Month: October 2015

The need for habitable space is ever increasing as the population keeps growing. Demand for land has also increased exponentially as the population increases, leading to very high land buying costs. The influx of international land buyers into Kenya has not made it easier, hence very high land appreciation especially around Nairobi.

Solution.

Leasing land as opposed to buying it is a good method of enabling access to our housing needs. Space needs such as for office use, gym, residential usage can all be solved using prefabricated housing.

Steel prefabricated housing is easily demountable after the lease is over, hence more superior than cement board prefabricated housing, which is somehow permanent.

Steel Prefab.

 

Cement board prefab.

 

Steel prefab construction methods, on top of being lower in cost, have the added advantage of ease of being dismantled and transported to a different location once the lease is over.

Standard lease period.

The average lease period in Kenya is 5 years and 3 months, which is very sufficient to enable anyone to use their leased land for residential or business purposes profitably.

The beauty of leased land constructing is that there is always more land available to lease once the existing lease expires.

Kenya Land Laws.

Kenyan land laws are such that its easy for land owners to profit from speculation, thereby encouraging alot of land being held idle , which in turn leads to a high demand for land which eventually resorts to high land values. This means, for Kenyans to access land profitably for residential and business use, buying it at the high prices means that they outprice themselves in the market since the cost will be pushed towards the sale products hence out pricing themselves from the market. A good solution to this is leasing the land at low prices then constructing using steel prefabricated technology method so as to enable them to be profitable.

Steel Prefab sales.

Steel prefabricated housing is available for sale at www.a4architect.com. For sale inquiries, email info@a4architect.com.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, B.Arch. U.o.N.

0721410684

Prefabricated housing can be used as an extra additional office space or bedsitter and placed within an existing compound. This can be rented out for extra income or used when a family unit increases in size.

 

Shipping containers vs Prefabs.

Current options for such additional spaces in Kenya are from use of shipping containers. These usually have a disadvantage in that they are more costly since additional cost to insulate their inside , cut windows and doors and hire forklifts and trailers to transport them push their costs to around kes 400,000 for a 20 ft container.

There is also the additional risk to health since most of the used shipping containers get decommissioned after transporting harmful substances and chemicals.

A slightly larger prefab house compare to the 20 ft container costs approx. kes 350,000. This is well insulated from vagaries of weather through the steel sandwich roof and wall panels.

 

Bedsitter/Office room prefab portability.

 

The prefab room , at a cost of kes 350,000 has the added benefit of being easily dismantled and moved to another location. This is especially beneficial for those who want to increase liveable space within leased or rented properties.

With such a unit, someone can simply rent or lease space in their desired neighbourhood and set up the room to be used as office, bedsitter or store, depending on their space requirement.

With the ever increasing cost of land in Kenya, such an option will enable people to save alot as opposed to buying expensive land since lease/rent of vacant land is quite low compared to sale price. For example, an acre of land in Karen is approximately kes 60 million. The same acre rents for kes 100,000 or less per month, hence much more profitable to rent/lease the land than to buy.

For purchase inquiries of steel prefab houses, contact info@a4architect.com.

Arch. Francis Gichuhi Kamau,

0721410684.

Prefab houses available in Kenya are mainly in the steel sandwich panels or cement board sandwich panels.

Cement board sandwich panels cost much higher hence suitable for high cost housing. Steel sandwich panels cost much lower hence suitable for middle cost housing.

Estates such as Greenspan in Athi River have been constructed using cement sandwich prefab panels.

Steel Sandwich panels.

These have an advantage over cement panels in that they are lower in cost and they are also easily dismounted and moved to a different location if need be.

Cement sandwich prefabs.

 

Steel Sandwich prefab.

 

Steel prefab panels are made using high quality galvanized steel, with a minimum of Gauge 28 Thickness, which has a lifespan of over 20 years and for construction in Nairobi where its far from the salty humid coastal weather, the steel can last a lifetime.

In terms of security, the steel panels are joint to the steel frame using bolts, hence providing a rigid secure frame which is not easy to break into.

 

Compared to the normal stone house types, the security features are more or less the same, considering that in normal stone  houses, the roof and ceilings are easily accessible to intruders by removing the roof cover material. In steel prefab housing, the bolting of the wall and roof panels to the structure gives it an extra security feature.

Availability.

Steel prefab houses are available for sale at www.a4architect.com. Any designs depending on the buyer’s requests can be done then the whole house shipped from China to the site in panels and steel support structures. These panels can then be joint together at the site to form the house.

For enquiries into purchasing steel prefab houses, contact info@a4architect.com, tel. 0721410684.

 

Arch. Francis Gichuhi Kamau,

B.Arch. U.o.N. M.A.A.K[A]