MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS OF WATERPROOFING

PRODUCTS USED IN CONCRETE INDUSTRY

SIP PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

PGDM PROGRAM

BY: MANAN RINDANI

ROLL NO: 2013143

SUPERVISORS:

MR. PRAVIN SHARMA

PROF. RAVINDRA GADGIL

BATCH: 2013-2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby take the opportunity to thank Kryton Buildmat Co. Pvt. Ltd for

providing me exposure to the corporate world through the course of my

summer internship. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to

my mentor and the Area Sales Manager at Kryton: Mr. Pravin Sharma,

who helped me understand the ins and outs of the concrete industry and

was available at all times with his advices and guidance. I would also like

to thank the Marketing Head of Kryton: Ms. Anandita Kakkar, who gave

me the opportunity to work with Kryton and made sure I was provided

with everything I needed.

Special thanks to my summer internship mentor at the Institute of

Management Technology (Nagpur), Prof. Ravi Gadgil, the administrative

management at IMT-N for their timely and continuous support amidst our

internship.

CERTIFICATE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary …………………………………………………... 1

Introduction …………………………………………………………… 2

About Kryton …………………………………………………………. 6

Objective of the project ……………………………………………….. 9

Research data and Analysis ………………………………………….. 10

Graphical Representation ……………………………………………. 33

Observations and Recommendations ………………………………... 34

Challenges faced and Limitations ……………………………………. 37

Bibliography ………………………………………………………….. 38

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project deals with understanding the factors involved in the selection

of a particular brand of waterproofing product in the concrete industry

through the survey and one to one interaction with the project managers

and site personnel, alongside making them aware about Kryton and its

products.

The survey was carried out on major construction projects across Mumbai

with the objective of knowing which brand they preferred when it came to

waterproofing the structure and the reason why they preferred the same.

The data obtained gives an insight on how much share each brand holds in

the Mumbai market and strategies adopted by the dominant brand.

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INTRODUCTION

Waterproofing is a process of making any object impervious to water or

making an object resistant to water such that water doesn‟t affect its

structure or functioning in any way. This process is usually done in the

areas where collection of water is taking place or is higher than the other

places. For example, in the past, the hulls of boats and ships were

waterproofed by applying tar and pitch.

In concrete industry, this process is critical as water leakage can reduce

the life of the concrete and can affect the integrity of the structure in an

adverse way. A structure can waterproofed using a number of techniques

viz. brickbat coba waterproofing, membrane waterproofing, chemical

waterproofing, crystalline waterproofing, etc. Application of any one of

these techniques makes sure that there is no water leakage in the walls or

water does not seep through and create cracks and hence the strength and

integrity of the structure is maintained.

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CRYSTALLINE WATERPROOFING

BRICKBAT COBA WATERPROOFING

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PHOTOVOLTAIC MEMBRANE WATERPROOFING

The main areas in a building that need waterproofing are the terrace, the

toilets, pool areas, balconies, the basement, etc. because these are the

areas that are most exposed to water and hence need maximum protection

from it. While the conventional brickbat coba technique is used for roofs

and terraces, the membrane and the crystalline technology are used for

below level waterproofing. Membrane systems again have different types

such as felt paper or tar paper with asphalt or tar, bituminous

waterproofing, EPDM rubber, hypalon, polyvinyl chloride, liquid roofing,

etc.

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SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT WATERPROOFING IN

INDIA:

Market size for waterproofing - $1 billion per annum

Market size for chemical waterproofing - $0.5 billion per annum

Growth in market – 20% per annum

Major limitations in waterproofing segment – lack of awareness of

using waterproofing techniques and products, shortage of skilled

labor and costing, competition with traditional waterproofing

systems, unorganized sector.

New waterproofing systems save up to 30-35% as compared to the

traditional ones.

Waterproofing constitutes nearly up to 4-5% of the total building

cost.

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ABOUT KRYTON

Established in 1973, Kryton International Inc. is the waterproofing

solutions provider for the concrete industry. Kryton is the inventor of the

crystalline waterproofing admixture which forms crystals that doesn‟t

allow water to seep through the cracks in the concrete. The technology

used by Kryton transforms the concrete into a waterproof barrier, hence

avoiding leaks, discoloration and intermediate repairs.

Kryton has its presence globally today with offices in around 40 countries

and has over 50 distributors across the globe. Kryton also operates the

largest concrete permeability testing laboratory in North America.

Kryton has its presence in India for the past 17 years under the name

„Kryton Buildmat Co. Private Limited‟ and has its head office in Gurgaon

and its manufacturing plant is in Dharuhera, Haryana.

VALUES:

Kryton believes in its three core values: Passion, Integrity and Expertise.

PRODUCT LIST:

Kryton provides a variety of waterproofing products as per the structural

requirements. Here‟s the complete list of waterproofing solutions offered

by Kryton:

Hydrostop Coating

Hydrostop Grout

Hydrostop Restore and Protect System

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Hydrostop Sealer

Krystol Bari-Cote

Krystol Broadcast

Krystol Crack Repair System

Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM)

Krystol Mortar Admixture (KMA)

Krystol Plug

Krystol T1

Krystol T2

Krystol Waterstop Grout (Internal)

Krystol Waterstop Grout (External)

Krystol Waterstop System

Krystol Waterstop Treatment

Plasti-Patch

PROJECTS:

Some of the projects Kryton have undertaken across the globe:

Home plus hypermarket (Korea)

City Center, Las Vegas (USA)

Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore

Riverfront Residences, Napa (USA)

Kiaora Lands Redevelopment, Woollahra (Australia)

World Trade Center - below grade repairs, New York (USA)

Briardale Gardens, London (England)

Gibson Square, North York (Canada)

Jameson House, Vancouver (Canada)

St. Patrick‟s Church, Ballyshannon (Ireland)

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Bloomberg Server Building, New York (USA)

Tanah Jambu Housing Project, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei)

Tung Ho Steel Plant, Taoyuan County (Taiwan)

Te Raukura Building, Wellington (New Zealand)

Plaza Carso, Mexico City (Mexico)

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OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

Primary objective:

The primary objective of this project is to gather data about the

waterproofing products that are being used in various ongoing projects in

Mumbai and from this data, analyze and determine the most critical

factors that are taken into consideration while the selection of a particular

brand or agency for waterproofing the structure.

Secondary objective:

The secondary objective of this project is to make the developers and

contractors aware of Kryton as a brand and making a sales pitch along

with the collection of data. Another objective is to generate leads and get

to know the details about the prospective clients and potential customers.

Scope and Coverage:

This project is confined to the city of Mumbai and is trying to retrieve and

analyze the data collected to present a realistic and futuristic result for the

company Kryton, which would help it to better understand the consumer

psychology and configure its marketing approach in this region.

The project also answers the questions like who the major players in the

waterproofing market in Mumbai and which brand is the biggest

competition to Kryton in terms of the customer base, sales volume and

revenue generation.

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RESEARCH DATA AND ANALYSIS

A survey was carried out where as the researcher, I went to a number of

major construction sites across Mumbai and asked the project supervisors

to fill up the survey. The questions used in the survey are:

Name of the project

Project location

Promoter or Developer of the project

Construction contractor

Area of waterproofing

Type of waterproofing

Brand of waterproofing used

Waterproofing agency

Price (if allowed to disclose)

Contact details

Following are the responses to the survey:

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GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION

38%

35%

6%

21%

Brand Distribution in percentage

Sunanda

Dr. Fixit

Roff

Other Brands

27 25

4

15

Sunanda Dr. Fixit Roff Other Brands

Brand Distribution in Numbers

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OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

OBSERVATIONS:

After getting an intricate and a hands-on experience by interacting with

the project managers of the various construction projects throughout the

city, these are a few observations I have made that might help the

company strengthen its customer base in Mumbai. Please note that these

are solely my observations and may very well differ from reality.

To begin with, I collected data from a couple of project sites where

they were using Kryton products along with other waterproofing

brands‟ products and yet when I told them that I am doing my

internship with this firm, they seemed to not recollect it for some

reason. In my view, this could be because we are competing with

more “well-known” and advertised brands like Pidilite‟s Dr. Fixit.

The brand „Sunanda‟ seems to be the most popular one among the

contractors and developers in and around Mumbai as I found it to be

the one most of the respondents used for waterproofing.

Membrane type of waterproofing is preferred over crystalline one as

it was the second-most common type of waterproofing technique used

after the conventional brickbat type.

During the course of data collection, I asked a lot of the concerned

site personnel or the project managers as to what is the single most

critical factor that is taken into consideration while selecting the

brand of waterproofing. While most of them replied durability or a

leak-proof structure, I found that a majority of them were just opting

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for the ones that were the most cost-effective or rather the one that

incurred fewer costs.

To add to this, I also had a conversation with one of the top personnel

of a contractor group, regarding the point of contact that needs to be

approached in order to make a sales pitch of the product. I found, not

only from him but also from a couple of more sources that the

decision of the brand selection is mostly taken by the developers

themselves and not the contractors. Using this, we can focus our

attention a little more towards the developers than the contractors.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

From the above observations, these are a few recommendations that I feel

can help the company do even better. Again, these recommendations are

completely an individual view.

To catch the eye of people, can make use of hoardings, posters and

flyers at a construction site where our product is being used.

I really feel that the firm is understaffed when it comes to a place as

big as Mumbai. Maybe with the help of some more manpower,

Kryton can achieve growth rates like never before as Mumbai is

certainly as big a market as Delhi NCR is, if not bigger.

Can try and get into a contract with a developer where they use only

Kryton‟s products for the specified duration in return for lower than

market prices.

As I mentioned before, awareness needs to be created as the managers

themselves aren‟t aware whenever they are using Kryton‟s products

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in their respective projects. If they themselves are not aware, the word

of mouth factor doesn‟t really come into the picture.

Kryton can form an alliance with a popular cement brand such that

the product is promoted and used wherever that particular brand of

cement is used at a certain discount or at a price slightly less than that

in the market.

Lastly, the company can try to maybe open exclusive retail outlets

with live demonstration of how the product works. Or increasing the

number of applicators of the product.

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CHALLENGES FACED AND LIMITATIONS

No research is ever perfect. There are bound to be some limitations either

on the part of the researcher or the respondent. These are a few limitations

I faced during the course of my internship.

My limited knowledge about the technicalities of the waterproofing

technology offered by Kryton. While describing the salient

characteristics of the firm and the product, it caused problems when

technical questions were asked.

One of the major drawbacks I faced was my limited knowledge of

Mumbai and its routes. When I could‟ve completed more meetings

had I been familiar with the place, I was restricted to a few by the

lack of familiarity of mine with the place.

To some respondents, I had a hard time convincing that what I was

asking them to do was a part of a research and not trying to force

something down their throat.

A majority of my time was spent waiting for an appointment to meet

the concerned person when I could‟ve completed 2 more meetings in

that time frame given how less time a survey filling took.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.kryton.com

http://www.nbmcw.com/articles/waterproofing-construction-

chemicals/22754-waterproofing-chemicals-systems-and-

products.html

Images taken from http://images.google.com

http://www.wikipedia.org

http://www.concretenetwork.com

http://www.waterproof-concrete.co.uk

http://cecr.in/Books/2013/Oct2013/Oct13.html#/78

http://cecr.in/Books/2013/Nov2013/Nov13.html

http://cecr.in/Books/2013/Dec2013/Dec13.html

http://cecr.in/Books/2014/April2014/Apr2014.html

http://www.cecr.in/Books/2014/May2014/May2014.html#/92

http://www.cecr.in/Books/2014/June2014/Jun2014.html#/70

http://www.fmb.org.uk/mb/2013-04/index.html