The brief
Room for trailers, ready before the rains
The client was renting three small stores across Ibadan and losing a day a week to transfers. They needed one building that a 40 foot trailer could reverse into, with racking down both sides and no columns in the middle.
The land was next to their existing depot on the Oyo road, which had to keep loading from 6 in the morning to 8 at night. And the roof had to be on before the long rains began in late April.
The numbers that mattered
- 8.5 metre eaves for three-high pallet racking
- Two 6 by 6 metre roller shutter openings
- Translucent panels on 10% of the roof to cut lighting costs
- Wind design for an open site at the edge of the city
Timeline
Eleven weeks, week by week
Survey, soil report review and frame design. Client approves a 30 metre span to keep the floor free for trailers.
Shop drawings issued and signed. Steel bought the same week to lock in the price.
Fabrication in Agodi: 42 frames, 1,180 purlins and 6,400 bolts. Photos to the client every Friday.
Shot blasting and two-coat enamel, with film thickness logged on every member.
Erection at night beside the working depot, with a 50 tonne crane hired in for the ridge lifts.
Roof and wall sheeting finished, gutters tested with a fire hose, handover pack delivered.
On site
Photos from the build
★★★★★We kept loading every single day. Their crew worked nights, cleaned up every morning, and the WhatsApp photos meant our directors in Lagos could see progress without driving up.
What we did differently
Lifts planned around the depot
Every crane lift was drawn on a site plan with the depot’s truck routes. Heavy lifts happened between 9 at night and 4 in the morning, and the yard was swept and open again by 5:30.
Because frames were drilled on our CNC line, bolts dropped in first time and the crane was on site for six nights, not the ten we budgeted.
Next step
Planning a warehouse of your own?
Run the estimator for a first figure, then send us the site location. A survey within 150 km of Ibadan is free.