Despite the economic peaks and troughs during 2016, Gauteng-based Ocon Brick reports a solid and steady performance during the year as the company retains its position as a preferred supplier of clay stock and semi-face bricks to most of the major projects around the province.
 
Mariana Lamont, Regional Sales Manager for Ocon Brick said “It has been a tough 2016 for the building and construction industry. Many challenges have needed to be overcome in order to remain successfully competitive. The economic climate has impacted upon the commissioning and development of projects, whether they are privately or publicly financed. I believe we at Ocon Brick have managed to sustain our customer base growth through our reputation for delivering a quality product serviced by a quality team.”
 
“We have been the preferred supplier of clay stock and semi-face bricks to most of the major developments as well as smaller projects like hotels and private clinics. Some of the major projects we have serviced include the Central Square development in Sandton, DSTV building in Randburg, accommodation for the Vaal University of Technology, Menlyn Mall in Centurion to name a few. Ocon Brick has supplied high volumes of clay stock and semi face bricks during 2016 to the various project sites on time as per our customers’ requests. We strive toward excellence and we are a proud Gauteng-based company” said Lamont.
 
“At the core of our business philosophy is client satisfaction. Without that, we would not be as highly regarded as we are. The research into customer levels of satisfaction with our service, sales and delivery standards by PMR.Africa, showed that our customers rate our service and our products very highly, hence our 8th consecutive PMR Golden Arrow Award earlier in 2016.”
 
“We strive to ensure that we understand the conditions under which our contractors and site managers operate. Challenges such as tight delivery scheduling due to peak traffic flows at construction locations and lack of safe and sufficient storage space for Ocon Brick stock all require a proactive and reliable approach on our part.”
 
Lamont continued: “Shawn Herbst, Site Agent for the Mota-engil construction company had this to say about his relationship with Ocon Brick on the Central Square development in Sandton: “With the narrow roads of Morningside, Sandton, needing to enable as much traffic flow-through as possible, causing congestion with large trucks loaded with hundreds of brick pallets needing to be offloaded was not an option. Not only did we have extremely little delivery and storage space for this kind of product supply, we also, at times, had to move 24,000 clay stock bricks up to the next level of construction.

We chose Ocon Brick because that the Ocon Brick team would be available to us, even at short notice, as we micro-managed crucial product delivery schedules to meet the restraints at site that we had explained to them. I could phone Ocon Brick on a Tuesday for a 6am delivery the next day, and the bricks would be there waiting as ordered. It is that kind of team work that we sought and received for the Central Square site,” That is a great testimony to our ability to successfully embrace the challenges facing our customers on site” said Lamont.
 
“We are optimistic about the industry for 2017. I don’t believe the economy is out of the woods yet, but we at Ocon Brick believe in our product, and we believe in the integrity of our team to continue to enhance our reputation through good and reliable service. Orders for the first quarter of 2017 are good. It looks like it will be another solid and steady year for Ocon Brick as delayed projects come back on stream” concluded Lamont.
 
Ocon Brick is part of the IS Group of companies, home to Rocla and Technicrete ISG.