How Much Does Structural Steel Cost in Nigeria? 2026 Price Guide by Section

Structural steel behaves differently from almost every other material on a Nigerian bill of quantities. Blocks are priced per piece, cement per bag, paint per litre — but steel is priced per kilogram, and the weight of a section depends on its profile, its depth and its wall thickness as much as its length. That single fact explains most of the confusion first-time buyers run into when a fabricator's quote comes back looking nothing like what they expected.

This guide sets out current 2026 Nigerian prices for the main categories of structural steel, explains the costs that sit on top of the raw material — fabrication, erection, coating and transport — and works through a complete example so you can see how the pieces fit together. It follows the same categories priced in our free Steel Calculator.

Steel Prices by Section, Per Kilogram

Structural steel sections are sold by weight because that is how mills roll and invoice them — a metre of 200UB25 (a universal beam weighing 25 kg/m) costs roughly the same to produce as a metre of 200UB18, but the finished beam is heavier and therefore costs more. Indicative 2026 Nigerian market prices per kilogram are:

Angles are priced higher per kilogram than beams because rolling a small, thin-walled profile is less efficient than rolling a large one — the mill produces less weight of finished product per hour of rolling. This is why a "smaller" piece of steel is not automatically cheaper: two tonnes of angle iron can cost more than two tonnes of universal beam.

What Fabrication and Erection Add

The mill price of the raw section is only the starting point. Turning raw steel into an installed structure adds several layers of cost, each priced separately in the Steel Calculator:

• Fabrication (cutting, drilling, welding): roughly ₦500 per kg for simple work, more for complex connections. This is a placeholder figure built from published fabricator day rates — a standard local welder/fabricator charges roughly ₦15,000–25,000 a day, a certified structural fabricator ₦30,000–55,000+, and an assistant or iron bender ₦5,000–10,000. Always confirm with your own fabricator's quote, since shop rates vary by region and by how intricate the connections are.
• Erection (lifting and bolting/welding into place): roughly ₦200 per kg, which covers the crew and rigging time to get fabricated steel from the ground into its final position.
• Coating: a shop primer alone is a modest addition, but a full corrosion-protection system — primer plus two coats of paint, or hot-dip galvanising for anything exposed to weather — adds meaningfully more per kilogram. Galvanising in particular can add several hundred naira per kilogram but earns it back many times over in a coastal or high-humidity site.
• Transport: steel is priced by the tonne to move, roughly ₦40,000 per tonne from a Lagos or Onitsha stockist to a typical site, more for remote locations or oversized loads that need an escort.
• Crane hire: lifting heavy sections into place is usually a day-rate item, roughly ₦100,000 per day for a mobile crane or Hiab, separate from the erection labour above.

Put together, all-in installed cost for a straightforward structural steel frame typically lands somewhere between ₦2,200 and ₦2,800 per kilogram once fabrication, erection, primer and transport are added to the ~₦1,360/kg beam price — before galvanising or a full paint system.

Worked Example: A Small Warehouse Portal Frame

Consider a single portal frame for a small warehouse bay: two 200UB25 columns at 4m high and one 250UB37 rafter at 12m span, plus bracing angles.

• Columns: 2 × 4m × 25 kg/m = 200 kg
• Rafter: 1 × 12m × 37 kg/m = 444 kg
• Bracing (equal angles, allowance): 80 kg
• Total steel weight: 724 kg

Pricing it out:

• Material (beams + angles, weighted average ~₦1,380/kg): 724 × 1,380 ≈ ₦999,000
• Fabrication (₦500/kg): 724 × 500 = ₦362,000
• Erection (₦200/kg): 724 × 200 = ₦144,800
• Primer + paint system (₦350/kg allowance): 724 × 350 ≈ ₦253,400
• Transport (0.72 tonnes × ₦40,000/t): ₦28,800

Total for one portal frame: roughly ₦1,788,000. A warehouse with six identical frames would need about 4.3 tonnes of steel and, at these rates, around ₦10.7 million for the complete structural steel package excluding cladding, foundations and crane hire for erection day. The Steel Calculator produces this breakdown automatically once you enter section sizes and lengths, and lets you toggle coating and transport on or off.

Fasteners and Small Items

Base plates, gusset plates and connections need bolts, and these are priced individually rather than by weight: M12 and M16 structural bolts, J-bolts for holding down roofing sheets, and M24 anchor bolts for column bases. On a modest steel structure these items rarely exceed a few percent of the total, but they are easy to forget when pricing from a drawing that only shows member sizes — build an allowance into your take-off rather than discovering the gap at ordering stage.

Common Steel-Pricing Mistakes

• Pricing by length instead of weight. A "6-metre angle" tells you nothing about cost until you know the leg size and thickness. Always convert to kilograms before comparing quotes.
• Forgetting fabrication and erection. The mill price is often quoted on its own by suppliers; the finished, installed cost is typically 60–100% higher once labour, coating and transport are added.
• Under-specifying corrosion protection. Skipping galvanising or a proper paint system to save money on an exposed structure is a false economy — repainting rusted steel later costs more than doing it right the first time.
• Ignoring crane access. A site with restricted access for a mobile crane can add significant cost to erection that a simple ₦/kg rate will not capture. Walk the site before pricing erection.
• Comparing quotes on different bases. One fabricator's quote may include erection and painting; another may be materials only. Always ask exactly what is and is not included before comparing numbers.

Regional Price Variation Across Nigeria

Steel prices are not uniform across the country, even though the mill price of a given section is broadly national. Lagos and Onitsha carry the largest stockist networks and the most competitive pricing, since most imported and locally rolled sections pass through these hubs before moving elsewhere — buyers here typically see prices at or close to the baseline figures in this guide. Abuja and Port Harcourt sit a step above, reflecting the added transport distance from the main stockist hubs, commonly 5–10% over Lagos pricing for the same section. Locations further from a major stockist — parts of the North-East, or more remote South-South and South-East towns off the main haulage routes — can see steel landed cost 15–25% above baseline once transport, and sometimes a smaller, less competitive local supplier base, are factored in. This is worth confirming directly with two or three stockists before committing a large steel order, since the gap between the cheapest and most expensive quote for the identical specification can be substantial purely on account of location.

Buyers in higher-cost locations sometimes find it worthwhile to have steel delivered directly from a Lagos or Onitsha stockist rather than buying from a thinner local market, even after adding the extra transport cost calculated in this guide — the combination of a more competitive base price and transparent, itemised transport cost can still undercut a local supplier's all-in price, particularly on a larger order where the fixed cost of arranging distant delivery is spread across more tonnage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is structural steel cheaper than reinforced concrete in Nigeria?

It depends on the span and the building type. For long clear spans — warehouses, workshops, event halls — steel is usually more economical because it needs less foundation and can be erected faster. For typical residential spans under about 6 metres, reinforced concrete usually remains cheaper. See our comparison guide for a fuller breakdown.

Why do angle sections cost more per kilogram than beams?

Rolling a thinner, smaller profile is less efficient per tonne of output than rolling a large universal beam, so mills charge more per kilogram for angles, channels and other light sections even though the total weight — and often the total cost — of a job using them can be much lower.

How much should I budget for steel fabrication labour?

As a starting planning figure, allow roughly ₦500 per kilogram for straightforward fabrication (cutting, drilling, welding standard connections), rising for complex moment connections or curved work. Get a firm quote from your fabricator once drawings are available — day rates and per-kg rates both vary by region and by workshop capability.

Does the price include galvanising?

No — galvanising and painting are priced separately in the Steel Calculator because not every project needs them. Steel that will be permanently exposed to weather, especially near the coast, should be hot-dip galvanised or given a full multi-coat paint system; internal, dry structural steel can often get by with a shop primer alone.

Why do steel prices sometimes change between quotes from the same supplier?

Steel is a globally traded commodity, and Nigerian mill and import prices track international steel and scrap prices along with exchange rate movements, both of which can shift meaningfully between a quote and an actual order date. For a project with a long lead time between budgeting and ordering, ask your supplier how long a quoted price remains valid, and build a contingency allowance into the budget for a project spanning several months.

Can I reuse second-hand structural steel?

Yes, provided it is inspected by a structural engineer for corrosion, deformation and section loss, and its original specification can be confirmed or conservatively assumed. Second-hand steel can offer real savings but should never be used for primary structural members without that check.