"Distance should not put your property at risk": Proptiva Africa builds and guards homes for the diaspora

Lagos — For Africans abroad, building at home is a dream — and too often a heartbreak. Money goes out every month for blocks, roofing and labour, and the photos that come back never quite add up. Stories of unfinished houses and missing building money are familiar in every diaspora community.

Proptiva Africa, headquartered in Magodo, Lagos, exists to end that. "Distance should not put your property at risk," the company says — and it is clear about what it is not: "We're not a regular real estate agency." It calls itself a diaspora property concierge: one accountable team that looks after your property in Africa while you live your life somewhere else.

From first block to final tenant

Proptiva covers the whole life of a property in six stages:

• Buy: property search, pre-purchase inspection and document verification through partner lawyers
• Build: construction supervision, contractor management, site inspections, progress photos and video, with budgets and timelines tracked
• Secure: CCTV, alarms, smart locks, security lighting and access control
• Design: interiors, furnishing and shortlet or Airbnb setup
• Manage: tenant screening, rent collection, cleaning and estate management
• Maintain: generators, inverters and solar, boreholes, plumbing, electrics, air conditioning and routine inspections

You stay in control

Owners book a consultation, receive a recommended plan, and approve it. Proptiva then coordinates its team and vetted vendors — and the owner follows everything through a client portal and mobile app on the App Store and Google Play: photo-verified, timestamped updates, written reports, invoices and approvals. Clients approve every invoice before paying, and the company says there are no hidden fees. When a fault is reported, it aims to inspect within 72 hours.

Prices in the open — and a guarantee

Proptiva publishes its rates: inspection reports from ₦60,000, HomeCare property care from ₦50,000 a month, construction project management at 5% of the build budget, and rent collection at 10% of rent collected. Its work carries a workmanship guarantee — 12 months on installations and builds, six months on minor repairs — and vendors fix their own faults at their own cost.

Lagos, Abuja, Accra — and the world

With teams on the ground in Lagos, Abuja and Accra, Proptiva serves owners in the US, UK, Canada and Europe across every time zone: owner-occupiers, landlords, shortlet hosts and investors.

The message to the diaspora is simple. As its own line puts it: "Your home country is far. Your investment shouldn't feel that way."

Learn more: proptivaafrica.com