Rickfes Construction Ltd.

JCPMP 2023 It was a good experience with this young team who have been our mentees from May to November this year. The mentorship program has successfully come to an end and confident they are sufficiently equipped at their level as they get into practice. We had a total of 24 persons;both students and graduates from different universities and professions in the built environment. Should you require their services,authenticate their information from the link below. rickfes.co.ke/csr.html Appreciation to the tagged team too together with Cenas Ojung'a for honouring the invite and sharing their wisdom. #careers #mentorship #development

Part 2 of my summary regarding the Kenyan Housing report by CAHF. (Check the comment section for the link to part 1) The Economics of the sector. *GDP reached KSh15.11 trillion (US$117.13 billion), with the real estate and construction sectors contributing 8.4% and 6.6%, respectively. *This was attributed to the government expenditure on the AHP across the country, maintenance of roads by the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) and loans advanced by commercial banks to the construction sector. The total number of loans and advances from commercial banks increased by 7% to ksh 645 billion in 2023. *29.4% of the total population live below the international poverty line. *In rural areas, households spend 63.0% of their income on food, compared to 42.2% in urban areas. *Kenyans allocate up to 40% of their household income to housing and only 11% can afford the conventional mortgage. *SACCOs now provide 90% of Kenya`s total housing finance heir unique incremental mortgage lending model, premised on short-term credit facilities, usually between three and five years. *32 banks offer residential mortgages, with the largest holding 31.3% of market share. *By the end of 2023, there were 30,015 mortgages worth ksh 281 million with an average mortgage size of ksh 9.4 million. *The average interest rate charged on residential mortgages in 2023 was 14.3% but ranged between 8.7% and 18.6%. Challenges to ownership: *Average lending interest rates for loans and advances rose to 16.6% in May 2024 and increasing the cost of borrowing, thus constraining access to finance and significantly, housing finance. *The mortgage depth – mortgage-to-GDP ratio - declined to 1.86% in 2023 from 1.94% in 2022. *Low level of income, the high cost of property purchase and limited access to affordable long-term finance continue to constrain mortgage growth. *The Govt. is still on the dream to increase housing supply by 200,000 houses annually and grow the number of mortgages from 30,000 to 1,000,000 by enabling low-cost mortgages of ksh 10,000. *This will be coupled with slum upgrading projects and provision of low-cost housing for the public under the NHC, introduction of Tenant Purchase Schemes, and constitution of KMRC to drive sustainable home ownership through affordable long-term home loans. *KMRC has further established a partial credit guarantee to derisk the informal sector. Its TOUGH! One issue I can point out is that this sector has the largest amount of pending bills (Ksh 162 billion) that has curbed flow of income especially to private developers. To be fair, I made a quick scan of other countries and I would say its bad for everyone except for about 10 countries (in Africa). One common conclusion is that we need to pay much more attention to the population having informal unemployment/income in order to diversify our portfolio.

CAHF | Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa released their annual comprehensive report on matters housing in Africa. I have tried to summarize it 2 parts specifically in Kenya. Part 1: Demography and Property Market. i) Demography: *Population growth rate - 1.97% *Urbanisation growth rate - 3.74% with 50.8% of the urban population living in slums *The country has a total of 13,071,338 households with an average size of 3.9 people. Overall poverty headcount (Ref total population) : *National - 38.6% *Rural - 40.7% *Urban - 34.1% *Those living in informal/inadequate dwellings - 45% *Those without access to waste collection services - 83% *Those with access to basic drinking water services - 68% *Those lacking land documentation/tenure security - 68% ii) Property Market: *Total number of residential properties with title deed - 4,060,000 *No. of formal dwellings completed annually - 50,000 with with approximately 2% targeting the low income segment(This is in regards to AHP). *Price of cheapest newly built house in an urban area - ksh 960,000(This is in regards to AHP). *Monthly rent for cheapest newly built house - ksh 5,200(This is in regards to AHP). *No of green certified buildings - 89 *No of edge certified homes - 2,380 *National average construction cost per square meter - ksh 48,750 *Average building time - 3.3 years Demand for houses in Nairobi: *Stand-alone houses - 36.4% *Commercials - 23.5% *Apartments - 18.3% *Land - 8.7% Demand for buying property is 45.1% while demand for rent is 36.8% My conclusion Quite worrying figures which appear not to be solved anytime soon due to the current Unhealthy and malicious competition between the public and private sector. There is also a priority challenge where series of events are not planned in an orderly manner. For instance social infrastructure has not preceded the housing. The state of the economy of which influences the household income and expenditure so high and past the international benchmark of 30% - 35% which also puts a strain on basic and secondary needs. Tomorrow, I will highlight about the economics of the sector in the second part. What are your comments on this?

A recap of the ACMK reconnecting and networking event 2 weeks ago. It was a very good avenue to catch up with industry peers and learn how they are adjusting to the economy, advancing their careers amongst other issues. By the way,I am also a public speaker. Call me for industry talks and moderating panel discussions.

With the lads and lasses at our mentorship session today. We actually discussed about the post I made on Thursday (link in the comment section) in regards to disruption in this sector as a result of the economic status in the country. The previous cohort (back line) also got to meet the current cohort. (front line) Sponsored by Rickfes Construction Ltd.

Today, I will be moderating a critical continental panel discussion on Digital Construction in the AEC sector. Our able panelists will be taking us through the shift, adoption and adaptation to modern day trends such as AI, BIM and Reality Capture. 1. What is our preparedness? 2. What are the case studies? 3. Where are we applying them? 4. What are some of the policies by Governments on this matter? The discussion is well represented within the 5 regions of Africa. This will also be happening live on ACMK Facebook page starting from 1500HRS EAT. See you then!

The construction economy is growing to be tough every day. I noticed several practitioners making their exits from 2020. Those who chose to remain, diversified in different aspects within their professions and not the conventional procedures that happen. e.g A QS leaving the day to day costing works and focusing purely on contracts. An Architect leaving the day to day design work and focusing purely on BIM. This has actually worked for them as they aligned to international market demands. There is also another group that chose to keep off completely and were smart to venture in the booming arenas. These include banking, fintech, telcos and mining. What they do here is applying their skills in these fields, especially for Project Managers and Engineers. A challenge that is growing here is that there will also be no transfer of skills in the conventional market as almost everyone is moving out in efforts to survive. Students actually should not only worry about availability of jobs but also the jobs being sustainable and whether they will learn from the right people and in the right manner.

Rammed earth is a concept that has been with us for a while, just reborn with a few modifications. The idea involves involves compacting a damp mixture of subsoil that has suitable properties of sand, gravel, clay, silt, and a soil stabilizer into a formwork to produce a high-density stone-like wall. It is sustainable and affordable making it suitable for social housing projects. Read on through this quick summary. #sustainability #housing #affordable

Today, we learn in brief about a very essential project document. More often, you may not find it in some sites yet it is the guidance manual. A project charter is a formal document that authorizes the start of a project and grants the project manager the authority to use organizational resources for project activities. It outlines the project's objectives, scope, stakeholders, roles, responsibilities and key deliverables. It serves as a reference point throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring alignment between the project goals and organizational strategy. See below about the questions it should provide answers for.

Recently, the land lord at our offices decided that we need to know one another and network amongst ourselves. Since Covid-19,this has never happened and it was a fantastic experience. I represented Rickfes Construction Ltd. and made a few quid pro quo arrangements. I learnt that your network starts with those around you. Yes, you do know them but do they know you?