I have written an article about land sizes before https://oticsurveys.com/land-sizes-in-lagos but recently, I have received several calls from people who asked me to assist them in finding out how many plots they can carve out from land. They gave me the dimensions in feet and asked me to tell them the area in square meters. The problem with this is that they always assume that you can calculate the area of any land by just multiplying the length and width.

The first thing you should know is that, for the calculation of area, multiplying the length and the breadth only works when the property is a rectangle. If the shape of the property is not a rectangle, multiplying the length and the breadth will not give you the accurate area.

For simplicity, let us assume the shape of your land is a rectangle. In Nigeria, we use the metric system. Our dimensions are usually in meters. However, in the real estate sector, you will find that people prefer to state the dimension of land in feet and not meters because it is easier to remember. For example, in Lagos a standard plot of land measures 18.3m by 36.6m but people prefer to say 60 by 120. In some other parts of the country, you will f ind standard plot sizes such as 50ft by 100ft, 100ft by 100ft etc.

Things to know:

1m – 3.281ft

1 sq. meter – 10.764ft

If the area of land is in feet and you want to convert to meters, divide by 10.764. If the area of the land is in meters and you want to convert to feet, multiply by 10.764.

If you want to convert the dimension of any of the sides of the land from feet to meters, divide it by 3.281, and if you want to convert from meters to feet, multiply by 3.281.

If you want to know how many plots you can get from a particular land, divide the area of the land by the area of the standard plot in that location.

UNDERSTANDING LAND SIZES, DIMENSIONS AND UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

UNDERSTANDING LAND SIZES, DIMENSIONS AND UNITS OF MEASUREMENT