This archive report was first published on 25 June 2021.
Published on June 25, 2021, a feature in the Business Daily highlighted a Sh. 3 million mud house in Voi, Kenya, sparking curiosity about its cost and uniqueness.
The house, named Tsavo House, is a four-bedroom earth-house owned by Kenyan landscape artist Chris Campbell Clause. Its striking red and orange hues blend seamlessly into the surrounding Tsavo landscape.
According to the owner, Chris Campbell Clause, he spent two years constructing the house with the help of only two men, keeping labour costs minimal. He added that the total cost of construction did not exceed Sh. 3 million.
"I built the house with only two men helping me. So labour costs were minimal and the total cost of construction did not exceeded Sh. 3 million," he said. "I wasn’t in a hurry. It could have easily been built in four or five months."
Chris Campbell Clause also shared his process of making bricks, which involved digging septic tanks and water reservoirs to get enough soil and adding a tiny bit of cement as a binding agent. He emphasized the importance of curing the bricks under polythene for about a month to gain strength, but noted that people are often impatient and want to build with the same brick they made that day.
