BUSINESS AND TRAINING
Unlike most other franchise systems, this means Drain
Surgeon provides franchisees with a high proportion of their
workload. Its control room tracks all vehicles and knows
where the nearest plumber is for any call-out, and also
assists with routing. “A large part of the franchisees’ sales
and admin is therefore performed by the franchisor,” says
Minnaar. This is all integrated into a state-of-the-art software
package which all franchisees receive. contrast to which even bank finance is difficult to obtain in
South Africa. “We have no problem if a pure investor wishes
to buy a franchise, provided he employs at least one licensed
plumber who can issue CoCs and monitor the other staff who
will be trained by us. A lot of that training is on prospecting
for new work, because not all the business of a franchisee
comes through the call centre. It also trains on the soft skills
of business, relating to customer care and communication.
Pratt lists one of the biggest benefits of franchising as being
the standardisation of product and service which consumers
have come to expect in, say, the fast food industry, but which
is typically not the case in home/office services. “This is
another reason franchising has struggled to gain traction
in home services, as plumbers or electricians battle to
understand how their service can be standardised.” While
a service cannot be standardised as a complete replica, he
insists it can to a considerable extent. “New franchisees will shadow one of the teams from our
company-owned Pretoria branch to learn our systems, which
also enables us to quickly vet the plumber on behalf of the
investor, or to check in the case of an owner-manager whether
he has sufficient plumbing knowledge to run a successful
franchise. We also test their knowledge online, so as to weed
out those that don’t meet our standards. They are required, for
instance, to have clean records in every regard: credit, security
checks, criminal record and even driving license.”
There are other reasons why franchising has not taken off in
plumbing in South Africa, says Pratt: “One is that a plumber
in countries such as Australia is paid considerably more than
in South Africa, and therefore perhaps taken more seriously;
and also the lack of access to finance locally.” While Drain Surgeon’s name may point to specialisation,
Pratt says the business provides the full range of
maintenance plumbing, though not construction plumbing.
“Nonetheless, 80% of our business is blocked drains,”
says Minnaar. There is some standardisation of equipment,
but Pratt points out that circumstances vary considerably
throughout the country requiring variances in equipment to
suit the quality of original piping of each region. PA
Pratt notes that in the US, for instance, private investors
are today investing in individual franchisee businesses, in
25
Insurances for construction projects
By Uwe Putlitz
All building projects involve a variety of risks including, amongst
others, environmental, financial, political and technical aspects
of a project. Various techniques are available to identify such
risks and to manage them during the lifespan of a project. Some
risks may be dealt with by insurance.
Generally, five types of insurable risks apply to all
construction projects:
• Contract Works Insurance deals with the whole works
during the construction period including plant and
materials, work by specialist contractors, and additional
professional fees where damage to the works occurs.
Such a policy may be extended to include damage to
existing buildings during alterations and additions and/
or to include adjoining structures.
• Supplementary Insurance deals with expense or
loss caused by events outside the normal control of
the parties including civil commotion, riots and strike
action to the extent it is not included in the CWI policy,
provided by Sasria in South Africa, or NAasria in
Namibia.
• Public Liability Insurance provides indemnity in
the event of a death or injury to any person and or
April 2020 Volume 26 I Number 02
accidental loss or physical damage to tangible
property.
• Removal of Lateral Support Insurance applies
where the execution of the works may cause
weakening or damage or interference with the
support of land or property within the site or
adjacent to the site.
• Other Insurances may apply, for example,
where goods are imported from overseas
specifically for installation in a project to cover
risks in transit.
About the author
Uwe Putlitz is a registered
professional Architect and
Construction Manager and a
Fellow of the Royal Institute of
Chartered Surveyor (RICS) and is
a visiting lecturer at the School
of Construction Economics and
Management at the University of
the Witwatersrand.
The tender documents must specify that insurances
of the works must be in the joint names of the parties
and that the employer is the beneficiary of any
insurance claims, and irrespective of whether the
employer or the contractor insures the works – the
employer pays the insurance premiums. PA
www.plumbingafrica.co.za