Introducing the BASE-TECT concept

CHRISTINE: Kia ora, everyone, welcome to the latest podcast episode from MARKHAM. I’m Christine Melville, I’m the New Zealand Design and Delivery Specification Consultant, massive title! – and based in the Hawke’s Bay Office in New Zealand, and podcasting live from my 16-year-old daughter’s bedroom, ’cause it’s lockdown time!

And with me today is Hayden. Hayden, do you want to introduce yourself?

HAYDEN: Cheers! Well, I’m coming from Home Office too. Yes, based in Napier as well. Hayden Prestidge, look after the Design and Delivery team so working with Christine; and project-specific is our game. But yes, work with MARKHAM for … coming up seven years; and love all things concrete, all things building. So happy to be on this discussion. Hopefully, we can broadcast OK, Christine, from our limited circumstances, so we’ll see how we go!

CHRISTINE: Respective spaces, yes cool! So we’ll kick into it, and we’re going to be talking about BASE-TECT today. Do you want to give us a bit of an overview of what that is? Because obviously we’ve been working with basements for a while, but what’s BASE-TECT?

HAYDEN: BASE-TECT, yes, great topic. So we’ve always worked with basement waterproofing and waterproofing concrete. Now BASE-TECT is wrapping all that up into one package. BASE-TECT is all about basement waterproofing, so BASE-TECT, BASEment proTECTion, and it’s waterproofing the concrete itself.

It’s not new. MARKHAM has been waterproofing concrete for years, 26 years now, but we’ve always sold the products in individual components, so to speak. But now BASE-TECT has been brought in to wrap it all together. Give it one system, one approach, one specification, so to speak. Trying to make it easier for the market, really; trying to make it easier to talk about, easier to detail. All these types of things.

It’s probably been, well, probably our approach to this system has probably been a bit clunky, but coming in and wrapping it up in one system, is where it’s at now.

CHRISTINE: Yes, fantastic, that’s going to make it easier to specify for the architects. So what are the different components?

HAYDEN: Really, it involves three main things as far as the product point of view goes. And that is your admixture. So getting into the concrete itself. That’s important to waterproof that whole concrete. And then a spray treatment that’s applied to fresh concrete. So as a cure so to your slab, to your walls as a spray treatment there, the AQURON 2000. And then we have a gasket or swell stop, basically, a water stop that goes down all your joints, down your slab joints, control joints, these sort of things. Down your piles, et cetera. So they are the main components.

But along with that, we offer the supply and installation. So we ‘own’ the whole package. And also, you know, all your QA, right through to the warranty, so really tying up that whole waterproofing package.

Traditionally, I guess there have been some pain points in the market where there’s you know products versus product installers etc. Trying to take that away from you or from, you know, the building owner, building developer etc, and just ‘own’ that in one package.

I guess also from the feedback we’ve had is, being able to just go out with one system, BASE-TECT – it’s easier to get an understanding of your costs as well, you know, and one provider. So it’s easy to work with and get into your schedules etc. If that makes sense.

CHRISTINE: Yes, absolutely! Yes, I imagine having one price for our system is going to make it a lot easier in terms of selection. So what are the other reasons that somebody might choose it compared to other systems?

HAYDEN: Yes, good valid point because there’s a lot of waterproofing systems out there and everyone is valid in its own right. Where this BASE-TECT system comes on strong is its ease. Your concrete’s coming to the site all ready. Make it waterproof, and you’re done. You’re not adding extra trades, etc. so there are programme advantages. It’s very easy to design and detail because really we’re not changing much to your structure or structural drawings. Things like that. Yes, and it’s really easy to construct and to control when it’s actually in progress.

A few things. Even things like the workability of the concrete will be easier, so it’ll be easier to place, you’ll get a better finish … things like that. Programme time I touched on, but you know, you’re not having another trade come in, working in down deep excavation and things like that, even in the water table, trying to install membranes, blankets, and these type of things. So we’re working with the concrete itself.

It’s very cost-effective. Not only the system itself, but you look at the holistic approach. You know, it’s quick, and the programme savings, plus QA; things like that; it’s very beneficial.

And probably the strongest point is your warranty. You’ve got a full system performance warranty rather than sort of a product warranty versus a workmanship warranty. And we’re able to offer a 25-year warranty as standard. Warranty is always a good topic, but what …?

CHRISTINE: Yes! So can you go into more detail about the warranty? Because on the face of it, the warranty sounds good, but I guess people might want to know what that entails.

HAYDEN: Yes, I mean, we’re not going to warrant the whole building as far as the structure goes, because obviously it’s designed to be a structural build. But our performance warranty covers the waterproofing aspect, of the basement, or of the areas we’re treating.

And it’s not just a product warranty. We’re actually, you know, “if it leaks, we fix it” warranty. Not that we’re expecting any water in there, I guess, but MARKHAM actually gets involved and deliver what you need, and make sure it’s fixed. If there are issues, you know, we’re talking maybe about cracking, maybe some movement over time, these things that might allow moisture, we get in there and then sort it out. Does that sort of cover, or was there more, Christine?

CHRISTINE: Yes, I think so. I guess another question that I’ve heard people have recently is, are you expecting there to be some sort of moisture ingress in the basement at all? Or are you expecting a completely dry system?

HAYDEN: Yes, that’s good. BASE-TECT is a completely dry system. There’s a lot of talk out there, and they say, Hey, we’re building a wet wall basement … and sometimes they compare it to that, because you’re just the concrete structure, but with our system, you’ll get a completely dry basement, absolutely, and we’ve done that numerous times, and a lot of track record there.

So think of it as a fully waterproof … basically a bucket at the bottom of your building. You know, you’re not allowing moisture in one area.

CHRISTINE: Yes, epic! That sounds awesome. So, I guess you’re saying that this has been created to help both ends of the design and the construction of the project, and with everyone in mind.

HAYDEN: Yes, it is. So at MARKHAM, we’re very project-specific, but we’re working closely with the design side obviously, but further up the chain, developers and, you know, they’re thinking about a solid performance or thinking about the warranty. They’re thinking about reduced maintenance, these sort of things, so this is where BASE-TECT comes in strong.

At the consultant level, architects, you know, they’re looking for a comprehensive but very cost-effective approach. Quite often value engineering, type of thing, but also something that’s not going to damage their reputation. So there’s something strong there, you know, and that “One performance warranty, one system” can wrap that up.

Structural engineers, they’re looking for like long term durability. They’re looking for waterproofing methods that don’t, you know, reduce, or have a negative effect on concrete. There’s a lot that do, and this system won’t, so it won’t take out anything of the concrete as far as the structural elements go, and that’s the key to an engineer I guess. So these sort of things.

Into the construction side, when we’re working with the actual site and those building the structure. They might be looking for programme time, looking for ease, looking for less hassle, and reduced risk. So the risk obviously comes back to MARKHAM because we look after that one whole package with BASE-TECT.

And of course, the asset owners themselves. You know, as I was saying before, that trouble-free maintenance period and lower costs come into it as well. But yes, overall there are heaps, but you might have some more in your mind as well.

CHRISTINE: No, I think that pretty much covers it. And yes, I mean I love the system. Love how we think about everybody from all levels of it. Yes, essentially have you got anything else to say before we finish this one off?

HAYDEN: Yes, waterproofing is a huge topic in Australasia at the moment. It’s a bit of an elephant in the room. A lot of people have tried different systems, different approaches; and a lot of systems have had a failure, some have worked really well, but … the pain point from what we can see and the feedback we get is there’s always a gap between product and installer and who’s doing what. So being able to come out with one system is proving to be a real advantage to the industry. Yes, I guess that sort of sums up, but let’s do it. What else have we got to close this off with?

CHRISTINE: Epic! No, thanks so much for taking us through all of it Hayden.

And to everyone listening – if you’re interested, you’d like more information, all of our contact details, depending on which country you’re in, NZ or Australia, they’re at markhamglobal.com.

And have a great day. Don’t miss our next episode!