How I built my home

My name is Samuel Mwesigwa and I am a Pastor. I bought the piece of land on which my house stands today way back in 1986. I however, do not remember the exact amount of money I purchased it at. After buying the land, I set up a temporary three bedroomed house while I solicited for more funds to build a permanent structure.

14 years later, I had it torn down and began making plans to set up the permanent structure. By this time, my family had gradually increased as I even had orphans that I was looking after so there was a need for me to create more space.
I wanted a house that would be big enough to accommodate my entire family and also comfortable.

Planning
I drew up the plan myself. Since I needed the house to be complete in the shortest time possible, I first gathered the material before beginning construction. I bought over eighty iron sheets, several bags of cement and the rest. In the meantime, my family and I moved into a rented house, as we waited for our new house to be complete.

Labour
I employed enough casual labor because I wanted the house to be complete in the shortest time possible. Since the construction took place during the holidays, my children would also help out with thesmall tasks around the construction site. My wife and I would do the supervision in alterations, so we were fully engaged in the building of our home.

Construction was complete in a month’s time though most of the final touches were done when we had already moved in. Many of the designs and paint choices were my personal choices.
For instance, I chose the white paint for the exterior because it reflects the light, especially at night and this makes the place look brighter. Then the cream paint was chosen for the exterior because of the dust y area. So the cream paint can easily engulf the dust and not look dirty.

For the floor, inside the house, I decided to use red oxide, the reddish like floor, because it look beautiful and it does not get dirty easily. For the windows panels and doors frames, I enlisted the services of a friend in Katwe, and he made them for me. I paid for them in installments until the entire amount was cleared. For the compound, I decided to put up a small banana plantation to supplement on the food at home, and then set up a small flower garden for small family gatherings and parties. The other area is reserved for parking vehicles.

Setbacks
The biggest setback I faced was being attacked by thugs that robbed me of almost all my money, which I had reserved for construction of the house. However, with the help of a friend, I managed to recover the money and construction went on. In the near future, I hope to renovate the house, build a concrete fence. Then I will rent it out and move to a smaller place.

This is because most of my children will be grown up by then and moved out. I need find a smaller place and reserve this house for rent to supplement on my income. Approximately, the entire building process cost me Shs15m. This is because construction materials were less pricey then, than today.