Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 23Jul 17, 2019 9:29 am 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 24Jul 17, 2019 9:49 am Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 26Jul 18, 2019 9:46 am 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 30Aug 03, 2019 8:44 pm Unit owners in Sydney's evacuated Mascot Towers building are facing a bill of at least $10 million to repair the 10-storey building. In the minutes of an owners meeting to be held on August 22, owners will be forced to vote on the $10 million levy to fund the works, with the money paid in quarterly instalments over 15 years. See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-03/ ... l/11380902 Also in the article: This week the ABC revealed residents of Opal Tower have tabled a class action suit in the NSW Supreme Court against the State Government. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 31Aug 18, 2019 8:40 am Four Corners is airing an investigation into the apartment building fiasco, Cracking up, tomorrow night (19 August) at 8.30 on ABC TV and Iview. See related information at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-18/ ... e/11413122 Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 32Aug 20, 2019 12:28 pm Another news report about the problems with apartment buildings across Australia aired on Channel 9 yesterday. Here is the link if you are interested: https://www.9news.com.au/national/opal- ... b247f5ffaf The story includes some very strange allegations. For example: Electrical Trades Union NSW branch secretary Justin Page said there were 30,000 licenced electrical contractors in the state but in the past 12 months only 8000 lodged the safety and compliance certification required by the Department of Fair Trading for each installation. Is there a plausible explanation for this? Also: In the past fortnight, the union found 28 advertisements seeking electricians who were unlicensed or qualified overseas, or for trade assistants to do electrical work. That's in breach of state legislation. Some of the advertised jobs were for major state government projects including NorthConnex and Westconnex, Mr Page said. What would such an advertisement look like? Seeking unqualified electricians???? Seeking overseas qualified electricians? The plumbing union also had their say: Plumbing Trades Employees Union NSW assistant secretary Chris Seet called for all fire protection and plumbing work to be carried out by licenced professionals. While plumbing, drainage and gas fitting requires a licence in the state, mechanical services work does not, he said. "This work is highly specialised and technical. Failure of these systems can lead to things like Legionella outbreak, major flooding and flammable explosions." While I have no quarrel with the above in principle, I know for a fact that our plumbing work was carried out by licenced plumbers and it was woeful and had to be ripped out and done again. There is no point calling for licenced professionals to do a job if they can self-certify. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 33Aug 20, 2019 2:29 pm The plasterer’s team working on my Metricon home last year were working here on holiday visas and spoke no English. Parts of the job had to be redone, some a few times, as they were neither straight or square. Don’t know about the other trades but assume this type of labour arrangement is common in the volume builder home industry? Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 34Aug 20, 2019 3:25 pm That's interesting. And a shame for you but at least bad plastering can't kill you. I don't understand how they would be allowed to get away with hiring unqualified electricians and how they are allowed to advertise for such? If the union wasn't keeping tabs on this who would? Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 35Aug 20, 2019 3:37 pm Not the pollies...that's for sure. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 36Aug 20, 2019 5:49 pm Well now it appears there is a second petition asking for a Royal Commission into the building industry. This one has been started by the owners of a unit in the strata apartment Mascot Towers Sydney. https://www.change.org/p/gladys-berejik ... tm_term=cs Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 37Aug 20, 2019 6:47 pm I think the recent publicity will force apartment developers and builders to clean up their act. Hopefully also the volume builders. Surely now the market has cooled by at least 30% no rational buyer would purchase an apartment without an independent consultants report that confirms the compliance, integrity and quality of the building. It’s clear that government regulation is not effective and can not be relied upon by savvy local or overseas buyers. Apartment sellers will be forced to fund such reports or alternatively heavily discount their product in consideration of the high purchase risk that buyers and their financiers are taking. Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 38Aug 21, 2019 8:55 am An interesting take on the current construction crisis by Catherine Williams, a licenced builder (though she does also have degrees in civil engineering and law which can't hurt), appeared on the ABC today: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-21/ ... m/11431732 Basically she is taking aim at property developers who are swallowing the bulk of the profits from apartment building without having to be accountable in any way. (D)evelopers have made large profits through a combination of the housing bubble and a quirk in the regulatory system that treats high-rise and low rise developments differently.... Publicly available documents put the cost of (the Opal tower) development at around $215 million. Extrapolating the sale price where its 392 apartments were sold at between $800,000 and $2.5 million each, the developers have made a tidy profit on this project of around $165 million dollars, or a 77 per cent return on their investment. Or take the Prima Pearl skyscraper in Melbourne. The builder was paid $230 million, to build 680 "designer" apartments. Labour and materials worth $338,000 was used per home and each sold for an average cost of $1,000,000. Quite the tidy profit for its developer. Shame about the creaking. I'm not completely in agreement however with her assertion that when you buy a single-dwelling house and land package you will be dealing with a better-regulated builder - I would have qualified that adjective with the adverb "marginally". Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 39Aug 21, 2019 12:51 pm The petition started by Andrew Burrell seems to be gaining enormous support - 19000 signatures so far. In the latest update he says the following: In the process of contacting various people with regard to my petition there have been comments that we do not need a Royal Commission (RC). Further that if the recommendations of the Shergold Weir Review (now 1.5 years old) were implemented in full then it would alleviate the need for the RC I am asking for. Food for thought ...... however ... My comment to this is that a Royal Commission could have many more powers to investigate and to legally compel people to testify, give evidence under oath etc, and also be made legally accountable. I am the first to say I am not an expert however it seems to me that there is at least one glaring omission in all of this: i.e. The role of the 'limited liability company' mechanism used in our corporations law to protect people from personally being accountable for their actions. I have been told that this concept is a pillar of our free market way of life. Question: When does a pillar become so damaging that we need to evaluate other approaches that put people before profit? This to me seems to one of the major causes of the situation we are in today. Consequently, I am undeterred in my quest for a RC, and it should be one of the major things to be explored in any terms of reference given to such a Royal Commission. See: https://www.change.org/p/gladys-berejik ... tm_term=cs Re: Builders Collective petitioning for a Royal Commission 40Oct 09, 2019 3:06 pm Liliana The petition started by Andrew Burrell seems to be gaining enormous support - 19000 signatures so far. In the latest update he says the following: In the process of contacting various people with regard to my petition there have been comments that we do not need a Royal Commission (RC). A lot of 'notable' (not able) pollies also fought tooth and nail against having a Banking Royal Commission. Perhaps those "various people" Andrew Burrell spoke to could recommend something else lol. The broken industry is a product of the failure of effective regulation and self regulation. "Various people" also promote that greater regulatory controls would increase costs. Many would beg to differ. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Look at your bill from the electricity company. It should detail the charges. You will need to do some estimating and some calculations. Then charge the… 8 4247 Site works are just about to start on our build with Blueprint in Midvale. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106894 2 3952 Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12140 |