Koi For Africa

(Timeline added) It is with a very sore heart that I wish to warn people in the Gauteng area not to do any business with a KOI FOR AFRICA. It is our very first big pond, asking a ‘professional’ to construct. The first job he had, was at a dear friend of our’s home in Parktown. The moment he started work in Parktown, we paid him a deposit to also construct our pond in Pretoria East. At this stage we did not know that his business was liquidated by the end of November 2022 according to https://b2bhint.com/en/company/za/koi-for-africa--K***

However, we had to give him (in fear for our paid deposit of R80K) the benefit of the doubt. This was very worrisome and stressful.

He started building on the 17th of April and by the start of June it was clear that he was not experienced for a medium pond of about 18 000 litres. The last day he was on the premises were the day after we had a fight. He never returned to resume any work after the 9th June. At this stage, the pond was still not operational and all payment was up to date.

This person does not even have his own small truck to transport any materials. We were even reprimanded by him per email, for him overloading his double-cab to do deliveries.

After adjusting our pond size to the current size, the cost went up to R140k for the 18 000 litres pond. Unexpected exuberant invoices kept rolling in along with threats of stopping construction if we don’t keep on paying.

Due to his lack of expertise he did not know how to address the problem of a wet bottom surface of the pond. The story goes on endlessly.

The bottom drain was not in the lowest point and the bottom had to be broken and redone. I want to cry from this disaster and costs.

After him stalling and adding more and more labour day fees, far different from the given quote, I confronted him in front of his workers in June, knowing that he held back payment to them in JHB already.

We ended up paying him close to R200k, expecting all work to be concluded.

We were advised by 3 quotations afterwards that we should not have paid more than R100k for the pond. Extreme extra costs arose to stop the pond from leaking. This was all due to Koi For Africa. It is with a very sore heart that I wish to warn people in the Gauteng area not to do any business with a certain ‘pond building company’. Richard Beining and Koi for Africa can be found on Google and Facebook. It is our very first big pond, asking a ‘professional’ to construct. The previous job he had, was at a dear friend of our’s home in Parktown JHB. The moment he started work in Parktown, we paid him a deposit to also construct our pond in Pretoria East. At this stage we did not know that his business was LIQUIDATED by the end of November 2022! However, we had to give him (in fear for our paid deposit of R80K) the benefit of the doubt. This was very worrisome and stressful.

This person does not even have his own small truck to transport any materials. We were even reprimanded by him per email, for him overloading his double-cab to do deliveries.

We ended up paying him close to R200k for the entire job left uncompleted and only remediable by a professional.

We were advised by 3 quotations afterwards that we should not have paid more than R100k for the pond.

Along with labourers we are now taking legal action. The labourers arrived at our home crying, saying that they have not been paid in 3 weeks. We took them to the police station and was the referred to court instead as it is a civil case.

We asked for an example picture of a nice water feature BEFORE installation for R4k. We did not ever get a picture. The next moment, he installed 4 slate plates at this price.

He was also not able to complete electronic installations. Plugs must be redone as it is far too low and close to ground water levels. The DB box is an indoor model he put outside.

The premises were left in a state. And our lawn was dressed in building sand. Now he says his business is non-operational and has blocked the labourers per cell phone. Along with labourers we are now taking legal action. Please beware, it is so expensive to fall in a trap like this 😫

Later the labourers arrived at our home crying, saying that they have not been paid in 3 weeks. We took them to the police station and was then referred to court instead as it is a civil case.

We asked for an example picture of a nice water feature BEFORE installation for R4k. We did not ever get a picture. The next moment, he installed 4 slate plates at this price.

He was also not able to complete electronic installations. Plugs must be redone as it is far too low and close to ground water levels. The DB box is an indoor model he put outside.

All fees were paid by us on time and in full. Richard Beining is the business owner. Don’t be taken in by his ostentatious religiosity.