A two bedroom house in Kenya is enough for a small family. The cost of building such a house ranges between Ksh 1.2 million to Ksh 3 million. There are factors which determine the cost, like cost of materials, cost of labour,location and the type of soil in that particular location. The design of a house also matters a lot. Nowadays there are flat roof houses and the extended roof houses. Flat roof houses are cheaper to build than the houses with normal roof. You will safe more than Ksh 200,000 if you build a flat roof house. But one advantage of flat roof house is that you may not capture rain water. If the roof is destroyed, repairing it is very expensive—you may end up demolishing the entire house.
The house has several parts. There is the foundation, walling, roof, plaster, finishing, painting, interior fittings, electrical installations and plumping. The approximate amount to use is as outlined below:
Foundation—Ksh 300,000
Walling—Ksh 200,000
Roofing—Ksh 400,000
Plumping—Ksh100,000
Windows and doors—Ksh 300,000
Electrical installations—Ksh 50,000
Labour—Ksh 400,000
Fittings and painting—Ksh 150,000
Total =Ksh 1.9 million
The price will range between Ksh 1.2 million to Ksh 3 million. But the average price is Ksh 2 million. Make sure you are psychologically prepared to spend Ksh 2 million. The fundi will quote Ksh 800,000 so as to get a job from you but the truth of the matter, the amount will exceed Ksh 1.2 million.
Never compromise on materials, go for the highest quality of materials. If possible, buy tiles from SAJ Ceramics, iron sheets from MRM.
In terms of paying the fundi, agree on the entire work, not daily. If you pay them daily, they will work slowly and you end up paying more.
When it comes to buying materials, go and by yourself, don’t engage brokers. If you engage brokers, the cost will go high by more than Ksh300,000.
