Building or owning a house has and still continues to be the ultimate goal of every person on earth. The pride that comes with owning your own bungalow, passionate, or apartment cannot be compared to anything else. In fact, once you own a house, you are set free from the handcuffs of paying monthly rent which is a great source of stress for most people in the whole world.

We as YOURHEALTHCARE.co.ke cannot afford not to mention that social and economic stress are among the factors that greatly contribute to some infections or conditions such as heart attack, high blood pressure just to mention a few. 

However, constructing a house is not a walk in the park since it involves a lot of ups and down right from purchasing land to buying building materials and starting the construction which encompasses huge labor costs.

Almost all the time if the owner is not keen, the foreman is given the task to quote the prices of materials needed and this ends up sore. The quotation can become so huge that you might reconsider the idea of building the house. But how can you reduce or minimize these costs that come with weird quotations? Below are the steps that can help you navigate through without much financial stress

1. If you happen to come from a village blessed with big Trees, buy the big logs and look for a qualified power sow man, give him the quotable amount of timber to produce for you with between 7-10bob per ft for all category of timbers required by the fundi.

Buying timber from the Yard is almost twice expensive than this.

2. If your village has good muddy soil make yourself bricks, hire the experts at mass production of say 10,000pcs I.e at 25K-30K there.

3. Don't use fundi(foreman/contractor) to budget your everything, those guys are too dangerous in the manipulation of costs, they'll make your life difficult and even run broke over just a cheap house worth 1.3M.

4. Walk to a registered hardware and window shop all materials first before you put in cash.

5. Did you know that the full piece of window glass #Oneway quality type is 9500/= rather than going with the Fundi quotation that will cost you 4-5K extra in cutting it at the shop?

5. If you're in town, the cost of land is too expensive but now to compensate this damage, order your material with the supplier, they'll deliver it freely and with a wholesale price, so make sure you buy almost everything in a single purchase to avoid double costs.

6. Many people go for Quantifying, well it's required by NCA but understand there are cheaper ones doing the same thing.

7.If you want to build while outside country or far from the construction site, understand your project might not be supervised honestly so kindly trust one person with your cash to be able to trace the exact cost of the project.

8. For those who may use the current smartest building stones, they never cost above $0.3  (30 bob) unless the cost of transport included which I think should be part of the $03 (30 bob).

9. Those in rural areas, the cost of labor is too cheap compared to costs in town, they can save up to 50K labor costs so stop inflationary house costs.

10. Ordinary Steel doors don't cost more than 8K, windows don't go beyond 3-5k, in fact, you rather shop for ready-made than quantity with welders who'll keep on dodging you from Monday to Monday.

What else do you need to know?: 

Although construction is a capital intensive venture that can leave you penniless, here are a few innovative tips and tricks to help you cut your home building costs without compromising quality.

1.) Size of your house –:

The size of a home greatly matters when it comes to construction costs. Carefully examine the needs of your family and choose a home that meets those needs.

A small house may seem expensive when you compare costs per square foot. However, this house is more affordable to build and maintain compared to a larger house.

When measuring the sizes always stick to even numbers to help reduce wastage of resources. In addition, consider reducing the number and size of windows as this can help lower the cost of building a house.

2.) Ordinary floor plans-:

Floor plans usually determine the simplicity or complexity of a house construction project. The more complex a floor plan the more expensive is the project.

Choosing a simple house plan can greatly lower your construction costs as you will not be required to employ additional workers and machines for curved walls. This also means you will use construction materials more efficiently since your structure has fewer angles.