To grow their businesses, professionals and artisans in real estate business must up their skill regularly and also learn about the latest technologies in their field, Babajide Ogunleye, the CEO, Denaro Properties, has said.
Ogunleye explains that this is also necessary so that the professionals are not left behind by new industry trends, adding that ignoring trends in the industry limits a developer’s capacity to deliver to his/her knowledge.
The Denaro Properties boss, whose views were contained in his address at the company’s end-of-the-year get-together recently, noted that “there are technologies that can help you grow your business; check the internet to see what’s popular, what’s new, and use the information to set goals and grow your business. It is the same for artisans who do plumbing or stamp flooring.”
“If, for instance, you are on the plumbing team and you come to the site without a PPR welding machine, I will be surprised because the world has moved on from PVC,” he said, adding, “for iron benders, you need callipers. Due to foreign exchange problems, a lot of iron is coming into the market. Someone who bends iron should have a calliper to measure ahead of time.”
The CEO revealed that Denaro Properties was committed to rebranding the landscape of housing in Lagos mainland through innovation, noting that this has had positive impact on families “because you will discover that a lot of people don’t want to go through the stress of building.”
“When you are building, you’re interfacing with different stakeholders, and if you’re not careful, you can get stressed or frustrated out of the project; you are dealing with ‘Omo oniles’, government agencies, suppliers, contractors and artisans who come from different backgrounds, who need some level of expertise to be properly managed. You need a professional company that knows its onions like Denaro Properties to be able to get you your desired home in highbrow areas of the Lagos mainland,” he said.
He noted that, in terms of finishing, his company brings in a lot of innovations right from the architecture and design stage, adding that they do functional homes that people can live in for the next 50 to 60 years as they keep thinking ahead. “A lot of innovation comes into play and that’s what sets us apart in the industry, coupled with our integrity,” he said.
Dayo Ajayi, the company’s project manager, stressed that they have a lot of Innovations coming to play, disclosing that in their quantity surveying unit, they were doing it manually in the past, but now they have applications that help with quantity surveying.
“That doesn’t mean we’ve relegated the role of quantity surveyors to the background; they still gather data and enter same into their system; so we know the cost of construction and project completion before we start because once you don’t get your costing right from the beginning of a project, you are setting yourself up for failure; and you don’t want to do that,” he said.
Beyond building houses, Denaro Properties is also involved in humanitarian initiatives which were revealed by Olaitan Ogunleye, the company’s Head, Janitorial Services in her closing remarks at the event.
According to her, the company, in conjunction with the Lagos State Health and Safety Commission, would be hosting a health and training seminar for their staff. That event, she said, had been scheduled for January 15, 2023. She added that the company would also be having regular medical check-up for artisans in the coming year.
