Kisii is one of the places where building a house is cheap. There is plenty of water, cheap labour and bricks. In Kisii most houses are built using bricks.
We are assuming that you will be building a bungalow, below are the costs:
Foundation—Ksh 150,000 to Ksh 200,000
Walling—Ksh 80,000 to Ksh 120,000
Roofing—Ksh 300,000 to Ksh 550,000
Windows and doors—Ksh 200,000
Ceiling—Ksh 250,000
Tiles—Ksh 200,000 to Ksh 350,000
Plastering and painting—Ksh 200,000
Electrical installations—Ksh70,000 to Ksh 100,000
Materials—Ksh 300,000
Labour—Ksh 300,000 to Ksh 450,000
Total—Ksh 1.8 million to Ksh 2.5 million
Cost of materials—The general cost of building a house will depend on the cost of materials. The most important materials are cement, tiles, ceiling and iron sheets. The best quality of iron sheets is from MRM while the best tiles are from Ideal Ceramics and Saj Ceramics.
If you go for cheap materials, the cost of building a 3-bedroom house will be as low as Ksh 1.2 million. But it’s advisable to go for high quality materials.
Type of the foundation—If you will be building in a swampy or clay soil area, the foundation must be strong. It will be the same as the foundation for a mansion. The cost will rise by Ksh 200,000. But if the soil will be red, the foundation will not cost much.
Size of the house and number of rooms—If the size of the rooms are bigger, it will cost more money to build a 3-bedroom house. If the house will also include toilets and bathrooms, you will spend at least Ksh 200,000 more. Plumbing is expensive.
But in Kisii, most people use latrines. The bathroom is also located outside the house.
Cost of labour—Don’t go for a cheap fundi,go to an experienced one.Visit houses he has build and determine whether they can impress you before engaging him.Labour will cost Ksh 400,000 to Ksh 500,000.
Who will supervise your work—If you allow another person to supervise your work and buy materials, they will steal from you. Make sure you are the one buying the materials and supervising the work. Don’t trust even your relative.
To build 4-bedroom house, you will spend Ksh 3 million to Ksh 4.5 million. If you are going to build 5-bedroom house, you will spend Ksh 4 million to Ksh 5.5 million.
Kisii receives heavy rainfall. This is ideal place where you will not build flat roof houses. You need leap roof to tap rain water.
Flat roof houses will also be destroyed by the heavy rainfall. Such houses are ideal in places that don’t receive a lot of rain like Nairobi and Mombasa.
Don’t make a mistake of building flat roof house in Kisii because it will get old so fast.
