“So, here you are, my friend,” said Mr. Putumelo, welcoming Phuti into his office. “This is the headquarters of my little enterprise, as you see. It is from here that we go out every morning and build the new Botswana.”

Phuti smiled. “And you build it the right way up,” he said.

Mr. Putumelo did not appear to see the joke. “We are always building,” he said solemnly. “That’s the building trade for you. One building goes up, and you start the next.”

“It’s the same in the furniture trade,” said Phuti. “You sell one bed and then you sell the next one.”

Mr. Putumelo considered this for a moment before nodding in agreement. “That’s business, isn’t it? And who would have it otherwise?”

This exchange completed, they sat down to the business of agreeing the terms of the contract. “I have an offer for you,” said Mr. Putumelo. “As you know, Rra, there are many people in this business who are bad men. They give the building trade a bad name because they are unscrupulous.”

Phuti said that he had heard this.

“You see it in the newspapers,” went on Mr. Putumelo. “You read about Mr. So-and-so or Mrs. What’s-her-name having a big argument with a builder over some contract that went wrong. He says one thing and the builder says another. Blah, blah. And you know what, Mr. Radiphuti? In ninety-nine per cent of these cases it’s because of the sort of contract they’ve signed. The builder has given a price for the job in order to get it, then he spends the rest of the time trying to do the thing on the cheap so that he ends up with a bit of profit. It’s always the same. Agree a low price, then try to cut corners.”

“I can see how that happens,” said Phuti. “Sometimes with our suppliers we agree on a specification for, let’s say, a set of chairs, and then—”

Mr. Putumelo cut him short. “Exactly, Rra. You hit the nail on the head.”

“That’s for a builder to do,” said Phuti.

Again Mr. Putumelo did not appear to grasp the reference. “But,” he said, raising a hand to emphasise his point, “I have a way round this problem. If you have a contract with the client that says I will erect the building for cost plus twenty per cent, then you can’t go wrong. You get a good building; you don’t get rubbish. I know that I’m going to make a profit, and so I don’t try to cut any corners. What’s the point of doing that?”