Toit ElectricalElectrician · Vaal Triangle
Praat gerus Afrikaans WhatsApp 072 839 6259
Meet Danie Ontmoet Danie · Fabriek-standaarde. Huis-pryse.

Meet Danie.

I'm Danie du Toit. I answer the phone, I write the quote and I do the work. There is nobody else at this end — one man, one bakkie, one number. Thirty years on the tools: twenty keeping heavy industry running, ten keeping Vaal homes and small businesses safe. I work the Vaal Triangle, Sasolburg and beyond.

WhatsApp DanieTell me what's happening and where you are.
Red seal artisan electrician The owner does the work
Where the standard comes from two decades on plant · one decade in the Vaal

Plant standards for your home.

On a plant, a loose connection does not just trip a breaker. It stops a production line, or it kills somebody. That is the standard I was trained to for twenty years, maintaining electrical systems at Iscor, Sasol, Impala and Anglo. Nobody there cared how fast I was. They cared that it was right.

Ten years ago I turned that on the town I live in. Same meter, same method, same paperwork — now on your DB board, your geyser, your fence. A house fault is smaller than a plant fault. It is not simpler, and I don't treat it as if it is.

So you get a man who spent a career finding faults in systems nobody could afford to replace. That is the whole difference between finding the cause and swapping parts until something works.

My papers two different things · here is what each one means

A trade test and a registration
are not the same thing.

People mix these two up all the time, and some tradesmen are happy to let them. I would rather explain it, because this is exactly the thing you should check before you let anyone near your board.

Qualification

Red seal artisan electrician.

An apprenticeship and a national trade test. It says I was taught the work and proved it in front of an examiner. It is about skill, and it is what my thirty years is written on. On its own it does not allow anybody to issue you a Certificate of Compliance, and I do not pretend that it does.

Registration · who signs

Who signs your certificate.

A registration under the national electrical regulations is a separate thing from a trade test, and it is the only thing that lets a man inspect, test and sign a Certificate of Compliance. Your certificate is inspected, tested and signed by a registered person, with the test report attached, and I do the electrical work your house needs to pass. The name and the number are printed on your certificate, and you are welcome to phone the Department to check them.

Careful with the big words on a bakkie. In South Africa there is a trade qualification, and there is a registration with a number and a category. Nothing else. If a man cannot tell you his number and his category, that is your answer.
How I work the ten extra minutes · die tien ekstra minute

Isolate. Lock. Tag. Test.

Before I touch a wire I switch it off, I put my own padlock on it, I hang a tag with my name on it, and then I test that it really is dead. Only then do I open anything up. Nobody can switch it back on by mistake, because the key is in my pocket.

That costs about ten extra minutes on a job. On plant it was the rule, and the rule existed because people had been killed. I never stopped doing it. It is why I still have all my fingers, and it is why the work I leave behind does not come back as a fire.

I can see the heat before you can smell it.

I carry a thermal camera. A loose connection or an overloaded circuit gets hot long before it smells or smokes. On the camera it shows up as a bright spot behind a cover I have not even opened yet. I find it from a safe distance, and you book the repair for Tuesday instead of phoning me at eleven at night.

Every board I work on gets a scan and you get the picture. If everything is cool, you get that picture too — and you have paid me nothing to find nothing.

"I lock the board off and tag it before I touch anything. Thirty years in and I still do it every time."
Danie du Toit · Vanderbijlpark
Tools flat-lay · REAL PHOTO ONLY
Meter · torque driver · thermal camera
lockout padlocks and tags
The padlocks are the storyEverything here goes to every job
Some jobs I won't take and I'd rather say so on the first message

The work I turn down.

A one-man business that says yes to everything is a business that is late for everybody. Here is what I hand on, and who I hand it to. Writing this down costs me work. It saves you a wasted callout.

  1. Boards that need a rewire, not a repair.

    If the wiring in the walls is finished, then selling you a new plug point is easy money and a lie. I tell you it needs a rewire, I quote it honestly, and you can take that quote anywhere you like.

  2. Three-phase and commercial supplies.

    Some larger houses, workshops and plots are fed by a three-phase supply. Not a problem. Just tell me what the property is and I'll sort it out.

  3. Anything on the supply side of your meter.

    The meter, and everything before it, belongs to the municipality or to Eskom. I don't break seals, I don't move meters, and I don't "help" with a bypass. Ever. Those fines run into five figures and it is a criminal charge.

  4. Burst geysers and plumbing.

    Element, thermostat, isolator, timer — that is mine. A leaking tank is a plumber's job, and I say so instead of charging you to find out.

"If it's not safe, it's not finished. And if it isn't mine to fix, I say so before you pay me."
Danie du Toit · Vanderbijlpark
Van slot · REAL PHOTO ONLY
Bakkie · three-quarter angle
Vaal suburban street
One bakkieIf it's at your gate, so am I
My promises

What you can hold me to.

Consumer Protection Act

The price is the price.

You get the quote in writing before I start, and I can't go over it without asking you first. That's the law, and I stick to it.

Consumer Protection Act

ID at the gate.

Anyone working at your home must show identification. You'll see mine before I come through the door.

My promise

12-month guarantee.

If something I fixed fails within a year because of my work, I come back and fix it. No callout, no argument.

My promise

R300 callout, waived when you accept the quote.

Coming out to find the fault costs R300. Accept the quote and you do not pay the callout at all.

My promise

No big deposits.

On larger jobs I ask 20 to 30% for materials against an itemised quote. Labour is paid when the work is done.

My promise

Photos before and after.

You see what was wrong and what it looks like now, including the middle of the job, not just the tidy shot.

Verify me please · check anybody you let into your house

Don't take my word for it.

South Africans are told to check a tradesman's registration, and then find there is no public website to check it on. That gap is real and it is not your fault. So here is everything you need to check us, in one place, with a phone number that isn't mine.

Phone the Department of Employment and Labour on 051 505 6371, give them the registration number printed on your certificate, and ask them to confirm the number and the category. I do not publish registration numbers on this website — a number on a public page is what somebody else needs to pass themselves off as registered. Yours arrives on your own paperwork, where it belongs. The number to give them is the one belonging to the registered person who signs your certificate. It takes one call. Do it for us, and do it for whoever quotes against us.

What a chancer won't give you. A registration number. A written quote. A certificate with the test report attached. If a "CoC" arrives without anybody inspecting the house, it is worth nothing — and the seller carries the legal responsibility for it.
Ask me for my papersI'll WhatsApp you a photo of my trade certificate.
Verify Danie du ToitDatasheet
Registered person who inspects and signs CoCsNamed on your certificate
That registered person's registration numberOn your certificate
Verify the registered person — Dept. of Employment and Labour051 505 6371
Red seal artisan electrician (trade certificate)On request
Electric Fence System Installer who certifies fencesNamed on your certificate
That installer's registration numberOn your certificate
Wiring standard all work is done tothe national wiring standard
Workmanship guarantee12 months
Deposit asked for on a repairNone

Tell me
what's happening.

It takes half a minute and it costs nothing. I'll tell you what it's likely to be and when I can come.

WhatsApp Danie now
072 839 6259