherwise, he must have a good reason why he did not.

This concept will enable u monitor progress on the project and also, proper accountability from the contractor is guaranteed.

As for ur cousins brother, he might be feeding fat on ur pocket and cashing in on ur lack of experience in the construction field.

And OP o! 1million for roof and electrical work is a no no for me, 1M is too small.

Ma 1kobo...

man if you have put up up to that amount and its still on lintel then i say that cousin of yours have started his own building too and its on lintel level too

SirJeffry:
Thanks for this sir but I can't come down to check the work.

.

Well, sometimes we make mistakes when we have not taken into consideration certain things in order to get things right with the person we entrust to get things done in our absence. If you know the antecedents of that your cousin, you stand in a better position to take the best judgement.

In our lives, we make or take wrong decision over someone when we entrust things like the subject on them.If he can get the said house to that level and has given you that cost in handling the roofing and electrical job for the house,you can give him since he has started the job. Allow him to get it finished for family reasons.

Note that if you get another person to get this job done for you, you cannot trust the person because I have come to realize that you can only TRUST yourself.Nobody can be like yourself. Sometimes, allow things be. Even if you contract the so called people who claim to know better here, they will even mess you up.Stick to your cousin. There are people you give that same amount of money, you will not get the building to window level.

Boss some of those contractors can give someone heart attack, I just cut mine cutting corners with site materials. The thing tire person jare.

I don't know what type of materials you are using,but i did not see any cheating here, im building three bedroom and two Boysquater on one plot of land for my mom.i have spend aroubd six million and job is not done yet. I expect total cost to be around 8 to 9 millions by that when i finish. Roof alone is 1.3m.do the math. My advice never ever let family handle your business, its a bad combination.

SirJeffry:
Guys please I need advice and suggestions. There's this three-bedroom bungalow I'm building in my mum village through a cousin who is a building contractor.
Aside fencing the property which is about two plots, I have put in approximately N2.5m yet the house is still on "linter" level. When I became mad about it, my cousin told me he put in a lot in building "sucker pit" and leveling the bad landscape.

Now I sent him N1m for him to do the roofing, conduit wiring and possibly plastering but he just sent me a text asking for more money for the same purpose.

Please, is he trying to drain me or are things that costly now that a 3bedroom house in a village takes up to N5m to build.

1m cannot roof, do piping and plaster o. If normal 3 bedroom. U will spend upto 700 for both wood and aluminium plus workmanship. That is if woods are cheap in ur village. Always get a breakdown of expenses. If he did serious filling and German floor concrete. He might as will b telling u truth expecially if the filling materia are bought and transported. Always ask for breakdown of expenses

U r spewing rubbish. Did u read in between line..? He said at lintel level, then said 1m to roof, pipe and plaster...? That include the two course blocks to fins hi plus roof beam. Na magic..? For naija...?

titiakins:
Op do you want to die

People don't do things like this anymore naw!


Don't you have brothers or sisters or is your mum too old to supervise the project?


I really feel for you now cos if you decide to withdraw the project from your cousin the may become decide to harm you by going diabolical

Are you even sure anything has been done on the land?

Pls be wise!


It's even better to get an outsider like a company that handles stuff like this than giving a family member


That amount should have finished the house with the best finishing


I'm sorry for you, just be careful