For some entrepreneurs, the constant growth of their business provides enough satisfaction that they don’t mind if it changes shape and forces them to step back from the operations to take on a more corporate-governance role. For others, such as Kobus van der Westhuizen, growth is not enough. He derives his satisfaction just as much from being part of the creative process of his business’s operations.
The 53-year-old property developer and timber maker from Mbombela in Mpumalanga had spent almost three decades of his career as a property developer when he started finding himself increasingly at odds with his three business partners, who wanted to take on bigger projects. “There is certainly a place in the market for large-scale developments. We need them, but I’d much rather build a unique high-value house than lots of low-margin units that all look the same,” says Kobus, who started out studying architecture at the University of the Free State before shifting to construction management, which is closer to the bustle of the building site to which he was always drawn.
He found work as a site manager at a mid-sized construction company in Midrand and worked his way up to being a director and shareholder. But starting out on his own was never far from his mind. While his corporate career progressed, Kobus found an outlet for his creative energies in renovating a string of family homes in which he and his family lived. “I would buy the ugliest house in a neighbourhood and with a bit of thought and a few tweaks I would fix it up and sell it,” he says.
He could transform the look and feel of a house, and he became very good at it. The secret he discovered was wood. Unlike bricks and cement, every plank is unique, and if you spend a little time choosing timber carefully, it becomes a powerfully expressive material. With the after-hours alteration of his homes over the years, Kobus gained skills as a precision carpenter, developed a deep love for wood – and built up a sizable investment with every home that he bought, fixed, and sold.
At the same time, he was making just as much progress with his day job at the construction firm. Their projects became bigger and bigger, but for Kobus it felt like a pointless pursuit of turnover. He believed that so much more value could be created with more niche, unique projects. Besides, he had longed for the grit of sitework and the feel of wood in his hands.
His opportunity came in 2017, when they landed a contract to build a R200m house in Mbombela. Kobus convinced his partners to give him the contract in return for his shares. The mansion, which he finished in 2021, became the springboard from which he launched the company that he has longed for, Oakdale Timbers. Oakdale Timbers became a company where he could conceptualize unique, high-quality houses and designer kitchens with an emphasis on wood and oversee the building of them himself.
Because of all the property renovations that he had done throughout the years, Kobus was able to relocate his family from Gauteng to Mbombela, and make some sizeable investments there, including buying a farm which he runs together with his 24-year-old son, also including several properties to develop in future.
Apart from his focus on wood, there are several things that make Kobus an unusual builder. He is a hands-on manager, he prefers to develop his own team of high-quality artisans and avoids subcontractors, he mechanises where he can, and he believes in getting his raw materials from as close to the source as possible.
He therefore set his sights on not only building with timber but also producing it as well. He scouted out a timber producing plant for sale in Belfast, 120 km west of Mbombela, and started discussions with Business Partners Limited for the finance to buy it. The due diligence process that followed showed that the timber business could not afford the repayments of a loan, and Kobus had to fall back on what was his first idea – to build his own timber factory on his farm. This time, Business Partners Ltd agreed to finance not only a new building to house the factory, but also the machinery he needed to cut the planks, plane them to size, to produce roof trusses, flooring and laminated beams, among other products.
Kobus says he found that Business Partners Ltd was nothing like the banks. Senior Business Partners Ltd investment specialists came out to the farm to see for themselves. “It’s personal, not like the banks where you must go into the branch only to have a computer decide whether to finance you or not. Business Partners Ltd is excellent for start-up businesses,” says Kobus.
Today, the Oakdale Timbers’ workshop in Mbombela is so busy that the timber factory on his farm can barely keep up with supplying him. Supplying other contractors will have to wait for now. For Kobus, the growth of Oakdale Timbers is closely tied to how him and his son develop as a team. On the farm, in the timber factory and on their various business projects they work side by side. It has always been like this since he was small, says Kobus, and by the looks of it, it will be so for many years to come.
KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurs, growth turnover, property developers, Oakdale Timbers, property renovations, Kobus van der Westhuizen, family business.
About the Author: Nkululeko Gudazi
