Plumbing Africa June 2019 | Page 53

— 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