OFFSHORE CLIENT DESIGN & BUILD SCHEME (OCLIDEBS)
Introduction
It is an all-too common experience. You live abroad and you desire to
erect a building either in your village or in a town of your choice
back in your country. You have relatives in the country but they can
hardly be relied upon to execute the project diligently. There is
usually little or nothing to show for all the funds you have
remitted over a period of time for the project.
Recriminations and strained relationships are the usual
fall outs.
It is in recognition of this peculiar problem faced by our brothers and sisters abroad that we have designed just the perfect package as a solution for you: OCLIDEBS (Offshore Client Design & Build Scheme). The flexible staged construction model adopted in this scheme also makes it easy for the client to suspend the project when funds run low and continue when the cash flow improves. For now, this service is only available in Ghana and Nigeria.
Procedure
The process is as follows:-
| 1.0 | It is assumed that you already have an unencumbered piece of land ready for development. Only in rare cases do we accept to source the land for the client. |
| 2.0 | You appoint a person who lives in your home country and in whom you have implicit trust, as your coordinator. The coordinator must be given a power of attorney to act on your behalf in all matters except the handling of your funds. |
| 3.0 | You formally appoint Zomatek Engineering to provide the OCLIDEBS service for you at a specified site and attach a detailed brief of the facilities required in the building. |
| 4.0 | Zomatek Engineering develops a sketch design based on your brief and forwards same for your approval/comments |
| 5.0 | Once a design is agreed Zomatek Engineering proceeds to produce the working drawings and costs same. Further adjustments to the specifications may still be made by the client at this point , if necessary, for budgetary reasons. |
| 6.0 | An agreement is prepared detailing the terms of the service to be provided and the obligations of each party in the transaction, with the coordinator signing for the client. The agreement is duly registered at the High Court within the jurisdiction of the location of the project. The agreement shall also define the stages of the project at which payment will be made. |
| 7.0 | The client will at this point pay Zomatek Engineering for the design services according to the statutory professional scale of fees applicable in the country, adopted by professionals in the building industry. |
| 8.0 | For a typical storey building, the adopted project stages are as follows:- (i) Foundation to Ground Floor slab (ii) Ground Floor Slab To First Floor Slab (i.e. decking) (iii) First Floor Slab To Roof (iv) Internal and External Finishes (v) Fittings and Fixtures |
Payment Schedule:
The payment for each stage of the work shall be agreed with the client and only the money needed for the next stage needs to be remitted at any point in time. Such money for the next stage will not be remitted until the client, acting through the coordinator or directly by himself, is satisfied about the proper conclusion of the previous stage. The first remittance after the design process(and payment of the design fees) shall therefore only be for works from the foundation to ground floor slab
Work Programme
The work programme is at the discretion of the client since
it is tied to the frequency of remittances. However a client must
remit enough money for the completion of a discrete stage as defined
above. In the event of a prolonged hiatus between stages, the
cost for the next stage must be reviewed (to account for inflation)
before the continuation of the project. In this exercise, a third party
Quantity Surveyor may be involved to ensure fairness. A break of more
than six months between stages falls under this category.
Progress Reports
These will be sent to the client at regular intervals and will be
co-endorsed by the coordinator. Pictures showing the state of the
project shall accompany every progress report. Every progress
report shall be sent electronically to the client and the
coordinator shall be given a copy for his records.
Remittances
Remittances shall be made direct to the account of Zomatek Engineering
in the project country and shall be net of bank charges. No work will
be carried out for the next agreed stage until the money for that stage
is received. An acknowledgement in writing shall be made by Zomatek
Engineering , within three working days, for every remittance received.
Closure
The successful completion of the project must be acknowledged by the client in writing to Zomatek Engineering