Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Pirmetov, which sphere does Unico company specialize in?
Shafiddin Pirmetov, General Director of Unico: Our Company was established in 2007 and specializes in construction sphere. At the initial stage our organization was involved in construction of administrative and trade buildings. But as demand gives rise to supply we decided to follow demand. Demand of administrative and trade buildings was replaced with industrial construction and public health afterwards. And as a result we gained experience in construction of different purpose facilities including civil and erection works, finishing, disassembling, earth works, electric installation work, sanitaryware works, as well as works on installation of air-conditioning and ventilation systems at buildings and facilities.
CE: What distinguishes the services provided by Unico from the operations of other companies?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: First of all I would like to note that we work only with the European companies and perform the job on high quality level. Our main goal is a high-professional, complex and mainly unique support to construction projects at all stages. Solving the tasks of both an investor (profit maximization) and a society (obtaining new, comfortable, highly developed environment of qualitative life, development of business and production) is equally important for us.
Our company was established by professionals who have been working in the sphere of real estate and construction for over 10 years. Managers had practice in realization of more than 15 investment projects of different scales and levels of complexity in Baku in the past.
Our slogan ‘High quality right on time’ expresses our attitude towards all processes which the employees of our company deal in. We are open for cooperation with everyone who values quality, accuracy and timely fulfillment of assigned tasks.
CE: What is the share of finishing work within the activity of the company?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: It is a major part of work that we implement and it accounts for 60% of orders in the portfolio of the company. As far as finishing operations are concerned, I may note that these orders basically cover interior finishing as well as finishing of facades of buildings and facilities. In this direction we cooperate with our several European partners from Germany, Austria and Italy.
Finishing protects a building against atmospheric and other external actions, prolongs life duration and decorates a building.
Covering with glass, daubing, casing by marble, granite, ceramics, and decorative break, modeling, and decorative painting are applied for an exterior finish (in exterior). The same materials as in exterior as well as gypsum plasterboard, wallpaper, linoleum, tile and parquet products, woodwork and synthetics (plastic mass) are applied in an interior finish.
Our specialists have accumulated considerable practice during the years of operation and they are ready to lend a qualified assistance.
In general, our company offers a wide range of exterior works: excavation works, cast-in-block works, placing of different types and materials, plastering, filling, facade painting, roofing, drain installation and etc.
CE: Which projects is the company currently involved in?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: Now we are engaged in the project of internal finishing of Port Baku and the new office of bp Company in Baku. Among projects that have been recently completed we can note the internal finishing of the Cultural Center named after Heydar Aliyev. Meanwhile, we lend the similar services in the private sector as well. We have recently completed an internal finishing of a number of cottages and a restaurant. Our company is new and has been operating for 5 years.
CE: What other services does your company provide in the construction sector?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: Our Company has been providing services on general construction works for 5 years. They are carried out in private houses or flats and they have different complexity levels.
Our company executes the following civil and erection works: reinforcement of walls, plastering of walls, ceiling, apertures, slopes, arrangement of walls from gypsum plasterboard, wall boarding by gypsum plasterboard, clearing of apertures in reinforced concrete walls, enhancement of apertures, installing partitions from brick, slag stones and slot and flange blocks.
The company also performs earth works. Specific share of earth works in a general volume of civil and erection operations is very high and equal to about 15% for cost and up to 20% for labour coefficient. Approximately 10% of all workers occupied in construction are the share of earth works. Processing of such quantity of soil is possible only due to complex mechanization and effective technology of work production. In this aspect our company offers acceptable prices and guarantees high quality of work.
In Baku the company also performs various complexity disassembling operations starting from taking off of old wallpaper and cleaning of walls to demolition of walls and partitions in Baku. Disassembling operations may be executed in any premises whether a private house, a flat in a panel building or an office. Specialists of our company will qualitatively and quickly assist in re-planning of any complexity.
Along with increasing requirements towards quality the requirements towards terms of execution of electric installation work have increased as well. Therefore construction companies have to be provided with qualified personnel and highly productive equipment. Our Company offers its clients electric installation work of high quality with observance of all requirements.
Meanwhile, the company executes plumbing and installation of sanitary fittings qualitatively as well as guarantees durability and easy usage.
Specialists of the company also render services on installation of air-conditioning and ventilation systems in professional and qualitative manner.
CE: How do you assess the experience the company gained over five years of operation in the construction market?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: It is certainly international standards that were introduced together with leading companies. We use European materials on basis of their certification. The tendency of switching to quality from quantity is currently observed in Azerbaijan, though most of companies are not ready for it yet. We have a team of employees including designers and architects who studied in Europe. Therefore, we may effectively work in partnership with European companies because their standards differ strongly from local ones. Safety measures and quality are regarded as of paramount importance in the European companies.
We attach major importance to safety measures. Our managers have gained wide experience in this sphere, they are arranging regular trainings for employees. Certain trainings are also held for non-standard projects.
Our specialists have been certified by Knauf and Lindner companies in the field of supply and use of materials.
Ability to arrange a clear working procedure while execution of civil and erection works is essential. Construction gangs of our company have accumulated practice and they have high qualification, they qualitatively execute works within short periods of time. Our specialists are able to assist in any situation regarding construction and to solve tasks a client sets.
The company offers acceptable prices and secures high quality of works. We make necessary measurements and detailed estimates which our specialists provide right on the first day. We do not conceal prices from our clients and our clients may consider them.
CE: What is the strategic development plan of the company for coming years?
Shafiddin Pirmetov: We consider opportunities of working beyond Azerbaijan. For now we have promising projects in Moscow and Sakhalin (Russia) as well as in Georgia. In addition to this, we have one more project in Mecca (Saudi Arabia).
An oil sphere related project is under implementation in Russia. Our specialists will soon leave for Russia to assemble certain parts of the oil platform. The work will involve operations on pipeline and argon-welding.
Apart from this, we intend to develop production of additional materials. Now we are producing crushed stone and some other construction materials on our own.
We also consider production of different profiles including aluminum profiles. We plan to develop the local market for most of construction materials are imported to the market. We intend to sate the Azerbaijani market with qualitative construction materials produced domestically.