Masons in Old Town
Post the job to Old Town and it reaches providers close enough to get to you. Posting is free, and the price is agreed before anyone starts.
Masonry in Old Town
What is particular about Old Town
Old Town's buildings are mostly coral stone laid in lime mortar and finished with lime plaster, and they have to be repaired in the same materials. Coral and lime let moisture pass through a wall and dry out again. Patch them with cement and that moisture is sealed in, and the salts it carries push the plaster off from behind, and eventually the face of the stone with it. Much of the decay visible on Old Town's walls is earlier cement repairs doing exactly that.
Old Town is also a gazetted conservation area. Changes to a building's exterior need approval through the Mombasa Old Town Conservation Office before work starts, and a mason who has worked here will bring that up without being asked. The lanes shape the quote as well: most are too narrow for a lorry, so sand, lime and stone are carried in by hand or handcart from the nearest road.
The wider picture, including what affects masonry across the whole city, is on the masonry in Mombasa page.
Writing the request
What to include so the offers come back usable
- Rough measurements — wall length and height, or floor area
- Photos of the area, ideally from far enough back to show the whole wall
- Whether materials are on your account or theirs
- Whether there is water and power on site
- How the site is reached — a lorry-accessible plot and a hand-carry plot are different jobs
What moves the price
Why two quotes for the same job differ
- Area to be covered, and the height it has to be worked at
- Whether scaffolding is needed
- Who supplies cement, sand, ballast and blocks
- Whether old plaster or an old slab has to be broken out and carried away first
- Site access for delivering materials
Help24 does not publish price ranges for masonry. Quotes come from the masons themselves, and the number you agree is the number the payment is held against.
Before work starts
What to check with a mason
- Agree in writing who buys materials, and whether the price you see includes them
- For any structural work — removing a wall, cutting an opening in a load-bearing wall, adding a floor — get a qualified engineer's opinion, not a quote
- Contractors taking on building works in Kenya are required to be registered with the NCA; ask for the registration for anything at that scale
- A NITA trade test certificate (Grade III is the artisan entry level, Grade I the highest) is the standard Kenyan proof of a trade. Plenty of excellent fundis work without one, so treat it as a bonus rather than a bar.
Post a masonry job in Old Town
Free to post. You see the offers, you agree the price, and the payment is held until the work is done.