By David Smith
This month we chatted to Diamond Sekokope of Talkzinto Projects to find out about his experiences as a plumbing contractor
and the value of doing things the right way.
Diamond Sekokope of Talkzinto Projects. Image supplied
David: Hi Diamond, what can you tell us about Talkzinto Projects?
Diamond: Talkzinto Projects is the name of the company which I initially started in 2006. At the time I was still working for other companies while it was in the process of being registered. My dream was to start my own company, even if it meant that I started while still employed by someone else. This only became an officially registered business in 2016. We are a small to medium sized business and there are several people who, like myself, depend on this business. We are contracted to several insurance companies and we also deal with a number of geyser manufacturers and we do guarantees for them. In addition to referrals, or ‘private clients’ as we call them, that’s how the company survives. We don’t normally take time off for holidays as a lot of other plumbing contractors do, in our minds this is an essential service. We believe that there is no point in being in the plumbing industry without giving it your all.
David: It often feels like the end of the year is when we need plumbers most! But tell us, how did you get into the plumbing trade?
Diamond: [laughs] Now that’s a story. The way I entered into plumbing was by desperation because I was looking for work at that time, I will never lie and say that I was looking at plumbing as my lifetime career or something like that. Somebody gave me a call because they were hiring so I went there with my CV but unfortunately I had no plumbing experience in those days – only my driver’s license. To my advantage however, there was someone there who was experienced but who did not have a driver’s license, lucky me. I must take a moment to mention the guy who groomed me, his name is Marcus Posthumus. I have to mention his name everywhere I go because without him I wouldn’t be the contractor that I am today. The name of that company was Just Geysers. That guy never lost patience with teaching us and I will never forget it. He was the one who got me to enrol in a series of short courses on solar heating and that was my first certification. That was when I saw that is a serious thing to be done. And the commitment that this guy saw was that whenever he would go away on holiday I was the one responsible for taking excess money to the bank, calling clients, scheduling jobs, sharing jobs according to the way the teams are going, and so on. It was not an easy thing, I thought he was giving me extra work but it was actually helping me. Now I’m doing what I learnt from him, I think he gave me a good lesson and I really applaud his efforts. And that’s the general story of how I got into plumbing.
David: I fully believe these things happen for a reason, sometimes the right career will find you.
Diamond: Exactly. I still remember how every Friday they would take us to a technical school. But in those days you were always encouraged to study how to be a teacher, or a doctor, etc and I lacked interest in working with my hands and with tools to make a living, to be honest. Ultimately it did pay off though and that’s I how I survive now and it’s all that I know in this world after two decades of working in the plumbing industry. It’s getting more interesting every year because there are always new things to discover. New laws get introduced, manufacturers occasionally change the specifications of products and I attend seminars and courses to share ideas with others. I don’t refer to other plumbing businesses as competitors, we are in the same industry with the shared goal of improving the new guys who are coming up.
David: I fully agree, and that brings me to my next question – what advice would you give to new plumbers just starting out?
Diamond: I would tell them to apply the same rule taught to me by Mr Posthumus, which is that there are no shortcuts in life – particularly in this industry because we are dealing with water, which can be a deadly thing as well as cause damage to clients’ properties. You can have a case where you end up being liable for millions in damage, so like I said, no shortcuts. Before you even think of taking your trade test, attain more knowledge and then once you are fully experienced you can easily get your trade qualification. Once you have your trade test done you can easily get work and you can also open your own business – something which everyone wants to do and which I encourage. But don’t take shortcuts, get that knowledge and that will give you the confidence you need to do the rest.
And I understand, youngsters want to work from Monday to Friday, but come Saturday or Sunday or holidays they start to drag their feet. Something they don’t realise is that you are not only doing this for your company, you are also doing it for your own benefit. It’s like driving a car, the more you do it the more competence you will have.
David: That’s really good advice. Are there any particular memories you have from your time as a plumber?
Diamond: Yes, I remember in particular there was a project I worked on at the Bryanston Old Age Home. I was put in charge of the project and we did all the installations there. It was so interesting, I really enjoyed working on that as lead plumber. It was an amazing project, I think we did about 150 units there and it was very memorable for me because whenever I passed by the Home while driving it always put a smile on my face because I was very proud of the work we did there.
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