The cost of building a duplex is not constant.
The cost would depend on a number of things. But the major things that would determine the cost are:
- Your taste;
- Cost of materials and labour in your area;
- How good you are, at driving down the cost of things.
Talking about “taste”, people who are not really interested in epic duplexes would certainly spend less than those who want something very impressive.
In other words, if you want the best duplex possible, then you should be prepared to spend a lot of money.
As I have already stated, the cost of materials and labour would also play a crucial part in determining how much it would cost you to build a duplex. In some areas like Osun State, the cost of labour and materials are quite low. But when it comes to building in places like Lagos State, then you should be prepared to cough out a lot of money. Another thing which would greatly determine how much you’d have to spend building a duplex has to do with how good you are when it comes to driving down the cost of things.
Most people who’d be involved in building your house, would almost certainly try to exploit you. And if you leave yourself open to exploitation, you can end up giving out two times the money of things needed. So are you good at avoiding this kind of exploitation, and do you know how to drive down the cost of things?
If yes,
Then you can significantly lower how much you’d have to spend building your duplex.
So far,I’ve only discussed things that influence the cost of building a duplex. And I know there are many of you, who’d want something more specific. And because people of like you, we’d be looking at two different duplex plans, what is inside of them, how much it would cost to build them, how many blocks you’d need, etc.
So let’s get into it.
The Cost of Building a Modest Duplex
It’s part of human nature, to want the best of things.
We want the best phone, we want the best car, we want the best wife, etc, but very often money would be a problem. And as a result, we end up settling for something okay, but not necessarily epic. And this first building plan we’d be taking a look at, falls in this kind of category.
The building plan is what I’d recommend for people who don’t have several millions of Naira to spend, but still want something cool.
The duplex plan you see above, is what we call a modest plan. It contains the important things expected in a good duplex.
This plan accounts for an integrated living room, dining, and kitchen. It comes with a total of five bedrooms, one of which is meant to be a guest room. And as you can also see, it comes with a visitors sitting room, although this sitting room was wrongly labelled as “Media”, in the plan.
The plan also accounts for an activity room upstairs.
In other words, there is somewhere upstairs for your kids to hang out, if you wouldn’t like them to come downstairs. In short, this duplex plan should be more than okay for most people. So if you feel, you don’t have a lot of cash to spend on building your duplex, a plan similar to this should be what you should consider.
And what about the cost of building it?
Well, let’s get into it.
As stated earlier, the cost of building a plan would depend on three things, and I’ve already listed these three things. And let’s assume the cost of materials and labour is low in your area, and you’re very good at driving down the cost of things, N16.9 million should be enough to build you a duplex similar to what was presented in the plan above.
But let’s assume you’re building your duplex in a place where building materials and labour are expensive, and you also happen to not be so good at driving down the cost of things, then you might find yourself spending up to N21.1 million, if not more.
You should, however, note that the price we stated, only covers things like construction, interior and exterior design, painting, and every other thing that have to do with the house itself. Things like chairs, centre table, etc, were not taken into consideration, when creating this estimate.
I also understand that there are some people who’d love an idea of how many blocks it would take to build the kind of duplex displayed in the plan.
Well,
To finish the kind of duplex displayed in that plan, you’d need about 5,800 blocks. This amount of blocks includes all the kinds of blocks you’d need. You should also note that this amount of block also accounts for those you’d need for the soak-away.
However, it doesn’t include those you’d need for your fencing.
You, however, shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking block is the major thing determining the cost of building a house. In fact, blocks don’t account for up to 20 per cent of the cost of building a house.
The Cost of Building a Standard Duplex
As I’ve already stated,
The first building plan would be ideal for people who want something cool, but don’t have the luxury of spending just anyhow on a duplex. But what about people who are willing to spend a lot more on their duplex?
Well, if you’d like to build something similar to what’s in the plan below, then I should also be able to provide you an estimate.
In the plan above, you can see there is, kind of, everything you can possibly dream of, in a standard duplex.
The duplex comes with a main living room, upstairs.It also features an integrated dining and kitchen. But not only that, this integrated dining and kitchen also feature an area where members of the family can sit, and gisting mum, while she’s cooking in the kitchen.The plan furthermore comes with a total of five bedrooms. And the room downstairs belongs to guests. The plan also accounts for a place where guests can watch TV and movies, although this part in the plan is misleading called “Media”.
The plan furthermore accounts for a sitting room for visitors.
In other words, while your children are playing upstairs, your guest can be in the guest living room or guest room, and you and your visitors can be in the visitors sitting room.In short, this plan accounts for everything you’d possibly want in a duplex, and it is well-designed. But how much would it cost to build such a duplex?
If you happen to be good at driving down the cost of things, and labour and materials are cheap in your area, then you would need about N23.5 million, to complete the building. But in places where materials and labour aren’t cheap, you might find yourself spending up to N32.5 million.
And what’s the number of blocks needed to complete the building? I can’t precisely state how many blocks you’d need for this kind of duplex. But 7,500 blocks should be enough to build the duplex. And this amount of blocks also include those you’d need for related things, like soak-away.
This amount of blocks however doesn’t account for things like fences, drainage, etc.
Important Things to Note
While there’s no doubt about the fact that you came to this place, to learn about the cost of building a duplex, there are things I believe you should also know.
- Take a building 101 course: By asking you to take a building 101 course, I’m not asking you to go a university and obtain a degree in building construction. What I’m rather asking you to do, is to learn the basics of building construction. Lack of knowledge of building construction, would make it easy for builders to steal your money. And you definitely don’t want that. But with some knowledge of building construction, you get to understand a number of things, and this can save you a lot of money. And the best part is that you don’t need to attend a school to learn this thing, the world wide web is your best friend.
- Hire an Engineer:When trying to build a house, a very common mistake people make, it to find someone to help them to build the foundation. That person tells them to pay a certain amount of money. And after the foundation has been built, the owner would then go ahead to find some who can raise the building up to roof level. This new person, also asks them to pay a certain amount of money, and it goes on and on like that, until the building gets completed. But while this may work, people often lose a lot of money in the process.
So rather than taking this approach,
What I’d rather ask you to do, is to find an engineer who can oversee the construction of your house. The engineer would be the one in charge of bringing people in, to work on your house, and other related things. But when hiring an engineer, it’s very important you hire someone who’s really good at what they do. Yes, the engineer would charge you, but he’s going to end up saving you a lot in the end.
However, as for people who understand building construction really well, you probably wouldn’t need the services of an engineer.
Closing
To conclude this article,
Building a duplex can cost you as low as N16.9 million. And you might also need as much as N150 million. The exact amount you’d need, would depend on what you want and other things like:
- Cost of building materials and labour;
- How good you are, at driving down the cost of things.
Should in case you have the intention to own a duplex also, you can privately chat up our representative who can help you come up with a customized design for your duplex and subsequently with the building construction.
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