You probably have an idea of the kind of house you’d like to have. Maybe you saw a design online, on TV or on your travels. It’s time to research further and get a rough idea of what it entails to construct such a house. At this stage, you’ll want to consider your budget, expected duration of your building project, sources of funds and the people or professionals you’ll consult.

Budgeted Project Cost

It’s a good idea to have a ballpark price you expect to spend. Allow room for flexibility since, at this stage, you’ve not met the experts who will lay down the detailed costing.

Expected Project Duration

Find out how long the building project should take. This could be influenced by issues like when your current lease is expiring or your availability for supervision.

Bringing in the Experts

Hiring a professional may seem costly (which is not) and it will save you money, time and tears. When you involve a firm of professionals like Odame’s SC Estate Development, it means that you have a trusted partner who is familiar with the ins and outs of construction. You’ll need an architect to design and make the floor plans, a contractor or builder and subcontractors to do plumbing, electrical and carpentry works.

In Ghana, the process of approval for architectural and structural plans is carried out at the district assembly where the client’s land is located or where the project will situated at. After submitting all four copies of your building plan plus your land documents to the assembly, depending on the type of project, the assembly prepares a bill to be paid by the client. Provisional building permit will be issue which construction can commence after paying the bill. Contractor must follow the Ghana Standard Building Code.

The architect, the structural engineer and the client will carry out periodic inspection of the project to ensure all the works are being carried out in accordance with the architectural and structural plans.