PERSONALITY PROFILE
nurturing these relationships that has seen her leap up
the corporate ladder to where she is now, working for
Abbink Consulting.
“My job would be a lot more difficult if I did not have
the trust and support of my employer, Robert Abbink,
or the trust and support of the architects and my
colleagues,” she says when asked what her one lesson
in business is that she would like to pass on.
In her private life, it is her relationships with her
family and the people around her that Ronoh says give
her strength.
“I spend regular time with my friends and my family.
I am lucky enough to have my family live in Pretoria
now, so I am home for Sunday lunch every two to three
weeks,” Ronoh explains.
Her current workday is varied and takes her all over
the building in search of snags, challenges, or more
efficient ways of doing things.
“What I love about my job and about being in
construction, is that no day is the same. Every day has
a new and different challenge,” she says. “Succeeding
at my job hinges a lot on understanding the architect’s
perspective, the client’s perspective, and the installer’s
perspective, and incorporating that with my own
perspective so that we can achieve the common goal of
producing a functional building. An engineer I recently
met on a project said to me that to be a successful wet
services engineer, you need to ‘consider all the aspects
of a building, not just the wet services. Ask yourself,
how does my design affect the architect, the ventilation,
the fire rating, and the structure’ — and that is my
daily challenge.”
As an integral part of that process, Ronoh has a lot
on her plate on any given day, which always starts
57
with writing emails and catching up with the latest
developments on site.
“Next, I meet with my team: the plumber’s contract
manager, Byron Stroud, and my colleague, our
draughtsman, Alex Mabulana. They usually let me know
of any issues that may not have escalated yet, or new
issues that may have arisen,” she explains.
“After that, I usually dedicate time to doing inspections
— at this stage of the project, the majority of my
inspections involve the plumbing in the various units,
which is all checked before the walls are closed.
Generally, I check about 20 units in a day.”
Work is not done yet for Ronoh, whose average day
then involves returning to completed floors to double-
check installations with plumber’s site project manager,
Stephan Fouche, and raise any final fix issues that
might still remain, with a final burst of admin at the end
of the day to ensure everyone is up to speed with what
is going on.
Her obsession with the details puts her in a good
position for her career, and it seems her ambition of
one day either owning her own company, or working
as a director at a large company, is certainly not out of
reach, but that’s not to say she is all about her job to
the exclusion of everything else.
“On public holidays and long weekends, I read; I am
a big fan of Sydney Sheldon and Paulo Coelho novels.
Otherwise Netflix is my new favourite pastime. I try and
bake as often as I can too,” she says.
At the end of the day, though, Ronoh’s real satisfaction
comes from watching the building go up.
“Something I have always loved, not just in my job
but in my life as well, is being able to physically see
progress,” she says. PA
The Personality Profile is sponsored by Geberit
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
January 2019 Volume 25 I Number 1