4 Factors Affecting Cost of Building Construction in Nigeria
There are many factors affecting cost of building construction in Nigeria. If you want to build a house or if you want to invest in real estate (buildings) in Nigeria, you should have knowledge of these factors in order to take the right steps and make better decisions when it comes to building construction.
According to the English dictionary, cost can be defined as amount of money or time. Building can be defined as a closed structure with walls and a roof and construction refers to the process of building something.
With the definitions above, we can deduce that building construction refers to the process of erecting or constructing a building structure. It involves stages and requires the involvement of building experts in order to be achieved.
The cost of building construction can simply be defined as the amount of money to be spent in the process of constructing a building structure. It includes the smallest to the largest amount of money spent in the process of building construction.
In this article we will look at the factors affecting construction projects in Nigeria, and with this article I intend to give you information that will help you make better decisions while going into building construction as an expert or a building owner (landlord).
The factors affecting the cost of building construction in Nigeria can be explained in the following ways:
- Economic factors
The economy of Nigeria affects the cost of building construction to a large extent.
If the economy of Nigeria is robust and if people have more money, then more people will commence their building projects.
The high cost of land, building materials etc. discourages many people from starting their building projects in Nigeria.
As a matter of fact, if landed properties are relatively cheap in Nigeria and building materials affordable, more people will be encouraged to start building construction projects because the cost of building construction would be generally reduced in Nigeria.
Steel rod is one building material that is very important in building construction; it is used for reinforcement while constructing a building structure, but Nigeria imports 90 percent of the roughly six million tons of steel it consumes annually from china, Ukraine etc., and this has an effect on the price of steel in Nigeria resulting to the high cost of steel in Nigeria, and this off course affects the cost of building construction in Nigeria.
Water is also important in building construction, it is used in mixing of mortar and concrete and its source should be close to the site where building construction is taking place, but for you to have the source of water in your site you must dig a borehole and the cost of digging borehole has an effect on the total cost of building construction in Nigeria.
It is true that the building users can later make use of the water from a borehole dug in a building construction site, but what if a landlord has tight budget and intends to dig a borehole after the construction of his building? Or what if the government provides water to houses? Wouldn’t it be better and cheaper for landlords to make use of such source of water during building construction?
The purchasing power of naira has also reduced compared to what it was some years ago. People need more money to meet up with their needs, and this reflects on the amount of money charged by building experts in order to execute building construction projects.
It is also evident in the amount of money charged by artisans and laborers during building construction in Nigeria.
- Environmental Factor
The environment where building construction is to take place can affect the cost of building construction.
It will cost more money to construct a building structure in a swampy land. This is because of the cost of more building materials and that of labor needed to reinforce the foundation of such building structure in order to stand on the swampy land.
The depth of such foundation also has to increase, the cost of digging the depth of such foundation will increase so will the number of blocks needed to raise the foundation height up to the floor level, and these costs will definitely reflect on the total cost of constructing such building structure.
Some lands in Nigeria are sloppy and will require more building materials to achieve leveled floors during construction.
Also some lands in Nigeria are flooded during rainfall because of poor drainage system in some cities where those lands are located, and anyone trying to build on such lands will definitely spend more money during construction in order to take care of the flooding.
Furthermore, to build a house in an area that experiences heavy rainfall in Nigeria will require good roof structure and that means more money or cost.
- Government’s Policies:
Some government’s policies can affect the cost of building construction in Nigeria.
If anyone wants to raise a building structure in Nigeria, you must receive permission or approval from the government, and some fees are involved before the approval.
These fees depend on the type of building structure, and this has an effect on the cost of building construction in Nigeria.
Also the government will require certain drawings before giving approval for building construction and the cost of these drawings will definitely reflect on the total cost of constructing such building.
- Issue of Indigenes:
The indigenes of some towns in Nigeria where building construction is to take place can contribute to the cost of building construction.
In some places in Nigeria, you pay the indigenes of the land some money before commencing a building construction project. Popularly known as ‘matching ground money’, this amount is not part of the price of the land and they charge this money based on the type of building structure to be constructed.
The higher the type of building the more money they will charge, and definitely this charge will reflect on the total cost of constructing the building.
Conclusion:
Cost of building construction in Nigeria is affected by many factors and this article may not contain all of them.
The economy of Nigeria affects the cost of building construction. If Nigeria’s economy is robust and if building materials are affordable, the cost of building construction in Nigeria will be reduced and more people will commence their building projects. Also if there is significant improvement in the economy of Nigeria; people will complete their building construction projects in time.
Lands that are not in perfect condition can also affect the cost of building construction in Nigeria as more building materials and labor will be required to build on such lands.
If government looks into the high fee of building approval in some areas in Nigeria, the cost of constructing building structures in those areas may reduce thereby encouraging more people to commence and continue their building construction projects.
Government should also look into the unnecessary fees charged by indigenes of some towns where building construction is to take place in order to reduce the overall cost of building construction in Nigeria.
I believe you have learnt something from this article and good luck as you commence or continue in your building construction projects.
Happy new week.
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