Overview
The buyer who looks at off-plan in Nairobi is rarely confused about the upside. They have heard the stories of developments that looked beautiful in renders and disappointed in reality. They worry about committing significant capital to a developer they do not yet have reason to trust. We understand the anxiety; our founders have experienced it. We built DEMAR because we believe the gap between promise and delivery should not exist.
Our answer is structural, not rhetorical. We don’t need your money until we’ve earned it: every shilling of deposit is held by a licensed escrow trustee, every release is counter-signed by an independent quantity surveyor, and every milestone is published — photographs, narrative, and signed certificate — against a five-touchpoint construction-update standard.
The following is how a deposit on The Dagaz is held, released, counter-signed, and audited from the day of reservation to the day of handover.
Escrow, by a licensed trustee
Every shilling of buyer deposit is held by Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited — a CMA-licensed escrow trustee — in a project-specific trustee account. DEMAR cannot access the funds. The trust deed is published and given to every buyer at reservation. If the project is wound up, the trustee returns funds to buyers before any other claim.
Milestone-counter-signed releases
Trustee disbursements happen only against signed milestone completion certificates from Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors — who do not work for DEMAR. Five milestones across the twenty-four-month plan: foundations, podium, mid-tower, crown, handover-readiness. The counter-signature must reach the trustee before any tranche is released to DEMAR.
Debt-free development model
We do not stack debt above buyer equity. The DEMAR development model uses founder equity and structured equity from named partners as the primary capital, with buyer deposits funding construction against milestones. There is no senior debt to be defaulted on. There is no foreclosure path that wipes out a buyer’s position.
Independent audit
Annual statutory audit by Bowman Adair Kenya. EDGE certification audit by GEcon Africa (IFC-registered third party). Construction log photographs and a one-page narrative published monthly, signed by Joseph K. Otieno, MICE.
Five moments of truth
Five interactions disproportionately shape what it feels like to buy off-plan: the first website visit, the first site visit, the payment-plan presentation, the monthly construction update, and handover day. Get them right and everything else compounds. Each one at The Dagaz is built to the same standard: clean site, safety gear provided, progress visible, professional host; escrow protection and milestone-linked payments on a single page; monthly photos plus drone footage; snagging walkthrough, keys ceremony, welcome pack, and a named introduction to the management firm.
What this means for the buyer
A buyer’s deposit at The Dagaz is the safest deposit on a Nairobi off-plan project that we have been able to design. That doesn’t make it risk-free — buying a building before it exists is always a forecast — but it means the residual risk is concentrated where it should be (on the building’s eventual value) and not where it should never be (on the developer’s solvency).