Compliance
What the Construction Regulations add to the OHS Act
The Act makes somebody responsible. The Regulations decide who, in writing, before anybody starts, and two of those documents belong to the client.
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Compliance
Who may lawfully do what work on a South African site, and the paperwork that proves it: cidb grading, NHBRC, CSD registration, the Construction Regulations.
Start with the registers. Most of what goes wrong on a South African site was visible before award in a database that is free to search: the cidb register and its removals notices, National Treasury's restricted suppliers, the Department of Employment and Labour's registered persons, the Compensation Fund's letters of good standing. These pieces read those registers so a client, a contractor or a supplier does not have to learn them the expensive way.
Compliance
NHBRC enrolment requirements, and who actually enrols
The builder registers. The home is enrolled. Two different acts, and in practice the person selling the unit is the one exposed when the second is skipped.
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Compliance
What cidb grading you need for a R2 million contract
The answer has two halves and most contractors only check one, which is why a current registration still loses the appointment at scope review.
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Compliance
OHS prohibition notice on a building, and who fixes it
In Soweto the notice went to the tenant, the repair runs through the landlord, and only an inspector can say the building may reopen.
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Compliance
Construction work permit, and whether your job needs one
It does not come from the municipality and your approved plans do not cover it. Two different duties sit with the Department of Employment and Labour.
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Compliance
BCCEI wage rates, and who owes them on a mine
Earthworks, hauling and dust suppression on a mine can fall under the civil engineering council, whatever the site. How to check before the principal asks.
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Compliance
What a plumbing compliance certificate actually covers
An accredited person inspected specified work and found it met the standard that day. Everything outside those words is not covered by the page.
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Compliance
How long an electrical CoC is valid in South Africa
It never expires. But it cannot carry a transfer once it is two years old, and it does not cover anything added or altered after it was issued.
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Compliance
Return of Earnings deadline, and what a late one costs
File your outstanding Return of Earnings before 31 October 2026, or the Commissioner may assess your firm on an estimate and add a penalty.
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Compliance
Do I need to register with the NHBRC to build houses?
If you build homes in South Africa, the firm registers with the NHBRC and each home is enrolled. Gauteng's next housing lines make that urgent.
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Compliance
What happens after you apply to a contractor panel
Nothing visible happens for a long stretch. What is running in that time is a set of queries to outside registers, each answering at its own pace.
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Compliance
How to get on a preferred supplier list, and stay on
Getting on a list takes a morning. Being called off one depends on something the Competition Commission has now measured properly.
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Compliance
Supplier database registration and where the work hides
The CSD is mandatory and finds you nothing. The work a small firm can win sits on the municipality's own noticeboard, and none of it has to reach eTenders.
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Compliance
Contractor accreditation in South Africa: who grants it
There is no single contractor accreditation in South Africa, only trade registers, each buyer's own list, and the check a client relies on.
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Compliance
How to verify a cidb registration before you appoint
A certificate shows a firm was registered on the day it was printed. The register answers today, and grade, class and status all have to match the job.
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Compliance
Pre-export verification of conformity, and what remains
The dtic withdrew its certificate rule for certain Chinese imports two days after it was due to start. The compulsory specifications and site check stay.
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Compliance
Vendor registration for contractors, after the court ruling
The Constitutional Court struck down the Public Procurement Act on 17 September, so you register exactly where you registered before the ruling.
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Compliance
How to check if a plumber is registered in South Africa
The register answers in two minutes, and a comment window closing 24 October may make it decide who hears your complaint when the work fails.
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Compliance
Contractor vetting checklist, and what eThekwini skipped
A Special Tribunal set aside housing appointments the SIU valued at around R30 million. Read the ruling backwards and it is a list of the checks nobody ran.
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Compliance
Contractor compliance check South Africa: five registers
The check is the same five registers for one firm or twenty. A panel makes it recur, and a buyer running seven identical tenders pays for it seven times.
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Compliance
How to find a reliable contractor in South Africa
A cidb grade is a claim the regulator can reopen. We find a reliable one with a dated register check and the habits no register records.
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Compliance
Geyser drip tray requirement, and who pays without one
Refuse the tray, sign the amended quote, and the plumber's non-compliance note moves the cost of the next failure from their insurer to your cupboards.
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Compliance
Who must be SACPCMP registered on a construction site?
The registration is personal, it attaches to the safety officer the contractor appoints, and a client checks the named person against the council, not the firm.
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Compliance
Standard for Uniformity, and what it tells a client to check
The draft second edition does not touch your grading. It rewrites how every organ of state applies the register. Comments closed 30 September 2026.
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Compliance
How to upgrade cidb grading, and how long it takes
One completed contract at the next grade's track record minimum, the turnover and capital beside it, and a 21-day pack. The grade follows the work.
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Compliance
What does cidb 6CE mean, and who asks for it
A grade and a class, read together. In September 2026 one panel drew its line at 6CE, and the rest of the board drew it everywhere from grade 1 to grade 9.
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Compliance
What to do when a client will not pay a certificate
The contract already carries the remedy, and the compliance file that keeps you on site quietly expires while you wait for the money.
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Compliance
Letter of good standing, what it actually covers
It covers the contractor's own employees for injury at work. It does not cover your tenants, your visitors or a child hurt on your property.
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Compliance
Contractor panel registration: what to have ready
The application takes an hour. What takes three weeks is chasing documents that could not be issued until something else existed first.
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Compliance
The borehole registration deadline closed in July
Every commercial borehole had to be registered for water use by about 23 July 2026, and the sanction for missing it is criminal rather than administrative.
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Compliance
The cidb blacklist and your live contract
The Minister counts 52 contractors off the cidb register against two in its first 22 years, and the gazette is already ahead of him.
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Compliance
Appointments under the Construction Regulations
Two written appointments under the Construction Regulations are the client's. The rest belong to the contractor. Investigators went looking for that paperwork.
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Compliance
Who may issue an electrical CoC in South Africa
A GreenCard is not a registration, and the PV installer holding one may have no statutory authority to do the electrical work on your roof.
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Compliance
The restricted suppliers list follows the director
Treasury has recorded 35 companies and 45 directors after Eskom's referrals, and a listed name walks into the next company you register.
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Compliance
How to vet a contractor in South Africa
Four of the five checks that decide whether a contractor may lawfully work on your site are free, and most clients run only one of them.
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The Arabella Brief
What changed this week, and what it costs you on Monday.
One email on a Friday, covering the week from Friday to Thursday so the week is closed when it is written. What actually changed, everything with a date on it, one development run through what it means for a contractor with forty people, and what we got wrong. A thin week is a short issue.