CIDB contractor registration

Why the grade matters

The CIDB Act says public bodies may only award construction contracts to registered contractors, and the Register of Contractors is where the buyer checks you. Every tender for building, civil, electrical or mechanical work quotes a required grade and class, for example 2GB or 1CE. Without a matching entry on the register your bid is set aside before anyone reads the price.

Grade 1 is the entry level and needs no turnover, no track record and no available capital. It lets you compete for public work up to R500 000 per contract in each class you hold. That is most municipal maintenance, small building and repair work, which is exactly where new contractors start.

What actually goes wrong

The CIDB application itself is a form and a fee. Applications stall for the reasons around it.

• No CSD numberThe CIDB online system will not open a new application without a Central Supplier Database number. Half the people who ask us for CIDB are not on the CSD yet. We can register you on the CSD first, or fold it in if you order the tender ready pack.
• The wrong class of worksGeneral building (GB), civil engineering (CE), electrical building (EB), electrical infrastructure (EP), mechanical (ME) and sixteen specialist classes are graded separately and each costs its own fee. Register for a class you do not tender in and you have paid for nothing; leave one out and you are excluded from the tender you wanted.
• Certified copies past their dateThe CIDB wants directors’ identity documents certified within the last three months. Copies certified for a bank or the CSD months ago get the application bounced.
• Electrical work without the certificateThe EB class needs an electrical contractor’s certificate in the name of the company applying, not in the name of the electrician who owns it.
• A tax status that does not verifyRegistration is conditional on a valid tax compliance status, checked again every year. A non-compliant status with SARS stops the grade being issued, and later stops it being renewed.

What you get for R1 490

• The right classes chosen with youWe go through the work you actually tender for and pick the classes of works that match, so you pay the CIDB fee only for entries you will use.
• A pre-check before anything is submittedCSD number, CIPC record, director identity copies, tax compliance status and, for electrical work, the contractor’s certificate. Anything that will fail is fixed before it costs you a fee.
• The application prepared and submittedOn the CIDB online register, with the supporting documents uploaded in the format it wants.
• The CIDB fee handledR450 per class of works, paid to the CIDB. We confirm the exact total with you first and nothing is submitted until you have said yes.
• Your grading designation confirmedYour CRS number and grade, in writing and in your client portal, with a note on what it lets you tender for.
• The renewal date diarisedA reminder before the three-year renewal, and before the annual tax compliance check, so the grade does not lapse in the middle of a tender.

Grades 2 to 9 are assessed on turnover, largest completed contract and available capital, and need financial statements and signed track record evidence. If that is you, ask us first and we quote the upgrade separately once we have seen the numbers.

How it works

1. 1Order and answer the short formCompany details, the kind of construction work you do, your CSD number if you have one, and your tax status.
2. 2We check and chooseWe confirm the classes of works, tell you what to have certified, and give you the exact CIDB fee for approval.
3. 3Submitted and activatedWe lodge the application, pay the CIDB fee, and send you the grading designation once the CIDB activates it, normally within 48 working hours of a complete submission.

Not sure which grade or class you need? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.

What we will need from you

• Your CIPC registration number, and the company documents if they are not already on your portal.
• Your CSD supplier number, the one that starts with MAAA. If you do not have one, say so and we start there.
• Certified copies of each director’s identity document, certified by a commissioner of oaths within the last three months, plus a signed list of directors with names, identity numbers and addresses.
• Your tax compliance status PIN from SARS eFiling, so the status can be verified.
• The classes of works you want, or a plain description of the jobs you tender for and we map them.
• For electrical building work, the electrical contractor’s certificate in the company name.
• An email address and a card or instant EFT for the CIDB fee, because the online register only accepts those.

The grades in one table

Tender value limits set in Government Gazette 42561 of 5 July 2019, in force from 7 October 2019, and the CIDB’s own fees for each grade. Grade 1 is the only grade with no qualifying criteria.

Grades 2 to 9 also update their particulars every year and are assessed within 21 working days. Every grade is renewed every three years.

Frequently asked questions

What the tender will ask for next

A CIDB grade gets you past the first gate. The same bid will want your CSD number, a B-BBEE affidavit, a tax compliance status that verifies and, once you are on site, a current COIDA letter of good standing. The tender ready pack covers the paperwork side in one go.