Cost of Building a House in Nigeria (2024)

Last updated on August 4th, 2023 at 08:14 pm

There are many factors to consider if you want to know the cost of building a house in Nigeria. Things like location of land, type of house (duplex, 3 bedroom bungalow, boys-quarter, etc) and finance are just but a few factors to know how much you will have to spend to build a house in Nigeria.

Building a house is what everyone one would think of if they’re yet to have one. The picture of the costs have often times made many aghast on gluing to the plan of having a personal home.

The case in Nigeria is entirely what you should read on as we’ve written all what you need to know when you want to build a house; costs; location and the nature of it.

There are lots of factors which alter the costs of house building in the country. This is usually referred to issues like price of land, the type of house you desire to build, the building materials and the cost of workmanship for professional workmen that will make the construction work easy in actualizing your dream home.

LOCATION OR SITE

The first question will be- where is the location where you want to build the house?. Our advise on this is to find a suitable location where you can get access to electricity, water and other basic needs of life.

Also find out if the environment where you want to buy the land is safe in terms for security. In Lagos today for example, there are a lot of landed properties for sale but risky as these areas, issues of criminality, kidnapping, stealing and even wars persist.

BUYING A LAND

This is another factor to consider before having the building plan. Just as the price of going from Kano to Aba and Uyo to Jos is dependent on location, its the same in buying a land. Land prices vary because of factors like: nearness to city, industry and the serenity and security of the place. A land on the outskirts of the city like Lagos is far cheaper than getting in the central city. So make a choice of location depending on you financial strength.

Before buying a land there are documents to come with in sealing your acquisition and ownership of land, this includes;

• A Certificate of Occupancy
• The Survey plan of land
• Gazette
• And the Deed of conveyance

These documents will be required in processing it and you should not be a victim of a fraud or scammer by paying for a land without normal legal registrations.

SIZE

If you’re intending on settling for just a family house, then a half plot of land is enough to accommodate 3 bedroom flat which will cost you nothing less than N10 million. One thing is certain that the price of land is a function of the size.

NATURE OF LAND

Knowing how the land you intend on using for your house is good but surveying the nature of the soil and the whole area is better. You can spend the whole money you budgeted for building a house to just do a foundation? This is obvious in riverine areas like Port Harcourt, Eket, Lagos and Warri which are open to dredging and waterlogged.

If your land contains too much moisture and is largely wet, it will require a lot of sand and concrete fillings, and thick amount of casting before the foundation is being laid successfully. This will go a long way in affecting the cost of the house by increasing it.

PRICE OF LAND

The cost of land in Nigeria is dependent on location and size adding with closeness to industries and businesses. Buying a land in Owerri will not be the same as Ota in Ogun state due to the fact that the later is a very industrial town and such will be congested with a lot of people.

In Nigeria, a plot which can house a 3-5 bedroom flat can go for as low as ₦350,000 to as high as ₦50 million depending on the factors we earlier said. Lands in the northern part of the country are very cheaper than the south as you can get a house land as low as ₦100,000 in Gombe state.

TYPE OF HOUSE

Another factor you must consider when you want to know the cost of erecting a building in Nigeria is the type of house you want to build. Well, this still depends on your pocket and if you are financially stable. If you plan to build just a room, a room self-contain, a “boys-quarter” with two to three rooms fitted with bathroom and toilet, a 2-bedrom flat, a 3-bedroom flat, a block of flats or a duplex, all still depends on how you are financially buoyant.

Only ignorance would make one think building a sky scrapper is the same as  a storey building in all round. The nature of the house is what determines how much you’ll spend. In seeing your dream house, your building cost is dependent on: the building design; height of the house (2, 3, 4, or 10 floors); roofing; the size of the entire building; the type of ceiling, windows, doors, gate and the nature of the floor you wish to have.

COST OF BUILDING MATERIALS

This factor is determined by the market forces. You have to find the latest price of building materials in Nigeria or in your area. Best measure is to visit two or three places where these materials are sold and compare as to which one fits your budget. Building materials like cement, sand, gravel, rod, paint etc. are just but a few items you have to know its price.

One disadvantage of the prices of building materials is that they increase every day which makes it difficult to sum up the correct amount that will be required to complete the building. Also, prices of these building materials differ from one part of the country to another, which is another thing to consider in starting your building project.

As the materials in the country is evenly distributed and not in a specific area, one of essential building material like sharp sand which is mainly extracted in the southern region that borders the ocean and rivers is far higher in price getting it in up Yobe.

But the story reverses in the case of cements and gravels which is less produced in southern part of the country. In Lagos, many building materials are quite expensive to buy. You can buy a water closet for ₦35, 000 and this makes building a house look expensive.

WORKMANSHIP

Workmanship connotes those that will get the job done in constructing and finishing the house. This is the category of labourers, bricklayers, carpenters, architects, welder and others that will be needed in the whole building and design of it.

Laborers offers a negotiable price and will collect their pay as wages or contract payments. The cost of paying a bricklayer will depend on the number of blocks he will deliver. After the moulder have moulded the blocks which is count N10 per blocks, the job left is for the bricklayers to build the wall and will follow the same counting process.

For the architects, they’re the one to first consider before needing the services of others. They will draw out the whole building plan and design before handing a copy to the bricklayers to erect the structures. When looking for this type of workman, first inquire for his qualifications, because government reserves the right to demolish your house if found you were doing business with a unregistered architect in building your house. Architects in Nigeria always charge a range of ₦40,000 to ₦150,000 for their services.

Generally, desiring to have a perfect house will require the service of good workmen. From the laying of foundations to the installation of furniture and gadgets needs the topnotch service of these personnel.

Housing structure in Nigeria is much different from what is in England and far China. There it’s the government-run process as an individual can only buy  or rent a house, but here it is open to all provided you obtain the legal requirements. This has encourage people to build estates and houses all over the country.

However, for the cheapness and affordability. In purchasing a land for your house, its better choosing a region in the north of the country like Kebbi which costs ₦200,000 and for the whole building process will be ₦7,million or less.

When considering locating your house near where you can easily buy building materials, always go for Lagos, Port Harcourt and their environs as they are located near seaports prices of materials will be cheap compared to far Kastina. These regions are equally good in looking for workmen as there are vast number of them you will bargain to finish the job for you.

The major problem of building a house in Nigeria has been to erecting the structures near the road and which will follow by the taking down of the house on construction of road. This issue has been the agonizing challenge, house builders face in the country. Other problems to avoid is neglecting to know the nature of land and venturing on a house with under quality.

Hope you’re informed on things to consider and the costs of building a house in Nigeria.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE

While there are other factors aside from this ones mentioned above, you should also note that you would have to pay architects to draw up a building plan for you, engineers, the building technologists, bricklayers, carpenters and others that are involved in the building construction project.

Depending on how buoyant you are, you might want to contact a reliable service provider which is usually someone who knows the in-depth nature of constructing a house in Nigeria. How much the service provider is willing to collect from you? How many of these professionals do you want to employ to get the house constructed?, are just some questions that sums up spending to build a house in Nigeria.

If you want to know the current prices of building materials this 2024 in Nigerian markets, I’ll suggest you visit this page http://nigerianinfopedia.com/latest-prices-of-building-materials-in-nigeria/ as they have up to date information you are looking for.