I often see answers given on these forums that often wrongly refer to or quote Australian Standards or referencing 'Guides' published by industry and regulatory bodies.
Australian Standards are produced by Standards Australia, a private company. Australian Standards have no legal standing unless they are either referenced in a contract, are referenced in the National Construction Code (NCC) or are legislated.
Guides are guidelines only despite being often based on the NCC and Australian Standards. Unlike the NCC and Australian Standards, Guides are not regularly updated.
Guides can contain seriously wrong information, one being the CSIRO guide to foundation maintenance which is given to new home owners by the builder but which states a non compliant slope requirement for drainage away from the foundation. If the slab heaves and there is insufficient slope, the builder has a get out of jail free card and it is most often the first thing the builder looks for!
It can often be difficult and time consuming trying to establish whether an Australian Standard has been legislated because Standards Australia do not appear to have a list of legislated Standards that they can readily consult. As a minimum, there should be a list of legislated Australian Standards made available to the public on the Standards Australia website.
SUMMARY: Being in dispute with a builder and going in armed with an Australian Standard is a waste of time if it hasn't been referenced in a contract or the NCC and is not legislated.
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