UGANDA, Fort Portal | Real Muloodi News | Ms Vivienne Adala Makulima is an entrepreneur with her own catering business, ‘Adala Catering and Events’. She is also in the midst of constructing her dream house; a stunning, storeyed mansion in Fort Portal, and she is doing it without taking out any loans or mortgages.
In order to achieve this feat, Ms Makulima says that she and her husband are focusing on quality, and are not rushing to finish the project.
The couple’s construction journey began in 2012 with finding the right architect. Ms Makulima and her husband had ideas about what their mansion would look like. Their architect set about turning their ideas into a reality.
“The kind of conversations we would have with him included the way we wanted the staircase, living room, bed rooms and other parts of the house. Sometimes, we would make adjustments if a particular design was not effectively coming into plan,” she says.
After six months of back-and-forth iterations, the final plan came together.
The couple already had the land; a seven-acre plot of land they had inherited. So in 2013, the couple set about putting their plan into action, and employed the services of a contractor.
“He looked at our house plan, visited the site and wrote down a bill of quantities, showing the likely expenses we would incur during the different phases of the construction,” she says.
Ms Makulima says at the time, they had money for about 10 bags of cement, which they deposited at a local hardware store. But upon receiving the bill of quantities from the contractor, the couple realised they needed almost 3,000 bags for the construction. Therefore, they resolved that whenever they got money, they would make further deposits to the hardware store for additional bags of cement. A bag of cement was about USh 24,000 at that time.
The building process commenced around February 2013. The couple spent around USh 40 million on the foundation. Raising the walls cost USh 35 million, while putting the slab, the most expensive part of the construction process, cost roughly USh 70 million.
Ms Makulima emphasises they have not and will not take a loan to meet expenses of building their dream home. Instead, they have taken their time, building in phases.
By 2018 they had made great progress. They had constructed two floors, completed all plumbing as well as electrical wiring, security, and the home was fully roofed. However, when the Covid pandemic struck, things began to slow down.
“The property is not yet complete because apart from the brick and mortar, the rest of the items are being imported and Covid hasn’t been kind to us. It’s taken us almost a year to get the aluminum windows in, and to get the right tint done in Jinja,” she says.
Ms Makulima says her goal is to move into the home by April 2022. Once it is completed, the luxury home will have a total of six bedrooms, custom kitchen, dining and family room, a swimming pool, sauna, gardens, among other features.
Being a professional caterer, Ms Makulima says the kitchen is very important to her. She wants to install a fitted kitchen with custom cupboards, storage unit, sink, and quality appliances, including an oven and dishwasher.
She is considering sending her dimensions abroad, and has identified an Italian design, and another Thai design that she loves, but she has not settled on one yet. “Since we don’t do loans and mortgages, I’m taking my time until I’m very sure,” she says.
When asked if she would have done anything differently in hindsight, Ms Makulima says she would have thought through the idea of a storeyed house, because it makes the build so much more expensive. Further, earth tremors have forced them to redo some spaces, for example the upstairs slab and balcony needed reinforcement.
“Although, I would not trade my current view of the Rwenzori Mountains,” she adds.
Ms Makulima’s Tips on How to Build a House Without Taking a Loan
Get a Contractor
Ms Makulima urges aspiring homeowners to find a reputable and reliable contractor first. Mrs Makulima and her husband found a good contractor for their house.
“He comes with his own team specialised in different things,” Mrs Makulima said. “We also like the fact that he works according to our particular timelines.”
A good contractor is a professional who will oversee the various processes and stages of construction and offer guidance and advice to completion.
An experienced contractor can subcontract specific aspects of the project to the best firms and source the best materials reasonably.
Don’t Rush
Secondly, she advises against being in a hurry. Rushing to complete the building could cause shoddy quality and lead to costly unforeseen repairs in the unforeseeable future.
She said, “You may have heard of stories where individuals hurry to complete a house and it ends up looking terrible. That is something we did not want to experience.”
Spend When Money is Available
Mrs Makulima then suggests that you proceed with the building when money is available, and when you are short of money, pause the process. The couple’s contractor provided this advice.
“He once told us we should only continue building if there is money. If it is not there, we should then halt the project and not stress ourselves,” she said.
Start Saving Early
Finally, Mrs Makulima said you should start saving as early as possible. Mrs Makulima and her husband started saving for a house in 2008. The couple’s regular income, plus their savings, enabled them to pay for the home’s construction.
READ MORE LIKE THIS:
4 Reasons Your Construction Cost Overruns the Set Budget, and How to Avoid it