development through partnership

T h e C o n s t r u c t i o n I n d u s t r y D e v e l o p m e n t B o a r d

SKILLS SURVEY2011CONTRACTOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The research for this cidb Contractor Skills Survey was undertaken by the The Department of Construction Economics and Management, of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment of the University of Cape Town. The support of the Department is gratefully acknowledged. © Copyright 2011 ISBN: 978-0-620-51617-4

CIDB CONTRACTOR SKILLS SURVEY September 2011

i

CIDB CONTRACTOR SKILLS SURVEY Contents

1.  Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 1 

2.  Survey Data ________________________________________________________________ 3 

3.  Skills Profile ________________________________________________________________ 5 

4.  Experience Profile ___________________________________________________________ 7 

5.  Experience vs. Qualifications __________________________________________________ 8 

6.  Summary and Discussion _____________________________________________________ 9 

CIDB CONTRACTOR SKILLS SURVEY

1. INTRODUCTION The cidb Act (Act No. 38 of 2000) mandates the cidb to develop a Best Practice Contractor Recognition Scheme to help clients better manage risk and support contractor development. In support of this, the cidb is currently developing Requirements for Contractor Competence Assessment as a component of the cidb Best Practice Contractor Recognition Scheme. The cidb Requirements for Contractor Competence Assessment will be used for assessing and recognising the key competencies of a contracting enterprise, encouraging best practise and performance improvement of contractors. The key competencies required by an enterprise to run a successful contracting business are business management, building and construction works management (supervision and operational), and legislative issues. These core competencies will be measured against acceptable standards necessary for running a contracting enterprise and for supervising building and construction works. A summary of the current minimum prescribed qualifications and experience or recognized equivalence in the area of building and construction works management required for the “limited” category is summarised below1:

Minimum Prescribed Qualifications and Experience for Limited Category

Category Grade Minimum qualifications for building and

construction management Minimum experience

GB: General Building CE: Civil Engineering

5 & 6 • National Certificate: Management of Building Construction Processes

5 years

2 to 4 • National Certificate: Supervision of Construction Processes

3 years

These competencies need to reside with the owner and/or key nominated representatives of the contracting enterprise. Where these representatives meet the minimum competencies as required by the cidb (i.e. business management, building and construction works management and legislative issues) the contractor will be recognised as a cidb Accredited Contractor. In the development of the cidb Requirements, the cidb recognises that many contractors may not have the formal qualifications, but are likely to operate at the required level. Where the contractor or his nominated representative does not hold the required minimum formal qualifications, the cidb can then facilitate an assessment by an external Competence Assessment Panel of the applicant’s competence against those that are deemed to be minimum standards. A summary of the current minimum prescribed qualifications and experience required in the area of building and construction works management for an external Competence Assessment is summarised below:

Minimum Prescribed Qualifications and Experience Required for an External Competence Assessment

Category Grade Minimum NQF Level

Equivalence Minimum Experience without qualifications

GB: General Building CE: Civil Engineering

5 & 6 5 5 years 2 to 4 3 5 years

Against this background, cidb required an assessment of the likely competence profiles of contractors in Grades 2 to 6, so as to provide an assessment of: • the number of contractors that may meet the proposed prescribed formal qualifications and experience

requirements;

1 cidb (2011). Requirements for cidb Contractor Competence Assessment. Construction Industry Development

Board, Pretoria. http://cidb.org.za

• the number of contractors that may require an external assessment of the contractor’s competence; and • the number of contractors that may qualify for an external assessment of the contractor’s competence The cidb commissioned the Department of Construction Economics and Management of the University of Cape Town to conduct a skills survey. The survey focused on General Building (GB) and Civil Engineering (CE) contractors registered in the cidb Grades 2 to 6. A summary of this contractor skills survey is presented in this report.

2. SURVEY DATA The cidb contractor skills survey was carried out by sending an email survey to cidb registered Grades 2 to 6 contracting enterprises in the General Building (GB) and Civil Engineering (CE) categories. To capture the qualification and experience of the contractor and/or his nominated representatives, respondents were asked to complete the survey for up to 5 key staff in their employ. The respondents had to be people undertaking any of the following key functions within the enterprise: • Owner / Director; • Manager / Professional (typically construction project managers); • Supervisor; and • Technical / Artisan. The survey was send to approximately 4 000 contracting enterprises and 700 responses were received back. As with any survey of this nature, data quality and interpretation of terminology is always of concern. The most common data quality problems encountered are summarised below: • Duplicate entries where around 70 (10% of the responses) were duplicated. These often included

significant differences in data such as number of permanent employees, etc. • Non-useable forms in which around 2% of entries suggested that the work experience of the staff

exceeded their working age of the staff (e.g. a 30 year old with 25 years work experience). • Contractor Grading where some enterprises (25 enterprises or 3%) were incorrectly reported in the

survey, and as a result all recorded Grade 1, 8 and 9 contractor gradings were manually checked and corrected against the cidb register of Contractors.

• Misinterpretation of the descriptors used in the survey resulting in respondents using the job description of their employees rather than the descriptions typically used in the Manpower Training Act of 1981.

To correct the anomalies noted above data validation involving 78 (11%) of the respondents was undertaken as a corrective measure. This included the manual cross checking of all contracting enterprises reported as Grades 1, 7, 8 or 9; telephonic interviews to confirm qualifications and experience of staff; and rechecking the validity of the duplicate entries. The results obtained from approximately 600 companies representing 7% of cidb registered contracting enterprises in the relevant categories were considered broadly valid and are used in the analysis.

Number of Registrations and Enterprises Surveyed Grade GB CE Enterprises 5 & 6 112 143 214 2 to 4 269 209 381 Total 381 352 595

An overview of the provincial distribution of the survey sample is given below:

Distribution of Enterprises Surveyed per Province Grade EC FS GP KZ LP MP NW NC WC SA 5 & 6 16 19 61 43 20 13 13 4 24 213 2 to 4 52 20 105 82 29 25 15 7 46 381 Total 68 39 166 125 49 38 28 11 70 594

% 11% 7% 28% 21% 8% 6% 5% 2% 12% 100% The sample surveyed is reasonably representative of the General Building and Civil Engineering contractors currently registered in cidb Grades 2 to 6 across all provinces, expectedly showing the majority of the enterprises reported on located in Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Information was obtained regarding 914 key staff members. As shown below, the majority of the respondents were “Owner / Director” (62%), followed by “Manager / Professional” (19%), with 11% reported as “Supervisor” and “Technical / Artisan” around 7%.

Key Staff

Position 5 & 6 2 to 4 Total % Owner/Director 211 360 571 62% Manager/Professional 89 88 177 19% Supervisor 39 63 102 11% Technical/Artisan 23 41 64 7% Total 362 552 914 100

3. SKILLS PROFILE The skills profile of the staff (employees) surveyed in terms of the percentage staff and highest educational qualifications are given in the table below, and illustrated graphically in the following figures. Note that in terms of the cidb Requirements for Contractor Competence Assessment system, the minimum qualifications required for meeting the requirements for building and construction works management would typically include: • Grade 5 & 6 contractors; NDip, BTech and higher qualifications; and • Grade 2 to 4 contractors; Trade Test (Including Foreman Certificate), NDip, BTech and higher

qualifications.

Highest Educational Qualifications

Grade Position None / Other

Trade Test

Foreman Certificate

NDip BTech+

5 & 6 Owner / Director 45% 4% 6% 29% 17% 2 to 4 Owner / Director 65% 5% 4% 19% 8% 5 & 6 Manager / Professional 39% 1% 8% 31% 20% 2 to 4 Manager / Professional 47% 6% 5% 26% 17% 5 & 6 Supervisor 46% 10% 8% 33% 3% 2 to 4 Supervisor 59% 10% 13% 16% 3% 5 & 6 Technical / Artisan 30% 22% 26% 22% 0% 2 to 4 Technical / Artisan 27% 29% 2% 37% 5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

65%

45%

19%

29%

8%

17%

Employees %)

Highest Qualification; Owner / Director

None / Other Trade Test Foreman Cert

NDip BTech +

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

47%

39%

26%

31%

17%

20%

Employees (%)

Highest Qualification; Manager / Professional

None / Other Trade Test Foreman Cert

NDip BTech +

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

59%

46%

10%

10%

13%

8%

16%

33%

Employees (%)

Highest Qualification; Supervisor

None / Other Trade Test Foreman Cert

NDip BTech +

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

27%

30%

29%

22% 26%

37%

22%

Employees (%)

Highest Qualification; Technical / Artisan

None / Other Trade Test Foreman Cert

NDip BTech +

The following general conclusions can be drawn from the above information: • In general it can be observed that Grade 5 & 6 contractors tend to have more qualified staff than

Grades 2 to 4 contractors. • Around 65% of Owners / Directors of Grade 2 to 4 construction companies do not have any formal

qualifications, while around 27% have a National Diploma or higher. For Grade 5 & 6 contractors, around 45% of Owners / Directors do not have any formal qualifications, while around 41% have a national diploma or higher.

• In terms of Supervisors, around 60% of supervisors in Grade 2 to 4 construction companies do not have any formal technical qualification, while for Grade 5 & 6 contractors around 46% of supervisors do not have formal qualifications.

• It is interesting to note that a relatively large percentage of Artisans have technical qualifications (a trade test or higher) – namely around 70% in Grades 2 to 4 and Grades 5 & 6.

The survey results for the highest educational qualification compare well with a survey of Grade 1 to 4 civil engineering contractors undertaken by Martin2, shown below. Again, around 65% of the respondents did not have any formal technical qualifications, while around 20% had a national diploma or higher.

Highest Educational Qualifications (after Martin)

Other College Higher

Education Diploma

Level 65% 14% 12% 9%

2 Martin, L (2010). Knowledge Transfers in the South African Construction Industry: Focus on Civil Engineering

Contractors. Research Report. Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Cape Town.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Grades 1 to 4 65% 14% 12%9%

Employees (%)

Highest Qualification; Respondents

Other College Higher Education Diploma Level

4. EXPERIENCE PROFILE An overview of the respondents’ experience in the construction industry is given in the following table and figures.

Experience in the Construction Industry (Years) Grade Position < 5 6 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 > 40 5 & 6 Owner / Director 9% 29% 32% 15% 12% 4% 2 to 4 Owner / Director 34% 33% 15% 9% 5% 3% 5 & 6 Manager / Professional 9% 35% 33% 13% 9% 1% 2 to 4 Manager / Professional 23% 32% 19% 18% 4% 3% 5 & 6 Supervisor 28% 25% 30% 18% 0% 0% 2 to 4 Supervisor 32% 21% 18% 15% 13% 2% 5 & 6 Technical / Artisan 40% 24% 20% 16% 0% 0% 2 to 4 Technical / Artisan 38% 33% 10% 8% 8% 3%

From the above it can be seen that the experience profiles between Grades 2 to 4 contractors and Grade 5 & 6 contractors are in fact reasonably similar – except for the experience profile of the Owner / Director. In general, the Owner / Director of the Grade 2 to 4 contracting enterprise is less experienced than the Grade 5 & 6 contractor.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

34%

9%

33%

29%

15%

32%

9%

15%

5%

12%

Employees (%)

Years in Construction; Owner / Director

< 5 6 to 10 11 to 2021 to 30 31 to 40 > 40

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

23%

9%

32%

35%

19%

33%

18%

13%

4%

9%

Employees (%)

Years in Construction; Manager / Professional

< 5 6 to 10 11 to 2021 to 30 31 to 40 > 40

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

32%

28%

21%

25%

18%

30%

15%

18%

13%

Employees (%)

Years in Construction; Supervisor

< 5 6 to 10 11 to 2021 to 30 31 to 40 > 40

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

38%

40%

33%

24%

10%

20%

8%

16%

8%

Employees (%)

Years in Construction; Technical / Artisan

< 5 6 to 10 11 to 2021 to 30 31 to 40 > 40

5. EXPERIENCE VS. QUALIFICATIONS The previous sections have focused on the skills profiles within contracting organisations. However, as highlighted in Section 1, a key objective of this skills survey is to provide an assessment of: • the number of contractors that may meet the proposed prescribed formal qualifications and experience

requirements; • the number of contractors that may require an external assessment of the contractor’s competence; and • the number of contractors that may qualify for an external assessment of the contractor’s competence. The assessment is given below in the area of building and construction works management (see Section 2), from which it is seen that the survey results suggest that: • for Grade 5 & 6 construction enterprises, overall:

• around 45% of employees possess the minimum qualifications, while • around 45% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications but have the required

experience (5 years) required for an external competence assessment; but • around 10% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications and do not have the required

experience required for an external competence assessment; and • for Grade 2 to 4 construction enterprises, overall:

• around 30% of employees possess the minimum qualifications, while • around 60% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications but have the required

experience (5 years) required for an external competence assessment; but • around 10% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications and do not have the required

experience required for an external competence assessment.

Employees with and without minimum qualifications With minimum qualifications Without minimum qualifications Grade Position <5 yrs experience >5 yrs experience 5 & 6 Owner / Director 47% 9% 45% 2 to 4 Owner / Director 26% 33% 42% 5 & 6 Manager / Professional 49% 3% 47% 2 to 4 Manager / Professional 46% 16% 39% 5 & 6 Supervisor 39% 21% 39% 2 to 4 Supervisor 18% 29% 53%

Summary; Overall

5 & 6 All 46% 9% 45% 2 to 4 All 28% 12% 60%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2 to 4

5 & 6

12%

9%

60%

45%

Employees (%)

Overall Summary;Experience (years) without qualifications

<5 yrs experience >5 yrs experience

6. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION A summary of the skills and experience profiles of the Grade 2 to 4 and Grade 5 & 6 contractors obtained from the skills survey are given below. As could be expected, the Grade 2 to 4 contractors typically have less skills and less experience that the higher grade contractors. Many contractors do not have the requisite formal qualification but have been actively involved in the industry for more than 5 years, and will therefore need to be assessed for their relevant competencies. Summary; Skills and Experience Profiles

Position Grade 5 & 6 Grades 2 to 4 Owners / Directors

• Less than 10% of Owners / Directors have less that 5 years experience in the construction industry, and around 45% have no formal qualifications;

• More that 70% of Owners / Directors have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and around 41% have a national diploma or higher.

• Around 34% of Owners / Directors have less than 5 years experience in the construction industry, and around 65% have no formal qualifications;

• More that 60% of Owners / Directors have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and around 27% have a National Diploma or higher.

Supervisors • Less than 30% of Supervisors have less that 5 years experience in the construction industry, and more than 45% do not have a technical qualification;

• Around 50% of Supervisors have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and more than 45% have a foreman’s certificate or higher qualification.

• Around 30% of Supervisors have less that 5 years experience in the construction industry, and more than 60% do not have a technical qualification;

• Around 50% of Supervisors have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and more than 30% have a foreman’s certificate or higher qualification.

Technical / Artisan

• Around 40% of Artisans have less than 5 years experience in the construction industry, and around 30% do not have a technical qualification;

• Around 35% of Artisans have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and around 70% have a technical qualification.

• Around 40% of Artisans have less that 5 years experience in the construction industry, and around 30% do not have a technical qualification;

• Around 30% of Artisans have more than 10 years experience in the construction industry, and more than 70% have a technical qualification.

In addition, the following broad conclusions were also obtained from the survey, although these have not been presented in detail in this report: • the average age of employees surveyed was 34 years old; • less than 5% of contracting enterprises had formal business management skills; • female employees constitute 23% of the total number of people reported on; and • less than 50% of all contracting enterprises, or their staff, were registered with technical or professional

associations such as IOPSA, SACPCMP, etc. In terms of the original objective of this survey to provide an estimate of the number of people that could be candidates for an external Competence Assessment in terms of the cidb Requirements and Guidelines for Contractor Competence Assessment, it can be concluded for construction companies that: • for Grade 5 & 6 construction enterprises, overall:

• around 45% of employees possess the minimum qualifications, while • around 10% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications and do not have the required

experience required for an external competence assessment; and • for Grade 2 to 4 construction enterprises, overall:

• around 30% of employees possess the minimum qualifications, while • around 10% of employees do not possess the minimum qualifications and do not have the required

experience required for an external competence assessment.

Notes

PO Box 2107, Brooklyn Square,0075 Pretoria, South Africa

Registers Helpline: 0860 103 353

website: www.cidb.org.zaE-mail: cidb@cidb.org.zaTel: +27 (0)12 482 7200Fax: +27 (0)11 388 6852

development through partnership

ISBN number: 978-0-620-51617-4