Property and construction valuation
Construction valuation, insurance reinstatement cost and cost-to-complete assessments, with the statutory limit on market valuation stated openly rather than glossed over.
Two different things are both called "valuation"
In Nigeria the word covers two separate professions, and confusing them is how clients end up with a report nobody will accept.
Market and statutory valuation — what a property is worth, for a mortgage, a court, a probate or a company account — is reserved by law to Registered Estate Surveyors and Valuers. The Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Act (Decree 24 of 1975, now Cap E13, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004) makes ESVARBON the regulator, and only its registrants may sign that report.
Construction valuation — what the work is worth, what it will cost to rebuild, what has been done, what remains — is quantity surveying. That is what this practice does, and what we sign.
The statutory limit, stated without spin
- We cannot sign a formal valuation reportMarket and statutory valuations for banks, courts and government must be signed by an ESVARBON-registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer. We are not one, and we will not issue a document that implies we are.
- We can prepare the construction evidenceMeasured quantities, reinstatement cost, cost to complete, cost to rectify, and the build cost of a property. A valuer can incorporate this, and you get an independent figure.
- We can work alongside your valuerWhere your lender appoints a valuer, we can supply the construction data so the report is not built on an area-based guess.
- We will say which kind you needIf you are asked for a valuation and you do not know why, tell us the purpose and we will tell you whether you need a valuer, us, or both.
Any practice offering to provide a bank-acceptable valuation without an ESVARBON registrant to sign it is, at best, wasting your money.
How the endorsement works: where a document needs a signature that the law reserves to another profession, it is reviewed and signed by a registrant of that profession, and their name and registration number appear on the report. We prepare the measurement, the costing and the technical evidence; the registrant accepts professional responsibility for the statutory sign-off. Nothing is issued under a title we do not hold.
What we do sign, and what it is used for
| Deliverable | Used for | Who signs it |
|---|---|---|
| Interim valuation of work done | Construction payment certificates | Quantity surveyor |
| Reinstatement / rebuild cost assessment | Insurance cover, sum insured review | Quantity surveyor |
| Cost to complete a stalled project | Funding decisions, refinancing, family settlements | Quantity surveyor |
| Cost of rectifying defects | Claim negotiation, retention release, negotiation with a contractor | Quantity surveyor |
| Build cost of a property being bought | Testing an asking price against what it costs to construct | Quantity surveyor |
| Market / statutory valuation | Mortgage, court, probate, company accounts, sale | ESVARBON-registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer only |
Why a client often needs both
Consider a typical diaspora case: a client is asked to release the final payment on a house, is told the property is worth a certain figure, and is insured for a sum nobody has tested since the build began.
Three different questions, three different professionals. Is the work done worth the claim? That is ours. What is the property worth on the open market? That is a valuer's. Is the insurance sum enough to rebuild it? That is ours again, measured from the drawings at today's rates.
We are content to be the construction half of that triangle, and to say so clearly. The alternative — a practice that quietly offers all three and signs whichever is asked for — is the reason the distinction matters.
Property and construction valuation questions
Can you produce a valuation my bank will accept?
Not unless it is signed by a Registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer. Nigerian law (Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Act, Cap E13 LFN 2004) reserves formal valuation for banks, courts and government to estate surveyors and valuers registered with ESVARBON. A quantity surveyor cannot sign one, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can do is prepare the construction cost evidence a valuer needs, and work alongside the valuer your lender appoints.
What valuation work can you actually do?
Construction valuation: valuing work done for payment, valuing a building for insurance reinstatement on a rebuild-cost basis, valuing the remaining work on a stalled project, and establishing the cost to rectify defects. These are quantity surveying functions and we sign them as such.
What is the difference between market value and reinstatement cost?
Market value is what the property would sell for on a given date, which requires comparable sales evidence and is an estate surveying function. Reinstatement cost is what it would cost to rebuild the same building from scratch, which is measured from drawings and current construction rates — a quantity surveying function. Clients often conflate them, and insurers care about the second, not the first.
My insurer asked for a rebuild cost. Is that a valuation?
It is a construction cost assessment, and it is squarely within our competence. We measure the building, price the rebuild at current rates for its location, include demolition and professional fees, and issue a dated figure with its basis stated. That is exactly what an insurer needs.
Can you recommend a valuer?
We do not take commission or referral fees from anyone, so any recommendation we make is disinterested. For a market or statutory valuation, ask for the valuer's ESVARBON registration number and check it — the same way you should check ours.
Not sure which valuation you need?
Tell us what the report is for and who asked for it. We will say plainly whether you need a quantity surveyor, an estate valuer, or both.
We read everything sent to info@peterch.org. Replies go out by WhatsApp — include a working number, with country code, in your first message.