What it costs to build per square metre in 2026

Build cost per square metre is the most requested and least reliable number in Nigerian development. It moves with the exchange rate, with cement, and with how far your site is from a decent road.

Split the number in two

Shell and core behaves fairly predictably: it is structure, blockwork, roof and a weathertight envelope, and it is driven by cement, steel and labour. Finishes are where the range explodes, because the difference between a competent local specification and an imported one is a multiple, not a percentage.

What actually moves it

• Site access. A site a lorry cannot reach adds cost to every single delivery for the whole programme.

• Ground conditions. Reclaimed or waterlogged ground can put a large sum into the foundation before anything is visible.

• Programme length. Time is the silent cost, through supervision, security and inflation on unbought materials.

• Procurement. Buying steel and cement early is a hedge; buying finishes early is usually just storage risk.

The most expensive projects we see are not the ones with the highest specification. They are the ones that stopped for six months.

Contingency

A contingency below ten percent is not a contingency, it is optimism with a line item. For a renovation or anything involving existing ground, fifteen is more honest. The purpose is not to cover mistakes. It is to keep the project moving when the exchange rate moves, because a stopped site costs more than almost any variation.