According to the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, on “20 June 2014, the Queensland Building and Construction Board made the Rectification of Building Work Policy.
For you, this means that if your building contractor has carried out defective building work they should be required to rectify that work irrespective of whether they did or did not comply with the contracted plans and specifications for your work.
In seeking the assistance of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) to “direct a building contractor to rectify defective building work, you must lodge a formal complaint with the QBCC as soon as possible, but no later than within 12 months of becoming aware of the defects.
And most importantly, the QBCC will then direct your building contractor to rectify if:
- structural defective building work is within 6 years and 3 months of the building work being completed;
- non-structural defective building work is within 12 months of the building work being completed.
Of course this does not extend to manufacturers’ product warranties such as whitegoods”.
“Defective building work means building work that is faulty or unsatisfactory, including for example, work that:
a. does not comply with the Building Act 1975, Building Code of Australia or an applicable Australian Standard
b. involves the use of a manufactured product where that product has been used, constructed or installed in a way that does not comply with the product manufacturer’s instructions”.
“Non-structural defective building work means defective building work (other than structural defective building work or residential construction work causing subsidence) that is faulty or unsatisfactory because:
a. it does not meet a reasonable standard of construction or finish expected of a competent holder of a contractor’s licence of the relevant class; or
b. it has caused a settling in period defect in a new building such that the building work that does not perform at a standard reasonably expected of work carried out by a competent holder of a contractor’s licence of the relevant class”.
To clarify, “structural defective building work means defective building work (other than residential construction work causing subsidence) that is faulty or unsatisfactory because it does one or more of the following:
a. adversely affects the structural performance of a building;
b. adversely affects the health or safety of persons residing in or occupying a building;
c. adversely affects the functional use of a building;
d. allows water penetration into a building”.
To find our more about rectification post building, just go to the “Rectification of Building Work Policy” Fact Sheet on Queensland Building and Construction Commission’s (QBCC) website.
Your ABIS warranty inspection should be scheduled for 11 months after your handover. Think of it as your second handover particularly focussed upon anything which has changed or happened since your first handover inspection, for example cracking in wall sheets and cornices due to frame shrinkage or loose and drummy tiles to name a few.
The great thing about having ABIS conduct your warranty inspection is that you don’t have to worry about making sure you’ve spotted all those little often overlooked things because we go through your property in detail just as we did with your handover. And because our inspectors are independent and builders themselves, your builder is more likely to take your rectification request seriously. And if your builder doesn’t want to cooperate, then you’ve got great ammunition for any case you put before the QBCC.
The bottom line is… having an ABIS warranty inspection is important because you only get one opportunity to get your builder to fix all those annoying non-structural defects at his expense and not yours, book an inspection now!
