Building better protections for South Australian home builders

The Malinauskas Labor Government will seek to strengthen South Australia’s building laws and increase protections for people undertaking building work, with the most significant review of the state’s building regulations in nearly 20 years.

The review will consider a range of issues including:

• Developing an easier dispute resolution process for consumers and reducing the costs of dispute resolution for all parties.
• The introduction of a permit system for owner-builders to prevent unlicensed builders posing as owner-builders.
• Requiring building inspectors to be registered due to concerns about unqualified inspectors providing shoddy reports.
• Considering whether developers should be regulated to ensure sanctions can be issued where they have failed to fulfil their obligations.
• Ensuring consumers are adequately protected where builders may seek to exploit sunset provisions in contracts.
• Considering whether tougher penalties and new categories of offending are needed for breaches.
• Considering whether mandatory Continuing Professional Development Schemes should be introduced for builders, electricians and plumbers.

The topics for review came from a series of roundtables convened by Minister Michaels and Consumer and Business Services (CBS) with key industry bodies and training providers.

This review will coincide with a separate review of Building Indemnity Insurance currently underway by the Treasurer and Minister Michaels.

Public consultation on reforms to the building and construction industry is set to begin shortly, with any legislative changes likely to be introduced to State Parliament next year.

Quotes

Attributable to Andrea Michaels

South Australians rely on builders and tradies, whether it be for minor installations or repairs through to significant renovations and major building projects like building a new home.

It’s crucial that strong protections are in place to protect people when they are making these significant investments.

We’ve listened to consumers and the industry and heard their concerns and we are taking a comprehensive look at these issues.

This review will ultimately deliver reforms that keep tradespeople at the top of their game and ensure that consumers have confidence in the industry.

Attributable to Will Frogley, Chief Executive of Master Builders SA

Building or renovating a home is the biggest investment many people will make in their lives. We want all of them to have a good experience and end up with a home they love and a valuable asset.

It’s important this review leads to changes which better protect consumers from the very small minority of builders and tradies who do the wrong thing, without over burdening the thousands of brilliant businesses across SA with too much regulation.

Some of the changes being considered in this review have been put forward by Master Builders SA. I thank Minister Michaels and the Malinauskas Government for continuing to listen to the industry.

Attributable to Stephen Knight, Executive Director South Australia of Housing Institute Australia

HIA supports a review that seeks to deal with unlicenced operators in the building industry.

HIA see continuing professional development as a critical part of builders maintaining their industry knowledge as building processes change and new regulations are introduced.

Consideration of housing availability and affordability issues should be at the forefront of any proposed new regulations.