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Building at home from abroad

Know what the house should cost before you send a shilling, send it a stage at a time, and see who was paid, for what, with photos of the work.

Price a house The build pass

What a house costs

HouseFloor areaKES
2-bedroom bungalow75 m² 2,062,353
3-bedroom bungalow101 m² 2,673,750

Standard finish, built straight through, from the rates that price every bill on JengaCost. Your county, plot and design change it: price the house you want.

Why houses built from abroad go over

  • No priced bill, so there is nothing to check a request for money against.
  • Money sent in lumps, not matched to what the stage needs.
  • Materials bought twice, or not at all, with nobody counting.
  • Progress you only hear about, and see on the visit home.

How it works

1. A priced bill first
Choose or design the house and get a bill of quantities at your county's rates: every item, every stage, before anyone asks for money.
2. Send it a stage at a time
The bill splits into the stages a house is paid in: foundations, walling, roof, openings, finishes. Plan them against what you can send each month.
3. Every payment logged
Log each payment to a fundi or supplier against its stage. You see what's spent, what's left and whether a stage is over budget, as it happens.
4. See the work
Photos of each stage, and a private progress link to share with family or your bank. The materials bought are counted against what the house needs.

The build pass

KES 3,500
once, for 90 days
  • Everything Pro gives, for 90 days
  • The full bill, materials schedule and stage plan for your house
  • Track the whole build: every payment, every stage, photos
  • A progress link for family or your bank
Start free, then get the pass
Pricing a house is free. You only need the pass to track the build.

Questions people ask

Who logs the payments?

You do, as you send the money: it takes a minute on a phone. Your relative or fundi sends you the receipts and photos. Anyone you give the progress link to can see the build but change nothing.

Does this replace a quantity surveyor or site visits?

No. It tells you what the house should cost and keeps the record of what it has cost. Someone you trust still needs to see the work, and for a large build a registered QS and engineer are worth paying. Find them through JengaCost.

How close are the estimates?

Every finished build is asked what it actually cost, and the answers are published here as they come in.

What isn't in the price?

The land, professional fees, water and power connections, and furniture. The bill says so.