Good news for apartments as defects crackdown bites

In other words, the major problems are getting smaller and the small problems are coming to the fore, perhaps as a direct consequence.

The most common barriers to effectively dealing with serious defects were reported as delays and lack of engagement from builders or developers and the upfront costs involved in launching a defects claim.

Unsurprisingly, the figures for strata managers being in cahoots with developers and obstructing defect claims don’t appear on the radar. Maybe it doesn’t happen. You can read a summary of the survey on the Flat Chat website.

Meanwhile, from the “no surprises” department, global data analysis giant Equifax says 60 per cent of apartment buyers would pay an average of six per cent more for a new unit if they knew the developer was trustworthy.

However, Equifax, which provides the facts and figures for Building Commissioner David Chandler’s iCirt gold star scheme, found fewer than one in four NSW residents were even aware that the scheme exists.

The survey also shows that nearly two-thirds of NSW residents admit they are concerned that the low level of supply against high demand will negatively affect building quality in Australia, with builders cutting corners to deliver homes faster.

Assurances from NSW Premier Chris Minns and Chandler that quality will not be sacrificed in the pursuit of quantity have fallen on deaf ears.

The most encouraging news to come out this week is that Chandler has had his building defects inspection army increased tenfold, from 40 to 400.

According to Building Commission policy director Angus Abadee, speaking in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast, this doesn’t mean 360 more inspectors are now crawling over building sites in hard hats, armed with clipboards and spirit levels.

Instead, there’s a massively increased team of researchers and analysts working out who should be the prime suspects for defect detection by cross-referencing developers, builders, architects, certifiers and surveyors known to have been a problem in the past.

The commission claims a 90 per cent hit rate in targeting and exposing defects at the construction stage, and applying pressure to have them rectified.

One of the problems Abadee identified in the podcast was developers of low-rise buildings moving up to medium-rise blocks without fully appreciating the different and more extreme challenges. With that in mind, the Building Commission is looking to upskill willing developers, as much as it’s aiming to weed out the crooks, incompetents and phoenixers.

Flat Chat.