SCRIBANTE CONCRETE: Durable, Reliable Solutions Given the Personal Touch

Scribante Concrete has established itself as a reliable, safe, high-quality, experienced Readymix supplier with expertise spanning South Africa’s most fundamental industries. “We are a full service, ready-mix concrete producer with experience in commercial, industrial, renewable, civil, residential and agricultural projects throughout SA,” the company explains, with the reach to match this comprehensive suite of applications.

“We run a national fleet of over 140 trucks which are able to relocate to areas when your project requires it.”

Also crucial in keeping Scribante Concrete atop a competitive pile in South Africa is its ability to apply its trademark care and pride to every client, whether large or small in project scale. “We understand that personal attention to each and every order, and each and every customer, helps define great service,” the company states.

“Small contractors and homeowners alike are treated with the same courtesy and attention to detail as our largest customers doing the largest pours.

“We wholeheartedly believe that our combined efforts will allow us to become a stronger, more efficient company,” it assuredly asserts. “We are confident that this change will only strengthen our ability to provide consistent quality products and services to our valued customers.”

STRONG FOUNDATIONS

One aspect that has always been central to Scribante Concrete’s ethos and vision has been to construct a team founded in positivity and on a family spirit. This has enabled it to build a culture where employees are selected not only because they are highly skilled, but also because are adaptable and communicate well. The company has a longstanding and robust approach to its recruitment, Sales Director Eric Fouche told us when we last spoke.

“We do try to keep our staff compliment low to be efficient, and we try and keep everyone involved in all facets of the business. We always joke within the company that our receptionist becomes the bookkeeper becomes HR becomes the Manager. Everyone is always moving up and if you come into our company, it’s likely that you’re destined for greater things,” he outlined.

“We only have a few directors in Scribante Concrete and previously we were all involved with all aspects of the business and could fill in for each other easily.”

Director Silvio Scribante agrees, ascribing Scribante Concrete’s triumph to date not only to its people and their expertise, of course indispensable, but also to the quality and efficacy of its operations. “Our growth and success is attributed to our competent staff, but also to the manner in which we are able to offer solutions-based products to all of our clients.”

Scribante Concrete’s footprint has swelled to number branches in Port Elizabeth, Coega, Jeffreys Bay, Kariega, Mthatha, Peddie, Richards Bay as well as in Lesotho. In line with this spread, Fouche added how Scribante Concrete’s aspirations have also grown in scope while retaining the passion, determination and humility that has powered its attainment of the highest standards in all it has done to date.

“Our mindset now and our mindset when the company was founded is different. We definitely found things challenging in the early days, but at the time we were only thinking about a small area – Port Elizabeth. As we grew into different areas, we found more and more opportunities and with every day that passes, we are reaching new heights.”

COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE

“We have remained a business with a family feel,” he insists. “We have grown so much, and our reach is now so widespread, that we also need to bring corporate elements as our projects are growing and our employee base in growing. We certainly want to maintain a team culture where everyone can be heard.”

As Scribante Concrete has boomed in size and scope, so has its range of services. Fouche explains how the company has gone about achieving this so comprehensively. “With today’s market in SA being as tough as it is, it is important to ensure that your brand stands out from the rest,” he begins. “Scribante Concrete has done just that over the past few years with major focus on the way we service our clients both commercially, and through our mobile divisions.”

“Our commercial footprint is continuously increasing,” the company states, “and we are always looking for new areas and projects that would be suitable to produce sustainable business, whilst focusing on our mission and vision of always using high quality products and techniques.”

Scribante Concrete goes on to explain that this leads to the production of a Readymix product that is accessible to all at reasonable prices, while continually mindful of the environmental and societal impact of the business.

Its commercial plants are fully automated to ensure the delivery of the best possible product to clients, ranging from 35 to 55 cubes per hour in production and even doubling up on plants at some sites to meet the demand of the area. 

In the mobile plant market Scribante Concrete is known for timely and expert delivery whilst ever-mindful of safety. Most are plug and play systems allowing for a smaller carbon footprint and increased installation speed, and consist of wet and dry batching systems. 

“Scribante Concrete is also well-versed in high rise building pumping, and has designed special mixes in order to resolve quality issues around it,” the company adds, and a fleet of four pump trucks are used in its different operational regions for projects of any size.

“With more than 13 commercial plants nationally, six mobile plants servicing various projects and sectors around renewable energy, shopping malls, high-rise pumping requirement, dams and other infrastructure-based supply, we are also proud to have established a permanent home in Lesotho, servicing both government and private projects,” Fouche sums up.

FUTURE-PROOF PROJECTS

“Our quality drive has led us to become one of the major suppliers of Readymix to the various wind farm projects around South Africa,” Fouche relates of Scribante Concrete’s heavy involvement in the energy transformation currently underway. “We are able to offer clients specific solutions tailored to their needs. Scribante Concrete is proud to be one of the largest ready-mix suppliers to SA’s renewable energy projects in South Africa.”

Scribante Concrete’s wares are propping up some of the foremost new edifices in the country today. Alongside the strong renewables focus in the likes of the Tsitsikamma and Waainek Windfarms, it has laid 10,000m³ at Redhouse Chelsea Interchange, Port Elizabeth on behalf of Basil Read Roads and Earthworks, 5500m³ for WBHO at SANRAL’s Port Elizabeth building and vast quantities at many others, including Baywest Mall and Fairbreeze Mine.

Scribante Concrete’s current undertakings are no less exciting, and include the mammoth R130 million Massbuild Distribution Centre near to Fairland. While the construction industry in South Africa obviously felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is still on track for growth of 6.1% in real terms in 2021, a vast improvement on the 16.5% contraction in 2020. 

This has been buoyed significantly by the government announcement of a 10-year infrastructure investment plan worth R2.3 trillion (US$124.7 billion), making it one of the strongest sectors in which to be active currently, and Scribante Concrete has laid the foundations to allow it to reap the rewards far into the future.

“We strive to pair on time delivery with superior quality and competitive pricing,” the company concludes, adding that it really doesn’t have to be complicated to get it right. “What every contractor and homeowner needs from their ready mix concrete supplier is really quite simple: delivery of the right mix of concrete, in the right quantity, at the right time, at a fair price.”

“My aim,” closes Silvio Scribante, “is to keep growing our current brand both locally and across the border, while retaining the same family feel and service without relaxing on the standards to which I have become accustomed through three generations of successful business.”

“We are a young, dynamic bunch of people,” finishes Eric Fouche, “excited about our involvement in all projects small or large, and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead.”