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4.4.4 Building Standards
Respondents ranked roofing, followed by cement, as the most financially pressing building material.
According to National Housing and Construction, building materials constitute the single largest input in
housing construction, sometimes accounting for as much as 75% of a low-cost house. The most common
roofing materials used area Rhino brand aluminium sheets manufactured by Uganda Baati, and the most
common types of cement are Tororo, Hima, and Bamburi (imported from Mombasa). In the construction
of walls, the materials used were burnt earthen bricks mostly bound by cement, while alternative building
materials used included cassava flour (cassava flour contains starch that can be used as a binder like
cement, although its strength deteriorates faster as it rains) and sand. Others used earthen soil for binding.
The local technicians indicated that Tororo brand cement was very good for constructing the floor, while
the Hima and Bamburi brands of cement were ideal for the walls. To save money and reduce the expense
of cement, rural builders usually avoided constructing floors and putting a ring beam on a house.
However, most technicians observed that houses without a ring beam were weaker, and once their roofs
weakened and required replacements, such houses would require rebuilding wall structures. Most home
builders in the rural areas indicated the use of red rock as an alternative to the hard aggregate stones for
the foundation, which increase transport costs; a contrast to the peri-urban and urban centers who
preferred the latter. By and large, building is done progressively. Respondents indicated that building and
completing a standard house takes nearly 3 years or more, using mostly one’s own sources of funding,
with major construction projects being done in line with high-income months that follow the agricultural
seasons. Respondents identified high-income months as the months of June, July, and August, followed
by those of October, November, and December.
4.4.5 Construction Labour
On average, labour consumes about 20% of construction costs. This ranges from professional fees of
designers and construction managers, to labour fees of skilled manual workers.
Land surveyors usually advise prospective homeowners how to secure a certificate of title. An architect or
architectural draughtsman is then engaged to design the house. It is at this point that civil engineers,
electrical engineers, plumbers and quantity surveyors should be engaged to complete the design and
quantify the total cost of construction. However, in practice, prospective homeowners prefer to ‘save’
costs and proceed with the architectural plan as the only planning document.
A foreman is usually engaged to manage the building site. The foreman is ordinarily a diploma holder or
a certificate holder with vast experience. The foreman manages the construction works with tasks ranging
from resource planning, purchasing, and management to quality and cost control. The foreman engages
artisans on site as and when needed—the masons (block laying and concreting) construct the walls, the
carpenters erect the roof, electricians and plumbers are then engaged while steel/wooden windows and
doors are fabricated off-site and installed in the building at appropriate times.
Professionals in the construction field include architects, civil engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical
engineers, quantity surveyors, land surveyors (geomatics and land management) and construction
managers. These are trained at undergraduate and post-graduate levels in various universities; notably
Makerere University College of Engineering, Design, Art, and Technology and Kyambogo University.
Professionals carry out design and construction management tasks and are the interface between the
homeowner and the artisans.
The professionals are assisted by diploma holders in these various fields: ordinary diplomas in
architectural draughtsmanship, building and civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical
engineering and water engineering. Higher diploma holders in the fields of mechanical engineering,
electrical engineering, and construction (building and civil engineering), handle more complex tasks.