Before a single one of our poles for sale leaves our pole yard, it undergoes a number of quality checks.

As a leading timber merchant, producing wooden poles of superior quality is our priority.

Only if a pole passes every quality check does it receive the ACT stamp of approval. And only if it has the ACT stamp of approval is it distributed to our clients.

What is ACT?

ACT stands for African Certification and Testing (PTY) Ltd.

ACT is a certification body that certifies clients operating in the field of wood and wood products. It was originally founded to provide the Utility pole industry a certification service, as there is no Certification Body in Africa that can currently provide a cost-effective certification and testing service. In 2019, the body expanded into the sawmilling industry.

Basically, ACT provides a comprehensive set of guidelines that timber merchants must adhere to when supplying timber in African countries. If you provide poles for sale, you need to guarantee that your products are of the highest quality. The ACT stamp confirms this.

And if you’re interested in the legal-speak, this abstract from the ACT website might interest you:

“ACT is accredited through South African National Accreditation Systems (SANAS) for product certification to the requirements of ISO 17065 and Quality Management Systems (ISO 9001) to the requirements of ISO 17021 in the timber industry. SANAS are members of the IAF and the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC).”

If you aren’t interested in the legal-speak, all you need to know is that if the wood has the ACT stamp of approval on it, you can trust its integrity and quality.

Why do you need a certification body?

Obtaining good quality wood is a priority for almost everyone looking for poles for sale. After all, poor wood quality can have disappointing and even dangerous results.

If you were to build a log cabin in the middle of the woods as a family home for you and your family, you would have to know that the wood used to build the cabin is of good quality. Weak, or not properly treated wood, could result in the collapse of the building soon after construction.

Even if poor quality wood did not directly affect the safety of people, it would be very frustrating to build a structure out of wooden poles and having to replace it only a few years later because the

wood had already rotted away.

But despite knowing that quality treated timber is a necessity for safe and effective structures, it is often difficult to determine whether a timber merchant is reliable.

Imagine ten different companies supply poles for sale. Of those ten companies, three companies exceptional quality treated timber. Another four companies produce wood of mediocre quality. And the last three companies supply timber of appalling quality.

If you had to select a company based solely on the information on their websites, you would struggle to identify the timber merchant that sells the best quality wood. After all, even the company that sells wood of very low quality can have an outstanding website. They can even get their friends and family to complete fake Google Reviews, rating their wood much higher than it should be rated. On the internet, the wood looks good. Only when it is delivered to you from the pole yard do you realize that you have been fooled.

How do you avoid this from happening? You need a reliable source to tell you the truth. Someone who is completely unbiased and judges each timber merchant solely on the quality of the poles they have on sale.

That is what ACT is: a reliable, unbiased source that rates wood and wood products only on their quality. Because ACT is not personally invested in any one timber merchant’s success, you can trust that their rating of poles for sale is based on the quality of the products and nothing else.

Imagine if we could get an ACT for refereeing rugby games! (Just kidding).

Therefore, if you see that a timber merchant has poles for sale with the ACT stamp of approval on it, you can trust the quality of the products even if you know nothing about the company itself.

What aspects does the ACT test consider?

 ACT has developed an auditing and inspection program for all its clients to ensure that wood products supplied with the ACT mark consistently comply with the product standard and end-user requirements. At Vuka Timbers we make use of this program throughout our quality checks.

All ACT clients are committed to 10 product inspections every year to maintain the integrity of the ACT mark. During each inspection, experts consider and check the following aspects:

  • The company’s procedures for acceptance or rejection
  • Strength testing
  • Branding
  • Inspection Reports
  • Wood species
  • During and conditioning
  • Preservative treatment (penetration and retention)
  • A directory for professional acceptance

All Vuka Timbers products have the ACT stamp

If our wooden poles do not meet the ACT standards, we do not sell them. This means that you can fully trust that you will always receive excellent quality treated timber from us.

- Enovathemes