Ironically, even with these amply designed units, we still get many people coming through and asking for roomier units. In principle, we of course see no problem with people who want really large homes, the only snag is that they also want it to cost very little. In essence, many people in spite of their Kunu-sized budgets seem to have developed a delicate taste for champagne.

Without doubt, the vast majority of Nigerians are barred from home ownership by the lack of access to affordable credit. There’s however a considerable fraction of the middle class that may be able to overcome this difficulty if they can similarly scale the cultural barriers presented by the size of building and the type of materials we want them to be built with.

Relatively speaking, the apartments we develop are ample. For instance, the average size of CoBuildIT 3-bedroom apartments is around 140sqm. In contrast, this BBC report quotes the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as putting the average size of a 3-bedroom house in the UK at 88sqm – not significantly larger than our 1-Bedroom apartment at #Essentia, which measures all of 70sqm.

 Essentia Project, Abuja

Ironically, even with these amply designed units, we still get many people coming through and asking for roomier units. In principle, we of course see no problem with people who want really large homes, the only snag is that they also want it to cost very little. In essence, many people in spite of their Kunu-sized budgets seem to have developed a delicate taste for champagne.

A similar dissonance exists between what kind of material folks expect their homes to be built with, and what materials fit under their affordability thresholds. This barrier is responsible for the somewhat limited range of materials used in developing residential schemes for sale. Granted that there is not a lot of exertion and pushing of the envelope by architects working in the space, the fact remains that we are seeing very slow adoption rates for materials like adobe bricks, and other similarly cheaper building systems.

Schemes that have adopted such materials haven’t faired very well at all. We are certainly not aware of any that can be described as very successful. It appears that many homebuyers consider sandcrete blocks to be the Holy Grail and anything else is considered an emblem of poverty and lack of aspiration.

Meanwhile, in theory, tweaking the variables of size and building materials, can potentially have dramatic impact on building cost and ultimately move the dial on affordability for many people. If apartments scaled down from 140sqm to 100sqm (still larger than UK average size of 88sqm, and even RIBA recommended size of 96sqm) for instance, that could represent a 40% drop in building cost. Additional reductions can then be achieved by varying the building materials.

The common refrain that we get when the issue of size comes up is “we have large families.” This typically refers not just to the nuclear family of the buyer, but the larger extended family. The other question that frequently comes up even when the prospect is buying just a 3-bedroom apartment is “does it have a Boys’ Quarters?”  Clearly, the market for middle-income housing is very aspirational and in many respect totters on the edge of being unrealistic.

The big problem to solve is the mismatch between what the culture prescribes and what is realistically affordable for average buyers. One way to approach the problem is to abandon the permanence with which we view housing. We have to stop viewing a home purchase as a life sentence; rather we should think of home buying as a career like Tayo Odunsi describes it in his book ‘Affordable’. Just as you climb the ladder in a career, you can get on the home buying ladder on the low affordable rungs and climb gradually to your 1000sqm 7-bedroom mansion over time.

Also, design can achieve more optimal use of space if culture shifts towards adopting open floor plans. The number one push back that we get to an open plan living area that meshes with the kitchen is how to manage the heavy aroma that African foods give off. We believe that the solution to this lies somewhere in the intersection of good design that provides for effective ventilation, and the right appliances.

Ultimately, we are leaning towards the idea that most of the objections that are raised to these imperatives to shift our housing culture have practical, reasonable solutions, and we think it is important for practitioners to link arms and push towards bringing some of these practical solutions to market.