Dodgy builders & trades people in Canberra

rosscoact said :

I’ve been in the constyruction industry for over thirty years in NSW Queensland and ACT. The standard here is no different, not better or worse than the standard in other states over the time i’ve been in the industry.

I was supervising builders and tradesmen in the 80s and they were as a group just as keen to do as little as necessary to get paid. It’s not a new phenomenon by any means.

And as far as not building in the ACT for quids, where do you think half the tradesmen come from? They follow the work around and next year they’ll be building in Sydney or down the coast or wherever.

The problem is that people expect that someone should do something about ‘it’ instead of taking responsibility for their own decisions. What checking did you do before appointing your builder and certifier? Was it merely the cheapest price available? Did you ask around from people who know about these things or did you just ask for opinions from the equally ignorant?

Well you get what you pay for and the cheapest price in building is never the best.

I certainly didn’t go for the cheapest people. I did my research and the people I used came highly recommended. A friend of mine paid a lot more for a very high profile builder and his house has major structural issues. Another person I know has a void termite barrier warranty on their house because the concreter didn’t follow the plan. I am also aware of 4 cases where people are living in newer properties where there are major water leaks e.g. when it rains it’s like a waterfall in the internal walls. I think I’m lucky compared to these other people.

MeNoFry – you surely can’t stereotype ALL tradies as ‘lazy, and doing as little as possible for the money’. I can speak for myself as a tradie in that I take pride in my work and always put in extra for the customer whenever possible. I know other trades who do the same. You get the good and bad in all professions. And alot of the new developments I have seen lately have been excellent quality.

Mate, I didn’t say that, nor did rosscoact, whose words I quoted. I am just old enough to know that it’s a bit silly to make blanket statements on almost any subject. I know of many tradies who do excellent work and take an obvious pride in their work. The problem is, such people tend to be quite rare.

ACTPLA recommend getting an independent certifier. When we did our first (40K) reno, the builder pretty much insisted we use an independent “to cover yourselves”. He wasn’t available to do our later extension (200ishK), and the guy we got in was very put out that we had a certifier of our own. He wanted to charge us extra dollars for any paperwork the certifier wanted. In the end, he didn’t charge the extra.

What was good about the certifier is that he was thorough. In the end, when he’d been through the final, all the structural and code work was checked out, he turned to my wife and asked if she was happy with the workmanship. He only approved the final after her agreement that it was fine.

Happy to recommend BCA Certifiers in Phillip. A bit late for Noidea, but maybe the next guy will be better off.

The problem with ACTPLA is that they are more familiar with the builders and trades people than the public they are supposed to serve. I approached ACTPLA about a self build to convert an existing brick carport into a garage. It involved filling in one wall and putting in a roller door. None of the work was structual. I was told that it would be difficult to get my application approved unless I found a builder!

I definitely would not build in Canberra. Every one I know who has built or renovated has ended up on stress leave. Trades men and builders don’t show up on time or at all and the workmanship is ordinary at best.

Good luck with getting the problems rectified.

rosscoact said :

I’ve been in the constyruction industry for over thirty years in NSW Queensland and ACT. The standard here is no different, not better or worse than the standard in other states over the time i’ve been in the industry.

I was supervising builders and tradesmen in the 80s and they were as a group just as keen to do as little as necessary to get paid. It’s not a new phenomenon by any means.

And as far as not building in the ACT for quids, where do you think half the tradesmen come from? They follow the work around and next year they’ll be building in Sydney or down the coast or wherever.

The problem is that people expect that someone should do something about ‘it’ instead of taking responsibility for their own decisions. What checking did you do before appointing your builder and certifier? Was it merely the cheapest price available? Did you ask around from people who know about these things or did you just ask for opinions from the equally ignorant?

Well you get what you pay for and the cheapest price in building is never the best.

Fair enough. Let me rephrase my comment: I wouldn’t build anywhere for quids. I’d much prefer to buy an established dwelling.

Builders and tradies may not have changed much, but what seems to have changed – for the worse – is industry regulation. Something isn’t working properly.

I’ve been in the constyruction industry for over thirty years in NSW Queensland and ACT. The standard here is no different, not better or worse than the standard in other states over the time i’ve been in the industry.

I was supervising builders and tradesmen in the 80s and they were as a group just as keen to do as little as necessary to get paid. It’s not a new phenomenon by any means.

And as far as not building in the ACT for quids, where do you think half the tradesmen come from? They follow the work around and next year they’ll be building in Sydney or down the coast or wherever.

The problem is that people expect that someone should do something about ‘it’ instead of taking responsibility for their own decisions. What checking did you do before appointing your builder and certifier? Was it merely the cheapest price available? Did you ask around from people who know about these things or did you just ask for opinions from the equally ignorant?

Well you get what you pay for and the cheapest price in building is never the best.

Cletus 3 said :

More regulation by the ACT Government? That’s like asking an ivory dealer to regulate the poaching of elephants.

Yes, except an ivory dealer is likely to have at least some morals and be competent at their job.

I’m with Muttsybignuts, wouldn’t build in the ACT for quids. I’ve seen the current standard of “workmanship” for myself and it beggars belief.

More regulation by the ACT Government? That’s like asking an ivory dealer to regulate the poaching of elephants.

Thanks for the comments.

The advice I received from ACTPLA was I have to prove the builder was in the wrong and had to provide independent expert written advice to demonstrate breaches of Australian Standards etc. I was told they could look at the issues/s out on site, but needed the evidence from an expert for them to do something. Seems to me the system is not working if builders can do sloppy non-complaint work and home owners have to pay the costs to demonstrate the builder is wrong. The system needs more regulation by the ACT Government.

As for the certifier, they certified work that wasn’t in accordance with the Australian Standards.

I wouldn’t build in Canberra for quids. My friend ( well a friend of my friend)just had a new home built in Casey and the workmanship is absolute crap. Every tradesman was progressively worse than the last. At one point they had an inspector come around and place post it notes around the house at various points to indicate faults. The next day the “electrician” showed up to put in some lights. One of the post it notes was obviously where he wanted to put a light so he just drilled right through it. So they now have a wall light with fluoro yellow post it note corners sticking out the back. Even better, some of the wall joins had decent gaps between them. Instead of letting the “builder” know to fix them the “painter” just filled the gaps with thick paint and covered the lot.
It is an absolute shambles.

Is this a licensed builder? ACTPLA take care of licensing and in my experience take that role seriously.

Is this a work that needed a DA or BA? If so then you have a certifier that is responsible for the execution of the work to an acceptable standard.

The sloppy work on the floor is your responsibility to take care of. presumably you haven’t paid and the independent report is to decide whether you are a whinger or have a genuine complaint.

Sounds like the system is working exactly how it should be.

You could try the master builders association (MBA) dispute resolution: http://www.mba.org.au/public/page.php?id=70.

Although it is only applicable to builders who are members of the MBA.

Contact the Master Builders Association and ask for their advice.