Morne Faulhammer served, once again, as South African Landscapers’ Institute (SALI) National Judge for the 2018 SALI Awards of Excellence.

On 7 June, 2018, Faulhammer launched the 2018 SALI Awards Ceremony to delegates attending the 2018 SAGIC Convention at Mount Grace Country Hotel, Magaliesburg, Gauteng.

As the SALI National Judge, he was able to give a background to the 2018 Awards of Excellence.

This is a transcript of his address:

“It a pleasure to once again be part of this inspiring process that culminates in the SALI Awards of excellence ceremony to be held at this year’s SAGIC convention.

Once again, the SALI contractors have come out ‘guns blazing’ to showcase to the industry, themselves and their clients the outstanding quality of work that has been entered into this year’s awards.

I am always amazed at the variety of disciplines that are practiced by SALI contractors and how versatile they have become to be able to implement the range of demands often put on to them by their clients.

Challenge for landscaping

This year the effects of the drought in the Western Cape have been seen, as the lowest number of entries were understandably received from this region.

Although it has visibly been a hard time for SALI contractors in this region I would like to share some of my observations with regards to this trying time.

As a SALI contractor, make sure that you are prepared for an eventuality that, like a drought, is beyond your control. Ensure that your business has the required skill set to diversify away from your main competency if required. And if the lack of resources make this not possible, make sure that you find a niche in the market that you do better than anybody else.

Try to make the best of the opportunity that presents itself in the time of a crisis such as expanding the plant pallet you use to include plants that might be unfamiliar to you. And if you are prepared to tackle work outside the geographical area you are familiar with, do your homework well, or ensure that you have somebody on your team that knows the area well.

This year saw a few changes to the awards process. For the first time all the regional judges received an intensive briefing by myself to ensure that all the regions were ‘on the same page’.

I am glad to report that this year’s regional judging has been one that reflected a high degree of consistency. There was also a slight change in the scoring process that has also helped achieve better consistency.

Total entries for 2018

Of the (137) entries received this year a total of 64 projects were evaluated during the national round.

The largest number of projects was entered into the Landscape and Turf Maintenance category with 61 entries (63 in 2017).

This once again shows the importance of having a strong developed team of personnel that can offer SALI clients top class all year round site maintenance.

The overall number of entries received in 2018 in the other categories were as follows:

• Landscape Construction with design by others : 28 entries in 2018 (42 in 2017)
• Landscape Construction with In-house Design : 24 entries in 2018 (35 in 2017)
• Specialised Turf Construction : 2 entries in 2018 (7 in 2017)
• Specialised Landscape Construction : 16 entries in 2018 (27 in 2017)
• Environmental Landscape : 6 entries in 2018 (13 in 2016)

Thank you to the SALI Team

With this all said we must remember that the awards are a huge undertaking by the SALI regions and the national office.

A big thank you to all those involved including the ever-increasing number of regional judges that give up so much of their time and expertise to assist in the process of putting together this prestigious ceremony.

A special word of thanks to the SALI office staff that help and assist me in the national judging process.

Congratulations to all the award recipients.”

Morne Faulhammer, SALI National Judge, 7 June 2018.