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TECHNICAL
Tell me why you became a plumbing contractor – Dale Simon
By
David Smith
This month we chatted to Dale Simon of Dale Simon Plumbers to find out more about being a plumbing contractor .
David : Hi Dale , so first of all please tell us why you became a plumber .
Dale : From a very young age I enjoyed working with my hands – I won the woodwork prize much to my parents ’ shock and excitement , I actually got called onto stage to receive the prize for my woodwork skills . I spent my afternoons in my old man ’ s workshop tinkering and building things , assembling things and taking them apart . I definitely had Attention Deficit Disorder , I really do think on my feet more than when I ’ m sitting on my butt , so throughout my school career I found it very difficult to sit behind a desk . I also excelled at basic techniques in high school . So from a very young age I decided I would go into some sort of trade . What was the actual kicker is that after matriculation I got called up to the army , but I got a July intake , and although I was keen to chill and do nothing my parents felt it was a good idea that I did some job shadowing and that I started my career . So I went and spent a couple of days with a jeweller – which was in a jewellery shop , I probably would have preferred to be in the back making jewellery but it was more behind counter sales , which was crap and I didn ’ t enjoy it at all . I spent some time in a printing shop , which I felt was too dirty and covered in ink ; I also considered insurance sales but that involved too much handwriting . Next thing I know I got an interview with the Johannesburg City Council Water Department and I was employed as an apprentice plumber .
My first few months were quite rocky , I had a pretty bad attitude – I don ’ t know if I really wanted to be there . I don ’ t think I was 100 % committed at that stage but I spent three and a half years with the Joburg City Council . I spent probably the first six months of my career sitting behind a workbench assembling and fabricating sheet metal work for all the different departments . I guess I learned a lot about working according to guidelines and measurements and if something had to be a certain size that was the size , there was no margin for error or I got punched in the lower back and abused . I went from Ruven Electrical Department where I was maintaining properties at the electrical power stations , Orlando and Calvin ; I ended up working at the fresh produce market where I rode around in one of those little battery powered jobbies and fixed the toilets between the stalls . From there I went to the Water Department , my original employers , who had been hiding me for some reason and then I spent a few years driving around in the streets repairing burst pipes . That was my first experience with wider diameter pipes , fixing water meters etc . After a gap year overseas I came back and basically started my business . I started off by buying a bakkie – some of my tools had gone missing or been sold while I was away but I put together a little collection of tools for my bakkie and Dale ’ s Plumbing was created . Within a year I was self sufficient and had bought myself an apartment and the rest is history .
David : Do you have any memorable experiences from your time as a plumber ?
Dale : Yes many , like being at the bottom of a manhole in order to unblock it . Well , I managed to get out in time
Dale Simon of Dale Simon Plumbers .
when we succeeded but one of the guys who was working with me didn ’ t and he had to go home very stinky . There was that one time we were swarmed by bees , I fortunately managed to get to the van in time but my assistants didn ’ t and I had to rush them off to hospital because they had been stung so many times . Those were from my formative years of being a plumber , since then I ’ ve completed many projects including construction type work , which isn ’ t my game these days as I ’ m not geared for it anymore and these days I just focus on maintenance .
David : What has kept you in the plumbing game all these years ?
Dale : Well , I ’ m a good plumber and a good salesman too , I ’ ve got good business etiquette and I guess it ’ s about making a living while also enjoying the freedom that comes with being self employed . I ’ ll be honest though , since about 2018 it feels like all I ’ ve done is work work work . I have had to get rid of a few Cling-ons that were actually costing me more money than they were actually generating and I ’ ve been back on the tools now for four solid years . I regularly outperform my employees with the amount of jobs I complete per month in addition to creating most of the jobs which keep them busy every month .
David : What has changed in the industry since you first started ?
Dale : Obviously tooling has changed – when I started out it was all about galvanised pipe and cutting and threading and running up and down the stairs with measurements , cutting a piece of galv pipe and then running back upstairs to screw it in and take the next measurement , then running back down the stairs again .
Dale Simon www . plumbingafrica . co . za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline November 2022 Volume 28 I Number 9