— there to cheat people to make lots of money, which
obviously isn’t the case. So if someone recognises your
work and tells you that your work is good, you get even
more motivated to carry on.”
As the winner of the IOPSA award, Nel also receives a
sponsored trip to the World Plumbing Conference (WPC)
in Australia in September 2019. “I can’t wait for the trip,”
he says. “This will be such a great experience, because I’ll
be meeting the plumbers in Australia and talking to them
about problems and things they face. We can exchange
ideas about the problems we share — maybe they have
better ideas, better ways to deal with things and so on.”
SOMETHING THE PLUMBING INDUSTRY SHOULD
CHANGE
In Nel’s opinion, the challenge most plumbers face in the
industry today is insurance companies. The insurance
companies control the plumbers and therefore also
control pricing — which in most cases is under the
actual cost to do proper work.
To install a geyser, for example, to be 100% compliant,
has a lot of costs attached and should the plumber need
to charge the client or the insurance company extra,
they don’t want to pay for it. In fact they will simply go to
someone else. This forces plumbers to accept the fee,
which puts them under a lot of pressure.
“There are a lot of small plumbers starting out and they
may get insurance contracts, and something may not go
according to plan, as it does in this industry, and then
the door is just closed on them,” he says. “On top of the
control, there are also those companies that pay late. At
the end of the day, the plumber lands up having to beg
for their own money and at this point those companies
just drop the plumber and move onto someone else.”
SOME ADVICE TO HELP OTHERS
Nel’s advice to other plumbers is not to give up. “It’s easy
to give up and not follow your dreams. Push on, work
51
PERSONALITY PROFILE
Deon Nel at the IOPSA
Annual Awards after being
announced as the Plumber
of the Year, and winning a
sponsored trip to the World
Plumbing Conference in
September 2019.
Are you scared of any animals, reptiles or insects?
Ja, I’m scared of snakes — dead scared, man! The funny thing is people tease me
because I go hunting and fishing but if I see a snake, I’m out of there. The fear stems
from a long time ago. I was under the car doing a replacement on the sump of my car
and I heard this funny noise — I thought it was coming from the engine, but alas, when
I looked back I looked straight at a rinkhals! I couldn’t get out of there fast enough and
even hit my head, like in a movie.
harder, do your work right. I almost gave up and it would
have been a mistake. There are a lot of people who
qualify as plumbers and then start their own business,
but the first uphill they get to, they just give up.
“You have to keep pushing and find the support you
need, and this you can get from the industry, from
mentors and people wanting to help, just like I have done
for others. You also need to be ready with new things
happening in the industry such as rainwater harvesting
and grey water recycling as this is the way of the future,”
he concluded. PA
The Personality Profile is sponsored by Geberit
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
June 2019 Volume 25 I Number 4