The housing sector in Kenya has undergone rapid insurgence in last decade and I am contemplating starting a business of making bricks from my rural home, there are guys whom I know and being that it is upcountry, the cost of labor and the row material is cheap. I have 1/2 million Kenya shillings set aside shilling from my savings account to jump start this ripe idea. I am seeking insight from the experts and those who have experience in this business of supplying building materials. Your positive contribution and constructive criticism are welcomed.
check out the “makiga” interlocking stones too…I saw a small sq built with it in Juja recently…sina link or pics but thinking of doing the same huko shagz
@shocks, in areas where natural quarry stone is available, its better to use natural quarry stone over stabilised soiul block since the stone will be at same cost, around kes 1000 per m2 compared to soil block at around kes 800 per m2. soil blocks are not as strong and are prone to cracking and rain water seepage and also atract less rental or sale income compared to stone. in areas where natural stone is not available eg kisumu pokot, garissa, sudan, uganda,tanzania etc then soil blocks are cheaper .
walling part of a house is only 10% of the overal cost so even if you save 50% of walling costs the impact is negligible eg for a 2 bedroomed costing say kes 1m to construct, walling using stone will cost kes 100k and using soil blocks kes 50k. the rest of the 900k/950k will be constant in both cases so there is little impact on overall cost hence easier to just use natural stone instead, considering facts such as longevity, rental/sale income potential etc.