22 OPINION PIECE
Small plumbing companies deserve their fair place at the table
By
Obed Kekae, WASSUP Co-operative, edited by Megan O’ Connor
Since joining the industry in 2007, individuals and bodies within the industry have helped me immensely in getting to where I am today, and I would love to see that help shared beyond myself and towards others in the industry – the‘ smaller’ guys.
In every South African township, plumbing is as essential as electricity and roads. Water must flow, toilets must flush, and leaks must be fixed – every single day. Yet the plumbers who live in these communities, understand them best and are registered and qualified to do the work are too often pushed to the margins of the exact projects that could shape their future.
Our industry focuses a lot on development, transformation and skills upliftment, but on the ground, the pattern is painfully familiar: big projects go to big, wellestablished companies, and small plumbers are called upon in the later stages of projects or for smaller portions of the work, limiting opportunities to gain experience and grow their businesses.
But it doesn’ t have to be this way.
A fair split idea Plumbing organisations and associations know how many plumbers are registered and where they are, so they are uniquely positioned to be able to help government departments structure tenders in a way that could give the‘ small’ guys a chance at growing.
When a department wants to build a dam, upgrade bulk pipelines, or install water meters across a township, why not design the tender from the start to share opportunity and experience?
For example:
• Let the well-established companies take on the large-diameter mains – the 200mm pipes, the complex bulk infrastructure, the high-risk technical work, etc.
• Allocate a formal, contractual portion of the work – say 50 % – to qualified, registered small plumbers and co-operatives for the 110mm lines, the 20 – 35mm connections, and the meter installations.
This idea is not charity – it is experience-sharing in a structured way. Big companies still get the large projects they want – for example, the R25- million contracts – while smaller, emerging plumbers get the R25 000 – R200 000 packages that can help them grow, build a track record, and eventually compete for larger work on their own.
Crucially, this must be written into the tender from the beginning. If we only think about small plumbers at the end – after design, after award, after pricing – they will always be treated as an afterthought.
Registered, qualified, and still overlooked There is another uncomfortable truth in this scenario: in many cases, the people actually doing the work on big jobs are often not qualified plumbers. They may be experienced, but they are not registered, not accountable to a regulatory body, and not held to the same standards.
This is dangerous. When something goes wrong on a project, the first thing people ask for is papers – like the name of the plumber and qualification on record. The industry wants someone to hold accountable, and rightly so.
So why are registered plumbers not being prioritised in how jobs are awarded?
Small, registered plumbers are not saying unqualified workers must starve. We are saying: give the contracts to qualified, registered businesses, and let them hire and mentor the people with hands-on experience. That way:
• Work is done under proper accountability.
• Quality can be enforced.
• The regulatory system has meaning beyond paperwork.
If expensive fittings are being installed in multimillion-rand homes in estates like Steyn City, everyone understands that only the best, Obed Kekae. most experienced, qualified plumbers should touch them. But poor communities deserve the same standard of respect and safety. Water and sanitation are not luxuries – they are human rights.
The cost of being small For a small plumber,‘ getting a big break’ can be a double-edged sword. Imagine winning a R500 000 tender as a co-operative. You need vehicles – maybe two bakkies – just to get your team and materials to site. The bank finances the vehicles. The job ends. Then three or four months pass with no new project. The bank doesn’ t wait. Suddenly, that‘ big break’ becomes the reason you lose everything.
Without a steady pipeline of work, small contractors are trapped in a cycle of start, rise a little, collapse, start again. This is why the idea of formalised sharing of work is so important. If departments and big companies are obligated to engage with registered small plumbers on every major project, then growth does not depend entirely on personal relationships and luck. It becomes part of how the system works.
Collaboration between departments, industry bodies, media, and big businesses If we are serious about transformation and sustainable service delivery in plumbing, then we must move from talk to structure.
Here is what needs to happen:
1. Departments can design tenders that explicitly reserve a share of work – by value and by scope – for registered small plumbers and co-operatives, with clear criteria and support for subcontracting and mentoring.
2. Industry bodies can use their databases and influence to actively propose and champion such models, through actual tender documents.
3. Large plumbing companies can embrace structured, fair subcontracting as a core part of how they work, not an afterthought when they‘ need a few extra hands’.
4. Industry media and platforms can prioritise stories, opinion pieces and case studies from the ground: from the co-operatives, the township plumbers, the artisans trying to build sustainable businesses.
Plumbing is not just a trade; it is public health, dignity and community resilience. If we keep sidelining the particular plumbers who live where the problems are worst, we are not just being unfair – we are being short-sighted.
Give small registered plumbers a real seat at the table, and you won’ t just be sharing work – you’ ll be building an industry that can stand on its own feet with equal opportunity for all. PA
© Plumbing Africa www. plumbingafrica. co. za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline November 2026 Volume 32 I Number 09