Property & facilities
How to find the best electrician in Johannesburg
The best electrician is a registered one who will sign the certificate. Here are the checks to run before anyone touches your wiring.
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All resources
South Africa
Property & facilities
Emergency plumber in Johannesburg: what to do first
Stop the water, make the geyser safe, then call. What to check before an emergency plumber arrives, and what the quote should say.
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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
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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Cost & decisions
Landlord repair obligations, and the tenant's repair bill
A landlord may have to pay a tenant back for an urgent repair, and the Rental Housing Tribunal's ruling carries the force of a court judgment.
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Property & facilities
Burst pipe at night in Johannesburg: who fixes what
The water meter is the line. Johannesburg Water fixes its side, you fix yours, and a leak on your side is billed to you until it stops.
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Property & facilities
Emergency repairs in a body corporate, after hours
The trustees cannot meet at 2am, and the Act and the management rules already say who may authorise the repair, who may enter a unit and who pays.
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Property & facilities
Burst geyser: what to do in the first ten minutes
Switch off the power, shut the water, protect the ceiling, then photograph everything before you phone the insurer. Here is the order and why.
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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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Technology
Standby generator demand South Africa, as the grid recovers
Eskom's diesel bill is down R4.87 billion and load reduction is down 88.6%. Public buyers are still tendering generators. What a brand should read from that.
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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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Site & delivery
Refurbishment tender cancelled and re-advertised, then what
Six public buyers have put refurbishment work back on eTenders after an earlier round. What a buyer can find out and change before the second advert.
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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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Cost & decisions
As-built drawings and handover, what you are owed
Britain has been consulting on a minimum handover pack. JBCC already obliges your contractor to hand one over, but leaves what is in it to your contract data.
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Site & delivery
The money spent before your tender exists
About R1.8 million of preparation at Matjhabeng helped unlock an R800 million DBSA facility, long before any contractor could price it.
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Cost & decisions
Water infrastructure projects, read for the supplier
Steel main from DN600 to DN1600, centrifuge decanters, a 1 250kVA generator and a SCADA system are all named in R35 billion of planned water work.
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Cost & decisions
Commercial property investment pack, and what net hides
Broll's Wynberg lot shows R2,14m gross, R1,03m recoveries and R2,06m net. Those numbers fit two very different investments, and the listing does not say which.
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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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Cost & decisions
Standby generator tenders in South Africa, and the spec
Our catalogue holds 36 public generator lines this week. Who is buying, and the four different points at which a model gets written into the spec.
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Site & delivery
Infrastructure procurement gateway review, after the ruling
The draft regulations that would have made gateway reviews compulsory fell with the Procurement Act, and the risk they targeted did not fall with them.
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Cost & decisions
SANRAL routine road maintenance tender, nine provinces open
SANRAL has at least 40 routine road maintenance contractor lots open in nine provinces, and eleven compulsory briefings fall between 12 and 19 October.
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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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Cost & decisions
Penalties vs liquidated damages in construction (JBCC)
A late contractor owes the daily penalty written into the contract, and nothing if the Contract Data was left blank. Here is where the penalty stops.
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Cost & decisions
Tshwane alternative water source RFI, and what to send
Tshwane's RFI on alternative potable water sources closes on 30 October, and the City will use the answers to write the tender specification.
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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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Cost & decisions
NEC vs JBCC in South Africa: who can instruct you?
Under the JBCC the principal agent instructs, under the NEC the project manager does, and an instruction from anyone else is a risk you price yourself.
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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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Site & delivery
Structural steel shortage in South Africa, and the waivers
SAISC now backs tariff waivers one ITAC application at a time, and counts steel whose quality is still to be demonstrated as short.
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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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Property & facilities
Nine centres changed hands. Who maintains them?
Dipula is buying nine shopping centres for R2 billion, and on the day of transfer somebody has to know who fixes the air conditioning.
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Cost & decisions
Client matching for contractors, from closed tenders
A tender that closed with no award posted is a buyer who needed the work done. Five on Gauteng ground from late September 2026, and the call to make.
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Cost & decisions
What to check before hiring a contractor
Britain's new trusted trader scheme is voluntary. South Africa already has five registers, and a deposit rule that only bites once the money has gone.
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Cost & decisions
How to join a contractor panel in South Africa
Six public buyers had built-environment panels open on 29 September 2026, and a panel place is applied for like a tender but paid for like a promise.
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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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Property & facilities
Approved contractor list, and who builds one
Eighteen panels on one September day's tender board, and a landlord with 18.6% of its Gauteng offices empty. Both sides were building lists.
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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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Cost & decisions
Subcontractor matching, and the mall that used 17 SMMEs
iTonka Square in Springs was rebuilt in eight months by a trade list anyone could read. By opening day, every one of those packages was long gone.
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Cost & decisions
Contractor matching service when the tender comes back empty
Public buyers re-advertise the same refurbishment and the same maintenance contract. The board shows why a second advert rarely fixes the first.
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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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Cost & decisions
Find vetted contractors in Johannesburg, trade by trade
Start with the trade, because the shortage is uneven. Here is what our network could put on a Johannesburg site on 21 September 2026, and where it could not.
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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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Cost & decisions
How to get paid on a South African construction contract
Five clauses decide it: deposit, certificate, retention, escalation and remedy. Each has a date, and the money moves on those dates or not at all.
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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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Property & facilities
Maintenance contractors for bodies corporate
The Act makes trustees maintain the common property. It does not say how to find the contractor, compare the quotes or check the registers first. This does.
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Site & delivery
cidb grading levels explained, against real adverts
Nine grades, nine ceilings. The grade that earns is the one that matches work actually being advertised, not the one at the top of the table.
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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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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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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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Technology
What carbon tax does to a cement or steel price
CBAM cost EU importers 75,36 euro a tonne in early 2026. The carbon number that reaches an invoice in Boksburg is the R308 a tonne South Africa charges at home.
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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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Site & delivery
When a municipal contract runs out of money at 95%
Johannesburg Water stopped a tower at 95% because the contract budget was exhausted, and the standing time is now somebody's to carry.
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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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Property & facilities
Who approves the quote in a sectional title scheme
There are 130 female sectional title owners for every 100 male owners, and the quote your contractor wrote is still addressed to a single homeowner.
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Cost & decisions
How long can retention 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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Technology
150MW of data centre, and which trades it buys
MTN is targeting 150MW across South Africa and Nigeria, and the trades that sell into a data centre are settled in the main contract before the shell goes up.
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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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Site & delivery
Construction work in the R2 trillion pipeline
Of 263 projects worth R1,99 trillion, the 54 in documentation are the ones that become tenders. The 82 under construction are somebody else's order book.
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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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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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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.