Two people, one bakkie
Founded doing alterations and small additions around Durbanville and Bellville, mostly for people who had been let down by someone else.
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We have built in the Western Cape since 2008. Long enough that most of our work now comes from people whose neighbours we built for.
Klipbank started with two people and a bakkie in 2008, doing alterations in the northern suburbs. Eighteen years later there are fourteen of us, which is roughly ten fewer than most people expect.
That is deliberate. Every extra layer between the person who quotes a job and the person who builds it is another place for a promise to get lost. We took the opposite route: fewer jobs at a time, run by people whose names you actually learn.
It costs us growth. It also means we have never abandoned a site, never had a structural failure, and can still tell you what went wrong on a job we finished in 2013.
If the number is going to be uncomfortable, you hear it at quote stage rather than at month four. We would rather lose the job than win it on a figure we cannot hold.
One foreman per project, on site daily, reachable on his own mobile. Not a call centre, not a rotating crew, not a subcontractor you have never met.
Anyone can get a job to 95%. The snag list is where builders lose their reputation, so we close ours out before we ask for the final payment.
Founded doing alterations and small additions around Durbanville and Bellville, mostly for people who had been let down by someone else.
A single dwelling in Welgevonden, taken from a cleared stand to occupation certificate. It set the process we still run today.
Brought retaining and groundworks in-house after one subcontracted wall failed inspection. We have not outsourced structural work since.
SACPCMP-registered site supervision became standard on all projects, not only the ones where a client asked for it.
Four site teams, one office, and the same rule as day one: the person who quotes your job is the person who checks it.
Four of the fourteen. Between them they carry every project we run.
Founder and estimator. Quotes every job personally and checks each one on site.
Contracts manager. Holds the programme and tells you the week something slips.
Senior site foreman, SACPCMP registered. Fifteen years on Cape sites.
Office and compliance. Certificates, guarantees and the handover file.
Certificates are handed over with the quote. You should never have to ask twice for these.
The fastest way to judge a builder is to stand on one of their live sites on an ordinary Tuesday. We will arrange it.