Do you know your customers? Part 2

Configured Customer

Continued from part 1

A classic case of eating the fruits of a good name.

A happy customer is the best advertising you can ever do in real estate. Such a customer will definitely refer another one to you. They will do all the dirty work for you. In fact, by the time the customer comes looking for the seller, in their subconscious the deal is done. This is the type of customer that makes me stop doing anything I could be doing to attend to them. They rarely disappoint. Remember the guy who was referred to me by his pastor. Obviously mine was just to show up with the proper paperwork and collect money.

Think of customer references along this line…

The ethos behind peer influence never really changes. People have always sought the advice of their peers, and their peers have always been ready and willing to give their opinions. Whether you are buying a car or a plot, majority seek the opinion of somebody else. In fact, whenever a prospective customer calls and confirms they will get time to view plots, they rarely show up on their own. What better opinion would you get than from somebody who already has travelled your path? In most cases reference customers never travel through the long corridor of indecision…they are really ready made.

Strategic Customer

This type of customer is quite important. If I am targeting a particular organization or grouping to makes sales there and a client representative of the group shows up, then I really must nail such a client. Sometimes it involves giving big concessions just to accommodate him / her. Once such a sale is done, I will then use that customer to get inroads to the group / organization. Sometimes I will make such a client a selling agent after satisfying him / her. It works wonders especially when the element of incentives is introduced. The Kikuyu elders would say that “shilingi humulikwa na ingine” In other words, you must spend money (utilize) to chase bigger monies.

To borrow somebody else’s definition; a strategic customer is one who possesses two characteristics. For one thing, the strategic customer should represent the target audience for the product development. Besides this, the strategic customer should possess an outstanding reputation in its field, whatever field that is, such that both the partnering business and the resulting product will benefit from the association in a win-win situation. The strategic customer’s reputation will help enhance the business’s credibility as well as help sell the product of the collaboration to others.

The other day, I was perusing the customers’ database that I have been keeping and I noted an interesting statistic. For all the plots I have ever sold, 60% have been bought by ladies….this obviously points to something. We shall take a break here and when we resume, I shall tell you more about the ‘Lady’s touch’. Whenever a male customer views a property and promises to bring their wife to view and affirm if it is nice, experience has shown me that there will be a 90% chance of a particular outcome. And I normally tell the architect that whenever he is designing houses for sale for me, he must consider the lady’s’ touch….He will laugh sheepishly most of the time and give a remark that based on that line of reasoning I have become true businessman. Why? If you have a way of getting ladies into your pocket, then certainly men will follow them ladies inside your pocket. And certainly your pocket will be one hell or is it heaven of a pocket and you may end up singing that song ‘Sign of a victory’.

In our upcoming posts, we shall serialise a book called The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. It was first published in 1910 by Elizabeth Towne in New York. This book has changed the lives of many who have read it repeatedly and done what it says. It will change yours too. Find out for yourself in the next post.

Do you know your customers? Part 1

Guest post by Samuel G. Njenga

“If you want to sell to everybody, you'll most likely sell to no-one”

Simply put, you need to have a target group for your customers as opposed to attempting to sell to everyone even those who may not need your product or service. You can imagine attempting to sell a plot to a man who does not know where his next meal will come from. Of course the man would not mind owning a plot, but that would be the last thing in his mind at that point in time. The same man may afford one a year or two later.

In real estate we meet all manner of customers and with a bit of experience one can tell a serious one from a joker. Interestingly, a serious customer for a plot or house actually pushes you as the vendor to seal the deal. Consider like the purchase of a house; the purchaser takes their sweet time before a decision is made. They go through a long decision corridor and they can only do the actual purchase upon reaching the end of the decision corridor. The decision corridor may involve viewing so many properties and gathering lots of info before a final decision is made. Woe unto you the seller if you meet a client who has just joined the corridor.

My good partner Paul someday gave me a funny analogy in reference to some customers. When we were younger and chasing girls, you could meet a girl whom you like and for all intents and purposes you’d target to chase. Her strategy is to give you lots of hopes so that you continue with the chase. Obviously she is thrilled by the chase while you are eyeing something else. Soon you realize that the chase will never end coz she is good at ducking you. At some point you give up and set your target on another one. Much later and maybe due to loneliness, the first girl comes back to you and this time round she is there for your taking. Some customers will take you round and round until you give up. They may go out there and do lots of comparisons of products for a long time but by the time they show up the second time, they just buy without much ado.

When I was selling my very first plots off the eastern bypass, I met a gentleman called George. George was the most fearful customer I ever met. He was so afraid of losing money and I was even wondering how he’ll ever buy a plot. I obviously noted so and advised him to go carry out some due diligence on the plots I was selling because back then I had no previous sales for him to refer to. That time we were selling each plot at 300k. He must have gone round and round looking for alternatives for quite a long time. When he came back to me one year later, he was so frustrated out there to an extent that he just wanted to buy and close that matter. I sold him a plot which was less primer than the first ones and at 600k…things move that fast. Nowadays the fear in him is gone and he has done much more that you can imagine. Obviously he relates well to that analogy of the girls’ chasing. Notice how frustrating it can get if you keep meeting customers who are taking you round and round and you may end up investing a lot of time and resources on them only to realize that they were never serious.

The best customers I meet are references, what I sometimes refer to as configured customers. And there is another type I refer to as strategic customers whom I make lots of sacrifices to capture. I will talk about those in the next post. And the middle class that has a habit of over-analyzing things to their detriment.

The big lesson today is to stress the importance of understanding your customers; otherwise you could find yourself selling Johnie Walker blue label and Jack Danielles in a zone where they expect KEG. Or opening a coffee house in the interior of Murang'a and an attempt to sell Cappuccinos and Caffe Lattes of this world and them prospective customers might ask you ‘huto ni tunini?’

The Power of a Good Name

Guest post by Samuel G. Njenga

On that Friday evening, I received this call from this guy who was talking non-stop like a radio with new batteries. From the few minutes we talked with Kamau, I knew he had the gift of the gab. I deduced that he was a man of cloth. Kamau insisted that I must sell him a plot wherever I am having one. But I was curious to know why he was so sure he shall buy from me irrespective of the location as long as the price was in his range. That is when the brother told me that he was the right hand man to a pastor based somewhere off Thika road. It was the pastor who had referred him to me. In fact the pastor announced to the congregation that there are some nice dudes selling land off the bypass who had sold some plot to him. I could not remember selling any plot to a pastor, or maybe I did but he never disclosed that. The culmination of the marketing by the pastor was giving my cell phone number to the faithfuls and advising them they can talk to me if they need some honest business. To make the long story short we agreed with Kamau to meet the day after and I took him round on a viewing mission of the various properties on sale whereupon he later bought one. He is still my good friend after I realized how highly he rated me. The word of these men of cloth is taken as the gospel truth and obviously I must have made a few sales out of the marketing the pastor did on my behalf.

This was the day that I realized I was sitting on a gold mine cum time bomb depending on how I handled myself. Obviously with establishing a small name and making sales from references was key to reaching higher levels of business growth mimicking climbing a mountain slowly but surely. On the contrary, doing anything that would spoil the small good name would result in a downfall from atop the mountain like that of the rolling stone on a hill that the mzungu man advises that gathers no moss. That day it dawned on me and I communicated to my partner the potential we were sitting on and the need to maintain our principles of honesty and straight forwardness. After all we had the opportunity to cut a niche in real estate based on the said principles.

There is nothing as powerful as a spoken word. It is a double edged sword. Solomon, the wise one of the Bible in Proverbs 18:21 says that death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. What your customers say about you and quite importantly what you also say about yourself is really powerful.

That brings me to the big question. As an individual or even as a business that you own, what are you known for? What do they say when you can’t hear them; after all that is most likely the truth about you unless they are malicious. Like that guy who has saved the number of his boss as ‘shetani’ only for the boss to discover that under unavoidable circumstances. At your work place, what stands out for you? How do you brand yourself? How would you rate yourself if you considered the points below:

1.             Are you passionate about what you do? I will tell you am really passionate about my real estate business…I not only invest time and money on it, but my thoughts too. If it means retreating to Kilaguni to strategize…so be it…the cost is rather small compared to what am eyeing. Martin Luther said once something to the effect that if you are a sweeper sweep to the glory of God.

2.             Do you have a reputation for keeping time for meetings and appointments? Until you have a reputation for respect for time you will not project yourself as a powerful brand.

3.             Do you deliver reliable and extra ordinary service? Most of the time, the little small things that you can do leave a lasting impression on the people you interact with.

4.             Someone once said this “To create a brand of yourself you must stop thinking employment/employee and begin to see yourself as an independent contractor irrespective of whether you are a cleaner, a CEO, a teacher or a middle executive” You see, when employed you are riding on someone else’s brand…

5.             Powerlessness is a state of mind…Think of Wangari Mathai, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King who would have coiled back with the assumption of being powerless. But deep conviction inside them translated to power and authority that made them do things that will be forever etched in history books…For sure all of us have the power to effect change in small and big ways.

6.             Do you continually learn and upgrade your skill in all facets of life. I meet all the time people who are willing to be financially independent but they are not doing much about it. How will you get there if you even lack the basic knowledge of dealing with and making money? After all, it is never rocket science but simple basic proven and tested ways that work.

Is your name good? Work on you brand…

Next post we shall talk about customer profiling of course relating to my line of business but definitely applicable to most businesses.

The underworld of Construction: Final Part

Wrong professionals

Continued from part 5

This friend who doubles up as a past customer was rather excited when he called me. He wanted me to pass by his site and see the house he was constructing. From my bust schedule one of the Saturdays I managed to squeeze in some minutes and passed by the site.

From a far the maisonnette looks brilliant, a very eye catching roof and the outer walls were very well done. The guy was not on site at the time I got there but I decided to just get in and view. My eagle eyes were quick to note that the workmanship was superb. My sharp eye further started to see some serious design flaws. The lounge door was positioned at the middle of the lounge rendering the usable space minimal. The lounge was sunken and I quickly realized that the step was too big between lounge and dining. The stairs were done well but there was a huge space, sort of a corridor which again seemed unusable. The worst thing I saw was in the master bedroom. The was a very tiny window despite the room being humongous. Inside the shared bathroom, almost everything was wrongly positioned; the bathroom was one long one and for you to access the water closet, you had to pass the showering area. Obvious mistake is that when one person takes a shower and another person wants to use the toilet, then you must go through the wet area before you reach it. I could go on and on and write about a very long snag list but the long and short of it is that the design work was really poor.

Just before I finished going round the house, the guy appeared together with another dude whom I suspected was the foreman. Upon introductions I realized that the other dude was actually the ‘architect’. In quotes because he later told me that he is originally a structural engineer though he had learnt some design work in his line of business. The puzzle was solved. Here is a structural engineer masquerading as an architect. That explained why the design work was piss poor and the workmanship superb. I realized how we fail before we even start a project. WRONG PROFESSIONALs.

Like that architect who is a one man show is a common scenario. He convinces you that he can not only design the house, but he can also give you a Bill of Quantities (BoQ). He also convinces you that he can play the role of the structural engineer. Heck, he is even very comfortable doing interior design work. Haiyaa, plus he also wants to supply you with materials. I once met this fellow called Mike who talks non-stop; akin to a radio with new batteries. You see he claims to have the answer to all your problems. He knows where to source for everything and anything and he is an architect by profession. And so I asked him, what is your specialty?? I obviously never took him serious.

Where do we get it all wrong?

1.    Let the architect design the house and carry out site inspections to ascertain the quality of work. Nothing more.

2.    Let the structural engineer advise you in as far as the structural issues are concerned. He is a very important professional otherwise your structure could one day come down, if not during construction.

3.    Don’t bring over your relative and assume that they will play the role of clerk of works when they understand nothing about construction. The learning curve is too steep.

4.    And those junk-of-all trade fundis who claim they can do mason work, carpentry, fittings, roofing, plumbing and all manner of works are suspect.

5.    Never ever go for quacks, their costs could be tempting but the price you may end up paying maybe too much. Like that friend of mine whose roof was leaking. Can you imagine he was forced to bring the entire roof down… I once told him that he was like that man who passed several dogs on his way to being bitten by a goat.

Enough of this construction stuff. I hope that we have all learnt something.

We shall shift gears and get back to interesting business concepts. In the next post we shall talk about the powers of a good name…how to profile your customers. They say 'if you want to sell to everybody, you'll most likely sell to no-one'...and other business concepts that will assist us become better business people and investors.

The underworld of Construction: Part 5

Timber theft explained

Continued from part 4

This guy who was measuring my timber at Kawangware spoke in a very soft voice but with a lot of conviction that I believed what he was saying. He actually confessed that the reason he left Rongai was primarily due to threats from one of the customers in the yard he worked for. The said customer after getting conned promised to come for the heads of all those he believed conned him; and that included this young man. Once he heard that the owner of the yard had been accosted by some boys who threatened to have his severed head and balls collected in one of the bus parks, he knew it was time to hit the road.

Without warning he started explaining the all-important tricks and I was all ears. You see that measuring tape is usually tampered with. If you are keen to observe, it will have some feet missing, as in it could move from 1 to 2 to 4 to 5 then to 7 to 8 to 9 to 11 to 12 to 13 then 15 and so on. This essentially means that if that tape indicates 9 feet, in the real sense the correct length is 7 feet. If it indicates 15 then the actual length of the timber is 11 feet and so on. In essence you could be losing 3 feet on average per timber. If you have a quantity of 2000 pieces, then obviously you will have lost as much as 6000 feet and if each foot is costing Kshs 30, then your loss would be as much as 180k. That is just one of the tricks.

The second trick he mentioned was in the recording of the timber as it is measured. You see, the fellows use a piece of paper and a pen and they normally draw tu-small lines depending on the length of the each timber measured. Meaning, there will be a section for 9 feet pieces, 10 feet, 12 feet and so on and a ka-line will be drawn in either of the sections depending on the measured and the ‘shouted aloud’ length. What I suspect happened in my case is that, the guy who was keeping the tally would add imaginary tu-lines whenever my foreman who was to keep an eye on him got distracted. When I flashed back, I remember that there were as many as ten fellows each given a specific role in the set up but some were just meant to distract us.

The other but most unlikely trick is to ensure that the timber is ferried in more than one truck and if you don’t have a trusted guy accompanying the lorry, then they can drop some at designated places on their way. And they’d go to the length of befriending your foreman or fundi in case you send them before the actual purchase and make him part of the squad to defraud you.

The other thing they’d do to novices would be to measure poor quality timber. For an experienced hand, whenever you encounter poor quality timber or one with unusable section(s), the feet are normally discounted or the entire piece is kept aside.

So how are you supposed to safeguard against such tricks. Read below:

1.      Make sure that the measuring tape being utilized is your own. It is better to buy one (they are very cheap) because it will obviously not be tampered with.

2.      Make sure that when the measuring is being done, keep your own tally for later comparison at the end of the measuring. In the event there is a discrepancy, then make it clear that your tally is the correct one. If they insist that it is not, then let the exercise be repeated.

3.      Always make sure you have a trusted hand (preferably your fundi) to verify the quality of the timber and be in charge of ensuring poor quality is set aside or the process of discounting the unusable sections is done and fairly so.

4.      Never trust your fundi or foreman to take charge of the entire process in your absence. Notice how easy it is to co-opt them into the gang and milk you dry. Never ever delegate this fully.

5.      Where possible, let the seller deliver the timber to your site and measure from there. At least in your site you will have absolute control.

I was conned in broad daylight by I told myself that it will never happen again. You see the other day I was purchasing timber and some guy from Ruai attempted to use these tricks on me. The fellow had discounted his prices with the assumption that he’ll apply the tricks on me. I proved a hard nut and after sealing all the loopholes, the measuring was done but at the end of the exercise, the fellow confessed he was to make a ‘loss’ because the prices were unbelievably low and he never managed to steal anything. He even contemplated chasing me away without the timber but I cornered him. The other day I called him and informed him that I need to purchase some more but he declined to sell to me; of course he knows am a bull that cannot be milked.

Be advised and don’t let them con you, least of all with these tricks. By the way, am sure they are probably devising other strategies to steal from unsuspecting Kenyans.

The other day I went to see some guy I had sold to some plot. He is currently constructing his residential house and what I saw on his site was quite sad. I discovered he is using the wrong professionals. Topic for another day, well next post.

The underworld of Construction: Part 4

Timber theft

Continued from part 3

This Momanyi guy found us on the site when we were busy chatting with my foreman and introduced himself. He was all smiles and presented to the foreman his quotation for timber. By the way, some of us who are small-bodied and sometimes dress anyhow without much thinking are mistaken for KYMs on site. That reminds me someday when my brother in-law came to see me on site and this entrepreneurial young man who wanted to enlist the owner of the house for garbage collection service was all over him asking for business and ignoring me…then my brother points at me and advised him that am the owner of the site to his utter shock and subsequent apologies…story for another day.

The quote in comparison to the others was so favourable, I could not believe my eyes; what with prices lower by as much as Kshs 3 to 5 per foot. I asked the guy why that is the case and he explained that they get their timber from Tanzania at very good prices hence the favourable prices to their customers. I swallowed that hook line and sinker and we agreed that we shall visit him at his yard and see the timber.

The day after we drove to Rongai together with my foreman and all the way to Nkoroi where the yard is located. We were loaded with the cash to do the purchase because it was meant to be a cash deal. They had very nice timber and we agreed that we shall buy from there. Immediately we agreed, he called some two transport guys and negotiated the transport on our behalf, a nice dude or so I thought. He thereafter called his men into action; around eight of them to measure the timber. We agreed that my foreman will keep any eye on the recording of the measurements while I keep an eye on the actual measurement, tight controls or so we thought. The timber was measured and loaded without any issues and truth be told I never noticed any anomaly. It was then transported to my site and offloaded.

Something crossed my mind, I thought it was wise to verify the delivery. I thus instructed the fundis to measure the timber again. To my utter shock, what I paid for as compared to what I had on the ground had a discrepancy of 40%; in other words it was 40% less. Wait….so what happened. I thought I had a hawk eye when the measuring was being done and I also accompanied one of the delivery trucks to the site while the foreman accompanied the other. Mystery, mystery…conned in broad daylight…but how??

I swung into action, called the guy and told him that he had conned me. Of course he refused. I insisted that I’ll take up the matter to the cops but he sounded unmoved. I drove back to Rongai the morning after and reported to the police station about the ordeal. The cop serving in the OB section just laughed at me and before I finished my story he asked me whether I had bought the timber from a certain yard owned by Kisiis. He confided in me that they have received so many complains about that yard and they have not managed to do anything because it is hard to prove that the guys actually steal…wait…: ”And why don’t you set a trap to confirm is they steal”, I asked him. Of course they never really bother because in the past despite arresting the owner severally, the guy always found his way out mysteriously. In my thinking this obvious pointed to something bigger and I therefore so no need of pursuing the matter further with the cops.

I went back home dejected and trying to figure out how to deal with the matter. I even contemplated using unorthodox means to recover the loss, like threatening to go for the owner head with them boys. Painful as it was, I decided to cut my losses as opposed to throwing good money in an attempt to recover the loss. How then did they steal from me??

After utilizing the timber which was far less than was needed on site, I decided to shop around and look for a place to top up. My little shopping around landed me in Kawangware where I met a lady who owned a very well stocked yard. We had a chat with her in her office and I told her about the Rongai incidence and she laughed at me. Before I narrated the entire ordeal, she told that it is commonplace and especially in some yards in Rongai to get sellers who underquote but steal from you. She advised me that it is better to pay the market rates and get value for money as opposed to look for cheap stuff and get conned. Anyway I bought timber from her and after confirming the delivery on site, it was tallying with what I paid for. But while her KYMs were measuring the timber, one opened up and confirmed that he once worked in a yard in Rongai and he had no qualms telling me the various ways they were stealing from unsuspecting customers.

It will shock you but in the next post I’ll tell you how it is done and how to arm yourself just in case some fellows have planned to do it on you. I was conned in broad daylight but some things you never wish they happen even to your worst enemy…. Be warned and advised.

The underworld of Construction: Part 3

Continued from part 2

I embarked on having controls in place to safeguard my interest; after all it was plainly obvious that all and sundry were out to milk me dry. I had to look for another hardware guy and this time round I strictly instructed him to only deliver good in the evening at around 6 PM in my presence. I’d personally verify the goods.

I also managed to get a new foreman who role was only to supervise the fundis and the KYMs and nothing else. I took charge of negotiating with suppliers and paying them. I realized that this was a big loophole in the initial set up. What the other foreman would do; he’d insist that anyone supplying anything on the site, must part with something small for him. Once a supplier is compromised, it simply means they can just enter into an arrangement to supply air as long as they both gain.

To safeguard against loss of man-hours (fundis and KYMs) I’d demand that the foreman pre-plans the work and for each phase he’d give me the labour estimates to finalize the works. I’d independently confirm whether the estimates made sense. I’d then give him some contract to finalize the works and would obviously throw the control to him. He’d then push the fundis to deliver and maybe make a small saving. That arrangement worked well for me because I’d relinquish that bit of getting the best out of the workforce.

As regards material pilferage, I took one of the guys on site and made him a mole. He’d be my eye on the ground to ensure no-one steals materials. But again bestowing all this trust on one person never brought a sense of security on my part, you see once bitten twice shy. So I got yet another mole and as long as I could get comparative info from them, it made much sense to me. And by the way, you should never keep a mole for long; after all they easily get compromised, so you keep shuffling them. I’d also make surprise visits just to ensure that am unpredictable.

The other thing which I intentionally did and which worked is to create a perception that am really very tough. The moment these fellows realize you are a weakling, they’ll take advantage of you. But when the fear is instilled in them, then they’ll think twice. If you have to slap someone, take them to the cops or whatever else you can do to instil the fear.

I managed to bring some sanity on the site after the tough lessons. The other very important thing I noted regarding procurement was the fact that same items, same quality, exact products would retail at different prices in different hardwares. You’d be shocked to sometimes even find a price difference of 20-30% in hardware’s within the same locality. Some clever hardware guys’ will also price some items cheaply and creates the perception that all their goods are fairly priced, only to inflate other goods once you become a repeat customer.

I also realized that well priced and professionally approved alternatives would also create a big saving. Like I discovered some items they call fibre mesh which act as a very good but much cheaper alternative to BRC mesh when casting the slab. You’ll also hear of pre-cast concrete blocks which I have never used which can bring a saving as opposed to the conventional mass concrete.

Finally, investing in knowledge is extremely important. Like being able to interpret a BoQ would give you an idea of the materials estimates as opposed to relying on that jua-kali foreman. Get to know what a substructure or superstructure is, even those Y12's and Y8's should not sound like Greek, and even those impregnated tank bearers and slats should not overwhelm you. There is a certain word I heard from the fundis which was quite funny…'makirigishi'…of course I had to understand what they were but I’ll leave it to your imaginations.

In thenext post I’ll tell you about how that crafty Rongai fellow conned me in the name of selling me timber…and the useless cops who could never help me....

The underworld of Construction: Part 2

Continued from part 1

You know the BoQ (Bill of Quantities) is quite interesting. It contains costs which are not so big individually but when you add the figures up, the totals are massive. When the architect brought the BoQ, it was quite tricky to understand it, being the layman I was. I am surprised these days I can make a lot of sense from it. You see when it talks of substructure, superstructure, form-works  cubic meters for mass concrete, twisted bars etc.; it can dwarf your knowledge. I demanded that the guy supplies me with a schedule of materials which is much easier to understand. You see 5 lorries of sand, or Y8s, Y12s and the likes makes more sense to a layman.

Before it escapes me I recall that incidence when we were to cast the slab and my good neighbor who had promised to give me water; a circus it became. On the materials day, the koroga squad arrived by 6 AM and quickly set up the machinery, then they proceeded to carry cement from the site house and they emptied as many as 20 bags on the ground…by the way, the operations of this koroga squad is rather organized and interesting. The toughest guys will be somewhere they call “Chini ya mnazi”; just next to the concrete mixer and their role is to load mass concrete atop wheelbarrows. The lightweights will be assigned simple tasks like pouring water, cement, sand and ballast inside the mixer. Interesting these fellows know how to balance the ratios inside the mixer…don’t ask me how they co-ordinate, please observe. Back to my neighbour’s story: When some fellows went inside my neighbor’s compound to get water, the lady of the house came out with a machete claiming that the water was given without her authority. The man being a man wanted to show his authority and attempted to force the lady into submission but when the machete was wrestled from her, she started wailing and close the gate. She held onto the keys like her life depended on them. I had to utilize my negotiation skills but they never worked till I parted with some 2k to appease the lady and finally she gave in.

Life gets quite interesting. You know the same lady was once thrown out of the house by the husband and the dude disappeared to Western and switched off his phone. I found her outside the gate and she pleaded with me for some coins to take her to her Meru. Of course I remembered the water incident but decided to let it pass and I gave her cash enough to eat some meal and ferry her stuff to her shags.

Back to the construction of my house: You see I noted that I had lost it and fired all the workforce and I had to figure out how to move on. But I had to understand how these fellows were stealing from me. And so I confided in one fellow and he opened up. The fellow eventually became my mole. The chief architect of the thefts was none other than my own brother (who was to be my eye on the ground). He was a wolf in sheep’s skin. You see he knew what all the others were doing and he’d get a cut from each. He was the guy who was meant to confirm and receive supplies in my absence. Some of the deliveries were less and I’d pay for the expected full deliveries. It is very easy to receive 9 cements and pay for 10, after all the difference of one when already utilized is barely noticeable. The hardware guy would bill me for quantities which were not fully delivered. I’d only check on the delivery notes and assume that what was there was accurate. The foreman was also cheeky; he had two sites and would utilize some of the KYMs on the other site whereas I was the one paying them. Just before I arrived in the evening, I’d find them on my site and assume they worked the whole day. Poor me.

I knew the only way out was to install controls at all these levels. I also had to have a grip of the procurement process because therein was the biggest loss. The controls worked wonders and I’ll outline them in the next post. However, this never prevented me from being conned by the timber guy in Rongai. This was my last loss but I learnt a lot from it. More in the next post.

The underworld of Construction: Part 1

Guest post by Samuel G. Njenga

I constructed and my final verdict is that everyone on that site was a thief unless they proved otherwise. You see these fellows thought that I had loads of cash (limitless) and all they wanted was to squeeze the most out of me, illegally and otherwise.

I set out to do my residential house with the little cash I had and hoped against hope that someday I’ll live in my own home. The dream came to pass but by the end of the project, I had some Solomonic wisdom regarding the dealings in that world; which I will share with you. The trusted hardware supplier stole in cohort with the clerk of works, the jua kali foreman stole, the timber guy based in Rongai stole, the KYMs stole cement, the fundis stole man hours and my rogue brother meant to assist reduce the pilferages also colluded with them that stole…but they only did it for a short time because my eagle eyes and a bit of investigative skills and that mole, actually two of them helped me…Someday I woke up and decided enough was enough, slapped the foreman after a lengthy rebuke, fired all of them workers, sat down and reflected on the way forward, installed controls before resuming the construction….welcome to the underworld that construction has become.

It started with profiling of the house and using lime to mark where trenches were to be dug. No sooner than the markings were done, a gang of Mungiki youths showed up demanding to dig the trenches, in their own words, that work was set aside for them and no-one else. And you see they were to charge some fee 3 times compared to the usual charges from other KYMs…of course I told them I had no money and will call them when am ready only for them to show up a few days later and find the trenches already dug. Few threats here and there but they disappeared into thin air.

Then I met this guy who would supply everything in this world and dude is an architect by profession. Kamau will have a solution to all problems; he will get you fine sand from somewhere past Athi-River, he’d hook you up with some cheap AFCO cement, he owns a lorry that he’d use to get foundation stones somewhere in Ruiru, Ndarugu stones as well. Wait…Kamau knew where to also get some nice trees which we can split and get timber…actually that guy who prepares the timber is a good friend of his…this Kamau even had the best of painters and metal fabricators around. The interesting thing about Kamau is that he even proposed redesigning my house to make the roof better, space utilization…sijui nini…and so I asked him, “Kwani Kamau you know everything, what is you speciality ” I smelled a big rat here and avoided Kamau like a plague. And by the way he used to sniff snuff; that powdered tobacco…and that really put me off and so I dismissed him.

By the way, when they were digging those trenches for the foundation, it emerged that the hard rock was as many as 7 to 10 feet below ground level. You see when I flashed back to that time I was buying that kaplot and that agent who usually drinks himself silly showed me some rocky area within the plot and I thought that doing the foundation would be very easy on that plot only to be confronted by that thick layer of hard core stones upon digging the trenches. So this place was actually a quarry at some point, which was back filled with hard core stones and a layer of 1 foot thick cotton soil; so in other words what I bought was a quarry plot. This architect of mine who doubled up as a structural engineer returned a verdict that we could only suspend the house as opposed to doing 7 to 10 courses of foundation stones…..suspend the house..in the air or what?..I wondered. So he explained the concept of suspending…doing columns to the level of the hard rock, then some beams at ground level to support the walls..

Then I realized that not only had I got a raw deal of a plot, but I was in for some more surprises…most of them very costly….and I will tell you how I formed a habit of whistling subconsciously when confronted with those costly surprises…and this neighbor of mine who promised to give me water for koroga only for the wife to decline on the material day of koroga, having already assembled the team and machinery and my begging mission to salvage the situation that had boiled down to a teary fight between man and wife……more in the next post.

Miser, pinchpenny and stingy: Part 2

Continued from part 1

He is no doubt a hard worker and saves a lot, plans ahead and grows. After ferrying goods to City Market for two years or so, he decided to shift gears and venture into the crazy Matatu world. He bought his first Matatu and assumed the role of a driver. He didn't stop there; worked even harder and got a second one…continued working hard till he owned a fleet of around 10 Matatus. By then, the fellow was getting richer by the day. At least he improved his eating habits.

He later ventured into stocks big time, and a bit of real estate. Actually as we speak he owns several flats in Ruaka and elsewhere. He is now filthy rich but as you may guess correctly he’s still very stingy.

Someday a few years ago, I went for a house warming party for a close relative and I found him there. We enjoyed goat meat while I kept a distance from him. Just before he left he called me aside and told me that the Premio I was driving was his dream car. In his words he said it looks like a Merc. Strange man this is; you see he drives that AE 91 despite being a multi-millionaire. I couldn't help but laugh but knowing this man, I knew he was serious.

This guy does not even have a wife and kids; wait, he had a wife and a son back then but I always suspect his stinginess drove her away. I also know how badly his brothers are doing but let us not venture there. You see there are those brothers you have and you are so determined to help but they are beyond help…a story for another day. It makes me wonder because all this wealth he has and does not seem to enjoy is vanity. You see there are vultures circling around as soon as you depart to your maker and what you never did with your money, they’ll do it. They will ride the big cars, go on holiday and live largest with your hard earned money; after all they don’t know the pain you underwent when making the money.

You know majority of us underestimate the power of giving and being charitable whichever your faith…a universal concept that applies across board. Giving freely creates space to receive more. And the biblical wise man, he who wrote the Psalms and Proverbs advised us:

Proverbs 11:24-25: “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; and whoever refreshes others will be refreshed”.

If I had all the wealth in this world and I have this brother of mine in need and I never helped him, what sort of happiness do I derive from that money? When we land in Heaven, you might be asked very simple questions; you found this guy who was hungry, did you give him food? I was naked, did you clothe me?

And my favourite verse Luke 6: 38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

In this blog we are educating people in the spirit of giving. We endeavour to be very practical. Next, we shall venture into the construction underworld…if you have ever constructed you might flash back and relate with the posts; if you are about to construct you might learn a thing or two...but one thing is for sure; this underworld is not for the faint hearted. They once conned me in Rongai as I bought timber...poor me but I learnt my lessons the hard way. God bless.