You don't have to be condescending about it, the mere fact that i asked here shows that i am willing to be advised btw save for KCB, all the other lenders you have mentioned have been adversely mentioned in Wazaua....any others??

@jaggernaut, looks like the guy is selling the initial scheme design part which i would value for say 0.2% of cost of construction. For a kes1m house, this will be kes 2k.
Buyers will still have to go through part of scheme design to alter the designs to fit their taste and budget, then go through the council stage then go through the supervision stage which if all these are added up together, still come to the cost of retaining an architect from initial design to completion.

In usa and europe, there are numerous online architectural plan sellers carrying out the same business but with regulations to follow the building code.

@nakujua
assuming all you want are the drawings till approval level, this works out at 2.5% of estimated cost eg if its 1m, this is 25k.

In architectural design, most clients are usually seeking aesthetics and cost control. In aesthetics, the design then becomes unique and transfroms into a work of art. This requires time and resources to achieve hence not possible through pre set house plans.

In cost control, again this requires time and resources to study materials,building technology, analyse the pros and cons so as to allow the client to make decision eg type of window, size of window, type of roof, pitch of roof,doors, type of foundation,type of wall finishes etc etc.Each type of material and building technology comes with its own costs so a client can choose to have eg expensive roof with cheaper internal wall finishes,low cost foundation with expensive windows etc etc depending on their taste and budget.This tends to be specific and not easily packaged into mass production hence need for full time consultancy from design to supervision for clients who have specific budget and aesthetic targets.
For those with no particular budget and design constrains, numerous online designs are available in the internet.

Good!also waiting for the reply.

On the septic tank issue, I am starting on putting up a house somewhere on kangundo road and I asked a 'foreman' (that's what he called himself) for a quote ya septic tank, which I was intending to start with - but he shocked me when he told me a good septic tank will cost me between 500k - 800k.

The same quoted a figure of around 400k for the house foundation, anyway I will start na nyumba kwanza, I will worry about the septic latter.

To those in the know, I was told kuna ndarugu ngumu na soft with a quote of around ksh 16 for the soft and ksh 44 for the hard - can anyone confirm. please.

@A4

As always thanks! Now it seems like I have to go back to the structural engineer. I was trying hard to minimize his costs

FYI I was given a quotation of about 200 k for a septic tank with a soak pit (sp). It is to serve about 15 no 2 BR units.

structural engineers who do numerous concrete strength cube tests can update us on this i.e whether these new cement brands are within the tests for the same mix as Bamburi. On paper, they are all 32.5kn/mm2 strength and i hope KBS usually does regular testing to prove that whats specified on the cement package is actually what's being sold. Private structural engineers and KBS should be in a position to clarify this.

@nakujua, black cotton soil affects the slab by expanding and contracting hence cracking the slab.
There will be no effect if you only excavate and back fill the trenches since the effect is only felt mostly at the centre of the slab.

Hope you do not mind if I engage you further on this, if black cotton soil only affects the slab (not sure, but I am assuming a house load is borne by the foundation not the slab) - would there be any consequences apart from the slab cracking, to a house sitting on a non excavated black cotton soil lot. (also assuming its not suspended)

sawa, thanks.
the other day some fundi was trying to talk me into it but I brought along the architect who insisted on going the excavation / filling route since the depth of the cotton soil is around 2 feet.

I am just trying to get my head around the whole concept, if you keep the foundation plus the walls away from the black cotton soil, the only point of contact between the cotton soil and the walls would be the slab - would reinforcing the slab with some steel then prevent it from being moved by the soil underneath.