Kenyans often express their worst experiences under the hands of rogue sand merchants and truck drivers.
The merchants devise ways to con unsuspecting Kenyans making construction an excessively costly affair.
Kenyans.co.ke compiled three ways on how sand truck drivers con Kenyans building houses and how to call them out in their scheme.
Truck Modification
One of the most common ways is to modify a truck so that it can carry less sand. This is done under the presumption that the client will pay on the number of trucks delivered instead of sand tonnage.
The modification is achieved by cutting the lorry in two and welding it back reducing volume.
If you are buying sand and being charged per trip, make sure you personally inspect the truck to make sure there is no modification that has been done on the vehicle.
Offloading mid-way
Rogue drivers often branch midway to the construction site and offload some of the sand to sell to brokers.
While it is prudent to have a representative at the harvesting point, also make sure the sand is measured once it arrives at the construction site.
This can be achieved through having a weighbridge at the site or ensuring the driver is always accompanied by a trusted employee.
Collusion with weighbridge officials
Some sand truck drivers collude with corrupt weighbridge officials to extort money from builders.
A driver can call you remarking that he has an excess of 2 tonnes and has to pay a fine of Ksh5,000 to weighbridge officials.
If this happens constantly, the person building the house can call off the project due to its lack of funds.
Collusion with foreman
Most of the time, the supervision of a construction site is left in the hands of a foreman.
If the foreman is corrupt, he can collude with the sand truck driver and lie about the amount of sand delivered.
Agitation
Agitating sand is an intentional manipulation of sand so that it can become loose and hence pack less in a trunk.
Most drivers will avoid ramming sand in the truck so that it can be packed loosely. When not rammed, especially for dry sand, the driver can con the client up to a third of the total tonnage.
