Fred Njeru is the director of Delta Homes Limited and Buildcon Technology which he owns alongside his brother Edward Kariuki. Delta Homes is the mother company, and Buildcon aims to redefine how houses are planned and built in Kenya.
Delta Homes Limited is a professional real estate company that deals in project management, property valuations, property management, real estate consultancy and development.
During an interview with the YouTube channel Afrikan Traveller, Njeru explained that Buidcon does a lot of research and product development, making sure the production of houses is at a very competitive cost. He added that the company also does construction for other people as well.
Mr Kariuki is an architect by profession and is a technical director at Delta Homes Limited and also in Buildcon Technology. He notes that Delta Homes does its own projects and boasts specialists in all aspects of construction and real estate.
The directors and the key personnel boast vast experience in property matters having been in real estate for over 15 years.
According to the company website, Delta Homes has built internal capacity in crucial real estate functions critical to ensuring the delivery of professional services and offering solutions to any merging property-related challenges.
Delta Homes Founding
Njeru immigrated to the US in October 2009 and settled in California where he lived with one of his brothers. one year later he joined the US Navy and served in the military from 2011 to 2015.
When he left the military, he came to Kenya to visit and also with an aim to do business and found his brother Kariuki, the architect and now business partner, was designing houses, and told him he wanted to invest.
Kariuki told Njeru that he had an idea, that they should invest in real estate.
“My brother told me that we find somebody with land, we partner with them, design the house, build it and then sell it off plan,” Njeru narrated, revealing that when he returned to the US, the idea clicked more.
He called Kariuki and they decided to start their company, Delta Homes Limited.
At the beginning of the project, they encountered a number of challenges. The owner of the land they were to use in the first project had missing documents in the ownership of the land.
As they waited to iron out the issues to begin the project, Kariuki proposed that they acquire another land to start another project and located a parcel worth Ksh16 million, however, Njeru objected since they had limited funds.
Determined to make it work, Kariuki went ahead to negotiate with the owner of the land and they signed an agreement for him to acquire the land. Interestingly, he only had Ksh100,000 ($1,000) in his pocket.
“When you look at a staircase, you don’t see the whole thing, you see the first steps, and once you hop on the first, you begin to climb onto the next. If you don’t see opportunity, you are not a real businessman,” Kariuki stated.
He offered the land owner the Ksh100,000 and asked to pay the remainder of the money in six months.
“I did some designs which cost me Ksh3,000 to print them and put them on the site. I stuck them on a Kenya power post,” he recounted.
In less than a month, he got four buyers who deposited Ksh1 million each and he immediately embarked on the project, and sold the remainder of the estate in two months time.
After Kariuki completed and handed over the first estate, they decided to embark on another project.
He contacted Njeru who was still in the US and asked him if he was interested. He sent him photos of the project and told him that he had built the houses on the Ksh16 million land and after he had completed the handover, had Ksh44 million in his bank account.
That is when Njeru decided to come back from the US and partner with his brother and they have not looked back since.
The brothers note their passion for real estate is not driven by money, but rather by passion. This has seen them develop properties across the country and have attracted clients from beyond Kenya.
Delta Homes has its offices in the leafy Karen estate, and has developed properties across various parts of Nairobi including; Ruaka, Runda, Kikuyu, Kitisuru, Lower Kabete, Banana Hill, among others.
