A real estate firm, the Address Homes, has restated its resolve towards tackling Nigeria’s housing deficit by providing affordable homes that meet the benchmark of modern real estate development.
Chairman/CEO of the company, Mr Bisi Onasanya, stated this on Saturday during a media tour of some of the company’s construction projects in Lagos.
Onasanya said the fundamental goal of the firm was to provide smart homes which could boast of the basic amenities that were reflective of global best property development practices.
He said: “We put structures which we call homes, not houses. Homes that compete with the best that you can see outside the country, and yet, without getting you to break the bank in terms of being able to pay or affordability. We see people who try to relocate from abroad – Canada, UK, Europe – and there is a minimum standard of living that they are used to.”
“They like to enter a home and there are basic things they like to see, and in the environment also. We found that missing, to some extent. We wanted a situation in which you live in the Address Home, and you’re proud to be living in the Address Home because of the comfortability we offer. That’s what we have been able to do. Have we done everything? We’ve done our best, but we still believe that we’ll keep improving”.
He noted that the Address Homes characteristically offered flexible payment plans to enable home buyers spread payments at their own convenience.
“We are very competitive in terms of pricing, but more importantly, we are very flexible in our payment structure. We allow people to dictate to us within a particular time frame, how they want to structure their payments during construction.”
“Even at that, we’ve had instances where we completed the project, but people had difficulty making the final payment. They make special request for us to allow them to move into the property without completing payment, and yet we still oblige them.”
“All these have endeared us to the few people who have had the opportunity to interact with us and to enjoy the services that we offer. So, when I see those things, they make me feel proud that what we set out to achieve, we are on course.”
“In doing that also, we have also succeeded in contributing to the housing deficit. Right now, we play in the medium market sector essentially, and today we have a total of, both ongoing and completed, over 250 units of houses and still counting. For every single estate that we have built, we make sure that we do not just hand over the keys to you, we follow you and make sure we provide facilities management to make living in those estates very convenient and comfortable for you.”
Onasanya also noted that all of the firm’s construction projects were subjected to periodic integrity tests by the Lagos State Government to ensure compliance to set standards and also ensure standards for home buyers.
“We do not embark on any construction with a formal building plan approval from the Lagos State Government. At every stage, the structural engineer goes to site to certify every stage before they can do any concrete work. After the structural engineer has done that, Lagos State Government, that is LASBCA, will check what has been done and sign off on it before we go on, and we use this process on all our projects.”
The Luxuria, Dan & Dan Apartments and Wemabod Estate were some of the ongoing projects inspected during the media tour. The Luxuria sits on a land area measuring approximately 4890SQM and it’s made up of Two Towers.
Upon completion, the project will comprise 18 luxury houses, ranging from five-bedroom fully detached houses to five-bedroom semi-detached houses and four-bedroom terrace houses.
Dan & Dan Apartments is located on Banana Island road and comprises 27 units of fully-serviced apartments; three penthouses, 12 maisonettes and 12 terrace houses.