Sacrinos Π 🇰🇪✊🏿 Profile picture
Apr 24, 2022 20 tweets 17 min read Read on X
How to Build a Comfortable Big House Slowly starting with Kes. 1m and a piece of land.

This comes from lessons learnt over the last 15 years and building my own house.

Or

"How to proceed from Necessity to Luxury."

1/n

#SketchItBuildIt
#Consult
#DesignBuild
#BuildSlowly
Step 01. Vision.

Building is Sacrifice. Be driven by a Vision that is greater than a pile of stones

This can be to create a home for your children (we fight harder when fighting for others)

This can be to cut off that annoying Landlady. You run faster when running from Poverty
I did not start building until I saw a composition written by my son. In it was embedded an infectious Bigger Vision

It switched something in me and I woke up

Prior, I was OK building for others. And fighting that necessary monthly nonsense of Tenancy

Step 02: Literally #SketchIt

Don't even run to an Architect or a Contractor

Just get a sharp pencil ✏ and a plain piece of paper and sketch whatever comes to mind. Your Needs

Make your vision plain as the Scripture has said in Habbakuk

If you can Sketch It, you can #BuildIt
For a residential house, the sketch will need more thinking.

You can clarify your Vision for Building using a Tool i call the Design Brief.

Here is an example and this is the sketch I used to build my house:

An experiment in Improviso Architecture

ub.co.ke/index.php/hous…
Step 03: Approach a Design & Build Firm or an Architect to Convert your Sketch into Building plans with dimensions.

You can also build from your heart depending on how good you are at Design Thinking.

But, to avoid making Original Mistakes which can be costly, Consult. ✍🏿
Step 04: Determine the Buikding Phases.

If you plan to build slowly, the various parts of the house must create a coherent whole even after the parts are built up.

I will use one example to clarify this.

(Next few tweets).

Guiding Notes by Christopher Alexander.
✍🏿🏗
Background Information.

The Assumption is that one would be having a Savings Mechanism.

You can easily spend Kes. 100,000 in a day when building. So, be prepared to spend.

Related Post:
Step 05 Example of Phased Construction.

The Design.

Ground Floor:
Master Bedroom
Walk in Closet
Master Bath

2 Bathrooms each with Bathroom
Guest Toilet
Living Room/Lounge
Kitchen

Outdoor Patio
Attic Room in Roofsoace above Master Bedroom

Double chimney for Patio and Lounge
The layout of this house has factored both the Vision of the Home Owner

And,

Most importantly, Intentionality (To build it slowly).

There is no time the owner will be overburdened by any part since the house can be pulled apart and get built from Necessity to Luxury.
I will explain so you understand what I mean by #BuildSlowly

Phase 01: Master Bedroom Kitchen and Porch + Fireplace

This will allow you to have a place to sleep/rest, Cook and Relax Outdoor

What else do you need if you have a good book, cooked food, a home and a bed?

#Freedom
Phase 02: Build 2 Ensuite Bedrooms and Guest Toilet/ Can be Shared with one bedroom.

✍🏿This will allow you to host at least 2 extra guests.

At this stage, you can do the lounge as an outdoor space but later on upgrade it in Phase 03 as an indoor space. (Will explain).
Unless you are naturally Timid, building a house slowly like this can never intimidate you.

Let us assume you do not have money at all after building Phase 01.

No Problem. Buy outdoor seats and then do the floor like this.

When it starts raining go to the Master Bedroom.
If you proceeded from Phase 01 to Phase 02, you might not be having a front door or entrance porch.

You can build those ones at this stage.

Even without a roof at the mid-section, you can still live comfortably as you continue with your Freedom Plan. This is how my Phase 03 was
I asked my Architect colleague @afriWeichi if it is possible to swap Phase 01 with Phase 02 using a Shipping Container.

It appears, this is very possible.

Later on at Phase 04, you can use the top as a Terrace.

Related Thread: A Terrace is a Luxury
Phase 03/4. Now that you have the Executive Master Bedroom, Kitchen, Open to Sky Lounge and 2 Other Bedrooms...

Roof the entire thing such that you create an Attic Space.

If you built Phase 02 with a SC, you can then finish the Terrace. That is it.

Necessity begets Luxury.
As you go through this fulfilling process, people will talk a lot of shit.

As the Scripture has said, there is a Cost.

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3-4
Be fortified with the right Philosophy. Arm yourself with Knowledge.

And don't forget the Vision that set your feet on this path.

#SketchItBuildIt
#BuildSlowly
#FreedomWork
#TheWay
#TheTimelessWay

And consult, so my sons and I can eat your money. God Bless You 🙌🏿
We remixed the original Sketch I did and incorporated the example used here for Building Slowly

"I start with an idea and then it becomes something else." Pablo Picasso said

This search for something-elseness is thrilling! @afriWeichi

#SketchItBuildIt
ub.co.ke
**typo: 2 bedrooms.**

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More from @dnahinga

Jul 18
🧵🪡 Thread on A New Approach to Building:

🏠 The way most people build homes or houses as an asset class is backwards and fundamentally limiting to human potential.

I've built 3 houses, but it was only after the 3rd that I realized the sequence was wrong. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Related: #JengaOcha #MjengoHub @PodCityKe @UjenziBora
2/ A Serious Human Should Begin with Production Houses.

What do I mean by production houses?

There are two types of houses:

a) Production Houses: These are structures designed primarily to generate resources, income, or provide long-term sustainability. They focus on enabling productivity and self-sufficiency.

b) Consumption Houses: These are structures designed primarily for living and consumption. They focus on comfort, amenities, and accommodating daily life needs without necessarily generating resources or income. They are also used to multiply other consumers.
3. There are two main features of what i call Production Houses:

a). Houses that Aid in Multiplying Produce: These could be spaces for generating ideas, raising fowl or animals, or cultivating mushrooms and other tradeable commodities like books and bicycles. They help in defraying the cost of living by generating income or resources.

b). Houses that Help in Postponement of Consumption: Examples include granaries, seed banks, and similar structures. They store resources, helping in managing and delaying consumption, which can lead to better financial management and sustainability.

There are other differences but i will summarize those at the end in a Table.
Read 13 tweets
Jul 3, 2023
How to plan 5 Acres for self-sufficiency.

1/10 🏡 On a 5-acre plot, you could potentially support a family of ten, with surplus to sell!

Let’s look at a potential allocation & its yield. Here’s how we’d divide the land:

✍🏿🪔

#FreedomWork
#SketchItBuildIt
#FarmLife… https://t.co/IaUvUAjoTJtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
2/10 🏠 1 acre would be for the house, farm buildings, a kitchen garden, and an orchard. We could yield various vegetables, fruits, and some honey 🍯 from this plot.

Jon Jendai has a very interesting experiment on Maximizing the Utility of Small Farms 🥕🥦🍆🥗… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
3/10 🌱 1.5 acres would be pasture for grazing cows 🐄, sheep 🐑, geese 🦆, and chickens 🐔.

Milk, eggs, wool, and occasional meat would be the yield from this plot.
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Jun 11, 2023
In Kenya, Family Law and how it is practiced to disenfranchise men is more dangerous than the Finance Bill.

You can subdue a Nation by weakening the Strong.

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We need to disband Family Law as currently practiced in order to build a more healthier society 50 years from now.

There is no use in educating boys who will in their turn, when they marry, become treated like their fathers.

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ON HOUSING FUND:

Overcoming Housing Challenges: Creative Solutions for Affordable Housing

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2/10 Leading pundits often focus on other aspects, neglecting housing affordability.

As you have heard, the loudest are running around in cat and mouse games with investors.

Bwana, can Loud Experts also stop scamming innocent Kenyans?

Can we mobilize and engage these… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
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May 3, 2022
Today I am glad I helped 2 friends dodge a bullet.

In short, we will redesign a house they had to a reasonable size.

Initially,the Master Bedroom was 10 metres long. If you are not careful, you can be made to carry burdens you cannot afford for 15 years straight

#MjengoMaths
Look. You don't need a 350 square metres house as your First Build.

Even 250 Square Metres is too generous.

What else can you do with extra Kes. 5 million?

1. Use a house as a ladder to your Financial Goals.
2. Solve for what you need.

You don't prove anything by stressing.
I wish I could catalogue all the major estates in Nairobi and indicate the overall floor areas

They will all cluster between 70 square metres and 150 square m

In theory, it doesn't sound like this. In practice, one can live just a good life in 100 square metres.

See Japan.
Read 7 tweets
May 2, 2022
How to retire effectively with your friends on 1 to 5 Acres and do what you wish.

Or.

A Survival and Wealth Creation Thread.

Or.

How to reduce the tension between You and Your Landlady if you have two trustworthy friends. 😂

1/n.

#SketchItBuildIt
#FreedomWork
@UjenziBora ImageImageImage
Early last year when I realized land was very cheap in Rural Kenya,

I did this tiny sketch at the back of a book I was reading 📚.

This is based on 1 acre. About 105m long by 42m.

The 3 eighth plots at the bottom are the living quarters and 1 to 6 are commercial.

#GoRural ImageImage
Read 7 tweets

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