Ok, thanx for the advice you've all given me. Anyone who knows where i can get a draughts-man?

Is it true that those guys at the council's planning department can draw house plans for you?

The service they will give you i.e outline proposal is worth 1% of the total estimated cost http://www.a4architect.com/about-us/fees-breakdown/
Its therefore a psychological assumption that the design is cheaper using them since if you approach any independent architect and demand for the same level of service, they will give it to you at the same price or even cheaper.
The same council guys will still look for the independent registered architect for his signature which they pay so with the independent architect, he can offer the service at this outline proposal level at a lesser cost since he does not need to pay any other third party for signatures.
Assuming a house costs 2m to construct, 1% of this is 20k.The council guy will charge you this plus another say 10 k on top for the architect's signature while the architect will charge you only the 20k for the same level of service.

[quote=bigbossman][quote=a4architect.com]The service they will give you i.e outline proposal is worth 1% of the total estimated cost http://www.a4architect.com/about-us/fees-breakdown/
Its therefore a psychological assumption that the design is cheaper using them since if you approach any independent architect and demand for the same level of service, they will give it to you at the same price or even cheaper.
The same council guys will still look for the independent registered architect for his signature which they pay so with the independent architect, he can offer the service at this outline proposal level at a lesser cost since he does not need to pay any other third party for signatures.
Assuming a house costs 2m to construct, 1% of this is 20k.The council guy will charge you this plus another say 10 k on top for the architect's signature while the architect will charge you only the 20k for the same level of service.
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What's an outline proposal? From your link it doesn't seem to include the actual drawings and going by that it means the council guys will not produce the drawings for you. Some of us are on a tight budget and plan to build our houses in phases and we only want a proper architectural house plan and approval. The actual building of the simple house can be done by a local fundi. Say i was planning to build a 3 bedroomed house that's between 1500 and 2000 square feets, how much would the drawing cost? If you could also give me a rough estimate of what i would be expected to cough up as cost of approval for the 1500-2000 fts.sq simple house i'd be very much delighted.
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A lot of residential houses in Kenya are built by local fundis. Some do a great job but others just get it wrong. I am familiar with houses that start developing cracks on the walls less than a year after completion. Big projects are supervised by architects but maybe there should be an association of fundis that can set standards and accredit good reputable fundis. This can give the kawaida mawananchi on a tight budget who is looking to build his house confidence and peace of mind

[quote=josiah33]Is it true that those guys at the council's planning department can draw house plans for you?[/quote]
Most of those guys you meet in approval sections in most councils are planners not architect or engineers whose training has nothing to do with designing of a house but physical resources utilization and allocation. but mostly they will get you somebodys plans

thats why the operate in such a rigid manner