#MyFirstHouse “Artisans are highly unreliable” – Bolaji Adejana

Owning a house of your own and to escape the ever price hiked rent in Nigeria, especially in the highbrow states, is always a dream come true and a relaxing experience for any citizen of Nigeria.

Sharing his 1^st house experience with Nigeria Real Estate Hub’s correspondent, Elsie Godwin, Mr. Bolaji Adejana, an Internal Control Officer at Realty Point Limited, said Artisans are highly unreliable.

Barely 3months of being his own Landlord, Mr. Adejana looks back at the journey which took him about 4years to complete.

Located at Otta, Off Idiroko Road, Sango Otta in Ogun state, he never had to incur debts or loans. It was a matter of ‘slowly but surely’ for him.

Mr. Adejana acquired the piece of land on which he built his house in the year 2011 after series of negotiation and compromise.

“I will say that it has always been something that I actually had in mind a long time ago and I actually saw the way tenants were being treated and I made up my mind that I would love to do something no matter how small than going to rent a house.” He said.

Construction of his apartment was started about 3months after the land was acquired. The first encounter he had was with the ‘Omo-oniles’. They requested for the sum of N150, 000 before the foundation could commence. He eventually had to part way with N80, 000 for the foundation fees.

They gradually started getting familiar with the people around, trying to know how things are done, what payments are made and to whom they are made to.

After some level of work done, it had to be stopped at some point due to cash paucity. When they came back to continue building, the Omo-oniles came back for more money but at this point, he already knew some people around the vicinity and didn’t have to pay. They had to work, sometimes, at night and Sundays just to beat the ‘Omo-oniles’

On Artisans being unreliable, he reiterated that ‘trust’ is a major issue when it comes to dealing with Artisans or handling a building project generally. “You find the antics of these artisans, shortchanging your cement.”

He advised anyone who would want to buy a land and build to be ready to imbibe a high degree of discipline. He said he had to deprive himself of some form of pleasure and fun to make sure his project became a reality.