The National Home Builders Registration Council headquarters
The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) is the regulatory body of the home building industry and has the overarching goal of protecting and supporting housing consumers who have been exposed to contractors who deliver substandard design, workmanship or poor quality materials.
The NHBRC was created to provide guidance, advice and assistance to the industry and the consumer and has an impressive track record in achieving these ends. It also delivers training and skills development programmes that are completely free for those registered with the organisation and which provide much-needed insight and education.
“Our home builders are entitled to the NHBRC training programmes,” says Mninawa Ngcobo, training manager at the council. “We currently have around 15 000 active, registered builders on our system and each and every one of them is entitled to free training. It is imperative that they know about these opportunities as they not only enhance the skills sets of attendees, but allow for deeper understanding of the market and the regulations that surround it.”
The NHBRC has 23 offices across the nine provinces and has trained 100 women as part of the Women Empowerment Programme; 1 184 young people as part of the skills programme and 900 young people on skills programmes, character building and basic military training as well as on-site practical training. These figures are from the 2014-2015 period and also include an impressive 127 home inspectors trained and the placement of 227 learners in artisan programmes at various Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) Colleges. For the organisation, it is essential that people are made aware of the training programmes available to boost these numbers and continue transforming the industry.
“In terms of our mandate, we are focused on securing the quality of each and every house that is being built,” says Ngcobo. “So, for quality to be guaranteed, we have ethical and technical standards of home building that all home builders need to achieve. Our training programmes assist them in achieving these technical and ethical home building standards. We have training that speaks to anything from the overall structure of a housing unit, right from substructure up to practical completion — essentially, all aspects of building.”
The courses on offer from the NHBRC include Home Builder Training, Home Builder Development, Home Inspector Training and Artisan Development. The Home Builder Training programme has been designed to assist builders with technical skills in construction. The skills taught cover masonry, carpentry, roofing, plumbing and construction management. These form part of the building and civil engineering qualifications, are approved by the Construction Education and Training Authority and are equivalent to NQF Level 3.
The Home Builder Development course runs within the guidelines stipulated by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) for the creation of a Contractor Development Programme. Capacity is provided in Building and Civil Construction National Certificate (NQF Level 3), Enterprise Development and Construction Contractor Management (NQF Level 4) and Supervision and Site Management.
“We are also quite focused on talking to our inspectors out there in the built environment and showing them what we can do for them,” says Ngcobo. “The Home Inspector Training course plays a vital role in enhancing and maintaining a high level of skill and technical capability for the home inspectors in South Africa. We are also creating a programme where all home inspectors receive an intensive five-day course in home building knowledge, standards, regulation and construction processes.”
The final course, Artisan Development, is targeted at the women and youth. This programme is conducted in collaboration with industry stakeholders that include the National Department of Human Settlements, South African Women in Construction, the National Youth Development Agency and the Coega Industrial Development Zone, and it is designed to advance the skills base of the country. The NHBRC Women Empowerment Programme recently received an award for the Most Innovative Training Programme at the Third Annual Women in Construction Awards and offers a four-month academic programme with networking and mentorship support.
“Women are grossly underrepresented in the South African construction industry and this programme is designed to bring about transformation in this arena,” says Ngcobo. “We partnered with the Gordon Institute of Business Science to develop the programme and it focuses on developing leadership potential and boosting business skills for women in this market.”
The NHBRC’s training programmes fulfil a number of roles and can be used by those in the industry to change the way they do business and construction. The needs that they address go beyond just a free course and well into the realm of making the industry a better place for everyone.
“If you look into the industry itself, a whole lot of our home builders would not have gone through technical training prior to becoming contractors,” says Ngcobo. “Anybody who wants to be a contractor today can become one, but they carry the risk in terms of quality assurance, so our goal is to mitigate this risk for them through training. This way, they can learn the standards, what regulations are involved and what is expected of them.”
It is in the interests of the NHBRC to advise and support the industry as it is their role to uphold the standards of the industry. They not only recommend that contractors take advantage of the training on offer, but that they try to extend this to their own employees.
“Our training is also focused on the employees of contractors and their subcontractors as they need the requisite skills of home building and artisan training,” says Ngcobo. “The established artisan may be fine with the latest in regulations and standards, but the people we want to support and help are those who carry the risk of building the home — the employee, the subcontractor.”
One of the most valuable elements of the NHBRC training is that it is accredited and attendees are certified for competency by the South African Qualifications Authority. The short courses are registered against the National Qualifications Framework and are pitched at Level 2 and Level 3 across the two categories of technical skills and management skills.
“With our technical skills we talk to the basic tenets of building — bricklaying, plastering, painting, roofing and plumbing,” says Ngcobo. “We also have management courses in construction management, finance, financial management and construction project management.”
The training is all outsourced through accredited service providers who receive their allocations based on the public tender system. They are sourced whenever the training is required and provide high-level skills development across all programmes when demand is at a peak.
“Only registered people are allowed to take advantage of our skills development programmes,” says Ngcobo. “On registration, they are inducted and are made aware of the training opportunities we have available at this time. They then apply for those that are of value to them at any one of our offices across the country.”
The NHBRC training is also accessed through shareholder relationships, walk-ins and structured government relations. In a number of cases, government will get in touch with the organisation to ask for assistance around skills development for a specific project or initiative.
“We do have a relationship with the government where we look into designated groups like women and people with disabilities and where we work through the presidency to achieve specific goals,” says Ngcobo. “We have developed these bilateral arrangements in the form of MOUs [memorandums of understanding] and SLAs [service-level agreements] and offer training that matches specific requirements.”
The organisation also provides training for inspectors in government and works hard to ensure it remains the custodian of quality assurance across South Arica. The NHBRC has achieved some impressive milestones and worthy skills development numbers as it leaves 2015 and heads into a new year. It will continue its hard work and commitment to driving the transformation, development and growth of the industry through powerful training programmes designed to meet the needs of the building market.