Why is the earthwork quote larger than the house quote?

On a steep Kitisuru plot that is not unusual and it is not padding. Retaining walls, cut-and-fill and slope stabilisation are substantial engineered structures in their own right. The saving grace is that they are largely a one-off, the house on top costs what it would anywhere.

Can a ready-mix truck reach our plot?

We survey gradient and turning before committing. Where it cannot, concrete is pumped, which is a real and predictable cost. What is not acceptable is discovering it on pour day, which is how sites end up hand-mixing structural concrete.

Building a House in Kitisuru, Nairobi

We cover Kitisuru including New Kitisuru, Lower Kabete, Kyuna, Loresho, Loresho Ridge, Spring Valley, Thigiri. Off Lower Kabete Road and Peponi Road. Driveway gradient and turning are surveyed before any heavy vehicle is committed to the site.

What is different about building in Kitisuru

Kitisuru's valley-side plots need retaining structures and cut-and-fill before a house is even set out, and that earthwork frequently exceeds the superstructure cost.
Steep private driveways in New Kitisuru limit ready-mix access, so pours are pumped and have to be priced that way from the start.
Ridge plots at Loresho Ridge need slope stability assessed as part of the structural design rather than assumed from the neighbouring plot.

Building in Kitisuru

Kitisuru is defined by its topography, and on the steeper plots the ground is the project. The house is comparatively straightforward; getting a stable, level, accessible platform to put it on is where the engineering and much of the money sit.

Earthwork first

Valley-side plots need cut-and-fill and retaining structures before setting out can begin. On the steepest sites that earthwork genuinely can exceed the cost of the superstructure: retaining walls are engineered structures, not landscaping.

Clients are frequently shocked by this, and the shock is worse when it arrives as a variation. We price earthwork from a proper survey before anything else is quoted, so the number is known at the point the plot is still a choice.

Slope stability is designed, not assumed

Ridge and valley plots need slope stability assessed as part of the structural design. What the neighbouring plot did is not evidence: conditions change over short distances here, particularly where previous cut has already altered the profile.

Access decides how concrete arrives

Steep, tightly turned private driveways frequently defeat a ready-mix truck. Where that is the case, concrete is pumped, and that is a predictable cost we survey for and price up front.

What must never happen is discovering it on pour day. That is how sites end up hand-mixing structural concrete on a slope, which is exactly the situation where the concrete most needs to be right.

What we are usually called out for in Kitisuru

Custom home building Ground-up houses built against a priced bill of quantities, with staged payments and a defects period. Maisonette construction Two-storey homes: more house on less ground, and an honest account of the premium. Project management and QS BQ preparation, tender comparison, milestone valuations and variation control: including on builds we are not constructing. Bungalow construction Single-storey homes: the cheapest way per square metre to build well in Kenya, and why.

Landmarks we work around here: Lower Kabete Road, Peponi Road, Loresho shopping centre, Kitisuru Ridge. See what it costs to build.