- Below are a few words of what our clients had to say about our work -

We had been planning on doing major house renovations for quite a few years, but had heard so many bad stories about builders from friends and family that we were very skeptical and didn't really know where to start looking for a decent builder.

One day we decided to renovate one of our bathrooms as we were having quite a few people around for a get together and were simply too embarrassed to have our bathroom looking as old fashioned as it was. The problem was that we made this decision about 10 days before the get together so time was of the essence.

Nico was recommended to us by our son who had seen the work that he had done for a friend.

To begin with - we were pleasantly surprised that Nico arrived on time to give us a quote as we had phoned one or 2 other builders who hadn't even bothered to pitch, so we expected Nico to be the same.

He gave us a very reasonable quote and also assured us that the bathroom would be completed in time for our get together. We were still not completely convinced that it would be completed on time, but true to his word - Nico had the job completed within 5 days. We were over the moon with the quality of his work and this lead us to think about another renovation we had also been meaning to do. A conversion of a sun room and extension of a bedroom. We asked Nico to give us a quote for these renovations too, and once again the quote was reasonable and the job was remarkable.

I need to add at this point that my husband is a perfectionist and will not accept any completed work that he deems to be shoddy. He had no complaints and was more than satisfied with the workmanship.

By this time Nico had restored our faith in builders and we then started considering the major renovations that we had been putting off all these years. The renovations we wanted were quite extensive - It involved breaking down one of the main walls to our existing house, building a large entrance hall, dining room and lounge and a second storey on top of the new addition with a large entertainment room, bathroom , balcony and inside walkway. We asked Nico to give us a quote and again we were pleased with the quote and decided to go ahead with the alterations.

However we knew we needed to get an architect to draw up the plans and get them approved through the council, and this part we were dreading as we figured it would take months to go through the procedure. Lo and behold Nico came to our rescue once again, and produced an architect that he regularly uses. The architect ( Stephen Roulete ) was exceptional and produced the final draft of the plans within a week of our initial meeting.

After we signed off the final draft he advised us that he would be submitting the plans to the council and we needed to wait for them to be approved. On the Tuesday evening we signed the plans and on Thursday morning Stephen phoned us to say the plans had been approved by the council. We couldn't believe that it took just 2 days!!

We also need to add that Nico was present during all the meetings we had with the architect, and was very proactive in terms of making various cost effective suggestions whilst we were deciding on the final design..

By the following Monday Nico and his workers started work on our new renovations. Simply put, from the word go - it was a painless procedure. Nico was present on the job every day supervising the labourers. They arrived every morning at 7am and left at 6pm at night. Not a day went by where they didn't pitch, and they even worked on weekends and public holidays. Nico organized the various building engineers, inspectors and electrician, even organizing a chap to do the granite for us, so he was pretty much a one stop shop.

He also showed endless patience with us as there were certain times where we couldn't make up our mind on the various fittings available. Off he would go to the various suppliers and come back armed with samples and prices. He even came with us to the paint shop to help us choose our colors, and when we couldn't decide between 2 specific colors, he painted 2 walls for us in different colors purely so that we could see which one looked best. I don't think there is many builders out there that would go to such extremes to keep their client happy. He went out of his way to keep us happy and never complained when we asked for a change to be done half way through a specific job.

The overall quality of his work was exceptional and in fact we overheard the building inspector complimenting him on a job well done!

Asides from the major building alterations - he also repaved our driveway and tiled and repainted our existing house to ensure it all flowed with the new additions. The whole job from start to finish took 4 months which again was exceptional in our eyes.

Another factor which did not go unnoticed was the fact that his team cleaned up at the end of every day so we weren't left with a messy building site in the evenings.

We are now planning on getting Nico to rebuild our front wall and do extensions on our offices as we are so happy with his work.

We can highly recommend Nico to anyone who may be considering doing building alterations and can truly say that we could not fault him on any aspect of his work and the remarkable passion that he displayed throughout the process.

We can be contacted on 011 7933874
Andy and Heather
Randpark Ridge

Mark and Margaret

Nico has completed a number of renovations for us. His standard and quality of work and commitment to work ethics is to be commended. We can recommend Nico and his team without a doubt for all types of work.

December 2008

To whom it may concern,

Nico was recommended to me by a friend and has done various building work on our property in Northcliff for the past year.

He took over the refurbishment of our patio – after the abdication (with money) of a previous builder, who left only a foundation and huge piles of rubble. The job included building columns, hand casting a curved concrete beam, fitting a suitable roof, electrical work, steps, tiling and all finishing. He has also rebuilt an outside wall that was badly degraded and has done numerous other smaller jobs.

Nico and his team have been pleasant to work with, very efficient and professional. He adheres to quotations provided in advance, does not demand an excessive percentage of money upfront, does jobs when he says he will and cleans up well. Most importantly (as we have had no less than 3 bad experiences with other builders) he is honest, ethical and properly qualified – rare qualities today in the construction profession in South Africa. He insisted we use an architect and a structural engineer for the design, specifications and casting of the concrete beam – and didn’t try and rush any part of the process; the first time we have experienced this level of professional concern from an independent builder.

Nico is also detail orientated, communicates well, stands by guarantees on his work and is very good at finding creative solutions to problems.

It gives us great pleasure to recommend him highly to anyone undertaking building work. In an environment unfortunately characterised by dishonesty, substandard work, complete lack of ethical standards and fraud, Nico stands out as a rare example of an honest professional who is an absolute pleasure to work with. Anyone wishing to communicate directly with us on this reference is very welcome to phone us.

Yours sincerely,

Carol & Malcolm

Tel: 011 678-3479/ 4432/ 079 887-2751

Nico Zietsman het voor my groot geword hier in Randfontein. Hy het sy skool loopbaan hier voltooi en daarna sy naskoolse studies by Damelin gedoen.

As kind was hy altyd ‘n baie beleef en goed gemanierd wat baie goed klaar gekom het met sy vriende asook met ouer mense.

Nico het later saam met sy oom begin om bouwerk te doen en het baie vinnig geleer om sekere take op sy eie te verrig. Bouwerk en gepaard gaaande teelwerk, verfwerk en allerhande ander take wat hand aan hand gaan met bouwerk, het hy met ywer en oorgawe aangepak en voltooi .

Nico het by my begin met teelwerk , verf van vertrekke en later gevorder tot die totale ombouing van badkamers uitbouing van kombuis en die installering van kombuiskasste. Hy het hierdie take voltooi met trots, koste effektief en tot totale bevrediging van ons as kliënt. Nico is ‘n baie netjiese werker en is trots op sy eindproduk. Nico se natuurlike aanvoeling en aanleg vir hierdie tipe werk het gemaak dat hy vandag enige bouwerk kan aanpak en sal afhandel binne die koste raamwerk wat aan die klient gegee is asook tot die algehele bevrediging van die kliënt.

Ek kan Nico aanbeveel vir enige tipe bouwerk en take wat daarmee gepaard gaan.

Frans
0836763496

Hi Nico
Hope you’re well.

This is a short note to say thanks for the completing the last project we contracted you for. The California garage is perfect and has stood up to the recent storms very well. Fortunately you completed the new entrance way too as the storms would have washed in through the front door had we not added the entrance way. The parapet work is perfect too – I still wonder why the original contractor never evened them out and waterproofed them like you did.

Thanks too for the other work (bathroom and kitchen) you’ve done for us in the past – I’ve lost count of the number of complements we’ve had from our friend and family.We’re still saving up for the pub but will let you know once we’re ready. Kim says that you’d better not be busy when we engage you.

Thanks again
Kevin and Kim

011-793-6642

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