Cost & decisions
Buildings grew, construction works shrank
South Africa's economy contracted in the second quarter while construction grew, and the gap between buildings and works tells you which jobs to chase.
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All resources
Cost & decisions
What things cost, what drives the number, and how the decision gets made. Pricing, retention, payment, and the gap between award price and outturn cost.
Cost & decisions
Steel safeguard duty and what it does to your rate
ITAC added South Korean hot-rolled steel to the safeguard on 4 September 2026 at 11 percent, and the origin of your fabricator's coil now sets part of the rate.
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Cost & decisions
What your spec is worth in a municipal tender
Municipal distributors sell 44% of South Africa's electricity, and a correctly specified protection device only survives their tender if the document says so.
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Cost & decisions
How long retention can be held in South Africa
Retention runs on your contract's clock, not on a statutory one, and on a R3 million job the 5% still held at month nine is R150 000 of yours.
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Cost & decisions
Fuel escalation on a contract you priced in June
Diesel rose R2,94 a litre on 2 September, and whether you recover any of it was decided by a clause you signed three months ago.
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Cost & decisions
Municipal tariffs rose 8,1% and 10,2% in July 2026
Headline inflation fell to 4,3% while the services a building actually buys went up by twice that, which is why the maintenance budget broke.
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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.