Warning againt Iron Sides Construction Reg: 2019/019497.07

The only reason that I gave a 1 star on this review is because you must rate before you can write a review for a company or person. My rating would be NONE in this review.

This is not to complain about our losses, this is to warn people to not lose money that they worked hard for.

We appointed Iron Sides Construction REG: *** to replace our house roofs and ceilings. At the final meeting on 20 April 2023 that we had on site about the scope of work, he said he had a team of 10 to work for this specific site and that it will take a month from start to finish. He also said he had the tools, transport and generators for loadshedding, and they will work 7 days a week and that he, Werner Pretorius will be on site all working hours. The 70% deposit was paid on 20 April 2023 as per his quote. After the deposit was paid it was such a struggle for Werner Pretorius from Iron Sides Construction to get started with the work. He had a 2-week period after the deposit was paid to get all the materials, workers etc ready to start on 2 May 2023. He was full of excuses when the work had to start, first he had issues with suppliers and materials. He only pitched on 10 May with only 2 workers. He took one side of the house roofs off and left it open with no cover or plastic sheets. We sent text messages on 13 May Saturday that it was going to rain and that we will have damage if he does not at least cover that part of the roof. He ignored our messages and calls. My husband bought sheets and tried to cover the open roof, but unfortunately it was too late, needless to say, the rain damaged ALL the ceilings. At that stage we were left without roofs or ceilings on that side of the house. (this is the part of the house where my salon is operating) Werner made it off as nothing when he came to site on 17 May, and said he will take the damage on himself, but we have to give him the money upfront in order for him to buy the materials for the ceilings, then we can deduct it from his end total. We made the payment. That side of the house was only supposed to get new roof and not ceiling replacements. As a result of this negligence from his side, I had to close my Salon that was operating on that side, and up until today 5 July the damage was not fixed, and the material that we paid for not delivered. We asked Werner to give us a quote to rather make the braai area a pitched roof and not flat. He submitted the quote of R29 598.60. So according to us, everything else stays the same on the initial quote, we just have to pay the R29 598.60 extra to make the braai area a pitched roof. My husband and I called a meeting with Werner Pretorius on 19 May 2023 with our concerns and progress and to discuss the quote of the braai area pitched roof. For some reason I decided to record all conversations with him because we felt something is very wrong with everything that he promised and how things are going. He kept on fighting about transport money that we should pay in order for him to bring the 10 workers to site. This was not negotiated with the meeting on 20 April, that we have to make another payment for transport in order to get the 10 workers. There was no generator on site, the workers could not work during loadshedding and this was in a time where we had loadshedding 3 times a day. We also asked Werner this same day if he can give us any proof that the materials were bought, because there was almost nothing on site. He said his invoices is his business and we are not allowed to see it. We felt very uneasy because it already felt like he was a ****mer. Unfortunately, we have no contract stipulating everything that he promised on 20 April. The transport money was paid to him in order to keep the work flowing because we didn't want to exceed the deadline, because other contractors were supposed to start with the new kitchen when the ceilings was done. We asked him if we can rather leave the carport of R25 463.00 and take that money to do the pitched roof at the braai area, and we will just have to pay the difference between the 2 quotes. He agreed to this, on the recordings. (Werner didn't mention that he will now be taking stock on hand and is included in his quote and that the rest of the areas will now not have any materials, and he will have to requote for the rest of the areas) From 22 May until 2 June, he had sometimes 4 and sometimes 5 people on site, progress was slow because Werner just dropped the workers and left and was mostly on site for 2 hours a day. Werner then texted me after they left on 2 June for a R12 000 advance to pay his workers, we didn't feel comfortable with this, but understood that he maybe does not have the funds, and if we don't pay, the workers will not come back the next day. Remember, they are now already passed the due date that was end of May 2023. In this text conversation and before the R12 000 was paid to Werner I made a list of everything that must still be done, he confirmed and agreed that if we do the payment, he will be done with everything on 16 June 2023. From 4 to 6 June Werner and his workers did not come to work (he didn’t contact us with any explanation, and we could not get hold of him). When we got hold of Werner he said his workers had to pay bills and some of them were hungover. On 7 June after no one came to work since 4 June, I contacted Werner and after numerous calls he send a video that his bakkie was broken. After this he then never responded to any of our calls or text messages. I got hold of Werner 9 June and I asked him to please get a plan B in place for the workers to work from 10 June, seeing that the next due date is close. He ensured me that this will be done. 10 June nor Werner or his workers came to work. I tracked the registration number of the vehicle that he used when he came to us for the quote. The registration number of the vehicle was registered on a Business car dealership address where his father-in-law is employed. On 10 June we went to his father-in-law for assistance to get hold of Werner because he was not responding to us. We raised our concerns to Werner father-in-law (Eugene) and he promised that he will discuss all the concerns with Werner and assist him with a plan of action to get the work done.(this conversation is also recorded) About 30 minutes after we spoke to his father-in-law (Eugene) Werner called me and said his bakkie was fixed and he will resume work on Monday 12 June (With this call Werner was furious and yelled at me). 12 June no one came to work. On Tuesday 13 June Werner and a new team of 8 workers arrived on site. We yet again asked for a meeting to discuss the issues, this was also recorded. He was very aggressive towards us because we went to his father-in -law (Eugene) for assistance. We had to call the police to calm Werner down, and we also called the father-in-law. (Eugene) The conversation with the police and Werner was also recorded. The 8 workers that he had on site from 13 – 23 June was not South Africans and Werner admitted that they didn’t have permits. We just kept quite, because we were just to glad that there was a team to carry out the work. Scared in the same sentence, because if they got caught on our premisses we might get fines, and also we are worried and concerned about our safety in a house without roofs and ceilings with people working on our premises that does not have permits or records of them in SA. Werner just dropped them off in the mornings and picked them up in the afternoons. The results of Werner’s absence, the partially build roofs are skew. On 14 June Werner said to myself and my husband that someone stole almost 600 roof tiles from our premises. I told him it is impossible; we will review the camera recordings. A long story short, After I told him that there was no theft involved on the camera footage and several discussions on the qty that was delivered and how much is on a pallet, it was discovered that Werner just tried to get more money out of us, because the tiles was not delivered with the first delivery and that it was still at the supplier, Werner confirmed that he found the tiles after all the confrontations. On 16 June Werner gave me an invoice of R27 627.00 this was when we discovered that according to him, he used the material on hand to build the pitched braai roof. So yet again we had to pay the R27 627.00 immediately to prevent further fights and delays in work. None of this material was delivered up until today. On 23 June he submitted a programme for the outstanding work and due dates was yet again moved to 4-7 July. In the same document he said he need R18000.00 to pay his workers and if it was not paid the workers will not come to work. I could not understand why all the financial problems is placed on our shoulders because it was agreed in the initial meeting on 20 April that the 70% deposit must be paid and the balance when the work is complete. He simply said, if we don’t pay, he will not complete the work, and at this stage only 30% of the work was done. I refused to pay and contacted his father-in-law (Eugene). Eugene the father-in-law then contacted me Monday morning 26 June and said we must draw up a contract between ourselves and him, he will take full responsibility if we make the payment of R18000. He (Eugene) will then see that Werner and his team is on site with ALL materials on 27 June. We drafted the contract with all arrangements and what is still outstanding to do, because Eugene is taking full responsibility. Eugene and ourselves signed and each took a copy of the agreement. We made the payment of R18000 after the document was signed. On 27 June nor Werner or his team came to work, and also no material was delivered. On 28 June Werner and 4 workers delivered 1000 bricks and left again without working on anything, and that was the last time that anyone was on site. We again went to see Eugene and he simply said he was trying to help and this is not his problem and Werner said we must take him to court. Eugene and Werner refuse to refund us for outstanding material or to do the outstanding work. Iron sides construction does not have a website or physical address and Werner Pretorius is not on any social media platform. The company now show on google that it is under liquidation because of non- compliance. Werner knows how to **** people and he is a master manipulator and very good with promises and convincing to get more funds. And if you don’t agree, he is aggressive. He is also very aware that we don’t have the funds to take him to court, and he knows that he will offer a R50 payment a month if this ends up in court. Werner does not have any properties, vehicles or assets in his name. He also dumped rubble outside our property instead of taking it to a dumping site. We kept asking him to remove it, but he didn’t until Metro gave me a fine of R2800.00 (Werner also made this off as nothing) The reason why I told my story, is to warn innocent people against Iron Sides Construction Reg: *** – Werner Pretorius. I am trying to make people aware of his ****ming actions and if his company or his name is googled that people might pick this up, because as I said above, he is nowhere to be found on any social platforms or websites. Total quotes was R271 983.30 and we paid an amount of R251 947.00 the project is 30% finished. And worst of all, my business is closed because of his negligence. All proof of documents, payments, recordings, contracts and video’s of the current state of our property can be supp**** to anyone who has the same problem with Werner Pretorius and Iron Sides Construction Reg: *** A shorter version of this will also be posted on other social media platforms, please share, this might help others to prevent big losses.