Frequently Asked Questions

In the context of the use of the development of land and buildings, Project Management is the co-ordination of all the skills necessary to identify and achieve the project’s objectives.

In any project, whether undertaken in the private or public sector, there is a wide range of aspects, which must be brought together for the development’s successful conclusion. Some of these aspects will be ongoing and others will only arise at particular stages during the project.

The role of the Project Manager is to co-ordinate all the functions of the development and to see that the objectives of the project are clearly defined and achieved within set project benchmarks.

A Quantity Surveyor (Q.S) is a professional working within the construction industry. The role of the QS, in general terms, is to manage and control contract benchmarks and costs within construction projects. This involves the deployment of an extensive set of skills acquired through formal education, specific training, professional qualifications and experience.

The Quantity Surveyor is the expert on construction costs and contractual procedures in a development project. The QS is therefore central to the decision-making process throughout the management of a development project from initial inception to final completion.

Quantity surveying and Land Surveying are two different professions in the Built Industry and Real Estate sector.

A Quantity Surveyor is involved in building construction in which he advice and manages the building costs, and appraises the contractual procedures in a development project.

A Land Surveyor on the other hand is involved in land use whereby he/she measures and manage the physical land for specific development requirements ranging from: assisting builders in positioning buildings and services infrastructure on the land parcel, subdividing the land parcel, and establishing crucial natural and man-made features on the physical land for use in project and infrastructure design.

Planning permissions are legal processes and associated approval documentation required decide whether proposed developments should be allowed to go ahead. The responsibility for planning and approval of proposed development lies with local planning authorities, which is usually the planning departments of the County Governments in Kenya.
Other than approved developments by National or County Government, all other developments require planning permission or approvals.

Planning permissions includes:
a) Land Change of User
b) Land Extension of User
c) Land Parcel Amalgamation
d) Land Parcel subdivision
e) Land Extension of Lease.

Property management refers to the day-to-day tasks involved in managing the life cycle of real estate property for purpose of enhancing and maintaining the value of the property.These would include tasks such as repairs and maintenance, rental management, property risks management, and maintaining the occupancy of the building.

On the other hand, Facility management is an interdisciplinary field within property management that entails the management of the business’s common building services for the users who either own or lease the investor’s property. Facility Management is aimed at supporting the business unit operations and making the building as productive as possible to the users.

The idea about the two differential definitions is to separate the space and content of the property with the day to day work of the building users.

Equity Financing is the same of an ownership interest in a project or investment to raise capital funds for a development or for the investment purpose.

Senior Debt Financing is a form of Debt that takes priority over other unsecured or more “junior” debt owed by a Real Estate Developer. Senior Debt is therefore the first level of Developer’s liabilities which means it must be repaid first ahead of all creditors. Senior Debt is secured by a real estate developer for a set interest rate and time period. The real estate developer provides regular principal and interest repayments to lenders based on preset schedules.

Contractor’s Debt Financing is a form of Mezzanine debt financing provided by a Development Contractor to fill the gap between Senior Debt and Equity financing in projects they are involved in as building contractors. The Contractor’s Debt financing is in many occasions converted into equity for recovery through shares capital.

Joint Venture is a real estate business arrangement in which two or more parties agree to pool their real estate resources together for the purpose of accomplishing the project investment objective, this being gaining a return on investment from their individual resource contribution into the project. The resources may include land, finance, or technical expertise. JV can take any legal structure through a Special Purpose Vehicle, be it Corporation, Partnership, Limited liability companies and other business entities.

Finance Deficit is the amount of money by which an investment project fall short of the budget cost. This is the express finance interest that a Real Estate Developer seeks from an Investor or a Financier.

Capital structure is how a Real Estate business venture finances its overall Project Cost plan by using several sources of funds. The sources of funds can range from debt, private equity, or working capital.

Owner’s Equity represents the Owner’s investment in a Real Estate business venture minus the amount of liabilities.

IRR stands for Internal Rate of Return. It is an investment performance measure used in commercial real estate to measure the potential or profitability of a particular real estate investment. IRR is expressed in percentage rate earned on each shilling or dollar invested for each period in a particular Investment venture. The use of IRR as a performance measure in Real Estate Investment is to give an investor the means to compare alternative investments.

Anyone considering investing in Real Estate or buying a Real Estate Property must be interested in what return the property will give them. In other words, he or she must be interested in Yield. A yield is a measurement of income return on an investment. It is generally calculated as an annual percentage rate, based on the asset (or investment) cost or market value. Yield is an important way of measuring the future income on an investment. This is because the return you get now and in the future is a key factor in working out whether to invest in a particular investment venture or not.

While both terms are often used to describe performance of a real estate investment over a set period of time (normally a year), Return and Yield are not one at the same time. Return expresses what an investor has actually earned on an investment as a percentage increase over a certain period in the past, and which include interests and related capital gains. Return can therefore be called retrospective or what has been earned in the past. On the other hand, Yield is prospective and forward-looking. It is the income return on an investment that measures the income that an investment earns based on initial cost but ignores capital gains.