construction and real estate – May 30, 2009

Welcome to the May 30, 2009 edition of construction and real estate.

C Richey presents Hope for Distressed Homeowers posted at News – Las Vegas Real Estate by Jacqulyn Richey, saying, “A breakdown of the new administrations plan to save homeowners from foreclosure.”

Handy Saputra presents Is Reverse Mortgage A Good Thing posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “If you have not already heard the term reverse mortgage, it sounds like a strange thing. Reverse mortgages are becoming more and more popular these days, but are they scams or are they legitimate?Is it really possible to sell your house back to the bank and still retain the deed to it? Will the bank really pay YOU the mortgage payments? Let’s review what a reverse mortgage is so these questions can be answered.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of construction and real estate using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: construction and real estate, blog carnival.

Affordable Housing: Pre Built Homes:

Shelter is a basic human need and everyone needs to have a home.
The single largest investment in our lives is in a home.

Structural insulated Panel House at Chinese Road contractors Offices opposite Warren Concrete at Kasarani, Nairobi

However, several factors have pushed up the cost of a decent home very high in Kenya.
We have come up with the Prefabricated House solution to challenge this situation and make decent housing available to all.
Use of prefabricated technology whereby the house is prefabricated in a factory greatly saves on materials in that the customer only pays for the used materials as opposed to the normal traditional method whereby a lot of material is wasted on site.
Prefabricated technology also saves in labor since the house parts are easily fastened to each other during installation.The quality of construction is also kept high since the houses are made in an ISO 9000 2000 certified factory as opposed to the normal traditional method whereby the quality of construction and workmanship is not easily determined until the building is completed.
We use current global building technological advances, mainly Structural Insulated Panels on structural steel structures for wall, roof and floor. Structural Insulated Panels are made of two steel panels with polyurethane form insulation in between them and come in panels of 1.2 meters by 2.4 meters.
The room space design is flexible and can be customized to a customer’s requirements. Customers can select a house plan form our list or request a new house plan design according to their wishes. Once house plan design is agreed, the house is then installed in the customer’s land anywhere in Kenya.
We aim at providing genuine housing solutions to all in the most economically viable and environment friendly way.

Prebuilt Homes: Good Return on Investment.

Prebuilt homes are advantageous in investment in that due to their mobile nature, they can be transported to any location that the customer has land and erected .They can also be rented out to increase customer’s income.

Increase rental income.

If you want to improve your rental income easily, this is one of the best ways. Just have a prefab house installed in your backyard and rent it out at market rate. You can have the house designed to your specific requirement in terms of size, number of bedrooms, color and texture. These houses are far much cheaper to construct compared to the traditional houses costs in Kenya.

Quick Business space expansion

You may also be in need of more office space for your business and need a quick solution for expansion. The prefabricated house designs are flexible, quick to install and can be designed to suit all your requirements. Whether the land is in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Lokichoggio or South Sudan, these houses can be easily transported to the site and quickly installed.

Quality Assurance; ISO 9001-2000

These are houses that are manufactured in factories and assembled on site. The walls, roofs and doors are made of Structural Insulated Panels.[SIP].

The SIP Panels are made of two layers of steel with polyurethane foam insulation in between them. This results to a strong walling that is very energy efficient: when it’s cold, no heat can escape from the house and when it’s hot, no heat can penetrate from the outside into the house.

These houses are designed to withstand strong winds, typhoons and earthquakes and most manufacturers are ISO certified. In Kenya, the weather is not as harsh i.e. there are no winters and the temperatures are not so high during the hot season.
These houses are designed to withstand very hot temperatures and very cold winters. These houses are also designed to withstand earthquakes, strong winds and typhoons which are virtually non-existent in Kenya.

The SIP panels come in various finishes and colors. Customers can choose which color and texture they prefer.SIP roof panels can be finished with Asphalt shingles.

SIP panel homes can come in several storeys, usually 3 storey heights.

The above factors coupled with cost-effectiveness, time saving and ability to pre-determine the exact cost of construction make Prebuilt SIP panel houses increasingly advantageous over the traditional Brick-and –cement houses throughout the world.

Mobile Homes

Mobile houses are built or prefabricated in factories and transported to site where they are erected using bolts and nuts.

The walls and roofs are made of Structural Insulated steel panels with polyurethane material sandwiched in-between the two layers of steel for insulation purposes. These panels are lightweight and easily lifted by a single person during construction. They are common in developed countries such as USA, China and Britain.

Advantages

Due to the fact that they are made and prefabricated in factories with state-of-the-art machines, there is efficiency and less wastage of materials and estimated final costs of construction are accurate and to the point.

Speed of construction:
Use of lightweight Structural Insulated Steel panels for walls and roofs increases construction time since these materials are light and the panels can be lifted by a single panel. A 1-bedroomed house will take 2 days and 4 skilled people to erect and complete.

Quality:
Also, the quality of the materials used and workmanship is easily assured due to the precise factory environment prefabrication which conforms to the latest ISO standards.

Savings on costs:
Mobile homes are 35% cheaper to construct than traditional homes. There is no need for expensive foundations since these houses are lightweight and can be placed on stable ground comfortably.

Energy efficiency:
Mobile homes are very energy-efficient: during cold weather, they retain most of the heat in the house and during warm weather, they insulate the interior of the house.

Flexibility:
Mobile homes give you the flexibility to move them to any location you may wish. These homes can also increase in size by addition of more panels to create more rooms and vice versa so you can start with a 1 bed roomed house initially and as the family size grows, increase it to a 2 or 3 bed roomed house.

These houses are slowly gaining popularity worldwide over the traditional houses with the onset of global movement towards efficiency.

Construction & Real Estate-Blog Carnival

Welcome to the May 8, 2009 edition of construction and real estate.

Handy Saputra presents Mortgage Refinance Tips posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “Mortgage refinancing is becoming more and more popular these years because people find out about its ease of use and how it helps them. Everyone in the mortgage industry knows how competitive the refinance world is right now. Mortgage refinance is you get a secured loan to pay off the mortgage loan that you have taken before for your home. A rule of thumb when considering refinancing is if there is a 2 percentage point differential on the downside and you plan of living on living in the same place for several more years, you should consider refinancing. Mortgage refinancing also allows you to benefit from the equity built in your house.”

Handy Saputra presents Tips For Getting A Good Deal On Your Mortgage Loan posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “Mortgage applications are actually at a high because the housing market is currently low. Banks are offering great deals for mortgages if you meet the specific requirements. It is possible to get a mortgage of up to 90 percent of the price. No longer will banks give out 100 or 126 per cent mortgages.”

Jacqulyn Richey presents Lennar offering extreme price reductions posted at Las Vegas Homes – Henderson Real Estate, saying, “How one new home builder is trying to entice buyers away from bank owned properties.”

Handy Saputra presents How to Choose Montgomery Mortgage Options posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “Home mortgages are difficult to obtain in the current economic scenario. Banks are more stringent in lending loans and mortgages. Apart from the stress of finding a home, financing it is adding to the woes of a prospective home owner. To top that, interest rates are at an incredible low!”

Handy Saputra presents Fixed Rate Mortgage By You? Rated By Who? posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “OK, what’s a fixed rate mortgage you may ask? It’s a type of deal that allows you to lock in the interest rate for a number of years. Never changing from what you agreed on.How does the fixed rate mortgage help me you say? It helps shield you from any interest rate rises that could increase your payments.”

Handy Saputra presents How to Make the Right Choice on Mortgage Refinance posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “If you are one of those people who have difficulties paying your first mortgage and you are looking for options to help you with this, mortgage refinancing might just as well be the solution for you.”

Ed Reuben presents Grow Your Real Estate Business Through Blogs posted at Ed Reuben’s Internet Business Blog.

Handy Saputra presents How Does A Home Mortgage Loan Work? posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “A mortgage is commonly obtained by a home owner who has an outstanding debt or is getting a loan out from a bank or other government operate establishment. The mortgage transfers the interest of the property as a form of collateral to the lender. The home owner will then have a set stop of time in which they must pay back the overall of the borrowed money. If they fail to pay back the money they will end trailing their mortgaged property and assets!”

Diego Cervantes presents Top 50 Real Estate Blogs posted at Bankling.

The Fence Authority presents So, What Kind of Fence is Best for You? posted at The Fence Authority Blog, saying, “Choosing between aluminum fence, vinyl fence, cedar wood fence.”

Jayboy75 presents Home Inspections | First Home Buying posted at First Home Buying, saying, “A post about what happens during the home inspection, including a sample checklist of items.”

Matthew Paulson presents Is a Reverse Mortgage Right For You? posted at American Consumer News.

Handy Saputra presents Bankruptcy Repair Strategy That Will Improve Your Credit Score posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “Today, filing bankruptcy is not an uncommon thing to hear and the stigma towards bankruptcy is not that severe. Bankruptcy is filed in the bankruptcy court when the individual who owes a great deal of money to one or more of his creditors is unable to pay it back. The debtor declares the court that he has exhausted all sources available to the debt fully. It can be an individual or a business who can approach the bankruptcy court and in some cases creditors too can file bankruptcy case against their debtors in order to salvage as much as possible towards the money owed.”

Handy Saputra presents Questions You should Ask when Buying a New Home posted at Home Loan and Mortgage Info, saying, “Buying a new home can be a very exciting time in a persons life. There are many considerations one should be aware of before taking the plunge into new homeownership. Before you make this huge life investment, you should ask yourself the following questions: Can I afford a new home?”

Handy Saputra presents Falling Behind on Your Mortgage? How Loan Modification Can Help posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “By this time, you’ve probably heard the term “loan modification” ballyhooed as the great savior of distressed homeowners. Indeed, there has been quite a bit of talk about it in the current housing crisis and economic climate.So just what is loan modification and what can it do to help you save your home?”

Handy Saputra presents Have You Done Everything To Stop Bank Foreclosure? posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “We hate to pay rent and choose a more wise option – to buy a house and then the mortgage story begins. When it comes to mortgage payments, banks are very careful. Just a few missed payments are enough for foreclosure and you could end up losing your house. During economic crisis and recess ion times, banks become more vigilant. So how do you stop bank foreclosure.”

Handy Saputra presents Mortgage Interest Rates – Why Lowest Is Not Always Best posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “nterest Rates … Interest Rates … Interest Rates. They have dominated our newspaper frontage, television time and party talk for the last 18 to 19 months. And we have been lulled into the belief that a lower interest rate is automatically better than a higher interest rate. Yet many of us are fast learning that this is not always the case. What we see is NOT what we, always, get.”

Matt DiChiara presents Given Pending Building Emission Regulation NAA Highlights Government Incentives for Apartment Owners posted at MyNewPlace Blog.

Handy Saputra presents How Mortgage Rates Calculators Help When Buying a Home posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “Are you having a hard time deciding if you should buy a house or not? One of the things a potential homebuyer considers before getting a housing loan is whether they can afford the mortgage payment or not.”

Madison presents Solar Energy Tax Credit: Will You Install Solar Panels? posted at My Dollar Plan.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
construction and real estate
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

construction and real estate, blog carnival.

Architectural Design for Rental Houses.

Design for rentals varies depending on there the building is going to be located. In high income areas, designs are best kept larger than the minimum size and are more complicated. This is because the target clientele will be able to afford the high rents that will be charged due to the higher cost of land and constructing the house.

In design for rental units, it’s prudent to maximize on the land use by having as many units as the law can permit. The local authority controls the maximum ground coverage that the building can cover. In most areas around Nairobi the ground coverage is 50% .This means that the ground floor cannot exceed half the size of the plot.

To maximize land use, rentals are best designed as flats or apartments. This is one homogenous block with several rental units within it. This design is compact and hence saves a lot of costs in terms of economies of scale during construction and saves on land.

In design of apartments, care should be taken so as common space such as stairways, passages and balconies are well defined and give a sense of ownership to the residents living closest to them. This ensures that these spaces are kept clean and are not used as dumping grounds.

Due to the compact nature of these designs, a small piece of land can hold many units hence a need for parking space. Vehicle ownership in Kenya is increasing rapidly per household. Local authorities in Kenya specify that each unit should require 1.5 cars parking space. To accommodate this, angle parking design which can take in more cars is important. If this is not enough, the ground floor can be kept free and supported by reinforced concrete columns creating more space for car parking.

Utility space for washing and drying clothes also becomes scarce in apartment designs. To create this space, the roof tops become very handy for this.

It’s the honors of your architect to come up with solutions to maximize land use while creating comfortable units for the tenants.

Saving Money through Apartment House Plan Designs.

The most important factor in saving costs will be to ensure you have an optimum designed house floor plan. This means that all the spaces are architecturally designed to avoid unused wasted space. As a general rule of thumb, circulation space i.e. space used for corridors e.t.c should not be more than 20 % of the floor area.

Plot sizes are increasingly getting smaller and smaller in Kenya. The average size of a plot in Nairobi is 50 feet by 100 feet. This means that architects have to be very ingenious in design so as to fit in the maximum number of residential units in case of flats and apartment designs.

Room sizes can be designed with the furniture in mind and living room and kitchen doors placed in the middle where the circulation space passes inside the room as opposed to along one edge of the room.

For residential units for rent, the living room can be joint to the dining room to save space since if both rooms are created, they will take in more space.

Careful use of minimum practical dimensions can also greatly reduce costs. For example, the width of a toilet can be reduced up to 800mm and corridor width can reduce to 1.2 meters.
The door swing placement should also be carefully selected such that the doors swing to the edge of the wall in bedrooms so as to leave ample space inside the room. Care should be taken to avoid the bedroom doors opening with the full bedroom view for privacy reasons. Inbuilt wardrobes also reduce cost of wardrobe constructions.

Use of angle parking as opposed to 90 degrees parking also increases the number of vehicles that can park within a unit.

Roof pitch can also reduce the cost in that a less stepper pitch covers less surface area than a steeper pitch.
Lastly, the floor to ceiling height can be kept to a minimum of 2.4 meters. This will reduce the costs in that the quantities of materials used in construction of the extra walling will be reduced.

How to Manage a House Construction Project.

After you have your architectural design approved by the local authority, the next step is to commence construction work.
Careful selection of your building contractor is crucial. Invite several reputable building contractors to quote on the blank Bills of Quantities and give a specific return date for the quotes.
With the help of your architect, analyze the quotes in terms of previous similar works performance, time period to finish the contract and the pricing.

Construction contracts are available at the architectural association of Kenya offices, professional center, Nairobi .There is a provision for a performance bond to bond the contractor to carry out the works as specified and within a given time frame, failure to which he forfeits a specified amount of money, usually 5 % of the contract sum.

Once the building contractor finishes the contract, the architect inspects the works and if satisfied, he issues a practical completion certificate to certify that the works are practically complete and the owner can move in to the house. This document enables the building contractor to get back his performance bond from the bank.

The construction contract also specifies the amount to be retained from each payment, usually 10% of the contract sum. Once the contractor is through with the contract, half of the retained amount is paid to him and the other half is paid after 6 months-this period is known as the defects liability period. This retention will be used to rectify any damage that might occur after 6 months from taking possession of the house.

If defects occur after 6 months from possession of the house, the costs of repair should be undertaken by the owner of the house.
After the 6 month defects liability period, your architect checks if all the defects have been rectified such as leaking roofs, doors not closing properly e.t.c. If he is satisfied, he issues the contractor with a final certificate so the contractor can now be paid the remainder of the 10% retained amount.

The architect also inspects the construction works on a regular basis, usually every two weeks and holds a site meeting with the client, contractor and other consultants such as the Quantity Surveyor, Interior Designer, structural engineer, electrical engineer and mechanical engineer –building services.
These site meetings and inspections help to track the progress of the construction works from start to completion and are useful tools used to diagnose problems, come up with solutions and resolve disputes within the contract period.

If you are planning to build a house in Kenya, Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, this article will be very useful in giving you an insight as to how to go about in managing your project effectively.

Buying a new home: Checking out quality of finishes.

When buying your new house, finishes play a very crucial role to determine the value of the house. Your architect will be of great help in advising you on the most appropriate finish for a particular room.

Floor.

Floor finishes vary according to one’s taste, room use and budget.
In living rooms, the cheapest finish is cement plaster screed. This is cement plaster applied on top of the floor slab. It can be colored into different shades of red, green and blue.
Another cost-effective method is use of PVC tiles. These tiles can be arranged to a specific pattern and colors mixed to achieve a desired effect. They come in various thicknesses depending on the traffic that they will contain.
Ceramic tiles are also common in Kenya. These also come in various colors and textures. They are durable, easy to clean and cheap. These are fixed to the concrete floor slab using cement mortar.
Granito tiles are expensive and are mostly used in office floors and banking halls. They come in larger sizes 450mm by 450mm since they are designed to cover large floor spans.
Marble tiles are also in the range of granite tiles but more expensive. These are best suited in entrance porches or other highly visible areas.
Wood tiles are made of hardwood and are a very comfortable floor finish. They come on wood block, wood parquet or wood strips. They make the rooms feel warm and cosy. They are costly to purchase and should be avoided in wet areas.
Wood plastic laminate floor finish is a new floor finish that looks like wood strip finish. It’s much cheaper than wood. Care should be taken when this floor finish is being laid to leave expansion space at the edges to prevent it from bulging up during warm weather.
Mazeras tiles from Mombasa are good in creating the African concept. They are available in uncut natural shapes or cut rectangular shapes in Nairobi.

Wall.

For masonry wall, cement plaster is laid on the surfaces.
The surface is then painted with one undercoat and 3 coats of paint which can be gloss or emulsion. New surface finishes such as Crown Ruff n Tuff, stucco or wall master are available with a wide range of colors and textures.
Ukambani stone finish is also very aesthetically appealing especially around columns or entrance lobbies. A good example is at Kihingo Village in Kitusuru, Nairobi.

In wet areas such as kitchens or bathrooms, ceramic, granito or marble wall tiles are the best.
Wall paper is also a common wall finish in Kenya. This is available in various colors, textures and images.
Wood plastic laminate is also increasingly becoming a common wall finish especially in phone shops and banking halls.

Finishes are abundant and it remains the choice of the home owner to choose the best after shopping from several shops with the architect advising on costs and functionality.

Homes for Sale: Factors to consider before buying a home.

The most available units for sale in Nairobi, Kenya are usually 3 bed roomed houses. This is because home buyers usually have a long term plan envisioned to house a large family unit.With the onset of sectional properties act which allows people to buy individual units in an apartment, there are many apartment units for sale especially in the high income areas of Nairobi such as Kilimani, Hurlingham and Lavington.

Plinth area.
When buying a house, plinth area or floor area is very important. Compare floor area versus the cost of the house. The larger the floor area the better.

Other factors to consider are:

Foundation.
Check the type of foundation that your house rests on. The most common type of foundation in Nairobi is strip foundation .In areas with black cotton soil, all soil is excavated to prevent the soil expanding when the ground is wet thus cracking the ground floor slab.
In areas where the black cotton soil is over 1.5 meters deep, it’s cheaper to have a pile foundation whereby the soil is not excavated and columns are sunk till stable ground and the ground floor slab rests supported by the columns and beams.
In areas where the ground is unstable and the building is to go several stories high, e.g. Nakuru, raft foundation is utilized. This is a kind of foundation which has a slab resting on the excavated underground from there columns to support the other floors emerge.
Check whether the damp proof course is well laid. This damp proof membrane helps to prevent the ground floor slab from sucking wetness through capillary action. This wetness makes the inside of the room unusually cold and damp.

Walling.
Most walling in Nairobi is masonry stones from quarries in Njiru, Juja or Ngong. For external walls, check if the stones are 200mm thick. This is thick enough to prevent rain from seeping through the stone from the outside which can cause damage to the paint inside and cause dampness.
Ensure that the walls do not show signs of wetness where they rest on the ground floor slab. Also check for major cracks. If major cracks are visible, this shows that the foundation was not laid on firm ground so the self weight of the building has made the building lean on one side hence the cracks.
For the inside, check the quality of the paint work. In Kenya the paint is manufactured in 1st quality and second quality. Ask if its first quality.

Roof.
Check the roof trusses. For concrete and brick tiles which re heavy, trusses are spaces at 600mm centre to centre so as to be able to be strong enough to carry the heavy load. For concrete and brick tiles, the steeper the roof pitch angle, the better since this will prevent leaking.
For lighter roofs such as iron sheets or stone coated steel roofing sheets the spacing is wider-1.2 meters. For iron sheets, check the thickness of the sheets. Sheets come in various gaouges, 26 being the thickest, followed by 28, 30 and 32 the lightest. The light gauges don’t stay for long before vagaries of weather and rust takes a toll on them.