Who says it is only the man that is supposed to build a house?

“I am a 27- year-old practicing lawyer working with Mirembe and Company Advocates. I am not married yet or dating anyone in particular.
I have failed to understand why people think that a woman of my age cannot build a house or own her own home.
What if I date someone who is not as financially stable as I am? Why would they not come to my house?
This whole idea of a man building a home and then a woman just enters should not always be the case.
I am a very ambitious person. I believe in breaking rules. That’s why I am building my own house. It is a two bed-room house with a living room and kitchen.
It has three balconies, two bathrooms and three toilets. It is located in Kigo near Lake Victoria Serena Hotel in Entebbe and it overlooks the lake.

How I started

I started building this house in an interesting way. It all started in May, when one of my male friends approached me with a financial problem.
He had started building a house but then could not continue as he needed money to sort out an issue.
He sold me the idea that if I was interested, I could take it up and give him money instead. I saw it as a golden opportunity of getting into real estate business. Since I had some money, I agreed to pay him.
We zeroed down to an amount of about Shs22m. I took it up when it was at the foundation level.

Among the other reasons as to why I agreed to take up the house was that it was a small project and I was really curious on knowing how people build houses.
But when I took up the house from the foundation, I realised that it was really small and decided to purchase ad additional plot of land and added two bathrooms as well as three toilets.
My family, friends and colleagues have been very supportive of this project. One of them connected me to a site manager while another to a team of builders.
Some have contributed money for buying different building materials including cement. I think people are generally supportive towards women who are trying to make it in life.
My parents on the other hand are very happy and proud of what I am doing.

People’s reactions

I get all sorts of mixed reactions whenever people learn that I am building a house. Most times, they open their eyes very wide. The majority see it as a weird thing. A friend once asked me “What is happening to this generation? Why are you building yourself a house?” It is even funny that when some men pursuing me for a relationship get to know about it, they back off. They probably think that I am too ambitious and cannot stomach the whole idea that a woman is building her own house.

Current stage
Roofing is already done. The next step will be putting gravel on the floor to make it hard. I have probably spent about Shs18m to get it to the stage where it is now. There are definitely some major challenges I have experienced along the way while pushing this particular building project.
One of the outstanding issues I can point out is that the project takes too much money at the same time.
For instance, there are days Shs5m will be needed at a click of a finger and in the end, this makes me have an inconsistent cash flow.
“Roofing has been the most stressful and expensive building stage.

I have spent more than Shs10m on this phase buying different materials ,including timber, the concrete above and iron sheets among other things.
I normally go to check on the progress of the work at the site whenever I get time. Otherwise, I rely on the on-site engineer for feedback. Every evening, he sends pictures to my mobile phone showing the work they have done that day.

The neighbourhood

The locality where the house is, under-developed. There are just a few houses surrounding mine.
But even the owners of those houses do not live there. The other unfortunate bit is that there is no electricity or water in the area.
My site manager advised that we either dig an underground tank or buy a huge reservoir that we shall be using to harvest rain water. For electricity, I am thinking of installing solar, for now.

Before I started building, I was staying in one of the apartments in Bugolobi flats.
I was paying rent of Shs1.2m per month. But then, I realised the amount was going to drain me financially.
My parents have rental apartments in Najeera, a suburb lof Kampala and they advised that I go and stay in one of them for a while as I saved money for completing the house project.
That is what I did. The move was very cost-effective since I do not pay them any rent.

Expected finishing
Once it is complete, I want it to look like a very tiny beautiful thing, something like a small attractive well-fenced masterpiece. The exterior of the house will be decorated with red, white and grey colours. The compound will have nice gardens. I am hoping that it is completed by the end of this year. In case I do not move in after it is completed, I might either rent or sell it. One thing I really love about the location of the house is the proximity to the water. It has such a beautiful view of the lake.”

Lessons
• To my fellow women, it is difficult for many men to come to terms that a woman is better than them. They want to put you down so that you are at a level that is easily contained. My advice to you is, find a man who can support you, I mean one who can easily come to terms that you can try to achieve something for yourself.
• It is also very important not to get too involved in a building project. This is in the sense that you constantly dictate what the workers should do. In my management style, I have learnt to give the person in charge power to do their work well. That way, they are encouraged to build your house with love. It is not good to micro-manage someone, they lose interest in the job.

• Also, learn to plan for additional money mostly for the building materials. For instance, if you are planning on buying cement at an estimated price of Shs5m, plan for an extra Shs1m. You can never know if the workers will overshoot the prices or not.
• There is nothing wrong with starting with a small project. It could turn out be something really big. Personally, I never imagined that my house would reach to the level where it is now. I am happy that it is almost done.