Investment in formwork products

The Construction Industry in the MENA region is still suffering from the after effects of the Global recession and so with cash still tight, John McNamee, Ischebeck Titan (Middle East) Operations Director, provides an insight into what he believes are the main considerations for a contractor, prior to investing in scaffolding and formwork products.

“Truly any investment in the correct product should result in a system that will cater for all the contractors' needs on site, irrespective of propping height, slab thickness and application.”
-John McNamee

The first question any contractor must ask them self is "to buy or not to buy" and this question is posed mainly as a result of the programme period for construction, where the option is, in the first instance, to buy or rent the material? This is of course a very simplistic view on the subject matter, however since many contractors in the region tend to choose a product based upon the need to do one job at a time and secondly price, then the only other consideration is the period of use. The recommendation coming under this consideration then, is simply that if the total value of the rental equates to around 65 to 70 percent of the full cost of the purchase, then it's in the contractor's interest to buy.

The next question of course is what to buy and who from? Unfortunately many of the larger contractors particularly seem to stick with who and what they know, and whilst this is obviously utopia for many of the well-established suppliers in the region, it doesn't do justice to the many other systems and suppliers out there in the market place. Of course it is true that all suppliers in every industry strive to maintain customer relationships to the point that they are in pole position to attain repeat business. Indeed this is the position Ischebeck Titan (Middle East) have worked hard to achieve in the Emirate of Ajman, where they take great pride in the knowledge that they have been involved in supplying scaffolding and formwork solutions to around 76 towers which have been shared amongst only 7 different contractors.

So what is the secret, and what distinguishes one supplier from the others? There are many different answers to this question, for instance technical support, availability of material, type of material (ie. wood, steel or aluminium), quality of sales people, commercial systems adopted, product origin and country of manufacture, quality control procedures, attitude to health and safety, and of course, price, to name but a few. These are all very important considerations when making the choice of supplier; unfortunately very few of them are recognised by the people making the decision. However, one very important answer is missing from the list - the product itself.

If a contractor is engaged in constructing a tower either for commercial or residential use, one of the most obvious observations of the author during his time in the region is the recognised practice of decision makers considering only, the requirements of the typical floor.

If you consider for example the support system employed to carry the formwork decking system, it is common to see many projects utilising one system for the basement slab construction, another system for the 'podium or mechanical' slab construction (where the propping height is invariably a lot higher) and then utilising their investment for the typical floor slabs. The cost of this additional propping element for the lower level slabs is borne by the contractor normally in the form of rental invoices; had this been considered and accounted for at the outset, it may have resulted in a more cost effective solution to the investment. Truly any investment in the correct product should result in a system that will cater for all the contractors needs on site, irrespective of propping height, slab thickness and application (for example, tableform or fix and strike conventionally).

The seven different contractors in Ajman continue to utilise their Investment made in the Ischebeck Titan support and decking system from project to project, extremely satisfied that it was money well spent, albeit not the cheapest solution.

Having worked for 36 years in the scaffolding and formwork industry, through various disciplines including design, sales management, logistics and now as Operations Director of Ischebeck Titan (ME) LLC, John McNamee, a founder member of the UK Parent Company 20 years ago, has spent the last four and half years establishing the company in the UAE.