Why Elia Quit Brick & Mortar Systems

When Mr. Elia Rofail took delivery of a set of Wall-Ties & Forms (WTF) aluminum

concrete formwork, he was under the impression that the equipment was good

only for the low-rise high-end home he was building in Kenyatta Drive, Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania.

That was in June 2008. After completing the 200 square-meter bungalow in the

upscale Oyster Bay district of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Elia now turned his

attention to a few other properties he needed to develop. What to do with

formwork that was designed with a specific home type in mind?

Having worked with the world’s best concrete forming system Elia had no

intention of going back to the traditional brick and mortar building methods he

had used before. He had to make the Wall-Ties & Forms concrete form

equipment work for him.

And it did.

The result is that, not only did Elia proceed to build 14 double-storied luxury

homes using the same formwork but he is now using the same aluminum

formwork equipment to build offices and apartments in Tanzania.

Elia and his Equator Enterprises Company Limited are a living testimony of the

versatility and adaptability of the WTF aluminum concrete forming equipment.

His team that a WTF engineer trained on site back in June 2008 as they built the

Oyster Bay home has done wonderful things with the equipment. In no time they

had figured by themselves how to use it on various other designs, both residential

and commercial.

The WTF concrete forming equipment is good for a minimum 1,000 concrete

pours. And so the question is often asked by prospective customers; what do we

do with the forms beyond the life of the current project? Can we use it on future

designs?

The WTF concrete formwork is a modular system; the panels are predominantly

standard, meaning they can be used on a multiplicity of designs. Provided the

floor-to-floor height remains constant.

The only instances where add-ons are necessary are in cases of larger rooms in

successive projects. In that case the customer will want to order extra panels

commensurate with the extra wall area.

And no problem at all if the builder chooses to use a few blockboard panels as a

stop-gap measure; the WTF equipment comes with accessories that allow the use

of the aluminum concrete forms in tandem with traditional formwork such as

plywood, blockboard and mild steel forms.

Elia found Wall-Ties & Forms, Inc through an online search. In August 2007 he

visited a Kenyan housing development project using the WTF technology and

made up his mind to use the technology on his next projects.

“Building the traditional way was costly and it took long to complete a building,”

Elia says. “This prompted me to find a new way of building to make my life

easier.”

He is full of praise for the technology’s many advantages, singling out the

system’s user-friendliness, speed of construction, and the fact that there is little

or no wastage on site.

“With WTF, there is no wastage of materials. You also build faster, do not need to

plaster the outside walls, just some skimming on the internal walls,” says Elia

adding: “With blocks comes wastage of cement and you have to plaster all the

walls and then wait for the walls to cure otherwise you will have cracks all over.”

Elia does not believe in the cliché contention that “there is no hurry in Africa”.

Like in any other place in the world, African contractors and developers like him

need to complete projects in the shortest time possible.

“The WTF concrete formwork technology is great because it saves you time and

time is money,” Elia proclaims. “The faster you finish the project the more money

you make and the lower the cost because there is no wastage with this

technology.”

Elia’s Equator Enterprises Company Limited has a team of 15 local people trained

in the use of the WTF concrete forming equipment. A few of these are qualified

electricians and plumbers, while the rest specialize in the aluminum formwork

setting and stripping. “The beauty with the WTF formwork is that it is easy for

unskilled workers to learn how to fix the panels,” says the Dar es Salaam-based

developer.

Asked why not many Tanzanian projects are using the WTF aluminum concrete

formwork, Elia says this has to do with rigidity among local building professionals

who are still stuck with traditional building methods. Many structural engineers

and contractors are not familiar with the WTF technology and thus believe that

all-concrete construction costs more than brick and mortar methods.

He nevertheless says he would not hesitate to recommend the Wall-Ties & Forms

revolutionary building technology to different people in Tanzania.

Reference: http://wallties.com

Words: Ngugi Mbugua