Understanding average construction cost of various house-types

Steps towards homeownership are relatively difficult in most third-world countries due to varying reasons. In Nigeria, this difficulty explains the 17 million housing units needed to bridge the nation’s deficit. This shortfall continues to widen as low-cost houses continue to thin out from most city centres, making housing solution a luxury for low-income earners.

However, experts in the built industry advise intending homeowners to take the pain to build their own houses, explaining that houses are cheaper when built from scratch than bought outright from developers or through the very elusive mortgage system.

Though prices of similar houses may differ from one location to another due to topographic challenge, some basic price similarities are expected. For instance, in Lagos, the cost of building the same property in Ikeja (Mainland) and in Lekki (Island) would be different due to different topography, amongst other reasons.

A major reason for the different prices is that both locations have different soil types. While the mainland has a fairly good soil type to withstand structures, the low-bearing capacity of the island soil will sap a good chunk of resources and time for piling and raft foundation before actual construction begins.

A 3-bedroom bungalow with all rooms en-suite on the mainland could cost about N6 million to build, while the cost could increase by as much as 15 percent on the island. A further breakdown of this shows that foundation could cost about N800,000, while proper building could cost about N1.6 million; roofing with aluminium sheet could cost about N1 million, while windows and doors would cost about N300,000; perimeter fencing costs about N400,000, internal and external paintings could costs about N500,000, flooring of premises would cost about N250,000, while finally finishing would cost an average of N1.25 million.

A 4-bedroom duplex would cost an average of N20 million to complete, about N3 million for substructure and slightly above the same value for frames and upper floor. Staircase would cost about N3.1 million, external and internal walls cost would average slightly above N2 million, services installations and fittings would gross N5 million, while finishing and painting would cost slightly above N4 million.

However, these costs do not include the cost of acquiring land as land prices differ in every location. Also, the cost of acquiring building plan and other necessary documentations are not listed.