Hello Wazuans, a friend and colleague of mine recently finished a personal house he was constructing in Thailand...he was kind enough to share his pictures with me and I'm too sharing them with my Wazua family. Look at the way way they construct their foundations. They use anchor points and use concrete panels for the second floor and top it up with a few inches of ballast. I think the foundation system can be very useful and cost saving on clay soil. @A4architect, what do you think of those systems - do we have that kind of const. method in Kenya? Enjoy the pictures! The site Na kupima Kuchimba foundation posts After finishing all the foundation posts/anchors, they place chumas to form the base and pour koroga Then they bring just regular soil and fill it up Now, here are the concrete panels I was talking about. Then they pour a few inches of koroga over that Then they start roofing using aluminum or steel - I like this instead of mbao Then the walling begins Then the plastering begins Up goes the ceiling framing Then the tiling begins Painting begins And the final product = Amazing. Well done Mr. Fries, well done. I can't wait to visit Okay folks, that's it! The guy did a wonderful and commendable work

Nice

@pennystocker. Here we mainly use British standards as opposed to Chinese/American standards . Chinese/American standards have slowly began penetrating Kenya. The extension to Karen Galleria is being constructed using Pre Engineered Building methods which are hinged on Chinese/American standards. This is a suspended foundation. We use it here in Kenya mostly where black cotton soil is too deep for excavation. Strip foundation commonly used here in Kenya is cheaper if soil/ground conditions allow. Looks like in Thailand there are no natural masonry stones , hence use of more expensive reinforced concrete . The collumns are the ones carrying the buildign/roof weight . In Kenya, most buildings this size, i.e Ground plus 1 level, use masonry stone walling to bear the weight which is cheaper compared to reinforced concrete. The 1st floor slab is made of suspended floor slab panels. These save 10 to 15% of slab costs and are becoming common in Nairobi and supplied here http://www.rifloindustri.../?riflo=spendedfloorroof In summary, construction technology is mostly determined by the location/available material.

Wow!! I'm very much impressed by this.... @a4architect, will give you a call one of these fine days we have a chat...wacha nimalize approvals.

The duration time is my question too as it is an impressive product without first looking into the costs. As it is so well explained, the location [soils et al] and material availability would be the major issue to go that way, but a good concept top keep in mind.