We recently caught up with Juan Hay from the Jeffreys Bay Build IT franchise outlet to talk to him about all things Roof Trusses.
In the first of a series of articles we hear about how MiTek has made a difference to his business.
Essentially, we’re a building merchant, providing everything a builder might need, from concrete up to the top of the roof. So, finishes, electricals, plumbing, we cover a broad spectrum. We started our Jeffreys Bay operation in 2017 so we are still relatively new to the area – but we’ve grown a fair bit and expanded out lines in that short timeframe.
Our customers come to us with their plans, and from there we’ll work out quantities, suggest the various products they’ll need, and estimate costs for them. We work with everyone from sole traders just looking for a one-off build through to the bigger players with multi-building projects in mind.
Of course, roofing and truss components are an important part of our customer offering, and with MiTek’s help, we became one of the first ‘Built IT’ operations in South Africa with a dedicated truss manufacturing facility.
We looked to MiTek to help us set things up as I’d been working with them in the past, before joining the Build IT franchise family – so I had a lot of good experience of working with them, and knew they’d be able to help us set up a quality truss manufacturing facility.
They were able to help set us up with everything we needed, from the manufacturing equipment, rollers, saws, plates and so on right through to the design software.
They made sure the factory layout was optimised with the best flow for the manufacturing process.
Today, we’re turning out made-to-measure roof and floor trusses, Ultra-Span and Posi-joists for customers, and we’re using the excellent PAMIR software, which is a powerful and versatile fully integrated CAD, layout and engineering package.
It’s a really flexible program and means we can give our customers an improved design and visualisation service, whatever their project.
The ongoing relationship with MiTek has been critical for us. I can ring my contact at 8pm with a question or problem, and he always answers! The team there is always happy to work with us and come up with solutions, nothing is too much trouble for them.
Over the years, we’ve come to trust them implicitly, and our business is continuing to grow thanks to their support.
