Prefabs open doors for more affordable housing

Prefabs eliminate the need for a contractor to be stationed at the site. Furthermore, it reduces pilferage which is common among construction workers which ends up raising the overall cost of construction.

According to Mr Gichuru, all that one needs to do is to provide the particulars of the house to be constructed and a list of all prefab walling panels will be prepared.

Building code

Once the prefabs are done, the prospective home owner will be asked to prepare the house foundation.

After the foundation is done, a technical team will be assigned to put up the house as per the specifications.

After construction of the walls and roofing, the owner can then proceed to do the interior décor and settings according to their taste.

Prefabs can be used in putting up even storeyed houses, as long as the right foundation is prepared and support pillars installed.

The new construction technology comes at a time when the government is planning to bring changes to the country’s building code.

A task force recently formed to suggest changes to the building code has submitted its recommendations to the Prime Minister’s office.

Some of the archaic building codes blamed for slowing down the building and construction industry includes the issue of minimum wall thickness, the type of construction material to be used and a limit on size of storey buildings.

The government has set a minimum wall thickness size of 150 mm, limited the use of walling material to building stones and put a cap on storey residential houses to three floors.

Real estate experts have questioned the usefulness of these regulations citing them as major factor constraining the supply side and subsequently leading to high prices as demand for houses keeps rising.

“We need to change the country’s building regulation code to allow the use of locally available materials such as prefabricated walling materials and stabilising blocks to reduce the cost of development which will bring down the final prices,” said Mr Reginald Okumu of Ark Consultants.

Mr Okumu, while appreciating the expected changes to the code, says that rapid improvement of technology and development of new and innovative construction materials will soon make the new code outdated.

According to Mr Okumu, what the government should do is to provide a basic framework and leave the industry to self regulate itself.