What would my house cost to build?
By Denis Jjuuko
Last week, an article I authored more than a year ago resurfaced on the internet and in many WhatsApp groups prompting many people to send emails. The said article was on housing and how somebody can easily build their residential house. The said article was given a headline that was perhaps misleading or sexy hence the said interest.
The emails I have received were largely on how much a 3-bedroom decent middle-class house would cost to build in Uganda. I subscribe to a housing group where every week, somebody inquires how much it would cost them to build this and that. Somebody can come up and say Shs20m and another says Shs200m and many figures in between. I try as much as possible to answer all the emails that I receive but I know this is a question that won’t go away.
So here are some of the answers I give people who ask me how much a house would cost to build.
If you are to build a house, the most important part is to acquire land. This determines a lot in what it will cost to build. The labour costs and some materials such as bricks, sand, and coarse aggregate (made by hand ones are cheaper) among others are cheaper in towns far from Kampala. In Kampala, the costs are much more. A clay burnt brick costs on average Shs350 in Kampala metropolitan area but about half the price in towns upcountry. In places like Masaka, they make roof trusses, rafters and even purlins using encryptus trees straight from the forest. They just remove the bark and they are good to go. So, a house in a place like that would always be cheaper than in Kampala where we largely use lumbers.
The other big issue when it comes to land is the topography or landscape. Is it swampy, flat or hilly? This determines the cost of the foundation. A swampy area for example will require a lot of hard-core stones than an area in a flat area. A hilly area may need grading or cost more to deliver materials there. A flat area may also need a lot of backfilling. Most people may not mention it but murrum costs a lot of money and then it has to be compacted.
Once land has been zeroed in on where to build, then there is need to engage the services of an architect who should then work with at least civil and structural engineers to come up with a design of your needs. What is the size of living spaces and what amenities have been planned? How many bathrooms will the house have? What about a walk-in closet? Many houses in Uganda today are being built with large doors and windows with lots of aesthetics which obviously increase the overall cost of the building.
There is an increased interest in high ceilings so that the house is not only cooler but enable the installation of decorative materials (gypsum ceilings) and lighting such as chandeliers. That would require a bit more money than the standard three meter high house.
When it comes to structures, a storied building is much more expensive but also the cost of materials of even the same size is not the same. For example, the cost of a 16-millimeter iron bar entirely depends on a company that made it. Some companies sell such a bar around Shs20,000 more than their competitors. The price of a 50kg bag of cement is also not the same. Manufacturers determine the prices differently.
When it comes to roofing, it is not the same as well. Even if you are to use iron sheets, the cost varies depending on the gauge and patterns. So you could buy iron sheets that look exactly the same but gauge 28 is more expensive than gauge 32. Some iron sheets require rubber washers when being nailed to minimize leaking and that will cost a bit more money.
Then finishing. What materials are you using? Ceramic floor tiles or porcelain or marble ones? The costs are different. Windows and doors? Steel costs less than aluminum profiles. Euro or Greek standard aluminum profiles are more expensive than Dubai or China standard. Even tinted glass costs more than the one known as Clear. The thickness just like in steel matters here too.
So the best way to have an idea of what your house will cost is by engaging an architect first for the design (ensure he visits the land where you want to build) and then engage quantity surveyors.
The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com
#OutToLunch: Favourable interest rates are good for everyone, not just government, banks must do more to curb digital financial crimes
#OutToLunch: Police, banks must do more to curb digital financial crimes By Denis Jjuuko A friend was recently riding on a boda boda in a leafy Kampala suburb when another speeding boda boda approached her. The approaching boda boda had a passenger, a young man, who grabbed her bag and sped off. It was in the early afternoon. It is a normal thing in Kampala to lose your bag or be attacked like that whether you are in one of Kampala’s exclusive suburbs or not. Walking on Kampala’s streets including the busiest ones is never safe. You simply don’t know when you will be attacked. Although she had some money and other essentials in her bag, her biggest concern was her smartphone. Like many people, a phone is one of those things that are hard to do without nowadays. She was frustrated and went on a frantic search for it. Reporting to the police and such other things. She can’t work without a phone so she decided to replace it as soon as possible so she can carry on with her business and be able to get in touch with her family and friends. As soon she got a replacement phone that afternoon, she started receiving several messages that scared her. The thieves who stole her phone were not ordinary ones or at least they have a network of sophisticated hackers. The messages she was now receiving indicated that money had been transferred from her bank account to another account within the same bank. This happened within a few hours or minutes of losing her phone. She hasn’t yet been able to trace the thieves and find way to get her money back. She most likely won’t succeed. Like most people who buy high end smartphones, she had thought it was one of those safe things and it couldn’t be easily cracked open in Kampala shortly after losing it. It seems the more technologically advanced smartphones become, the more sophisticated the hackers become too. There must be a racket in Kampala who send young men on boda bodas to grab smartphones so they can hack them and transfer money to their accounts within a few minutes. They must be sitting somewhere and waiting whose phone they land on. And the fact that they can transfer money illegally from one bank account to another, shows how confident they are that they won’t be caught. There is an increased number of Ugandans embracing digital banking and even a higher number using mobile money platforms. It is convenient and modern. One doesn’t have to always spend hours in the banking halls transacting. It is not 1990 anymore. Digital banking including mobile money had led to some financial inclusion with many people, hitherto unbanked, able to access financial services. There are even people whose only access to financial services is through mobile money. But how safe is their money? If somebody can lose a modern smartphone and within a few minutes they have lost their money, how can the banking and mobile money companies help them? How can police help them? Largely, the majority of Ugandans are left to suffer with losses. Trips to the police to help track the thieves become endless and costly that the majority of Ugandans have given up to even reporting about it. They know there won’t be much help to recover the money. The banks and mobile money companies will largely blame the victim and do everything in their power to protect themselves. Because we have spent much time ignoring these attacks and blaming the victims, the thieves have now gained so much confidence that they are attacking government payment systems. The case of Uganda losing Shs60 billion in 60 minutes when a payment was initiated by the Ministry of Finance to the country’s central bank is still fresh. Although the attack happened in September 2024, not all the money has yet been recovered. And we are talking about government here with all the resources and contacts you can imagine. Imagine how much is being lost by individuals and businesses. Like my friend, a small business owner, the thieves have set her several years back. She wasn’t able to pay her rent and salaries for April on time. She now has to borrow to keep her business running. The police and other security intelligence organs must put in a shift to curb the rampant digital financial and other crimes. Players in the financial industry must also continuously invest in technologies that limit these crimes while sensitizing their clients on these issues otherwise gains made will be lost when people return to old ways of banking or keeping the money in their pillowcases. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com
