Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Nov 24, 2014 6:37 pm Hey guys, I know that the building surveyor has to check each stage of construction but does he actually send a certificate of completion or something? Where is his approval documented and are we entitled to a copy of it prior to paying the stage payment? Re: Building surveyor 2Dec 07, 2014 9:49 pm Hi Crazyk, Firstly, the building inspector or sometimes the building surveyor for the job (not a building consultant though) passes each mandatory inspection stage, and I understand it to be the responsibility of the building surveyor to issue a certificate for each stage, and then the builder must be paid within the contracted number of days after he requests payment each time. Sometimes the builders ask for money earlier than they should though, and that makes it more complicated. Sometimes it is fair to ask you to pay for frame stage even if the garage roof frame is not done... if sufficient work on the fix stage is already done say, but I believe you are within your rights to keep payment back, even if the building inspector issued a frame compliance certificate with the garage roof not even started. Sometimes life is tough, but it is usually better if you try top be fair. If you permitted the builder to take out the permit (join the club with the other 98% of home owners), then the builder will receive such certificates. I think it is your right to request a copy nevertheless... before you fork out your hard-earned... hoping that clarifies things for you, cheers, Leonardo_23 Re: Building surveyor 4Dec 14, 2014 8:52 am At the very minimum you get a copy of the Certificate of Final Inspection (or Occupancy Certificate, depending if it is a new build) and should receive that with the final account. We got certificates for the stages the Building Surveyor "checked" after the building works were completed. If we ever renovate again, I will be employing the Building Surveyor separately to the builder and getting the certificates at all stages. These certificates can be quite educational as it will show stages that might not have been approved by the Building Surveyor or they have asked the builder to do additional work etc to get the certificate. You should also obtain glazing, waterproofing certificates etc as well, as soon as you can. Be aware though, just because a Building Surveyor issues a certificate at a progress stage, does not necessarily mean that it meets Building Standards or that the work has been done in a "professional and workmanlike manner". The Building Survey may not check floor and wall levels, if plumbing has been installed correctly, etc - or even check that that the certificates for plumbing etc are correct. In my case, the BS passed the house for final inspection even though the certificates he had for water proofing and plumbing were incorrect ie not for our house, wrong rooms, not inclusive of work done etc and when i asked about it the BS would not be part of fixing the problem of incorrect certificates or explain why they hadn't even looked at the certificates. In some cases the BS is not the building consumer's friend - they are employed by the Builder (even if your money goes towards paying them) and they will act in the best interests of the builder. I would advise getting your own building inspector on board to check all the work at all the progress stages to make sure you are completely satisfied before you you pay - that is, that all work for that stage has been completed as per the building contract. Don't think that the BS will check the work - or assume that problems with the building works will be identified by the BS. It doesn't mean that the work has been completed either. I know of one BS who said he had inspected the property by "looking over the fence" and apparently this was acceptable! But yes, contact the Builder first for a copy of the progress certificates or go directly to the BS. Don't wait till the end of the Build and get all the other certificates as well, including electrical, plumbing, glazing, and waterproofing. Re: Building surveyor 5Dec 14, 2014 12:04 pm So I'm all cases the builder will engage their "preferred" Building Surveyor to sign off the stages. Can you employ your own "Building Surveyor" not "Building inspector" to check the works? And will that inspector do all what you say above because they will be Independant? Re: Building surveyor 6Dec 15, 2014 10:23 am kats_meow You should also obtain glazing, waterproofing certificates etc as well, as soon as you can. Hi kats_meow, thanks for the information. You seem to have received a lot of certificates. We did receive a glazing certificate but not waterproofing. Did you receive this because you renovated rather than built? The building surveyor was paid by us but we only received an Occupancy certificate. I didn't realise that certificates were handed out for the other stages and could be requested. Are these provided to the builder? Crazyk, we did have our own building surveyor recommended by our building designer but I didn't find the experience satisfactory. I'm not sure that a building surveyor will be as thorough as an inspector. Our surveyor didn't even notice that our frame wasn't built according to the engineering plans. Re: Building surveyor 8Dec 15, 2014 11:21 am I quote from my Occupancy Permit: An occupancy permit is not evidence that the building or part of a building to which it applies complies with the Building Act or the building regulations. I don't know if this is standard on Occupancy permits but it looks like certifying a build doesn't mean much. Re: Building surveyor 9Jan 13, 2015 10:00 am Hi Liliana - hope things are improving for you! We got the certificates around the time we got the certificate of final inspection. We did not get a glazing certificate, if i remember correctly, but we did get inspection certificates (found out that some inspections failed) and plumbing/electrical certificates as well as waterproofing. We had problems because the certificates for some of the work was for a house that was not ours ie for a two story house when ours was one and not inclusive of all the work done and rooms had been incorrectly recorded for certain work. The BS was not interested at all when i rang them to say why had the CFI been issued on incorrect certificates. It took me ages to get the correct certificates from the Builder as the Building Manager was shall we say unpleasant to deal with. The BS did issue me with certificates and documentation when i requested it. As far as i am concerned (but not be a legal view point) the domestic building client is paying for the inspections and should therefore be entitled to any documentation relating to the build ie certificates, copies of inspections etc. They should also be provided as soon as done (IMO) so there is transparency in the building works. A friend going through problems with their build contacted the BS directly to get the inspection certificates, as well as the glazing etc. The plumber and electrician supplied their certificates separately. The BS supplied waterproofing and glazing certificates to my friend, however they were incorrect (ie rooms not recorded correctly for the work, some work was replaced due to poor workmanship with no new certificate issued etc) so another example of BS not even looking at the certificates to ensure they are correct or relevant to the building works. My friend contacted the window supplier who provided a letter stating that they had supplied the windows but would not guarantee their installation as they did not do it (the builder did this). As far as I know, the certificates are provided to the Builder (not sure if there is a difference between new builds and renovations) and some builders choose to keep these documents from the client until the final progress payment has been issued/paid. Sometimes they come with the CFI (renovation). Or sometimes they don't come at all... Bu ti think if people don't have these documents yes definitely contact the Builder (if the relationship is ok) or the BS for copies. I think they are important for a variety of reasons ie insurance, warranties and so on. Re: Building surveyor 10Jan 13, 2015 10:23 am The simple fact is that building permit is issued to the owner. Builder is simply owner's agent and is obliged to hand over all copies and certificates. If you are having problems you can contact me. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Building surveyor 11Jan 24, 2015 11:26 pm HI Guys, Here's a good one for you all. A friend of mine recently contacted the Building Surveyor for a job in Torquay to discuss the poor insulation job in the roof space, and was told that the insulation installation had been reported to the BS by the builder (no less) as completed to energy rating requirements... and the BS took that to mean it was done correctly. I told her to send a fax summary of the conversation to the building surveyor and a copy to the attorney general. We're still waiting to see if the Building Inspector gets above the ground floor this time to actually poke his head in the roof to see that the insulation is all over the place including over some down-lights and with hot air able to travel under the batts to over half of the installation. By the way the last 15 jobs in a row I've inspected are similar to this, but 2 units had only 15% of the required insulation installed because the roof pitch was just 12% and there were 38 down-lights to miss with the Insulfluff so that's why. Cheers Leonardo_23 Re: Building surveyor 12Jan 25, 2015 6:11 am Here is the quirk. Where BS is given Insulation certificate (or any certificate) he is entitled to rely on the certificate. In practice this means they won't check insulation. I have been checking ceiling insulation in new homes with thermal imaging for about a decade and have found defective insulation in all homes but a very few. Even if you have your own inspector crawl in the roof to check ceiling insulation he can't get past all the ducting and into low pitched areas. Inspector may spend 20 minutes in roof space and not tell you what I can tell you in 2 minutes. At yesterday's pre final inspection I found ceiling insulation comprehensively defective in all rooms however photo below shows missing ceiling bats in tight area at bottom of hip ridge One inspector frequently mentioned on this forum asked me what it was when he saw me use thermal imaging. He declared insulation satisfactory, I found it like a leaking bucket. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Building surveyor 13Feb 06, 2015 12:58 am As I said BE, Nice equipment BE but not needed in most of the pitched roofs I've looked at ... but very good for low pitched roofs I feel certain. As we both said, most insulation jobs are not done adequately, so why not get your clients to send your reports to the surveyor with a copy to the top dog to stop this happening in future? Cheers Leonardo_23 Re: Building surveyor 14Feb 06, 2015 6:21 am Thank you Leonardo But thermal imaging is not just for detection of missing or defective insulation but also can pick up many other types of defects. In the photos below I picked up roof leaks invisible to the eye at pre final inspection and then again at re inspection a month later in the same spot after leak was fixed by builder. and after builder fixed the leak If this was your new home would you want to know if it leaks before serious damage is done? What if your inspector does not have thermal imaging camera ? You can whistle Dixie. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110592 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11039 |