FEATURES
45
<< Continued from page 43
what ends up on the sites, because the installer chooses the
product they are able to make the most money out of. This
potentially affects the backup service, especially in cases
where an imported product is used. Imports very often do not
have service agents locally, so in these cases, the installer
being the plumber, or the end user, would have to take out
the faulty unit, take it back to the supplier, get a replacement
and then re-install, all at their own cost. So, the difference in
warranties plays a big role in terms of backup service, because
when something goes wrong, it is either easy to have the unit
replaced, or difficult and costly to resolve.”
PA S S I O N . P R I D E . Q UA L I T Y
JUST
LAUNCHED!
FINAL CUT
Although some manufacturers or suppliers may not have any
strict rules regarding who they sell to, as their business is
selling their products to whoever wants to purchase them,
the future considerations of training and the law need to be
considered. If the manufacturers or suppliers allow direct sales
to the end user, a much more significant investment in training
or installation manuals may be required to ensure compliance
as well as health and safety.
Further, he says that “on the other hand, the plumber is faced
with different challenges, such as when the end user has
purchased all of the goods already and cannot (or won’t) install
them because they are non-compliant, or disagreements with
the engineer or architect on bigger projects that may lead to the
termination of services. There are of course ways to resolve this,
but the risk is always losing the work.”
All in all, a prickly situation with many variables to deal with, but
one thing we need to all remember is that whether it’s a plumber
or an end user doing the work, it is not just themselves they need
to think about. When things go well, there are no issues, but
when things go wrong, it may overlap to larger consequences.
Reynolds concludes, “One thing we must be very mindful of is
that especially in South Africa, we live in a culture of reactive
behaviour. When people are enabled to do things themselves
without the necessary understanding, they possibly endanger
themselves and their communities. Should we really wait for the
time when a geyser explodes or when grey water contaminates a
community’s resources because it was installed or worked on by
someone unqualified?” PA
“Although suppliers or manufacturers on the one hand may make
direct sales to the end user, and even with specialist outlets and
showrooms, we must be aware that there is still the critical factor
of limited knowledge. Although some companies have really good
technical experts in their professional teams, these are really
very few people if you consider the vast number of outlets where
plumbing products can be purchased in South Africa. With this
limited knowledge, we can expect the same limited knowledge to be
passed on to the end user,” Reynolds stresses.
Larger ceiling trap
door to accommodate
B Class geysers.
readily
available
at your closest
plumbing
and building
merchant
(012) 372 0021/2
082 828 0372 086 693 1050
Cnr. Pinnacle Rock & Van der Hoff,
Kirkney, Ext. 12 | P.O Box 48278,
Hercules 0030
www.heunis.co.za
March 2019 Volume 25 I Number 1