THE DEVELOPER'S DRAMA THROUGHOUT HOME CONSTRUCTION.

The developer, also called the-boss/client/owner, is ordinarily faced with two major monsters on a building project, namely, the foundation and the suspended slabs.

1. The foundation.
"Say, how in heavens, can over 75bags of cement get buried in the ground?"
Such has always been the developers's rants when building foundations for their residential houses. And when the ground floor is cast, after taking on another, say, 75bags, the developer is dried up after drying up the cement-store. Rests a bit for say a month or so until the developer garners enough power to continue with the...er...superstructure(construction above the ground floor).

2. The suspended slab
The word 'suspended slab' is an engineering term.
Ideally all those floors not supported directly by the ground are suspended, hence suspended slabs...such as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd floor e.t.c
And before their quotations are complete, you, the developer, are already yelling..."You're kidding, you expect me to give you 150bags of cement in just two days for this little first floor slab".
And not for long, you, the developer, are already looking for a less expensive builder(70% fake) who will conform to your desires, saying that, "hey boss, 70bags can also work, dont worry, I've done it before here and there for 5years "

...and the fracas is already on even before the quotation for the reinforcement bars has been done.

So we have to accept that these slabs are monster-eaters in that the whole lot is best done at once and not in stages. Meaning that you've got to splash the 15m-Ushs(8600USD) all at once for a slab, of say, 150m2 area in less than a week. That's when you feel for the owner...I mean it takes an ordinary middle-class citizen a year or so to earn this money..only for it to be spent in just two days as if...oh gosh!
Then in a bid to save on it, the owner starts getting stupid, thereby resorting to quack builders who are "quote" cheap. Thats why you'll rarely see an engineer or even an architect on a residential building.

The roofing.
Okay by the time the developer survives this far than anything is possible. Ideally the roof shouldnt be a big issue, that's if, you, the developer, wont be alarmed by the quantity of roofing timbers.

Finishes.
And the most annoying item on the building is the finishes. Finishing details are so many that sometimes the beauty is only seen when all these fine-details have been completed...ask the decoration expert. That's when you, the developer, keep on complaining, injecting more money but seeing nothing. Patience you need. You see, finishes on a development is like fine-tuning a musical instrument for the best sound. It might never end. Musicians can attest to this.

--> Nathan.(Apr2009 writing collection)
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com