Construction World October 2016

CONSTRUCTION WORLD

OCTOBER

2016

There are some important points to consider

before your company decides to tender for building

work, says Uwe Putlitz, CEO of the Joint Building

Contracts Council (JBCC).

MARKETPLACE

JBCC is a non-profit South African company which represents

building owners and developers, professional consultants, and

building contractors who provide input for the compilation of a

comprehensive suite of JBCC building contracts.

Putlitz here deals with some of the factors to consider before tendering:

Opportunity:

What is your current work load? How long before you run out of work?

Do you have or can access the appropriate human and other resources?

Competition:

Who else is tendering? How desperate are you to secure the work ‘as the

lowest tenderer’ as opposed to being ‘the best tenderer’? If you are the

lowest tenderer, could you lose money and consequently deliver a job of

poor quality leading to early termination and a dispute?

Tender documents:

Are your tender documents properly compiled to quote for the project? Is

the construction information complete?

Building contract:

If there are any deviations from the standard JBCC building contract,

are these listed in the contract data or the Preliminary Bill of Quantities?

Are there any unusual payment conditions, or unusual guarantees or insur-

ances called for? Will you have to work with as yet unspecified nominated

subcontractors and direct contractors?

Site:

Have you inspected the site? If so, do the drawings and the description

provided make sense to you? Is there access to site, place for site huts,

equipment and material storage? Do you have to employ local staff and

labour with unique payment conditions and whose skills may be suspect?

Existing/adjoining buildings:

If this is an existing building, has a professional engineer provided input

regarding the method of construction, precautions to be taken, etc?

Restrictions:

Are there building restrictions such as limited working hours, noise and

dust limitations that may influence the method and programming of your

work? Will you have to complete the excavations and foundations during

the rainy season?

Completion:

Does the work have to be completed in sections or as a whole? Are the

intended dates for practical completion realistic? Are the specified materials

and goods readily available?

Risks:

Do you know the client – and have you had any ‘bad’ experience with this

client? Have you worked with the project consultants before?

Putlitz adds:“Perhaps the most important point to consider before tendering

is if awarded the tender, would you be able to complete the project on time

to the specified standard - and make a fair profit to remain in business?”

Firstly, the company won the Master

Builders Association (MBA) North annual

Health & Safety Award for the ‘Best

subcontractor without established site’ for the

second time by harnessing top honours in the

2016 competition. The company also walked

away with top honours in the same category

in 2014. KBAC won the MBA accolade for its

attention to safety requirements during the

supply and installation of the carpets for the

new Sasol corporate headquarters in Katherine

Street, Sandton, at the MBA North H&S awards

function in July.

Louise Ross, KBAC’s health and safety co-or-

dinator, says among the challenges, KBAC had

to face for the Sasol project was the presence of

several other sub-contractors working on site

simultaneously, with a mix of trades to contend

with on each phase of the project.

“As a result, the safety risks faced by all

workers changed constantly and it was impera-

tive that our employees adhered to safe working

practices to avoid potential safety hazards.

KBAC’s dedicated installation fitting team, under

the guidance of senior project manager, Werner

Gouws, managed to do this and maintain a

continuous flow of work: from the loading of

material in the KBAC warehouse in Linbro Busi-

IMPORTANT POINTS TO CONSIDER BEFORE TENDERING

AWARDS FOR SAFETY STANDARDS AND PERSISTENCE

Leading South African flooring supplier, KBAC Flooring, has won two

major accolades this year for its supply and installation of carpet tiles

for the new prestigious Sasol head office building in Sandton.

Julien Fanton, director of Interface, con-

gratulated Interface's SA distributor, KBAC

Flooring, on winning the Interface ‘best won

sales project – 2015’ trophy earlier this

year. Pictured were (from left): Neil Dun-

can, KBAC chief financial officer; Brandon

Park, KBAC sales director; Julien Fanton,

Interface director; Lesley Fidrmuc, KBAC

Interface consultant; and Graham Park,

CEO of KBAC Flooring.

Ian Harris (left), director of Amokoro

Training, awards the ‘best sub-contractor’

to Werner Gouws, KBC Flooring’s senior

contract manager.

ness Park, to hoisting, stacking and storage on

site, and final installation,” Ross states.

The second award to have come KBAC Floor-

ing’s way this year was for its ‘persistent and

determined’ efforts tomeet the complex flooring

requirements for the Sasol head office with

the award of a special trophy for commit-

ment by Interface, the world's leading modular

floor supplier.

KBAC Flooring is the sole South African

distributor of Interface flooring which was

specified for the futuristic 10-storey building in

Katherine Street, Wierda Valley, by the project's

interior designers, Paragon Interface.

Interface's ‘Best Won Sales Project Trophy

for 2015’ for Interface's Europe, Middle East and

Africa (EMEA) region was received on behalf of

KBAC by the Sasol supply project leader, Lesley

Fidrmuc, KBAC’s Interface Consultant, at an

EMEA meeting in Lisbon earlier this year.