Stone-coated roofing tiles and Decra in Nairobi
Around KES 2,800 to 3,500 per square metre, materials
Stone-coated steel roofing, of which Decra is the name most people use as a generic, sits at
the top of the domestic roofing market in Nairobi. decra roofing measures 880 searches a
month, almost all of it price and appearance intent.
What it costs, honestly against mabati
Stone-coated tile runs about KES 2,800 to 3,500 per square metre in materials. Plain iron sheet runs about KES 400 to 1,200 for the same area.
So the material is roughly five to seven times the cost. Labour is broadly comparable because the fixing work is similar, which means on a whole roof the premium is large but not as dramatic as the per-square-metre comparison suggests once labour and structure are in the total. A three-bedroom roof lands at the upper end of the KES 280,000 to 650,000 band in stone-coated tile and the lower end in mabati.
Market ranges reviewed September 2026, not quotations.
What you actually get for the money
It is quieter in rain. This is the benefit nobody mentions in a brochure and the one owners notice first. Nairobi rain on gauge 30 mabati under a bedroom is loud. The stone granule surface and the tile profile damp that considerably.
It looks like tile at a fraction of the weight. Clay or concrete tile needs a structure designed to carry it. Stone-coated steel gives a similar appearance on a structure sized for sheet, which is why it is the usual choice when somebody wants a tiled look on a house that was not built for one.
It does not dent the way thin sheet does. The profile is stiffer and the surface is not a flat plane, so foot traffic during maintenance does far less harm.
Where it is not worth it
Replacing sound mabati. If the existing roof has years left, the upgrade rarely pays for itself, and stripping and disposing of a serviceable roof is a real cost on top.
On an outbuilding or a rear extension where nobody sees it and nobody sleeps under it.
Where the budget is tight and the roof is large. The honest arithmetic is that the same money spent on a heavier gauge of mabati plus proper flashings, valley gutters and guttering buys a better-performing roof than stone-coated tile with corners cut on the detail.
On warranties, and why we do not quote one
Reseller sites widely quote long warranty periods for stone-coated products, one of them a fifty-year figure. We have not been able to verify any of those against a manufacturer document, so we do not repeat them.
What we will say is that a roofing warranty almost always depends on correct fixing, so the warranty follows the installation as much as the product. Ask for the manufacturer’s own document rather than a claim on a quotation, ours included, and read what it requires of the installer.
Clay and concrete tile
A separate thing, and common on older Karen and Muthaiga houses. Genuine clay or concrete tile lasts for decades and is repairable rather than replaceable: see re-roofing and replacement for when a tile roof should be repaired instead of swapped for sheet.
See, or the areas we cover.