LISTEN: Money woes continue for sub-contractor
"They never paid us for the changes we made on site when they demanded that we change the position of the kitchen units more than three times."
The construction of the Joshco flats in Dobsonville a few years ago gave hope to most local entrepreneurs who took the opportunity of working on the new construction site.
However, according to Professor Makhanya, who is the owner of Dobsonville-based T.P Lights Company, the new construction site was the beginning of a constant struggle and battle with the people tasked with managing the construction process.
Makhanya said, “My responsibility was the installation of the ready-made kitchen units in the new building. We agreed that I would be paid R 350 per kitchen unit per apartment. Our working relationship became a bitter pill to swallow as the site managers constantly demanded that we install and remove kitchen units. This happened for more than three times per apartment.”
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He said the contract stipulated the installation of over 120 kitchen units in 120 apartments, but they ended up installing and removing kitchen units more than 360 times. Makhanya said the construction management on the building site were indecisive and ended up making changes on site more than three times.
He added that they encountered another challenge with the resizing of the doors, which compounded matters further.
“In many instances, the doors we installed were either too big or too small and had to be re-cut. We were then expected to resize the doors in order that they perfectly into the door frame. Our initial agreement was that we would only install about 500 doors in all the apartments without resizing them,” said Makhanya.
He said in both contracts, the agreement was that they would not be responsible for the resizing of the doors and the installation of the kitchen units more than three times. According to Makhanya, what frustrated him the most, is that they were only paid once per kitchen unit.
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“They never paid us for the changes we made on site when they demanded that we change the position of the kitchen units more than three times. They also didn’t pay us for the resizing of over 40 doors we did on site. Every time I approached management about the unpaid monies for the changes, I was sent from pillar to post with no resolution in sight,” said Makhanya.
Murray & Dickson quantity surveyor, Tumelo More said, “The sub-contracting company that was told to make several changes while installing kitchen unit must produce proof of instruction which shows which changes were to be made.”
“They should also show a document which proves that they were told to make alterations to the doors, and only then will we entertain their concerns.”
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The Dobsonville flats site manager, Nkululeko Magubane said T.P Lights Company were contracted to complete four tasks on the site. These include; door installations, kitchen unit installations, duct covers and sanitary fittings and installation on site.
“His contracts are valued over R700 000. However, the company in question has been doing a shoddy job on the site. They failed to install the ready-made kitchen units which is the reason they did one job more than once.
“Their boss Professor Makhanya doesn’t listen to instructions and his insubordination delayed the completion of the project. I’m inviting the media to come and see the poor workmanship done by the company,” said Magubane.
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