Every Kenyan abroad I meet has the same story. Different names, same plot. A cousin sent two million for materials and got a slab with excuses. A friend's builder vanished after payment three. An uncle flew home and found windows that were not the ones he approved, tiles he did not pick, a roof he never saw. Not bad luck. These guys follow a script.

Start with NCA registration. The National Construction Authority registers contractors. Ask to see the certificate. Check the number on their portal. Then look at the size class. Small contractors max out at KES 5 million. If your house costs KES 15 million and they hold a small licence, that is a problem. Also check the architect at the Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors. The engineer at the Engineers Board of Kenya. Three checks. About ten minutes.

Payment tells you a lot. If they want 30 or 40 percent before anything is built, that money is not going to your project. Companies that plan to finish the job have cash flow. They bill for work done, not work promised.

If your builder says they do not do contracts, you already know what kind of builder you are dealing with. A proper contract lists what gets built, what each part costs, when payments happen, how changes get handled, and when it finishes.

Cash is a problem. No bank record. No M-Pesa statement. Nothing to show when things go wrong. Bank transfer or M-Pesa. Keep the receipts.

If they claim they spent KES 200,000 on materials, they should have supplier receipts. Dated. Itemised. Not a page from a notebook. If they cannot produce them, the money did not go where they said it did.

I get why people put family on site. You trust them. But a relative without construction experience will not catch bad work. Professional supervision costs something. It saves more than it costs.

No breakdown, no budget. A real price breakdown shows every item, how many, the unit rate, the total. Without that you cannot compare quotes or track spending. If they say it is not needed, they are hiding something.

Willstone Homes is still in court. Kenyans abroad paid for off-plan units. The developer took the money. Construction stopped. Same pattern every time: no registration, no milestone payments, no independent oversight.

Ghost workers: billed for ten masons, four show up. Material substitution: good stuff for approval, cheap stuff after. Buy materials yourself through Jumba. Receipts on your phone. Verified supplier. Nobody to swap them.

BackHome Construction started because too many Kenyans abroad lost money they could not afford to lose. Every project runs on a full breakdown, milestone payments, professional supervision, weekly reports, and a dashboard with every receipt. We handle what your cousin cannot.