How to make money manufacturing Cement Blocks

Breeze Blocks

Making cement blocks is a good way of getting self-employed. Cement blocks is a major material for the construction industry, right from foundation of a building construction, to lintel and finally to the ground level of the structure. The capital required for this project is up to 3 million Naira. If invested, there is guarantee that investment is lucrative. The steps to go about the investment is goes as follows.

Step 1
Look for a piece of land on which to site the block industry. The land should be bought or on long term lease hold. Preferably the land should be at a new layout where construction work is in progress. It is very important that the land should be on a major road to ease access and evacuation of blocks.Two plots of about 120 by 120 feet is enough.
STEP 2
Water is very important. For this reason you need to sink a bore hole or well. Water is necessary for mixing sand and cement and for wetting the blocks to strengthen it.
STEP 3
Buy pallets and the necessary machines. A set of pallets consist of 500 pallets A set of good pallets made of durable hard wood cost 100000 Naira @ 200 Naira/pallet
Buy Lister type water cooled engine and the vibrating mole. A good engine with vibrator together with installation will cost 350000 Naira. Get experienced people to buy and install the machines for you.
It is better to enquire from people who are already in the trade for the best brand of machine. But I know that IMEX is well patronized. You also need to buy 2 shovels and 2 spade for mixing the cement and sand. There is need for canopy or shade to cover the mixing and engine area. SO construct the canopy and install the machine under it

Usually concrete water tanks should be constructed very near the canopy for mixing the sand and cement . Water is also required to wet the cement after drying and before packing it.

STEP 4
Buy a delivery truck. Delivery truck required to move the product from factory to customers site. A good delivery truck cost up to 1 million Naira .The common brand of truck in use are Nissan cabstar or, Bedford are tested and trusted. The capacity should not be less than 3 tons. And maximum of 5 tons.

STEP 5
Ensure a steady supply of quality cement. Based on 500 blocks per day production 100 bags of cement is enough for one week. There are good quality cement that dries up quickly after production.
Elephant cement Dangote cement are trusted brands. A reliable and steady supply of sand is also required. The sand should preferably sharp sand. The common practice is that people mix sharp sand with fine sand. This is only to reduce the cost of production and compromise the quality. A mixture of sharp sand with stone dust will enhance the quality of the product. This is encouraged. If stone dust is not available, only sharp sand is good enough with rich mixture of cement. A drum of diesel is required to run the lister engine and delivery truck in one week.

STEP 6
Employ workers. The number of people required is eight. Job distribution is as follows At the production line we should have 5 people 1 loader who also operates the mole machine. This person is popularly called operator. 2 mixers to mix sand and cement together for the operator. 2 offloaders to remove the finished block from the
machine to the drying area. The driver and 2 people to load blocks at the factory and off load at the site. With all this things in place production can start.

Concrete blocks on construction site

Concrete blocks on construction site


PROCEDURE
It ts important to employ experienced people to produce. What normally happens is that you should employ a bricklayer or someone who is experienced in block making as captain of the crew.

THE OPERATOR
The operator will look around to select his own crew to work with him. Your own duty is to negotiate the wages . The common pay is 5000 Naira for a day work of 500 blocks that is 10 Naira per block. Mix the sand and cement at a good ratio. 13 bags of cement is good enough for 500 blocks. Mix properly and add water to reasonable level.
Do not compromise the quality for any reason. By the time the pallet is exhausted you have completed moulding 500 blocks and must have used 12 to 13 bags of cement. Very early the following morning the off loaders should remove the pallets and wet the blocks properly with water. After drying the blocks is ready for sale.

COST ANALYSIS
500 blacks per day at 130 Naira per block is equal to 65000 Naira less cost of cement 21000 Naira at 1700 per bag. 2 loads of sand at 5000 per load and workers at 5000 per day for the crew. If we give room of 4000 as incidental expenses we still have a balance of 25000 Naira per day.
Marketing strategy and good salesmanship is very important to boost sales. If the market is available the project is a profitable venture.. To get good market, the target is construction companies bricklayers individual site owners developers friend s the list goes on.

With 25000 Naira per day if you are able to produce for 20 days in a month you will make 25 multiplied by 20 per month . This gives us 500 thousand Naira half a million Naira per month is no small money.