How to estimate the cost of building a house in Nigeria

Most budgets fail not on the big items but on the ones left out. A proper estimate starts from measured quantities, not a cost per square metre guessed from a neighbour's house.

1. Measure from the drawings

List every wall, opening, footing, column, beam, slab and roof. From these, quantities of blocks, cement, sand, granite, reinforcement and roofing sheets follow by fixed rules.

2. Add realistic waste

Blocks break, cement hardens and sand washes away. Typical allowances are 5% for blocks, 5–10% for concrete materials and 10% for tiles.

3. Price with current local rates

Use rates from sellers near your site rather than national averages — transport alone can move the price of sand and granite by a third.

4. Don't forget the summary items

Preliminaries, overheads, profit, contingency and VAT can add 40–60% on top of the measured work. Leaving them out is the most common reason a project stalls halfway.

BuyerBuild does all four steps from your building model and keeps every formula visible, so you can check any number.