How do you check foundation waterproofing claims in Qardho?

Foundation waterproofing claims in Qardho cannot be verified from a brochure or a reference letter. A client confirms them by asking for mix design records, membrane data sheets, site records from a past job and a trial area before backfill. Competency is evidence, not confidence, and the gap opens when nobody asks for the documents.

How does the foundation waterproofing competency risk arise in Qardho?

It arises because the client buys on price and presentation, and nobody separates a claim from proof. In Puntland's market a waterproofing package can be described in a bid without any attached test result. Contractors may paste product literature into a proposal and list large projects, but those documents show the product, not that this team placed it. The risk is that the client cannot tell the difference between a firm that has applied a membrane system and a firm that has read about one. Below ground leakage often appears months after handover, after ground water conditions change, and by then the excavation is backfilled and the evidence is buried. The gap is not always dishonesty. A capable builder may simply never have documented mix design, surface preparation or lap details, because no previous client asked. The check is to request records early, while the decision is still open.

What does the gap do to the work, and how do you detect it?

The gap pushes risk into the buried work, where nobody can inspect it later. If the concrete mix allows too much water or the membrane laps are short, water finds the cold joint between the raft and the wall. Detection starts with documents. Ask for the mix design for the water retaining or below ground elements and the cube test results that go with it. Ask for the membrane or coating data sheet, the manufacturer training record if the system needs one, and photographs of surface preparation, primer and lap width on a recent job. Then walk a site the firm is still building, if the owner allows it, and look at the junction between the slab and the wall, the pipe penetrations and the construction joint. Ask the relevant local authority, such as the municipal engineer's office, what records and permit conditions it holds for the plot, including anything on drainage or ground water. General practice for buried work requires continuous laps and sealed penetrations; confirm the exact widths, thicknesses and curing times against the project specification and the manufacturer's instructions. If the firm cannot show one of these records, that absence is the finding.

How do you close the gap before you sign?

You close it with a written evidence list and a hold point in the payment schedule. Put the records into the tender documents: mix design, test results, product data sheets, applicator experience and a method statement for joints and penetrations. Make a trial area part of the scope, so the crew applies the system on a small patch and the client, or the engineer, inspects it. Record the inspection with photographs and the date. Add a hold point: the contract can state that backfill is not covered until the inspection is signed off. Check what your contract allows before you link any payment to that hold point, and ask the engineer to define acceptance in writing. For the materials themselves, ask two suppliers for written quotes for the exact system specified, so the bid is compared on the same product rather than on a description. If a bidder cannot attend a trial, that tells you what supervision will look like later.

What to do next

Draw up one page listing the waterproofing records you will require, then send it to each bidder before the deadline and ask for the documents with the bid. For a live project, walk the excavation with the engineer and photograph the joint preparation and membrane laps before anyone backfills. Keep those photographs with the contract file.