EAST LEGON (NMAI DZORN)
Project Name: East Legon Development Project (Aboagye’s Residence)
Role of Jacob West: Development and Finishing
Location: Nmai Dzorn, East Legon
OUR PROPOSAL
The client wanted a 4 bedroom townhouse. Each room is expected to have an ensuite and design should be contemporary and timeless.
For the design concept, the client was interested in using an existing design that we already had and used for a previous project. As a company rule, we never use the same design twice. If someone wants to use an existing design, we tweak it to suit their needs while maintaining the overall look and feel of the house.
After helping the client visualise the exterior, we proceeded to provide them with interior designs and this also gets them super excited to not only start the project but also to end it.
Once all parties were in agreement and our proposal was accepted, we moved to site to begin work on the project. One goal for this project was simple: To turn this vision into a reality.
PREP WORK
Before we move to site
Before beginning the project, we had to assess the land and the area properly. This helps us plan our project and also determine the type of engineering to use.
Upon completing the assessment, we came up with the following:
- Wet land
Building on wet land is tricky. Using conventional building methods may not be the best in this instance. Being able to determine this at the beginning of the project helps us greatly because we know what type of engineering to employ in the construction of this building
- Multiple access routes to and from the site
Many of the access roads in developing areas are quite bad. It is important that we discover as many routes as possible to help us move in and out with little to no fuss.
- Ideal places to source materials
Knowing the right places to source materials can greatly affect the overall cost of your build. The prices of materials may be the same all over but once you include the cost of transport especially over longer distances and then the cost starts to go up significantly.
- Ideal place to build a temporary shelter
After buying the materials, you need a good and secure place to store them. You need to be able to assess the land to figure out the right place to put up a temporary shelter. For this project, we had to find a part of the land that experienced the least damp and use that place to store our materials.
- How secure the place is
After doing the assessment of the area, we were able to determine that the security of the place was not great. This means that we had to increase our security on the site to stop theft of tools and materials.
THE PROJECT
What we have done so far
Construction
Foundation
- Setting out
- Excavation
- Preparing and casting the column beams and bases
- Block work for the foundation
- Pre-stressed beams and blocks
- Pipework for plumbing
- Filling and compacting of carport
- Casting of foundation
Ground floor
- Block work
- Casting of columns
- Lintel
- Fast floors
- Pipe work for plumbing
- Casting of First floor
First Floor
- Block work
- Casting of columns
- Pipe work for electrical and plumbing works
- Lintel
- Parapet
- Roof noggins
- Roofing
Post Construction
- Pipe work for electrical
- Plumbing works
- Plastering of interior and exterior
- Building of fence wall
- Creation of voids in the concrete roof
Finishing
- Installation of Windows
- Installation of insulation material and plasterboard ceilings
- The complete wiring of the property
- Skimming
- Tile work
What we have Left to do
- Sourcing and installation of Sanitary ware
- Sourcing and installation of Electrical finishing
- Sourcing and installation of Air-conditioning units
- Painting
- Landscaping
- Installation of gate
CHALLENGES
Building On wet land
Building on wet land is significantly more difficult than building on regular dry land. Knowing ahead of time that we were building on wet land helped us plan the type of engineering that was suitable for the project. In the end, we settled on using pre-stressed beams for the project. The beams allowed us to raise the building and instead of filling, compacting and casting, we set the beams and lay the blocks on top of them after which we cast our concrete.