# SA Build & Renovation Costs (remote · aiagenttools.co.za)

South African building and renovation cost estimates in rand, by region and finish quality

- Trust score: 60/100 (medium)
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `aiagenttools.co.za`: 60/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.0.0`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-11-05.

- **Endpoint Security**: 46/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 1 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe.
  - HTTPS enforcement could not be verified: the plaintext port answered with HTTP 405, which proves neither a plaintext path nor enforcement.
  - HSTS check failed: the Strict-Transport-Security header is absent.
  - DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 64/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 841 tokens (~140/item across 6 items; 6 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 20/100
  - Stability observed for 6 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 86/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 57% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 6 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 7 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### How do I install the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server?

SA Build & Renovation Costs is a hosted endpoint at https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost 'https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost": {
      "url": "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost]
url = "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost --url 'https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost:
    url: "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost -t streamable-http -u 'https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-11-05 (score 60, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 17 to 20. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 5 days of observed history at the previous scan, 6 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-03 (score 59, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 10 to 13. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 3 days of observed history at the previous scan, 4 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-01 (score 58, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 3 to 7. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 1 days of observed history at the previous scan, 2 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-31 (score 57, 0)

- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.03

### 2026-10-30 (score 57)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (6)

### `list_cost_items` (~88 tokens)

List priced building items

Lists the building and renovation items that can be priced, with codes, units and base rates (Cape Town, standard quality, excl. VAT). Filter by category or keyword.

Input parameters:

- `category` (string): e.g. roofing, walls, painting, floors, electrical, plumbing, packages, external
- `search` (string): Keyword, e.g. 'geyser' or 'tile'

### `estimate_works` (~125 tokens)

Estimate cost of building or renovation work

Prices a list of building/renovation items (by code from list_cost_items, with quantities) for a South African region and quality level. Returns material and labour per line, preliminaries, contingency, VAT, total and a likely range in rand.

Input parameters:

- `contingency_pct` (number)
- `include_vat` (boolean)
- `items` (array, required)
- `preliminaries_pct` (number): Site setup, supervision, rubble etc. Default 8
- `quality` (string)
- `region` (string): Region id, default cape-town

### `estimate_new_build` (~120 tokens)

Estimate cost of building a new house or extension

Estimates the construction cost of a new house or extension in South Africa from floor area, quality level and region, using rand-per-m² rates. Optionally adds professional fees and municipal plan fees as a percentage.

Input parameters:

- `contingency_pct` (number)
- `double_storey` (boolean)
- `floor_area_m2` (number, required)
- `include_vat` (boolean)
- `professional_fees_pct` (number): Architect, engineer, etc. Default 10
- `quality` (string)
- `region` (string)

### `renovation_flip_check` (~165 tokens)

Check if a fix-and-flip deal adds up

Checks a buy-renovate-sell deal in South Africa: purchase price, renovation estimate, transfer duty and costs, holding costs and selling costs (agent commission) against expected resale value. Returns profit, margin and the maximum sensible offer for a target margin.

Input parameters:

- `agent_commission_pct` (number): Incl. VAT
- `expected_resale` (number, required)
- `monthly_holding_cost` (number): Rates, levies, insurance, utilities, bond interest. Default 1% of purchase price
- `months_held` (number)
- `purchase_price` (number, required)
- `renovation_cost` (number, required): Total incl. VAT, e.g. from estimate_works
- `target_margin_pct` (number): Target profit as % of total cost

### `roof_replacement_estimate` (~174 tokens)

Roof replacement: materials from current supplier prices

Material list and cost for replacing a roof with IBR or corrugated steel sheeting in South Africa: number of sheets, screws and ridge capping, priced from current supplier prices that a person has checked and approved, with the supplier and price date on each line. Use estimate_works for an all-in installed rate instead.

Input parameters:

- `area_m2` (number, required): Roof surface area in m² (the sloped area, not the floor area)
- `gauge_mm` (number): Optional sheet thickness, e.g. 0.47
- `include_labour` (boolean): Add a labour rate per m² if one has been set
- `profile` (string): Sheet profile (default ibr)
- `ridge_m` (number): Optional ridge length in metres, to include ridge capping

### `unmet_request` (~124 tokens)

Tell us what data you couldn't find

Free to call. If you needed South African data that none of these tools provide (a cost, rate, rule, price or place we don't cover), describe it here in one sentence. We review these every week and build the most-requested data first.

Input parameters:

- `context` (string): Optional: the kind of task it was for, e.g. 'renovation quote' or 'payroll run'.
- `need` (string, required): What information you were looking for, in one sentence.
- `region` (string): Optional: province or town, if it matters.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 60
- 2026-11-04: 59
- 2026-11-03: 59
- 2026-11-02: 58
- 2026-11-01: 58
- 2026-10-31: 57
- 2026-10-30: 57

## Common questions

### What is the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server?

SA Build & Renovation Costs is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as za.co.aiagenttools/buildcost. South African building and renovation cost estimates in rand, by region and finish quality. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp).

### Is the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server safe to use?

SA Build & Renovation Costs scores 60 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

### What tools does the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server expose?

SA Build & Renovation Costs exposes 6 tools: list_cost_items, estimate_works, estimate_new_build, renovation_flip_check, roof_replacement_estimate, unmet_request. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 796 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to SA Build & Renovation Costs without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the SA Build & Renovation Costs MCP server still maintained?

SA Build & Renovation Costs is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 5 November 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://aiagenttools.co.za/buildcost/mcp
- Website: https://aiagenttools.co.za/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/za-co-aiagenttools-buildcost/buildcost-mcp