02/01/2021
Construction Labour Rates In Kenya
construction labour rates in kenya
Whether you choose to proceed with Traditional General Contracting, Design and Build, or Construction Management, you stand to spend about 25% to 50% of the total construction costs on labour alone.
For typical residential and commercial projects in Kenya, fundis usually take up around 30-35% of the building costs. But, make no mistake about it, the labour rates do not apply uniformly across all the construction stages and building elements.
As soon as your project kicks off, for instance, you’ll notice that construction labour rates for foundation works are comparatively high. The reason being- excavation, er****on of supportive structures, and backfilling are labour-intensive activities that could take weeks or months.
By the time you’re done, expect the foundation labour costs to add up to about 40-50% of the corresponding material costs.
That’s no cause for alarm though. At least the labour for the subsequent substructural works should be much cheaper- about 20-30% of the corresponding construction material costs.
Eventually, it’s only at the roofing and interior finishing stages that you can expect the ratio between labour rates and construction materials to go up again. You’ll need highly-skilled fundis for the tasks, and they’ll charge you about 35% to 45% of the construction material costs.
In terms of monetary figures, the overall construction labour rates in Kenya are; Kshs 400-800 per day for “mtu wa mkono” assistants, Kshs 1,000-2,000 for skilled fundis, while building foremen take home Kshs 2,000-3,000 per day
