The Nigerian building industry has seen quite a good number of building technologies and methods, each offering alternatives to the conventional method of building which is not only expensive but also struggles to deliver housing in good time and on budget.
A new entrant into this industry is Tempohousing Nigeria, a young but very dynamic housing development firm driven by passion to deliver affordable housing 30 percent cheaper and faster using a technology-driven method and locally sourced materials.
“We are local partners of the Tempohousing Global in the Netherlands. We are investment bankers by training, but property is something we have been taking a keen interest in and when we decided to go for it, we decided for a niche product and not what everyone else is doing”, Dele Ijaiya-Oladipo, the company’s managing partner told BusinessDay in their Lekki office recently.
“The technology we have brought into the company is already in use in the UK; our initial challenge was how to adapt it to Nigeria because we have different environment and different weather. There is also the challenge of its acceptability by the Nigerian elite who are used to houses in brick and mortar”, Ijaiya-Oladipo added.
According to him, this new building method involves the use of containers to produce housing that is not only affordable, but also boasts decent and luxury interior and exterior with state-of-the-art facilities that include tiles, lighting, air-conditioners etc.
“We build our houses from containers; we build cheaper than the conventional block and concrete model. Our building is also three to four times quicker. Our long term plan is affordable housing because we want every Nigerian to have access to housing. We are also looking at students housing, having realized that we can provide them something superior”, Ijaiya-Oladipo assured.
The company which opened for business early 2012 has already carved a niche for itself with high profile clientele including Exxon Mobil, Eko Bank among others. David Aderounmu, another managing partner in the company, added that they also work for oil and gas companies who need site offices, toilets and accommodation.
“What we are trying to achieve at Tempohousing is mini-estates which units we can move from site to site because they are a bit mobile”, he said, disclosing that they have their showroom in Agidingbi, Ikeja where anybody could come to look at what they have on offer.
Ijaiya-Oladipo emphasized that the main driver of this technology is affordable housing supply, pointing out that as against N8 million to N15 million price tag on affordable housing in Nigeria, they are playing around N3 million to N7 million mark for three-bedroom bungalows. “When we talk about mass housing and studio houses, it will be a lot cheaper. For this class of housing, we will be looking at N2 million for a two- bedroom bungalow; it could also be N4 million, all depending on space”, he said.
Chuka Uroko
