What we build
Building a bungalow in Kenya
A bungalow is everything on one level. It is the most common house built in Kenya and usually the cheapest way to get a given number of bedrooms, because there is no staircase, no suspended slab and no second scaffold.
Why most people start here
A single storey house spreads the same rooms over more ground, so it needs a bigger footprint and a bigger roof. That sounds expensive until you price the alternative. A first floor needs a suspended concrete slab, a staircase, taller scaffolding and more structural steel, and those four items usually cost more than the extra foundation and roof of a bungalow.
It is also the easier house to live in later. No stairs matters more than people expect, both for older parents and for anyone carrying a child or a water jerrican.
- Cheaper per square metre than the same rooms stacked
- Faster to build, because there is no waiting for a slab to cure
- Easier to extend sideways when the family or the budget grows
- Needs more plot, which is the main reason people go up instead
What decides the price
Size is the obvious one, but shape matters nearly as much. A simple rectangle is cheaper per square metre than an L or a U, because every corner is another setting out, another lintel and another length of roof edge.
The next biggest item is the ground. Around Nanyuki you can move from murram to black cotton soil within one plot, and a foundation designed for the wrong one is the most expensive mistake available. A soil test costs a fraction of what a cracked house costs to put right.
How long it takes
Drawings and county approval usually take two to three months before anyone breaks ground. Construction of a normal three bedroom bungalow runs six to nine months, longer if the rains catch the roof stage. We give you a programme with the contract and you can hold us to it.
Questions we get asked
- How much does it cost to build a 3 bedroom bungalow in Kenya?
- For a standard finish, budget roughly KES 5.5M to KES 10M all in for a 110 to 140 square metre three bedroom bungalow. That figure covers the house, the drawings, county approval, water storage and a septic system. It does not cover the land, a borehole, a boundary wall or furniture.
- Is a bungalow cheaper than a maisonette?
- Per square metre, yes, usually by about eight to twelve percent. A maisonette becomes the better value when your plot is small or the view is upstairs, because you are buying floor area you could not otherwise fit.
- What size plot do I need for a three bedroom bungalow?
- An eighth of an acre is enough if you accept a compact layout and modest setbacks. A quarter acre is comfortable and leaves room for parking, a DSQ and a garden.
Also worth reading
Maisonettes
A maisonette is a house on two or three floors with its own entrance. It is what people build when the plot is small, when the view is worth reaching for, or when they simply want the bedrooms separate from the living space.
Farmhouses and country homes
Building on land is a different job from building in town. There is usually no mains water, often no power at the boundary, and the access road decides half your logistics. It is also the most rewarding kind of house to build, because the site actually gets to shape the design.
Planning a bungalow?
Tell us the plot and roughly what you have in mind. We will come and look, then give you an itemised figure and a programme.