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Cost to own: 2-bedroom A-frame cottage

What a house costs over its life: the build, then every repaint and replacement as it falls due, priced from the house's own bill, and your running bills. How this works

All in today's prices. A discount rate of 0 simply adds them up; set your own to value money later at less than money now.
To build, with plot works
KES 3,780,566
Repaints and replacements
KES 262,896
4 jobs over 30 years
Running bills
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Enter your monthly bills above
Cost to own over 30 years
KES 4,043,462
7% more than the build
Not in the figure, because there is no published interval or no rate yet: Windows, Taps and cistern fittings, Septic tank desludging. The figure is a floor until these are known.

What falls due, year by year

YearJobCost today
10Repaint inside walls (261 m²)KES 83,648
20Replace fascia and guttersKES 35,600
Repaint inside walls (261 m²)KES 83,648
Replace internal doorsKES 60,000

How long each part lasts, and why we think so

PartEach timeEvery (years)Source
Inside walls (261 m²) KES 83,648 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): interior paint 10-15 years
Roof covering: box profile sheets, 30 gauge KES 225,515 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): metal roofing 40-80 years
The chart's metal roofs are heavier than 30-gauge sheet. Mabati Rolling Mills gives a 5-15 year fade-free warranty on colour, depending on the paint system.
Fascia and gutters KES 35,600 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): galvanised steel gutters and downspouts 20 years
The bill line includes the fascia board.
Internal doors KES 60,000 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): interior hollow-core wood doors 20-30 years
External steel doors KES 44,000 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): fire-rated steel exterior doors 100+ years
Windows KES 147,200 Not on InterNACHI's chart: it lists no steel windows (aluminium 15-20 years).
Floor tiling KES 42,120 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): ceramic tile 75-100 years
Ceilings KES 97,200 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): gypsum 75 years
Electrical points and fittings KES 50,400 foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): light fixtures 40 years
Priced as the whole bill line for each point: wiring, accessory and fitting.
Taps and cistern fittings no rate yet foreign table InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes (US; lower end of the range used): faucets 15-20 years; toilet tank components 5 years
No rate yet for taps or cistern fittings on their own, so the cost is not in the figure.
Septic tank desludging no rate yet No published desludging interval found.

The cost of each job is the house's own bill line at today's Nairobi rates. No Kenyan table of component lives was found, so lives come from manufacturers' warranties where they exist and otherwise from an American inspectors' chart, lower end of each range. Change any interval to your fundi's or QS's figure.

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