Selecting your House Plan room sizes.

House plans begin from a single roomed unit to a bedsitter to a 1 bedroomed,2 bed roomed, 3 bedroomed,to more complex plans as requested by a client .

Single rooms are usually a minimum of 3meters by 3 meters. This size is tied to the size of an average bed, 2meters by 1 meter. They are common among the low-income housing sector for rentals and around Universities and tertiary colleges which will need to house students.

These are not described in the current Building Code as residential units however, some councils in Kenya such as Nakuru Municipal council have passed bye-laws allowing for approval of these units.

Bedsitters are much larger; roughly 3meters by 5 meters and include a larger space which fits a small kitchenette and a living area.

One-bed roomed units consist of the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. They are usually at a minimum of 30 meters squared floor area. These and 2-bedroomed units are very common for rental units.

3 Bed roomed units and above are not common as rental units due to lack of demand. Another easer method of selecting these kinds of house plans is to search for house plans on the internet and then asking your architect to customize the plan to our area Building Code and Kenya Local Authority regulations.

The Kenyan Building Code describes minimum sizes and dimensions of habitable spaces. For bedrooms, the minimum dimensions are 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters. For Kitchens, the dimensions are 2 meters by 2.4 meters.
The minimum floor to ceiling height is described as 2.35meters for a habitable space.
Once all the minimum floor plan dimensions are met, the house plan is approvable by the local authority.

Your architect ensures that the house plan meets all the minimum requirements as set out in the Building Code and from here, you can describe to him any flamboyant shape as you may desire.

Budget control using House Design Types in Nairobi, Kenya.

It’s possible to achieve a great house design with a low budget. To achieve this, one must invest keenly on the architectural design.
A good example is Allan Donovan’s House in Kitengela which is designed with a West African concept in mind-flat roof with pigeon holes on the parapet wall.

See http://www.africanheritage.net/ for more images.
Another example is the Hacienda Eco City Development in Mombasa which is also coincidentally designed with a West African/Islamic architectural concept with a flat roof and pigeon holes on the parapet walling. See pictures on http://www.haciendakenya.com/gallery.htm
The presidential State Lodge in Sagana, Nyeri is also a magnificent piece of architecture that has utilized architectural design to achieve greatness without necessarily using very expensive materials. It’s a plain rectangular house with hipped roofs and low aluminum casement windows.
Technological uses also affect budget. New lighter roofing materials such as stone-coated steel roofing tiles save on the amount of timber trusses used to support the roof.
The choice of foundation type will also affect the costs. Estates such as Jericho in Eastlands area were built on a raft type of foundation which is very cheap to put up. The ground floor slab rests on small sized beams which are laid on top of the ground so no excavations and foundation walling is done.
On superstructure walling, within Nairobi area, masonry stone is readily available hence not expensive. A cost-effective way to achieve elegance is to have the stones hand-dressed to a pattern of your liking. Hand-dressed stones bring out character to your house and will save you in terms of maintenance since they virtually require no maintenance at all.
Prefabricated houses are slowly coming into the Kenyan market. These houses are the solution to affordable housing in the developed economies such as USA, China and Europe and it’s a matter of time till they find their niche in Kenya.
In conclusion, architectural design and use of appropriate technology can greatly reduce the cost of construction of your house.

How to Realize your Dream House Plan in Nairobi, Kenya.

House designs are powerful symbols that you can use to create a statement to the world on who you are. Buildings have a long lifespan and will continue communicating your statement to the world long after your departure. House designs are also a mark of self-actualization.

The initial step to realize your dream house plan is to contact an Architect. Explain to your architect how you want your house to look. You can search on the internet for similar house images and floor plans. This will inspire you to be able o explain to your architect exactly how you want to design your house.
You can also explain to your architect on what statement or symbol you may wish your house to communicate through design. At this stage, your budget will be important in that it will dictate the size of the house you will have.
Mortgage finance is available from Housing Finance, KCB Savings and Loan, Barclays, Equity Bank, Standard Chartered, Stanbic or any other financial institution in Kenya.
The architect will incorporate the design and symbols into a form and will work out functionality from here. Functionality involves how spaces relate to each other e.g. the kitchen should be near the dining room, the bedrooms should be located privately away from the living room, the construction of the structure should be structurally sound and in conformity to the Building Code and all laws governing construction of houses.

Through use of 3 dimensional graphic design software such as ArchiCAD, your architect should be able to present to you the house in 3 D graphic view for you to make your recommendations and changes. This process will continue till you are satisfied with the house design.
Your architect will print the house plan in A1 size format and make 4 copies of blueprint. He will submit the drawings to the relevant local Authority in Kenya, in Nairobi, the City Council.
The Council will go through the drawings to confirm if it conforms to the Kenya Building Code and thus habitable.
Once approvals are granted, usually after a few weeks, you can now move on to the next stage: Construction.

In this stage, you can have your Quantity Surveyor come up with Bills of Quantities, i.e. a breakdown of all the materials and quantities to be used in the house and an estimated cost of construction per item. With this blank document[without the price component], you can invite several building contractors to quote for the construction of the house.With the help of your architect and quantity surveyor, you can select the best in terms of past experience on similar construction and pricing.

After the selection, you then get into contract with the contractor and your architect supervises the contractors work to ensure that he conforms to the design and the agreed quality and workmanship.

Construction contracts in Kenya are available at the Architectural Association Of Kenya offices, Professional center, Nairobi, Kenya.
Once the contractor is through with construction as per the drawings, you can then move in to your dream house and live comfortably ever after.

Residential Land Prices in Nairobi,Kenya

Land for Sale in Nairobi, Kenya.
LAND FOR SALE IN NAIROBI CBD
Land is a very important non-renewable resource. The world’s population is increasing while the land surface remains constant hence creating a very high demand. This makes land one of the best investment portfolios since it will always appreciate over time as the population increases.
Nairobi CBD is expanding with the availability of plots for sale in Muthurwa area–

From

Many people often get confused while trying to acquire land on where to build their dream houses in Kenya.
Land for construction of residential houses is essential. If you are in Nairobi, there are various areas you can choose to settle depending on your budget.
An acre of land in the high-end areas such as Karen and Runda will cost an average of Kenya shillings 8 million. In these areas, the minimum size of the land has been kept to half an acre by the Nairobi City Council so as to maintain the prestige and ambiance. In Kahawa Sukari, the minimum area is a quarter of an acre for a single house.
The City Council also specifies the number of family dwellings in such areas so you can only have one family dwelling per half an acre.

Recently, with the onset of the Sectional Properties Act, areas around Nairobi CBD such as Upperhill, Kilimani and Lavington have seen an increase in the number of high-rise flats and condominiums. This is due to the fact that this new law enables one to own a title to a section of the building e.g. you can now hold a title deed to a 4th floor apartment. Developers have cashed in on this by developing apartments and flats and selling each unit to individual owners.

Land in Middle income areas such as Ngong, Kitengela, Ruiru, Kahawa Sukari, Githurai, Kiambu, Kikuyu, Tassia, Njiru, Ruai, Ruaka, Kasarani, Mwiki, Thika can be subdivided into much smaller pieces.
There are quarters, measuring 100 feet by 100 feet, eighths measuring 50 feet by 100 feet and other smaller plot sizes measuring 40 by 80 feet.
Here plot prices vary from the proximity of the main road. Commercial plots cost anywhere between 2 to 4 million per eighth of an acre.This means a commercial use acre of land in such an area costs between 2×8=16million to 4×8=32million.

A residential piece of land of an eighth of an acre size in Tassia, Kikuyu, Athi River, and Syokimau costs an average of Kenya Shillings 1 million. This means an acre in this area costs 1×8=8million which is the same price as an acre of land in Runda and Karen .
From this you can deduce that land gets more expensive when subdivided into much smaller pieces.

Land in areas such as Isinya, Juja and Ruai which are far from Nairobi CBD and generally dry is cheaper. An acre of Land in Juja or Isinya can cost a low of Kenya shillings 300,000.
Land in other major towns such as Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nyeri, Nyahururu, Naivasha, Bungoma is far much cheaper since demand is lower with residential land costing a low of Kenya shillings 200,000 per acre.

So clearly, the choices are all available depending on your budget so search for a reputable Land Agent in Kenya from the internet and place an order.

Click here to view land for sale in Nairobi.

Frank Gichuhi
Architect,
http://www.a4architect.com