IDEA MAGAZINE September-November 2015 | Page 9

WHAT IT TAKES TO CONSTRUCT A HOME IN KENYA WHEN YOU ARE FROM THE DIASPORA There is nothing as satisfying and fulfilling as owning your own dream home. However, the process of building one’s own home or building real estate for rent or sale is often a nightmare. In this article, a summary of the construction process will be outlaid. 1. Acquiring of Land. Acquisition of Land is the first step in construction. Critical aspects in choosing land are location, soil type, terrain, proximity to amenities among others. 2. Apply for change of user. This is done to enable the desired development to be undertaken, depending on what the client intends to do, be it; institutional, industrial, commercial or residential. 3. Site visit by the Architect. A site visit is made by the architect to ascertain on certain site conditions like: Site terrain  Soil Profile  Orientation of the sun  Prevailing wind direction  Infrastructure systems like; Sewer disposal system, roads infrastructure, water connections, electricity 4. Brief development. At this stage the client will paint out to the Architect his / her vision. At this stage is where the client also advices on their intended budget, to allow the design to take place within the budget. 5. Design proposal. This is a consultative process between the person that wants to build and the architect. At this stage the dream painted by the person who wants to build is made to a design reality. This also at this stage that the other consultants are involved namely;  Structural Engineer  Quantity surveyor  Mechanical & Electrical Engineer. 6. Presentation of the final Design to the client. The final design is presented to the client for signing off. 7. Submission of the Drawings for approvals. The drawings are submitted to the respective local county authorities to seek for construction approval. IDEA DIASPORA 8 8. Tendering Process. Tendering is basically competing to give the lowest (but most realistic) price to actualize the construction. The tenderers also specify how long they will take to execute the works. 9. Tender Award and Ground breaking. Once the most suitable contractor has been identified he/ she is awarded the job and proceeds on for a ground breaking ceremony. 10. Construction process. The Contractor takes possession of the site and proceeds with the construction which can be summarized in the following stages  Setting out  Foundation  Slab casting  Walling  Roofing  Internal finishes  External finishes  External work. 11. As built drawings / Occupation certificate Once the works are complete the client is furnished with As built drawings, the occupation certificate and the buildings keys at a small site handover ceremony attended by all those who were involved. This report was written by Roy Mike Maina who is a Director at Wanda Synergy Limited an architectural firm based in Kenya. His core focus is providing House/Building plans and construction solutions to Kenyans living in the Diaspora Contacts: - [email protected] www.wandasynergy.com https://www.facebook.com/wandasynergyltd