Philani Construction

Beware of ****mer from Philani Construction

A verbal construction agreement was concluded with Philani Construction, represented by Mr Shelton Musonda, to carry out building work at my property in Phoenix. Mr Musonda quoted for the construction of a double garage, swimming pool, balustrades, decking, garage door with motor, external door, as well as paving and painting of the constructed areas. The agreed timeframe for completion was eight (8) weeks. The project initially progressed well; however, a major issue arose during the construction of the swimming pool. It was discovered that an incorrect concrete mix had been used for the pool walls. When the pool contractor began drilling into the walls, only sand and dust were evident, indicating structural failure. The contractor immediately stopped work and informed me of the defect. I then consulted with the engineer, who instructed that Roadlab, a concrete testing company, be appointed to conduct strength testing. Roadlab extracted core samples from the pool walls, and the results confirmed that the concrete did not meet the required 25 MPa standard, but instead tested between 12 MPa and 13 MPa. The cost of this testing was borne by me as a result of Mr Musonda’s error. This defect posed a serious safety risk, as the pool walls could have collapsed once filled with water, potentially causing damage to our home. The engineer instructed Mr Musonda to demolish and reconstruct the defective pool walls at his own cost due to his admitted use of the incorrect concrete mix. Mr Musonda accepted responsibility and undertook to rectify the defect. Thereafter, progress on site became extremely slow. It later became apparent that the funds paid to Mr Musonda were diverted to finance other projects, leaving him without sufficient funds to complete the work on my property. In addition to the original scope of work, we paid Mr Musonda for further work, including a new driveway gate, wall underpinning, underground piping, roof gutters, and driveway paving. Mr Musonda repeatedly misled us, including falsely claiming that paving materials had been purchased and were being stored at the paving plant awaiting reconstruction of the pool walls. The newly installed driveway gates and balustrades, which were quoted to be powder-coated, began peeling within a month. Upon inspection, the engineer confirmed that they had merely been painted and not powder-coated as represented. Mr Musonda would bring his workers to the site despite there being no materials available for them to carry out any work, resulting in them sitting idle for extended periods while we had already made payments to him, for which we have proof. To date, the work remains incomplete. We strongly advise the public not to support Mr Shelton Musonda or his associates trading as Philani Construction, situated in Verulam. Based on our experience, he took our money under false pretences, misrepresented the quality of work, and left the project incomplete.