Thread: Can you believe this????

Lie to a building inspector?? Unheard of!!

About bloody time if you ask me! For the same reason as we have building regs for structural integrity and waterproofing and all the other stuff we all hate having to comply with. For the greater good of the community, and future generations who have to put up with our stuff ups, from dodgy renovations to global warming, the role of governments is (supposed) to ensure that individuals don't take short cuts which end up screwing someone else. Like the plumber in another thread who taped around a mains supply and buried it. Or the guy in another thread who wants advice on which coloured wire to connect to live . Opinions on this forum are likely to be biased, because a large proportion of us have trade backgrounds of one sort or another, and so hate regulations. But unwitting Granny May out there doesn't know if you've bodged the waterproofing or taped up her electric supply, and the governments role is to protect the public from tradies taking short cuts.

I think I've been watching too much Wizard of Oz... or maybe its this stuff I've been smoking?

The general census is right, a bit like not wanting to go to school when your were a kid. In the long run, its for the best, but what if at the end of grade 10 or 12, we didn't bother testing kids to make sure they had learnt stuff. My point, well as a couple of people have said where is the evidence that shonky operators get bought before their peers to account for failing the regulations. This is the main point of a lot of regulations, joe blow like you and I suffer, but others get away with it still because no one is prosecuted. A lot of DIY stems I suspect from bad experiences with trades people, and what can you do about lodging a complaint, and I suspect people say why should I pay someone $55/hour when I can do it myself, and in the majority of cases better, because they are not racing against the clock. I guess I'm a bit worried that it will never end.

Originally Posted by Notsquare

My point, well as a couple of people have said where is the evidence that shonky operators get bought before their peers to account for failing the regulations.

Exactly. All this is doing is increasing the cost of housing when affordability is already at its lowest.

A workaround for D.I.Y. people in the case of kitchen renovations might be to make all of your kitchen cupboards etc. as free-standing furniture except the portion housing the sink. There's nothing to stop you bolting it down later.

no one is prosecuted

This is a snippet from the thread referred to in the original post by Pulse:

Now we are really in trouble. Why? Because an Owner Builders permit ( which we don't have ) is only for work you carry out on your PPR. It does not cover IP's or any property you do not reside in.

Next problem. I am now classed as an unlicenced contractor carrying out building works ( albeit on my own property) and am subject to the full weight of the law!!!

I'm now prevented from carrying out any further work on my property, I have to engage a builder to finish it, and I may be prosecuted for unlicenced contracting!!!

I've checked with my solicitor and he confirms what QBSA have said. Am now awaiting the outcome to see if they will prosecute. I've since made enquiries in a few other sates and it is the very similar.

There certainly is the threat that he will be prosecuted, I suppose it's up to the council whether they take it any further, but the law is there to enable them to if they want. I bet if you have a look at the court records, you will find plenty of examples of people being prosecuted for unauthorised development and plenty of examples of people being sued for dodgy work.

I think QBSA is different to the loacl council, any qlders here.

Back to the original thread, (not being rude),
I, too have been stung by this reg. as i have purchased a building lot to construct an I.P on. Not allowed to become an OB investor, but can become an OB occupier eventhou i have been a chippie for 17 years and a registered builder for about 8 years of that.


My solution?????? Currently going back to get my licence.

Why the change in regs????????? Yes, defanitely to reduce the dodgies out there, But might it have may it have something to do with Canberra/ individual states not being able to get there snouts in the trough via subbies paying taxes etc.??????????


Only my theory, but there might be something in it!!!!!!!


Jason.

Yes I'm sure that's how it works. Government sits back and thinks, hmm how can we get our hands on some more cash. I know, let's introduce a law requiring people to become licensed contractors before they are allowed to do any residential building work. If anybody asks, we'll tell them we're trying to clean up the industry.

People doing cashies is a separate issue. Owner Builder and the contracting laws don't do much to address that.

Ex-chipee you can still get a certificate of consent for that work, just say in the application you intend to live in it. You will not be able to do another one one for three years though.

The building commission dont check up to see if you actually moved in.

One of the main reasons for chaning the law was because previously you could build 20 units as an owner builder in a company name, sell them and wind up the company and the purchasers have no chance to get anyone to fix any probs. Even with the (unregistered) owner doing dodgies, the building commsion is more reluctant to get involved because they are not able to threaten de-registration etc.

I freely admit that woodwork and serious DIY for me is like medication for having to work in an office job. If I didn't have it, then I would surely go mad. I lived in the UK for 3 years, and you couldn't pick up a hammer without offending someone. I don't want to live in an environment where we ignore the fact that everyone is an individual and some people can;t follow the rules, there's heaps of us out there. Can you imagine a lifestyle where you had to get a permit for everything, it is just getting out of hand. The argument that is being supported suggests that one day you will need to provide a license to buy serious power tools. Is this nonsense, well if you don't let the people some freedom to do the odd job, and that's what we are talking about, then why not prevent people from buying lumber whilst your at it. I think that perhaps we are approaching the time where owner builder, e.g. a regular joe cannot have a crack at building their own home. Is that what we want? We should all sell up and head for Cuba? The funnier side is the economy just couldn't support it, we don;t have enough teachers to train the tradesman, enough people to oversee the regulation, enough resources to supply each and every little town the qualified people to do the job. How can this argument be supported if it only applies within the 10 mile radius of capital cities? Off to have the medication.

One way of looking at it is that a lot of these laws just give the authorities the ability to prosecute someone for breach of them, where before they could not. It doesn't mean they want to nail everyone for doing their own renos, but they have the power to nail anyone who comes to their attention doing the wrong thing. That's the way I look at it. The officer in question always has the discretion to look the other way.

The only thing is it's not unheard of for a building inspector to wind up in court for breach of duty of care because he overlooked something that caused a problem later. I saw a case in the Victorian courts on the AUSTLII database not unlike that recently.

I was getting worried about you SilentC, welcome back. I agree with your last statement. By the way has anyone ever noticeed how regularly the local council building inspector job appears in the local newspaper. It must be a pretty unforgiving job with a high turnover.

Originally Posted by ex-chippie

But might it have may it have something to do with Canberra/ individual states not being able to get there snouts in the trough via subbies paying taxes etc.??????????

No offence, but I wish people would say "the Federal Govt" rather than "Canberra" when they're talking about political or regulatory stuff - we're just a biggish country town at heart, and very few of us get to make the rules.