@litro,
In any civilised society, laws are developed to ensure there is order in the construction industry. Arch, qs and eng are the main ensurers of consumer protection.

@mukiri,
@pennystocker has not publicly solicited people to offer them construction consultancy services as TMC has done.
Consultations are important to avoid risk to general public eg buildings collapse, cracking, over/under budget/unnecessary litigation.
We all see buildings collapse.
I usually get clients asking me to resolve issues where they purchase houses then serious cracks appear.etc etc


@tom boy,

This is the advice that am already giving. Remember its your money so you can still risk it and go ahead. There is a reason all civilized society regulates construction by saying only an arch/eng/qs can give quality assurance and not TMC.
In TMC website, i see no mention of any arch/eng/qs. Its complete breaking of construction law as spelt out in Kenya and the rest of the world. This law is meant to protect you the consumer.

@tokyo.
There are laws to be followed for any company to employ registered professionals to give service to the public. For example, the company must give full disclosure to BORAQS, AAK eg Kenya Airport Authority, Kenya Railways etc but not companies in the size of TMC.

For example, can @tokyo wake up one day and employ a registered architect then start to solicit for business? No.
There are laws to govern such a process.
There are certain issues regarding professional responsibility etc to be followed.
You can still use TMC since eventually its your money at risk but legally speaking TMC will have broken the law by misrepresenting you into procuring illegal services.

@Tito44.

Well said. I have absolutely no interest at all and my clientele is not same as TMC.
Sometimes its good to stand by what is right no matter how unpopular it is.
My concern is that TMC can easily get away with sugar coating info to unsuspecting Kenyans and not only get away with it, but still get support from the same people and still charge them even higher.

@tom boy.
Maybe am poor in getting my point across but sooner or later you will realise what am saying. The people who put up construction laws in Kenya and the rest of the civilised world could not have been wrong.

It feels like the advice a parent gives to a truant teen who thinks that discos and drugs are important. It requires alot of patience for the parent till the day the teen will mature and see the importance of the advice.

Let me be very clear again.The low/middle class individual home owner clientele is less than 10% of average architect customers so its not about competition with TMC who is targeting this market.

There is only one way to reduce cost of construction in Kenya/world, through research/knowledge/skill in construction methodology.

Arch/eng/qs have no monopoly over this but due to their work, tend to accumulate such info which helps reduce costs.
TMC is not using any such info to reduce costs. In fact, their costs are higher than normal, at 27 to 28k per m2.

If there were no laws to regulate this, i would have no beef with them since its a willing buyer willing seller market.

In the thinking that someone is saving, they are actually spending more .27 to 28k per m2 is not a small amount .

I have supervised constructions with costs as low as between kes 15 to kes 20k per m2 within the last 1 year for low/middle class finishes.

Looks like Kenya is quite lenient in enforcing laws since in developed countries, the law would have been implemented to the letter.
I cant employ a doctor then ask the doctor to give services to the public as a business model eg Buruburu doc.

@a4a, We appreciate your professional input in your posts. Your blog is a testament that you are one professional who shares info freely. Congrats. However, not all consultants are noble. Evey building that has collapsed in Nbi has had the list of all the consultants listed on those boards erected on the construction sites and that did not prevent the buildings from collapsing.

Yenyewe kisungu alikuja kwa meli! Let me repeat slowly

1. Did @Pennystocker consult a professional when making his building? Please show us on which post he consulted (I hope this is understandable)

2. Which consultant supervises what, and at what stage? Second, If building is 15-20 KES per M2(Your post #41) and supervision is 17 KES per M2(Your post #42) How does that translate to a saving.. Doesn't it push the cost of construction from 15 to 32?

3. In your (very) summarized procedure, I didn't see anywhere where approvals are sought? Neither did I see the procedure from the architect to the other professionals? Nor did I see how their fees are calculated? (Im sure you are a very busy man, but if you've decided to assist people, do so fully)

a4architect.com, from where did you get the information that tmc do not use architects/qs/qualified professionals etc in their buildings? my understanding is that there are four parties to this: 1) tmc 2) client 3) the mortgage provider (some chase bank micro finance) and 4) the construction company.

tmc do not do the construction themselves and for all i know the construction company consults the necessary professionals as they carry out the constructions. have you confirmed that the construction company (or tmc for that matter) do not use qualified professionals? or you are just relying n what you read online and hear from third parties?

reading your comments here you started from wondering whether they employ consultants and in the bold part above have now moved into saying they use fundi/foreman after having architects stamp their plans (in effect saying they delve in illegalities) if not then as a professional you are seriously out of line - slandering others online without all facts is unbecoming to say the least.

so in effect you are saying that all that you have written against tmc is based on what you get from their website?

that very dangerous and can lead to misunderstanding. websites mostly give general information with better particulars being captured elsewhere. an example of such a case is your very own website and specifially this project. as it appears on the website there are many holes and issues that people may pick with it - like when you said this:



am very sure that those contributions and monthly income are subject to so many things and if you assured me that I would pay say 860k and be assured of at least 7k a month you may not deliver on that. i expect that for those who show interest you will have a well done project paper drawn up with agreements providing for example that if cost of construction go up then the contribution may as well, that rental income is subject to occupancy, management fees, tax etc.

now, imagine if some lawyer came and brought in some law that your project is breaching (maybe the fact that you have not provided for nema fees - i hear they need to be consulted for just about everything, have no clue though) but which 'breach' you have handled in your offline papers. that to me appears to be what you have done on this thread.

We are getting somewhere

1. You don't know if @Pennystocker used consultants. Why then would you use a picture of his building and emphasize on the need of consultancy?
If your main concern is the discrepancy in cost, have you factored that his building was in Kisumu where costs might have been different from a similar building elsewhere eg Nairobi?

2. I'm still yet to understand this one. Do you start with the drawing on the ground.. run to Arch (to check measurements, space, details) then move to foundation the run to Qs(for cost of foundation), then run to Eng(for foundation's structural integrity) and repeat the process everytime a m2 is done?

3. It is my prayer that you'll get the time, will and energy to do a procedure easily understood. And/or point a novice to a webpage where the same has already been done.

PS: I remember back in the days we used to run after girls. There are those who'd employ the strategy of bad-mouthing their competition and there are those that would focus on highlighting their strengths. I found it interesting that when a boy was bad-mouthed, a girl actually got curious to 'see' for herself.. ending up in the arms of the 'bad' boy

Maybe we need to find the professional qualifications of these TMC guys. Could they be arch/eng/qs themselves

No doubt the points made are good and valid. I question the premise and assumption that because they are mortgage brokers/not architects engineers\etc, they are not following the law. There is really no way to state conclusively they do not employ these professional consultants in their process.

Ultimately it's a question of buyer beware. At the very least, those interested in their product should have very good questions to probe TMC to get to a level they feel comfortable. Personally, based on the owners experience in S&L, if she had a commercial/rental flat option, I would at least explore the option to compare with having my old man do it.

@mkenyan.
TMC are not allowed by Law to offer any info,let alone a simple guideline, on construction consultancy in Kenya.
Architects eg myself are allowed by law to give the public e.g you any information regarding construction advisory.

TMC are not allowed by law to give the same advisory services.

This is because for you and the general public, Govt needs to protect you from buying unregulated advisory services. Govt vets and checks persons offering advisory services to the public to see if they meet certain standards/skill set.

Thats why the Buruburu fake doc was arested. He most probably could offer medical services well but unfortunately, the law is the law. Only a doctor who has met Govt criteria is supposed to offer such.His crime was to offer medical services without a practicing cert.

If TMC wants to offer such services legally, nothing stops them to lobby parliament to change the law.

TMC are not architects, engineers or Quantity surveyors hence are not legally in a capacity to offer such services to the public.

Read the law TMC is breaking here

http://www.boraqs.or.ke/userfiles/CAP%20525.pdf

See here on TMC on how they are breaking the law


http://www.tmcafrica.com/our-services/makazi-mema



Such tasks in red above have already been gazetted to be offered only by persons that satisfy certain criteria and standards eg
1. requisite education eg degree in relevant field of study
2.work for 2 years minimum under a registerd arch/eng/qs

3. Sit a professional exam and pass.
4. Keep renewing practicing cert every year
etc etc

I have also noted that they are purporting to submit plans to local authority for approval. Again under the Local Authority act throughout the country, only a client or an architect can submit the same. In Nairobi, its even more strict whereby only an architect can submit the same .