SAPCA’s Quality System ensures that only specialist companies that can consistently deliver high standards of sports and play facilities can join SAPCA and then remain as members. The Quality System underlines the benefits of choosing members of SAPCA for sports and play projects, and gives greater peace of mind to sports clubs, schools and universities, local authorities and all other clients that their hard-earned funds have been invested wisely in companies with a proven track record in delivering products and projects in this area.
The Quality System brings together a number of key areas of SAPCA’s activities and puts a strong emphasis on a regular inspection programme of SAPCA members’ work, thus ensuring that contractors deliver projects to the satisfaction of their clients.
The main elements of the Quality System are as follows:
Strict membership criteria
SAPCA’s membership criteria ensure that only specialist contractors, with a proven track record and trading history, can be admitted. Through inspections of applicants’ work, SAPCA checks that contractors have the requisite expertise and experience and can offer clients the necessary high standards of workmanship.
Customer service
Each year all SAPCA members are required to re-sign the Association’s Code of Professional Conduct, through which companies are committed to high standards of customer service and business practice.
Standards of design and construction
SAPCA has a series of Codes of Practice that set out the industry’s standards of construction. SAPCA members must comply with the required construction specifications and quality of completed work.
Inspection of contractors’ projects
To ensure that SAPCA contractors continue to deliver high quality facilities, the Association introduced an inspection programme in 2014, through which checks are carried out on a selection of members’ construction projects. Initially this programme of inspections was focussed on an assessment of completed projects, however, from 2022 the programme will now include not only an inspection and assessment of completed projects but will make an inspection to an active construction site to assess the site management and Health and Safety procedures in place.
The programme will include all SAPCA Principal Contractors involved in the construction of artificial turf pitches, athletics tracks, tennis / padel / netball courts and MUGAs and will provide an audit giving detailed feedback on construction standards, health and safety and site management, completed project assessment and contract management.
Financial stability
SAPCA Members are required to sign up to our Financial Stability requirements.
SAPCA works closely with credit reference specialist Experian and bases its membership criteria on the Commercial Delphi Scoring System used by Experian within its Risk Reports.
SAPCA demands that all contractor and manufacturer applicants must have a minimum Commercial Delphi score of 40 out of 100, which effectively means that, as a prerequisite, SAPCA members must be in the top 70% of UK businesses for financial stability. SAPCA also monitors the financial stability of current requirements for financial stability in order to renew their SAPCA membership at the start of each year.
SAPCA Mediation and Advisory Service for Complaints
Clients that choose member contractors have the added reassurance that SAPCA can provide impartial mediation in the resolution of complaints and disputes, should it ever be necessary, on the technical aspects of projects.
Self-Certification of members’ work
The self-certification process provides a simple and effective way for members to promote the level of construction quality from SAPCA members, by stating compliance with the SAPCA Codes of Practice relevant to that project. It also allows members to self-certify their work as part of the sign off and handover process between them and their clients.
Customer feedback
The clients of all SAPCA members are invited to provide feedback on their projects, and the performance of the companies that they have employed.
Education and training
Each year, SAPCA provides a series of educational opportunities for its members that help to share technical knowledge and best practice and reinforce the high standards that are required of SAPCA member companies.