Supervising my aunt’s site inspired me to build my own house

My name is Ivan Mugalya. I am 27 years old and the regional collections consultant with Stanbic Bank in Fort Portal. I have a bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics and I am the last born in a family of five.
I picked interest in constructing my own house when my aunt who lives abroad asked me to supervise her site.
I started the journey of building my home by acquiring a piece of land measuring 50 by 83ft.
I first bought a 50 by 50 ft plot of land but later on bought another.

I bought the first piece of land at Shs8.5m and second one at Shs6.8m. The land is located in Seeta, near Mukono, off the Kampala-Jinja highway.
It took me two years to save and buy my first plot. I had just graduated and was lucky to get a job.
I got a loan of Shs25m and used part of the money to buy a piece of land. I then used the balance to start the construction process.

Inspiration
I have always dreamt of building my own house. I have an auntie who was abroad and would send me money to help her build her house while I was still at campus.
That is where I got the experience from and decided that I should also construct mine. I learnt how important it is to get involved at the construction site as a supervisor.
I was in charge of buying building materials. I came in after the construction had already taken off and we realised the prices were far less than what the person who was helping her initially was quoting.
Plus, I was able to create a relationship with the suppliers and would get materials like cement, timber and iron bars on credit.

It is through this that I realised the importance of having a relationship with hardware shop owners because they can give you materials and let you pay whenyou get money. But it is also important to honour your debt repayment dates.
From supervising my aunt’s construction site, I also learnt that I did not have to be with a lot of money to start building. I needed to do it in phases and use the little I had.
I also learnt that while building, every coin counts. I would often hear my aunt complain when she was cheated for as little as Shs20, 000. I later on realised that it counts a lot.

Getting the house plan
When I completed my auntie’s project, I had a lot of energy and zeal to start constructing my own house.
I had a friend who helped me draw the plan, so after getting it, I went to another friend who is a builder and shared my plans with him.
I also contacted another friend who is an engineer. He helped set up the plan on ground the way it is supposed to be. That is how I started building my dream house.
I used friends who gave me professional advice at no cost but knew what they were doing. It became cheaper for me to start the real construction.
My plan was of a three-bedroom house, with a sitting room, dinning, self-contained master bedroom and general wash room, plus a kitchen.

I chose a three-bedroom house because I want my children to have a room, another for visitors and then the master bedroom.
Well, I don’t want the children to be congested in the same room with visitors. I have no children at the moment but I have a fiancee I intend to wed soon.
She at times supervises the work when I am not there. She also offers financial support where necessary.

The construction process
I had saved money for a start so after getting the plan, I started off with the construction. I had also bought building tools like wheelbarrows, spades and materials that I knew I would need during the construction process. So when I got the plan, I took it for approval. After that, I started raising the foundation.

Payments
I started with Shs3m, which helped me work on the foundation all the way to the wall plate. I started with 5,000 bricks.
I had already bought two trucks of lake sand and added two trucks of plaster sand. I bought 40 bags of cement. In total, I have so far spent about Shs43m, with the money I used to buy a plot of land inclusive.

Cement is expensive so I had been paying it over time, in instalments at a friend’s hardware shop in Seeta, so by the time I started building, I had saved over Shs500, 000. I was charged labour Shs1.1m up to the ring beam.
I did not pay the Shs1.1m in one go. I was paying in bits because I was also building in phases.

At first, I was always on site because I was still stationed in Kampala but I have since been transferred to Fort Portal. My father helps me supervise the site.
My plan has been to build in five phases. From foundation to wall plate, roofing and construction of the ceiling, then putting in shutters, plastering the interior and then constructing the tiles and finishing.
This is all a lot of work. Right now, I am in the final stages of construction. To manage the roofing stage, I paid for the iron sheets in instalments too.

I opened an account with Roofings and kept depositing which ever amount I got.
Then my father helped link me to someone who deals in timber in Ndeeba near Kampala.
I was able to pay for timber for both roofing and ceiling. Buying it together was cheaper because I was buying in bulk.
For the shutters, I got a friend who made the doors and windows at Shs2.3m. This was cheap if you look at the metals he used.

I asked for the prices elsewhere and they were sold expensively, so having friends was also helpful. When it came to plastering the house, I did it all at once for both the interior and exterior of the house.
But before plastering, I contracted someone to do the conduit works so that we would not have to do double work since it involves breaking and rebuilding.
Now that it is done, I am saving for tiles which I intend to get before December. I have so far done the costing for tiling and painting and these will cost me about Shs6.5m.

Lessons
• You need to supervise. Constructing has taught me a number of lessons thus far. First, the builders will only work when you, the supervisor, is around. Then, every coin, during construction, counts.
• Do a price survey. Always do a price survey before making a purchase. Closely supervise the site as not all workers at the site can be trusted. Also, share with colleagues whenever you are constructing as they can easily give you advice on how to go along at every stage of construction.
• The price of materials is never constant. The journey has been challenging. One is the cost of construction materials keeps increasing every day so as I was trying to save for something on any day, I knew its cost would increase if I postponed buying it. The other challenge is fake building products on the market.

• Be actively involved in the construction process. My advice to someone starting out to build is be actively involved in construction of your house. It is key. Many corporate Ugandans just send money to mansons to purchase building materials and they end up getting fake products and making commission off the money they were given.
• Every coin matters. Also valuing every coin spent on a house and knowing it counts will help. Do not only look out for cheap materials but also consider quality as this is your lifetime property so you have to put your all to it.