These days, everyone dreams of owning a house. With increasing rents, many tenants wish to be free from the clutches of landlords. In Nigeria today, building a house could be more or less of an impossibility to the common man as various factors such as cost of land, prices of building materials, cost of labor to mention a few, cripple such aspirations. However, for individuals who have the financial means to pursue such aspirations, where and how to begin can be an impeding factor. This problem can be easily solved with acquiring services of professionals in the building industry. Many individuals go through a lot of hassles and stress in building their personal; houses because they choose not to use professionals in order to cut costs, however what they fail to understand is that using professionals will save costs that would be incurred in the long run due to poor services rendered by untrained individuals and quacks.
To begin, the person who wishes to start any building project, henceforth referred to as the client, needs to employ the services of an architect and state his intentions for his building project. This could be referred to as a brief and an initial brief from the client will often be little more than a statement of intent; it may be no more than a telephone call. At this stage there is unlikely to be any formal appointment. However, for the project to be successful, the client’s brief must be developed in detail so that due consideration can be given to it. The brief must consider the environment in which the building is to be located, determine the activities the building is to accommodate and other practical factors that will govern its layout, evaluate access, site topography, dimensions and level. Also time scale is essential in order to assess the appropriateness of the desired commencement and completion dates.
Usually, the architect should advice the client on costs, finances and market prices in order to establish the client’s budget and funding arrangement. Developing the design and costing will lead to a feasibility report by the architect, advising the client whether the project is feasible functionally, technically and financially. Importantly, the architect must also determine whether any particular development control considerations affect the site and determine whether or not the proposed development will require development control approval.
The design process now commences with the sketch scheme. Initially this involves the architect putting on paper their preliminary responses to the brief. The sketch scheme will demonstrate the extent of accommodation that can be achieved. The scheme will need to address the visual form, style, proportion and materials. Whatever the nature of the drawings or information produced at this stage, the presentation should be capable of being readily understood by those reviewing the proposals. At the start of the sketch scheme the quantity surveyor will probably be required to prepare an initial cost estimate. As the scheme develops it will be possible for the initial cost estimate to be reined such that the predicted cost may be amended or confirmed. This will establish whether or not the scheme is likely to be within the client’s budget. If it is not then appropriate adjustments can be made-these can be done more readily at this stage than later in the design process or building process in order to avoid the project being abandoned due to lack of funds and proper planning.
At this point, the client is now in possession of an outline scheme which meets the basic parameters of his brief together with a cost plan based on known levels of quality. A decision as to whether or not to proceed can now be made. Beyond this point a commitment to progress the scheme will engender significant financial outlay.
The development of the sketch scheme into a workable solution will produce the detail design to the client’s brief and allow it to be submitted for detailed development control approval. Formal procedures and proper documentation is important in the efficient and smooth running of a building project. It is the architect who is responsible the early stages of a project and while such duties will obtain throughout the design and construction period, it is in the pre-contract stages that majority of the architect’s responsibilities are to be discharged. It is the architect’s duty to tell the client initially what the client’s duties are. The client’s duties include a duty to state the nature of intended works, duty to sign the contract documents, duty to pay the contract sum among others.
As soon as practicable after the agreement and contract details have been settled between the client and the architect, the building team should meet. Suggested agenda for initial meeting should include introductions, factors affecting the carrying out of the works, progamme, sub-contractors and suppliers, lines of communication ,collateral warranties, insurances, financial matters etc. this meeting establishes the initial contact between individuals who must work together in harmony if the project is to run smoothly. As the building project progresses and physical work commences, the client may hold meetings with the architect. Such meetings are normally used to discuss general progress and to resolve any outstanding design issues. They also provide an opportunity to consider the possible effects on the works, on anticipated final costs and proposed variations. The architect, under the terms of employment, will normally be required to visit the site at intervals appropriate to the stage of construction, to inspect the progress and quality of the works and to determine that they are being executed in accordance with the contract documents. A building contract does not come to an end until the architect issues his final certificate and even then actions for breach of contract can be commenced within six or twelve years of the breach.
By hiring the services of an architect and professionals in the building industry, the client saves himself a lot of time, energy and money as these professionals are trained to withstand the hassles and stress of building construction.
