#9 Insights
On a sloping site, water arrives before the client does. Getting the drainage in before the superstructure is not sequencing preference — it is what keeps the foundation dry enough to build on.
Most slab cracks are not structural failures. They are shrinkage, and they are largely preventable with detailing that costs almost nothing.
Nobody photographs blinding, cover blocks or a curing sheet. They are still the three things most likely to decide whether a foundation reaches thirty years.
By the time the concrete arrives on site, the quality of the finish has already been decided. It was decided by the carpenters.
Fill placed in one thick layer and driven over twice is not compacted. Everything built on it inherits the problem.
Most delays on small buildings are not slow work. They are trades arriving in the wrong order and undoing each other.
The 230 x 230 column is the default on half the sites in Kampala. Here is how load actually accumulates down a frame, and when that default stops being safe.
Three foundation types cover most of what we build. Choosing between them is a soil question and a load question, not a budget question.
Undersized culverts are the most common drainage failure we are asked to fix. The pipe rarely fails — it just was never big enough.
A wall out of plumb by 20mm costs money in plaster for the rest of the job. Blockwork quality is decided in the first three courses.
