How I spent my entire savings on a house I can’t live in

This is the true life story of a man who used his entire savings to build a house only to move out because of bad construction.

The house is a story building with four-bedroom duplex at the front and 5bedroom apartment at the back; built on a plot of land(corner piece). It is situated around the Deeper life headquarters in Gbagada

Read below what he shared with Rianat, a correspondent from Nigeria Real Estate hub.

“I bought the land with my entire savings but unfortunately, the money meant for the whole construction was used for piling works”.

“I spent over a million naira on geometric test which recommended 48 piling points. Each of the 48 piling points cost over N200,000.00, aside other ancillary cost of completing the foundation . This endeavour, drained my account so I had to apply for a loan from a firm to build the planned structures.

After the construction was completed, I moved in with my family only to discover a year later that the construction of the building has a serious defect; the building started tilting to one side. I did a rescue operation to stop the tilting by underpinning the structure, which meant constructing another 5 supporting pillars (the pillars were also piled). The tilting stopped for a while and I thought that was the end.

Unfortunately, 6months later I discovered that the problem has not been solved. The building was still tilting so I called in some construction engineers to inspect it.

The engineers advised that I should re-floor the whole compound which I did and spent close to N2million. The reflooring was done 3 times yet the problem persisted.

Another problem I encountered was the persistent flooding of the road leading to house whenever it rains. To reduce the impact of the flooding, the Community Development Association constantly filled the road. The persistent filling made the road level higher than the flooring level in my compound. So, whenever it rains, the water usually flows from the road into my own compound, in effect getting my compound constantly flooded.

I had to do another flooring 3 different times and each of the flooring cost me close to N2million. While doing all these, I was also servicing the loan I borrowed at a very high interest rate of 28% p.a.

When I thought about the whole situation and considering the huge expenses I had incurred on my house, with my entire savings gone down the drain. I got really exhausted and then had to contact my brother who had worked with a lot of experienced people in the real estate sector to come to my aid. He introduced me to an engineer and I invited him over to the house for his expert advice and recommendations with respect to saving my building.

He advised that I pulled down the building and rebuild it, but I insisted I wanted to revive instead so he came up with a plan. The plan was to spend an extra N20m on piling. At that juncture, I threw in the towel.

When Lagos State Government sent us a letter to evacuate the building before it collapses, I moved out with my family into a rented a 3 bedroom apartment.

Currently, the loan is still being repaid. I still have over N20 million to pay after making repayment of over N22 million.

All I need right now is an experienced realtor to partner with so I can either sell it off or redevelop on my terms.