Inflation forcing property owners to abandon building projects – Project manager

Project Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Cogent Properties Limited, Folajomi Ibrahim, tells FATTEH HAMID why the input of professionals in the built environment cannot be overlooked for the safety of property owners and occupants

With growing concern over the use of substandard building materials by some developers who choose profit over safety, how can property owners ascertain the quality of materials used for the construction of their properties?

As a property owner, it is simple, because you’re paying for the construction. When you hire or give your building to a contractor, you should also have a consultant who consults for you. Their job is to make sure that what you want is coming to fruition, while also ensuring that the contractors are buying and using the right materials for your building. There should also be a structural engineer who will make sure that things are appropriately done. For example, once you do the casting for your ground floor slab, popularly called the German floor, the normal procedure is that when the contractor is done with the reinforcement arrangements, the structural engineer, paid by the house owner, comes in to confirm that what was done by the contractor is okay. After that, he writes a letter to the state building control (agency) saying that he has seen the reinforcement done and that he is okay with it. He will also invite the state building control (agency) to confirm what he has seen. When the state’s building control (agency) comes and reconfirms, it will give its approval to go ahead and cast.

When the casting is complete, the state’s material testing laboratory agency comes in to confirm that the mixed concrete is strong enough, and when the test is done, the structural engineer gets the result to see if it is appropriate for the next stage of construction. In most cities, there are structural engineering consultants who are employed by house owners to ensure that every stage of the construction is appropriately supervised. These are checks and balances that have been in place for time immemorial but the average Nigerian feels that paying professionals is too expensive. If you can bring out N50m to pay for cement, sand, granite, steel, etcetera, why not mark an amount to pay these professionals to make sure that your entire N50m or N100m is not going to waste? So, these checks and balances exist, but Nigerians are not used to paying for them.

Do you think the average Nigerian who just wants to own a home or property ought to have these in mind?

While it is easy to blame the agencies, we have to look at them too as humans with imperfections. In my own opinion, an agency head is usually at the top of his career, so putting information out on social media is not what they are used to. They are probably used to placing this information as an advert in a newspaper, on television, etcetera. It is now up to people to make sure that they read (or watch) these things. Now, one of my mandates when creating my social media platform was to make construction more interesting so that people will know what exactly is going on. The truth is this, everything will still come back to economics; if they (agencies) receive their bit of the annual budget to make sure that things are done, they allocate only a few amounts to sensitisation, and allocate a chunk of it to staff (members’) salaries and the work that they are mandated to do. Content creators and the media are already doing this by putting the word out there to make sure that the general public is sensitised.

What are the implications of not following these procedures in building construction?

In Lagos State, for example, the Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory inspects houses that do not look in shape and demand their laboratory test results. A laboratory test result is usually valid for five years. When they get the test and they see that the building was not well constructed, they tell the owner to do what is called the non-destructive load test where they bring in machinery to test the floor and walls to make sure that they are still solid. If they are not solid, they recommend to the building control agency of that state that the building should be demolished. However, for most people in Nigeria, things are always politically influenced, and to an extent, when they send this recommendation and warnings, house owners are meant to repair their buildings if they are repairable, but instead, they usually start causing problems for these agencies and their workers by not allowing them to do their work properly.

Do you think the poor quality seen in some buildings today contributes more to the collapse recorded in the country?

There’s one truth: if a developer or house owner uses the right professionals for their building projects, the buildings can never collapse. If a building collapses after using the right professionals, that building will become a topic for students to learn about because it will be a very rare occurrence. If we are to blame anyone, it’ll be the developer of the project for not complying with the building construction ethics by employing the right professionals and prioritising profits over safety.

Do you think some homeowners pay more attention to the finishing of their buildings rather than the carcass?

I’ll never be a fan of that. I will always stand for quality buildings over fancy finishes with substandard construction. If your budget cannot do more than a quality carcass, have that done first and wait for more money. I’ll always say that people who are into solid construction will choose quality over fancy finishes.

A lot has been said about unethical practices among developers in the construction industry. How do you think this can be addressed?

I think state governments, through their many agencies available, can crack down more and make the penalty more severe for those that cut corners during construction. If you have a solid professional on-site, they will never allow you to cut corners because it affects their career as well. If the government puts more effort into making sure that there are clampdowns on buildings that are not properly erected or erected with professional supervision, the problem will be corrected. In this case, it’s more from the supply part of it than the demand part of it; if the government can push for it, people have no choice but to conform.

Should homeowners also be concerned about the sizes of the internal structures, like the rooms?

For mid-class Nigerians, your rooms’ minimum size should be 13 square metres and the maximum size should be between 20 to 25 square metres. That usually is fair enough for most people, but if there will be more than one person in a room, 25 square metres will be good. The issue basically is space management because most of the time, excessively big rooms are poorly managed. Also, I will be fooling you if I say economics will not come into play when making decisions about the sizes of rooms. As a house owner, you look at your pocket and know what works for you with what you have. However, having an excess amount of money should not make you build big rooms that will be hard to maintain.

Many residential buildings are left uncompleted for many years by their owners. What do you think is responsible for that?

Inflation is a fair enough reason to blame. In 2020, granites per 30 tons truck on the mainland (in Lagos) were sold for about N270,000, and in 2023, it is selling for about N390,000. So, someone who started their construction in 2020 and has been going slowly and steadily, will probably not be able to continue because no matter the estimate given to them by the quantity surveyor around that time, it has become invalid. It is fair to say that inflation is the reason why a lot of people are not completing their houses.

Also, we have to consider the new cost of cement which went up to about N4,500 from about N3,900 six months ago. Also, I will say that house owners should drop things that are not important and face exactly what they need. Is the parlour ready, and other rooms, kitchen, restroom, and compound ready? Do you have clean water? Is there power in your house? Is there alternative power? These are the important things that should be focused on. A fancy aquarium isn’t needed immediately. You don’t need a swimming pool urgently. These things can be fixed later. House owners should get what is needed to be comfortable. When these are addressed, they can decide to go for luxurious things.

Many Nigerians have fallen for real estate investment scams. What can you say about this?

This also goes back to what I addressed earlier about professionals; when one tries to skip professionals, the person gets hurt. For example, When you tell an average Nigerian that a piece of land is valued at N10m, they assume that is all, but a wise Nigerian will know that they need to call a surveyor to know if the land is not under a different acquisition. They call a lawyer to ensure that there’s no dispute on the property and they set aside an amount to pay for that also. When the transfer of ownership is meant to be done, they set aside an amount for it. Many of those that fall into scams are those who dodge professionals. Sometimes, it is because they do not know but most times, it is because they want to bypass professionals. When you don’t hire a lawyer, you run into disputes. When you don’t hire a surveyor, you have several problems.

Is it impossible for professionals to engage in such an unethical practice scam?

I will not speak on issues that I do not have facts on, but when people bring their issues to you, they show the receipt and the survey that was done. Those can be addressed with authorities where we are sure that clients spend money on certain things. However, I think if a developer defrauds you in Nigeria, it means that they are big enough to evade legal prosecution and all that because the money they stole from you and others would be enough to get a defence lawyer to back whatever they have done. However, if I’m scammed as a Nigerian in real estate, I’ll blame myself more than I’ll blame the person that scammed me.

If when you paid for your land, there was legal documentation by way of the survey showing that this is your land, there’ll likely not be problems. Also, for many real estate firms, it is usually stated in their agreement and contract of sale that allocation is arbitrary. Somebody buying usually should know that the land shown to them as of the time will go on a first come, first served basis. You’ll be done paying the company in six or nine months but the space you wanted probably has been paid in full by someone which will make them give it to the person. So, if you are buying, for example within an estate, don’t expect your property to be at the entrance you were shown because someone paid in full at once already. This is my own opinion. If you are paying on a schedule, that is what usually happens.