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Mjengo ianze! Penny-Stocker and other gurus, help!
Rank: Veteran Joined: 7/3/2007 Posts: 1,634
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obiero wrote:Mukiri wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:webish wrote:RIEK01 wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:I want to thank all the contributors on this topic for their great generosity. This is one of the threads where the time I have wasted on Wazua more than paid for itself. I have used the advise given here to complete two projects already. I even offered to buy a mbuzi to say thank you but there were no takers.
Thank you all the same Please share the pictures as this will inspire us all. Yes please, Share some pictures for more inspiration. Sorry I am not comfortable sharing photos. But I can share advice: 1. Get a foreman with a good personality. By the time you finish your project you will have quarreled (and hopefully made up) so many times that you will lose count. 2. No matter what you estimate your project to cost, the finishes will surprise you. This is the time you get into most of those fundi fights 3. There are some things about construction that simply can not be rushed, no matter what resources you have at hand. 4. The most difficult step in construction is to start. Thereafter the challenges you face will focus your mind so much that you'll surprise yourself at how creative you become in solving all kinds of problems. 5. No matter how well you build your house, there will always be something requiring improvement 6. There is no feeling that beats seeing your house take shape, especially if it is for family use. That said I have taken a break from mjengo for now. I can relate with all you've written. Did the mbuzi expire, or is it still up for being eaten?  For number 5, with a good architect and constant supervision, this must be kept at an absolute minimum as changes equate to extra cost It is a lesson I have learned at some great cost. I chalk it down to education in the University of hard knocks "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." (Niels Bohr)
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Rank: Member Joined: 10/19/2009 Posts: 671 Location: Nairobi
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MugundaMan wrote:webish wrote:
Hallo @MugundaMan ,
Exactly How long did this take you? Any tips on accumulating those 'decent' plotis? Anything learnt in this process particularly?, plus i'm also curious, are you funding the construction through savings ? or you had to offload some plots to gather capital?
* Approximately 22 years of pure jasho baba. I have done everything from wipe old white matako abroad to factory jobs to cashier jobs to corporate gigs with kizungu mingi but little of substance to report out of it, to side biasharas to being a slum lord, plus much, much more. * Savings and monthly income. * Not offloading nothing till I step into the coffin. * Tips? Save, invest, scrimp, delay gratification, sacrifice, do your own labour for even the smallest tasks when necessary. Just like mjengos, it is NOT rocket science. I had a mulika mwizi phone up until 2015. I still do not own a decent gas guzzler that I see some corporate 20 somethings roaring around town with as they rent in Kileleshwa and party at Kiza. * Decent plotis? They are everywhere, rafiki. Anywhere within 40km of CBD is fair game IMHO for 1/4's down to 1/8th's. For bigger plotis leave town and hit rural Kenya pronto. Good luck! Thank you. This is helpful.
Life is joy, death is peace, but the transition is very difficult.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/11/2012 Posts: 5,222
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Wakanyugi wrote:Mukiri wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:webish wrote:RIEK01 wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:I want to thank all the contributors on this topic for their great generosity. This is one of the threads where the time I have wasted on Wazua more than paid for itself. I have used the advise given here to complete two projects already. I even offered to buy a mbuzi to say thank you but there were no takers.
Thank you all the same Please share the pictures as this will inspire us all. Yes please, Share some pictures for more inspiration. Sorry I am not comfortable sharing photos. But I can share advice: 1. Get a foreman with a good personality. By the time you finish your project you will have quarreled (and hopefully made up) so many times that you will lose count. 2. No matter what you estimate your project to cost, the finishes will surprise you. This is the time you get into most of those fundi fights 3. There are some things about construction that simply can not be rushed, no matter what resources you have at hand. 4. The most difficult step in construction is to start. Thereafter the challenges you face will focus your mind so much that you'll surprise yourself at how creative you become in solving all kinds of problems. 5. No matter how well you build your house, there will always be something requiring improvement 6. There is no feeling that beats seeing your house take shape, especially if it is for family use. That said I have taken a break from mjengo for now. I can relate with all you've written. Did the mbuzi expire, or is it still up for being eaten? That particular mbuzi expired. Essentially I made an equivalent contribution to Wazua Charity, in all your good names. I am sure you approve I (more than) do. There's much more blessing in teaching one to fish, or financing their lessons thereof.. It is written that a tree is known by its fruits, yours is one many a people will enjoy taking a shade under.
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Rank: Member Joined: 10/31/2010 Posts: 154
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MugundaMan wrote:So after many years of toil and sweat, I've finally been blessed to scrape together a few decent plotis (a relatively prime 1/4 and a few 1/8ths in and around Nairoberry) with clean title in my name on which to start my mjengos. I could have started years back on the first plot but I figured that given the skyrocketing prices of properties in and around the big city, that would be putting the horse before the cart. Architect has designed the first mjengo for the 1/4 and we are about to ground break soon. He also wants to manage the project (to get his juicy contractor profit at my expense of course) but he doesn't know mjanja me will be getting my own foreman, sourcing my own materials, building in stages and joining in to soil my boots with koroga to save costs (thanks Penny-Stocker for those brilliant tips!). He has gone to great lengths to convince me that I need him to supervise at every stage, sourcing materials included (he's a good dreamer) but of course that will not be happening. My simple question is; at what stages (after approvals) do I really need this guy, assuming I have a good foreman? Can I cut him out completely after the approvals come in? Warm regards and thanks in advance. MugundaMan, I don't know where you are with your project (been busy lately and just getting back to checking Wazua). Anyway, here are my top three (1) Source own materials - from stones to mabati ya roof. Go to the quarry na enda kwa muhindi (2)pay per stage not per day - example; negotiate foundation/slab cost, then ongea walling cost, etc and not per day. (3) finally, make random unannounced stops so you keep them guessing when you'll be there...they'll keep guessing on when to slip that bag of cement. Good luck! “None but ourselves can free our minds.”
- Bob Marley
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Rank: Elder Joined: 1/8/2018 Posts: 2,211 Location: DC (Dustbowl County)
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Thanks brother and karibu back. I am still at the very beginning stages, but progressing well thanks to tips like these!
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