Masters of all they survey
For one Johannesburg-based company, steady growth and a firm commitment to the ideals of its founders have been the bedrock of its success. Andrew Pelis finds out more.
One thing that a recession clearly defines is the more buoyant business sectors of an economy. For a company like Pentad Quantity Surveyors, identifying the best sectors to work with has helped the company through the tribulations of the last year.
ÔÇ£We are definitely diverse but the last 12 months has seen some of our work sectors flourish while others have struggled,ÔÇØ admits Nicolas Sheard, director and part-founder of the Johannesburg-based business. ÔÇ£During the downturn we have continued to work with the hospitality sector and there has been a growth in our IT infrastructure work, while areas like motor dealerships and some office block work have disappeared.ÔÇØ
Indeed, with expansion only a relatively recent initiative at Pentad, the downturn has come with a few plus points. ÔÇ£Things have certainly changedÔÇötwo years ago we couldnÔÇÖt get staff and even contemplated hiring from outside of South Africa. However, over the last eight months we have discovered good staff are queuing up to work for us,ÔÇØ Sheard continues.
By good staff, he means those experienced in quantity surveying, something he had (and continues to have) in common with a group of friends when they decided to join forces and launch Pentad back in July 1997.
ÔÇ£We had all studied and qualified at the University of Pretoria back in 1988 and all gone on to work for other companies. After five or six years we all decided to go our own ways and start our own practices and one day, we concluded it would make sense to join forces and we created Pentad.ÔÇØ
For the first few years the company concentrated on expanding its client base rather than its workforce, a strategy which Sheard says led to long hours but has ultimately paid off handsomely. ÔÇ£A large amount of our work is repeat business and while we often worked seven days a week, we were able to build up client relationships.ÔÇØ
And those relationships have seen the company cast its net far from Johannesburg; the company operates throughout the whole of South Africa and has opened an office in Pretoria, where many of the staff live and where its client base has steadily grown over the past few years.
Further afield, Pentad is also present in Botswana and Mauritius and has links to Mozambique (which stem back to 2000), Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Business connections through clients who know the company have proved invaluable. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve done estimates or proposals and schemes in lots of these areas and much of the work has come from existing clients here in South Africa who have put us in touch with overseas work,ÔÇØ affirms Sheard.
Despite its recent focus on specific sectors, the business has built its name in a variety of industries and has always been strong in the leisure marketÔÇöparticularly in regards to new hotels and casinos (it has built up an excellent relationship with Peermont, through projects like the Grand Palm and Emperor Casino). Corporate headquarters and mixed-use precincts also feature prominently in PentadÔÇÖs portfolioÔÇöthe company recently completed the new corporate headquarters for one of South AfricaÔÇÖs largest banks.
Sheard says that the economic decline saw company projects halt at a rate of two per week at its worst point a year ago, but that has been somewhat tempered by spin-offs created by the forthcoming FIFA World Cup, including work on new hotel complexes.
ÔÇ£We currently have a number of major projects in the final stages of financing (largely, mixed precincts) and have also worked on the creation of 14 new cell phone data centres across the country,ÔÇØ he explains. ÔÇ£We were ┬áalso working on the ┬ánew central terminal building at O.R. Tambo International Airport (in Johannesburg) as part of a joint venture, an area we often get involved in, and we are involved in the work at a new complex at the University of Pretoria.ÔÇØ
The growth of the business in terms of employees only really began in the last five years. Having started with seven workers, Sheard says 1997 was not a great time to launch a company, as South Africa was in a recession that saw interest rates at double what they are today. ÔÇ£We worked hard at sourcing our clients and grew the workload, maybe adding one or two employees each year. It wasnÔÇÖt until around 2005 that we almost doubled staff numbers to 35. Although we have an administrative team, roughly 75 per cent of the workforce are professional surveyors,ÔÇØ Sheard states.
Meanwhile, growth on the economic front is expected to pick up this year. ÔÇ£Luckily last year we managed to achieve turnover similar to the year before (which was a record year) and this year, we anticipate growth again. The main challenge I see is putting together viable budgets and winning contractsÔÇöthe tendering market went through the roof during the boom period but has gone back to how it was two or three years ago in terms of building rates,ÔÇØ he adds.
Speaking to Sheard, one gets the impression that PentadÔÇÖs culture has changed little since its beginnings, a point he quickly endorses. ÔÇ£The fact is, our directors, management and shareholders are involved in all the projects, as was the case from the outset, and we have hand-picked all of our staff. Our budgetary systems and market knowledge give us a distinct advantage when it comes to accuracy and we are always available and able to give a budget quote at short notice.ÔÇØ
Reflecting on how quantity surveying has changed since he entered the fray 20-odd years ago, Sheard has some interesting observations. ÔÇ£All the staff today own laptops and everyone is connected, no matter where they are in the world. All the stuff we do is electronic and we use US measuring software that can adapt to autocad or pdf formats. Back when I started there were no cell phones, no laptops and no emails and we made do with fax machines. There is much less paperwork today and I can be anywhere in the world and stay in touch with our office.ÔÇØ
That final comment may be significant as Pentad seeks to branch out further. ÔÇ£Domestically we are considering targeting the civil sector but we are also looking to expand our operations in Botswana and Mauritius. The latter gives us a good base to target countries around the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean and we could in the future expand into India and Australia,ÔÇØ he concludes.
