Build up the cost of getting a project started and closed out — plant haulage, site yard, cabins, temporary services, setup staff and security — then see the mobilisation and demobilisation figures, the total price, and whether it fits inside your client's cap.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy haulage / low-loader trips | trips | ₦1,400,000 | |||||
| Permits & escorts (oversized loads) | sum | ₦150,000 | |||||
| Loading / unloading labour | hrs | ₦40,000 | |||||
| Operator travel & accommodation | operator-days | ₦90,000 |
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site clearance & temporary access | sum | ₦250,000 | |||||
| Fencing / hoarding | m | ₦960,000 | |||||
| Laydown geotextile membrane | m² | ₦360,000 | |||||
| Aggregate / gravel base | tons | ₦1,026,000 | |||||
| Site signage & safety barriers | sum | ₦150,000 | |||||
| Site survey & setting out | sum | ₦120,000 |
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabin delivery & crane-in | cabins | ₦360,000 | |||||
| Cabin installation / levelling | hrs | ₦48,000 | |||||
| Office furniture & IT fit-out | sum | ₦400,000 | |||||
| Welfare units (toilets, canteen, drying) | sum | ₦250,000 |
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utility connection fees (power / water) | sum | ₦300,000 | |||||
| Subcontractor M&E first-fix lines | sum | ₦250,000 | |||||
| Temporary water (tanker / borehole) | sum | ₦150,000 | |||||
| Generator delivery & earthing | sum | ₦100,000 | |||||
| Setup-phase generator fuel | litres | ₦336,000 |
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setup management team (site manager / superintendent) | days | ₦560,000 | |||||
| Safety inductions & badging | workers | ₦90,000 | |||||
| Medical screening & PPE issue | workers | ₦450,000 |
| Item | Qty | Unit | Rate ₦ | Setup | Demob % | Salvage % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site security during setup | guard-days | ₦196,000 | |||||
| Community / stakeholder liaison | sum | ₦200,000 |
Mobilisation & demobilisation · priced
₦13,385,862
ℹ️ Enter the contract value to check against the client's cap.
Excludes VAT. Mobilisation and demobilisation are one-off costs — running site costs (preliminaries) during the works are a separate item.
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Before a single block is laid or a trench dug, a contractor has to turn an empty plot into a working site. That set-up phase is mobilisation: bringing plant and equipment to site, fencing and preparing a yard for materials, placing site offices and welfare units, connecting temporary power and water, and inducting and equipping the workforce. When the works are finished the same effort runs in reverse — demobilisation — as plant leaves, cabins are removed, temporary connections are closed and the yard is cleared and reinstated.
These costs are real, they are incurred before any work can be valued and paid for, and they are easy to underprice because they do not appear on the drawings. On a Nigerian project the picture is often complicated further by haulage distances, generator-dependent power, the cost of security, and the need to engage with the host community. A structured build-up is the only reliable way to make sure none of it is missed.
1. Plant and equipment logistics — heavy haulage trips, permits and escorts for oversized loads, loading and unloading labour, and operator travel. Hard-to-reach sites add a premium to this module.
2. Site yard layout and materials — clearance and temporary access, fencing or hoarding, geotextile and gravel laydown areas, signage and barriers, and site survey and setting out. Enter your plot size and the fence length and yard area are filled in for you.
3. Site offices and welfare — cabin delivery and crane-in, installation, furniture and IT, and welfare units such as toilets and a canteen.
4. Temporary services and utilities — connection fees, first-fix electrical and plumbing lines, temporary water, generator delivery and earthing, and fuel during the setup phase.
5. Personnel setup and inductions — the setup management team, safety inductions and badging, and medicals and PPE for the peak workforce.
6. Security and community — guards during setup and stakeholder liaison with the host community.
7. Bonds, insurance and approvals — optional, switched off by default, because some contracts treat these as preliminaries rather than mobilisation.
A common shortcut is to take demobilisation as a fixed percentage of mobilisation. It is quick, but it hides real differences between lines. Hauling plant off site costs roughly what bringing it in did. Taking cabins away is mostly transport. Disconnecting a utility is a small job. Fencing and furniture may be reused or resold, which reduces the net cost.
This calculator therefore sets a demobilisation percentage on each line, and an optional salvage credit where an item keeps some value. You can edit both, or switch to a single flat percentage if that is what your tender asks for.
Many tenders limit the mobilisation line to a percentage of the contract value. Enter the contract value, the cap, and whether the cap includes demobilisation, and the calculator shows your mobilisation as a percentage of the contract and marks it as within the cap, close to it or over it. If you are over, it shows the excess and the uplift on the rest of the contract that recovering it through other rates would need, and it lists the alternatives to consider first.
Remember that mobilisation cost and a mobilisation advance are different things: the advance is a payment from the client that you later repay through valuations. For the cash-flow effect of an advance, use our Cash Flow Calculator.