Nineteen years, on the record
01 Why it keeps happening
“I cannot relax. I get very many calls from my buyers, and the majority are all plumbing-related.” A Nairobi developer, in their own words
It isn’t bad luck, and it isn’t carelessness. It’s structural.
Plumbing in Kenya is usually managed in fragments. It gets scoped without knowing what the building needs, built from materials ordered against no verified specification, and installed by trades working in sequence with no coordination. At handover, everyone walks away.
At 10 units that hurts. At 100 it threatens the business. At 300, with development finance running, every week of delay adds cost. The developers who call us are professional and rigorous. That is why the failure stings: they did what the conventional system asked, and it let them down.
Introducing the STREAM method
One method. Every project. No surprises.
Scope
Plumbing scope, risk and sizing are defined before design begins.
Transform
The design becomes buildable, coordinated 3D drawings.
Resource
Materials are scheduled and specified to Kenyan standards.
Execute
Installation is drawing-led, inspected, and coordinated on site.
Assure
The system is tested, commissioned, and documented before handover.
Monetise
Post-handover accountability and metering are put in place.
02 One accountable team, no handoff
The same people design it, install it, and sign it off.
The Watertight Handover Programme runs on one principle: one accountable team from design through handover, with no handoff. Four shifts separate it from the usual plumbing engagement.
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01
Design before procurement
No pipe is ordered until the design is complete, signed off and agreed. Every route, tank, pump, valve and metre position is confirmed on paper first. Clashes are resolved on the drawing, not on the slab.
Removes the wrong fittings arriving on site, and mid-project scope changes.
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02
Drawing-led installation
Installation follows the drawings exactly. Every deviation requires a formal review. Nothing is improvised on site.
Removes installers making on-the-spot decisions that compromise the system.
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03
Staged sign-off before anything is covered
Every concealed run is inspected and signed off before screed, plaster or a ceiling closes over it. Nothing is hidden until it has been verified.
Removes defects found after handover, and surfaces demolished to reach them.
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04
Accountability that doesn’t end at handover
The programme closes with as-built drawings, O&M manuals, warranty certificates and a support-ticket route for logging issues. The team that built the system is still reachable after the keys change hands.
Removes the accountability gap where the contractor is paid and gone.
03 The unfair advantage
One Plumbing started in maintenance. The founders saw what fails at handover before they ever designed or installed a system.
Design-only engineers make assumptions that break on site. Installation-only contractors build what they are handed, even when it is wrong. We keep design, installation and post-handover maintenance in-house, across plumbing and electrical. The founding team are qualified plumbing and electrical professionals with site experience across 30+ countries.
04 On the record
Every claim sits next to the project that proves it.
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Pili Trade CentreRescue, now on retainer
Active leaks, pipes laid with no fall, and a 500mm concrete addition threatening the slab. We designed a compliant system in two days, replaced the installation, and restored access. The daily tenant complaints stopped.
“You have really saved me because I was drowning in chaos.”
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Khalif Holmes160+ units, active
The client’s previous 80-unit development suffered leaks, blockages and tile demolitions. We were called in at the first floor of the new 160+ unit build, reviewed the drawings, produced working drawings, and coordinated across trades. Currently on the 13th floor.
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Prism Towers31-floor audit, in negotiation
A premium Geberit system installed but never commissioned, operated manually despite its electronic design. We audited every floor and produced the full remediation scope. This engagement is in negotiation, and is not presented as a completed case study.
Beyond these: 200+ projects over 19 years across commercial, residential, healthcare, education and government work, with international training across 30+ countries.
05 Why now
This isn’t urgency for a sale. It’s arithmetic.
A plumbing failure that delays handover costs more than the rework. It costs the finance on the whole development for every week the building cannot be handed over. Every month a unit sits empty because of a defect is interest paid with no income.
Interest on a KES 50M development financed at 14% a year.
The same development financed at 21% a year.
How plumbing-ready is your development?
Twelve questions across the six stages of a watertight handover. Two to three minutes. You see where your risk sits before it becomes a handover problem. No sales call to get your result.
06 Start with the seven decisions
The Plumbing Risk Register.
Seven decisions decide whether your development passes handover: scoping, drawings, procurement, installation, testing, maintenance and monetisation. The register maps where remedial costs are born. Read it against your project and see which decisions are still unmanaged risk.