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Cemcrete was founded by Graham Bendall on the 18th of April 1973. Previous to that, he worked for White's South Africa Portland Cement for 28 years. His love and understanding of cement was cultivated while working in their Special Products Division where he formulated products such as Cemwash and Poolcrete.
Graham left White's in 1973 to start his own venture. He decided to call the company Cemcrete - "Cem" in cement and "crete" in concrete. The main business was manufacturing and applying paint, initially working from his garage at home.
Due to a restraint of trade agreement he was unable to manufacture cement-based products for a period of 3 years, but he was looking to the time when he could take his beloved products into the future as he envisaged it. Cemcrete's turn-over during the first year of business was a mere R24 000,00.
In 1975 he rented a factory in Industria and started manufacturing acrylic paints on a larger scale. The main products at that stage were Thermoplastic Coating and Roofseal.
In 1976, when the restraint of trade agreement expired, he started manufacturing cement-based products - mainly Pool Plaster and Sanded Cement Wash whilst still continuing the manufacture of paints. At this stage Pool Plaster accounted for 70% of the business.
In 1979 the first factory was purchased - no. 7 Telford Street, Industria - for the princely sum of R121 000,00. His son Brian also joined the company in that year.
By 1982 Cemcrete was manufacturing products on a large scale with the main products being Pool Plaster, Sanded Cement Wash, Thermo Plastic Coating, Water-Proofing Compound, Permastop, Roofseal and Roughcast.
By 1988 Cemcrete had expanded into new sectors of the market, and no. 8 Telford Street was purchased. This signalled the start of a major expansion in both manufacturing capacity and product range. Although Pool Plaster was still the major seller, Cemcrete started diversifying into specialised wall and floor finishes.
In 1994 no. 10 Telford Street was purchased. Today it is the home of the Cemcrete Ideas Centre - a unique concept in the South African market. The Ideas Centre is the manifestation of the belief that a collaboration effort is what makes an organisation great. It was designed, constructed and decorated in conjunction with our approved applicators and various artists and craftsmen. One of the main aims of the Ideas Centre is to encourage a networking system where people with different skills and specialised knowledge can exchange ideas in an environment where lateral thinking is actively encouraged.
Graham sadly passed away on 11th of May 1995 at the age of 71. His leadership and sound business ethics had however set a firm foundation for Cemcrete to go into the new century with pride and confidence.
In 1998 no. 9 Telford Street was purchased with a view to future expansion. Brian now held the reigns of the business, and together with his team ventured into more advanced products, such as Colour Hardener (first manufactured in 1996), Coloured Release Agent (1998), Tuscany Plaster (1999), DecoCrete (2000), Cretestain (2002), TexCrete (2002), and SatinCrete (2002) - originally referred to as Silkcrete.
Brian's eldest and son, Shaun Bendall, joined the management team in 2006 after completing his honours degree in Marketing Management. With this Cemcrete has only grown from strength to strength.
Tragically Brian Bendall passed away on the 22nd of March 2008 in a light aeroplane accident. Being the strong family business that it always was, Brian's other child, and daughter, Joanne, entered the company on the 1st October 2008 and took a firm hold of the Brand and Marketing sectors, helping her elder brother.
From here Cemcrete enters a new era with renewed energy; taking Cemcrete to the next level and into the future with strength, determination and inspiration.
... and the rest, as they say, is history.
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