David Chandler OAM’s Post

#Director roles for #BuildingCommissionNSW now being advertised. If you want to be part of NSW's leading reforms and shaping our industry for good, keep your eye out for a number of important roles now being offered. Building Commission NSW has made rapid progress in defining its strategy and how newly defined director roles will deliver these, since 1 December 2023. We have identified remarkable internal talent who are now ready to step up. We have been inundated with industry to be part of this impressive team. The opportunity for two highly motivated and passionate leaders to join us is now being advertised. They must bring the necessary expertise and experience. Director of the Office of the Building Commissioner The Director of the Office of the Building Commissioner, will work closely with the Building Commissioner and the Executive Director of Policy & Programs. This role is crucial to defining business strategies and organisational policies to coordinate multiple major projects and initiatives. The Commission is engaged more closely these days with multiple agencies and Local Government to better align our efforts to deliver high quality outcomes for consumers and the public. The role will also help shape a shared industry narrative that will be the foundation to attracting the next generation of Modern Constructors. Our industry must be live to all of these challenges. Director of Industry, Customer, Capability & Engagement The Director of Industry, Customer, Capability & Engagement will help lead the way in improving customer experience and lifting industry capability and capacity. This role will lead the development and implementation of strategic and operational engagement programs across all of the Commission's key stakeholders to improve their understanding of the expertise that a modern regulator will need, to tackle known and emerging harms that may undermine confidence in our industry. We must build on our work over the last 4-years and leverage the evidence based insights we have assembled to help prioritise the work streams we have now defined for the Commission. This is a unique opportunity to be part of a brand-new leadership era within Building Commission NSW, leading and collaborating with fantastic people, doing work that positively impacts the NSW community and the built environment. For more information and to apply: Director, Office of the Building Commissioner: https://lnkd.in/d3_vUtwd Director, Industry, Customer, Capability & Engagement: https://lnkd.in/d6wPSQk7    Please do not make applications to me directly via Linkedin. 👷♂️  

Where are the Engineers? There is a lot of concrete being poured into residential buildings every day in NSW. So far I have yet to see a single engineer on site observing concrete testing. I guess that what you don't see, you don't have to act upon. This week I dropped by 2 sites - a #BuiltcomConstructions site for #Thirdi in Lindfield and an #Aland project in Gosford. On the Buildcom site there was no concrete tester present and the pour was well under way. The pour was allowed to continue on the basis that the next truck had to be tested before pumping resumed. The Design Slump was 150mm and the actual test showed +225mm. Way over. The concerte was supplied by #Holcim from their Artarmon Plant No 5412. The builder agreed to reject the load and the truck sent away. Same story at Gosford, 180 mm slump ordered and over 240mm slump on site. #Boral supplied from West Gosford Plant 172. Repeat, the site manager agreed to reject the load. Sent away. This is happening too often. It is regularly reported to me that pump operators direct that up to 40 litres of water get added on site. They are not engineers and have no qualifications to tamper with technical specifications. Engineers, you should be out there making sure that what you specify is what is incorporated into the job. Water cement rations are important. The performance of the concrete is effected when engineering designs are ignored. The same occurs when cold joints and pour breaks are not properly managed. Next time the engineers will get called out. Do your job. There was a bit of humor in all of this. I asked the tester what other tests he performed? He said like what? I answered, like a taste test. They all laughed. In this video you will see that the tester tasted the mix. So, I could not walk away without taking the same test. So, I tasted the mix to everyone's amusement. I am committed to getting the message out to get the industry to pay attention. I knew that my taste test was being photographed. It has since gone viral on tiktok . I am told that at one stage there were a 1000 click per minute yesterday. #MindGames. The comments were plentiful and mixed . Some do not like me. The goal was to get this message to spread across the industry fast. Seems like that worked. So engineers get on site and do you job. Site managers pay attention. I imagine that there will be further trucks returned. #AustralianStandards #Concrete #Testing #Compliance #Consequences

I-Auditor and a Defects Library will help build Industry capability. #BuildingCommissionNSW is just 3 months into its journey to continue building consumer confidence and industry capability in the NSW residential market. Over the coming months we will introduce you to many members of the team to showcase their work. Bhoomi and Jason introduce the Commission's audit and defect library project in this video. The library will soon be shared with #Certifiers, #StrataManagers, #Designers, #Constructors and #Educators. Over the last 3 years the NSW regulator has been standing up new legislation like the #DBP and #RAB Acts. A lot has been learned, and now maturing capability can progressively be made available to our industry stakeholders. The Commission's #DefectsLibrary has assembled and will continue to incorporate examples of the defects that have been observed during RAB audits. Initially the process of compiling defects into a consistent and useable resource was cumbersome. Initial assembly of audit reports following field investigation and the issue of orders often took several months. The process consumed way more effort than was necessary. Thats changed, its now a few weeks. Our goal is to regularly report in one week by the end of 2024. The library has assembled a compendium of regular defects in the key building elements observed in Class 2, 3 and 9c buildings. Class 1 defects will progressively be added. Each defect will have relevant images, details and #BuildingCode references. Beyond the Commission's work the library can assist Certifiers to identify non-compliances earlier and quickly convert them to #WrittenDirectionsNotices. Certifiers are a co-regulator so it makes sense to share resources. That will occur on the 28th March 2024. Strata Managers help #OwnersCorporations to identify and describe defects when they appear in their buildings. Often this is an adhoc process that can be time consuming and expensive. The library will help them to report defects to the Commission more effectively. That will occur on the 28th June 2024. In September this year the library will be available more widely to Developers, Designers, Constructors and Educators. This resource will show what to look out for and avoid. It will help the Commission to respond better and with quicker impact. The resource should help those wanting to avoid rework, cost and time delay. The Library will help build industry capability. It will be another plank in the industry's shared endeavour to restore #ConsumerConfidence in new apartment buildings in NSW. This work will help build confidence amongst the #Insurers and #Financiers who are critical to enabling an uplift in the state's housing supply. We will progressively showcase the Commissions growing capability in #Intelligence, #DBPAudits, #FieldInspections, #Enforcement and #Licensing. We will present a statewide strategy to oversee residential buildings and how the most risky players will be targeted. Stay tuned.

What does #Trust look like? Last week's post - what good looks like was well received. +1000 engagements and 12,612 minutes of viewing the video! This post discusses why the whole of the industry must continue to invest in its brand. It is a time to reflect on where we are up to 5-years into the NSW building reform journey and what next? The pyramid is a useful means to do this. Our industry will always depend on its #SME base to enter and grow future capability. A 2021 digital maturity survey of the NSW industry was instructive. The survey helps inform industry tiering by the numbers of designers and constructors undertaking #ResidentailApartment buildings. Using years of experience the survey reported those with 0-5 years being 26% of the market, flattening to 13% for 6-20-years and rising to 36% at plus 21-years. Similarly the profile of businesses by employees recorded 80% of firms employing up to 19 employees while only 20% employed 200 or more. We have estimated that 70% of #Developers and #Constructors in Tier 1 and Tier 2 firms have achieved a #Trustworthy #iCIRT rating, while the inverse of that is the likely situation for Tier 3. Of course the riskiness of new entrants is far harder to predict, other than what is being seen in the field by the Commission's inspectors. Developers and Constructors shifting from Class 1 (Houses) to Class 2, and those who just pop-up are showing urgent need to enhance their #Capability and #Capacity to undertake apartment buildings. Typically these players build 3 to 4 storey buildings and then move on to 6 and 8 storeys. These have been found to to deliver the majority of serious defects since 2021, while new developments over 8 storeys are showing clear signs the NSW reforms are working. Far fewer reported defects. Those in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 space are rightly claiming that they are more trustworthy and rated to prove it. While not all see an immediate link between an iCIRT rating and more custom the reality is, that #Consumers and #Financiers are now paying regard to trust and the risk of the alternate. From a #Regulators perspective, trust is able to inform residual risk and point to where the inspectorate's efforts are better deployed. The reward for the trustworthy has always been to prospect of more autonomy. This is reinforced by risky players like #Merhis #Ralan #Dyldam #Toplace and ##AceEngineering no longer delivering thousands of defective apartments these days. Risky players and their associates are getting more focused attention. Risk flags such as lousy safety history, prior behavior and risky #Certifiers are defining project audit priorities. The next step is to rebuild the apartment market's base of new and less experienced players. The Build-it NSW conversation is currently exercising #BuildingCommissionNSW industry engagement. The challenge is, how to foster the next cohort of trusted players? Its not a a time to put at risk the hard won trust achieved by Tier 1 and Tier 2 players.

The message has not changed 👷♂️

#WhatGoodLooksLike (I will use field mics next time.) #Dasco is the call out in this post. Dasco could have been any of a growing number of others like #Deicorp, #Decode, #LordsGroup, #HelmProperties, #Ultra, #Urban and a long list of #iCIRT rated fellow travellers who are helping to reset 'A race to the top' for those who want to distinguish their companies from those who have harmed our industry's brand for too long. The risky. The Dasco team show a corporate wide commitment to the culture and capability that is reversing the public perception that our industry was all tarred with the same brush. This was never the case. Good was always in the background. #Constructors like Dasco saw the opportunity to be amongst the leaders. They have showcased their journey to others and invested in the next generation of construction professionals. And, they subscribed to the #OBC Learning Modules to ensure 100's of undergraduates could undertake #RossTaylors #WaterproofingCourse. Dasco walk the talk. Their #Willoughby project evidences critical indicators of what good looks like. Their site management and contractors are committed to a safe workplace. The public domain around the site is what the public should expect everywhere. And of course the right culture presents in the quality of work being undertaken. The basement slabs on this site show what is possible. Excellence. This year its time to call out the good as the reforms in NSW start to evidence a reversal of the race to the bottom that prevailed in 2019. The 2023 Strata Survey evidences early signs of the reducing presence of serious defects presenting in new apartment buildings from 2020. https://lnkd.in/gt9cfMWS Of course, calling out the risky and shining light on their dodgy practices will continue. This week #BuildingCommissionNSW started the early audits of Class 1 building sites. There is a lot to report. There is a rump of risky builders in this sector that need to reset or find another place to wreak their havoc. There will no doubt be howls from those that feel that regulators should not endorse any player, even those that show good practice! I disagree. #BuildingConfidence #RestoringCapability #Recognition For those who missed the ABC cover this week on how the reforms are going in NSW the following link may interest. https://lnkd.in/gVYi_zWC

This video is a shocker - sorry about that. The story here, will probably play out on dozens of projects our team will drop into across NSW in 2024, and on many more that #BuildingCommissionNSW officers will conduct. Building classes now include 1, 2, 3 and 9c. The Commission is finalising its strategic plan that will see a continuum of #Intelligence gathering, #RollingInspections, #Enforcement and #Licensing reviews, #Statewide across all building classes.. This program will be integrated into an industry capability uplift strategy. A priority will be at the intersection of Class 1 and Class 2 where we expect the greatest growth and risk, as more #MediumDensity developments are commenced over the next 5-years. We will hold an industry briefing on the Commission's strategy in March. This post involves a visit to #BirelliBuilt site in Gymea following a tip off. The post could have equally applied to two other builders at Kogarah where I dropped in unannounced on the way. #Trueland were the first builder. observed many site-safety risks were observed. Work was voluntarily stopped and the the workforce re-inducted while interim make safe measures were taken before recommencing a few hours later. Of course these efforts were like the #Bandaid versus #CultureChange reported on the #Buildex site last week. https://lnkd.in/gPyAqtA4 I returned to the Trueland site an hour later to find the supervisor (also crane-driver) loading precariously at the street over the head of a #Kennards delivery worker who had no PPE. Serious culture change needed here. I then approached a #Buildum site across the road where advanced word of my presence had obviously preceded. The final workers were getting into cars and the gate locked. They were #UnlicensedWaterproofers working without supervision and no #PBSU presence. I called Buildum's manager who said, he was unaware of work occurring on the site. More on this story soon. Finally at the Birelli site. The usual greeting, 'Hello Commissioner, I follow your posts on Linkedin, its great what your team are doing to clean up the industry.' Oh I said, how come you have not taken notice of the messages? The site was a safety shambles. No edge protection, power board not tagged the list went on. Most concerning was the risk posed to the public by intrusions into adjacent properties and the lack of overhead protection. At the mention of the #SundayRoast, the pleadings started. 'Commissioner, our sites are never like this, we will have all items fixed by midday tomorrow. Please do not post this.' Well everyone should know the rules by now. Naming and shaming in 2024. Unfortunately still more builders out there like these. We estimate that 25-percent of players still seem to think that the last 4-years of reform in NSW was not going to touch them. #Safety and #BuildingCompliance breaches will not be tolerated. Get the message, #AnyWhereAnytime Again, sorry about the video 👷♂️

#Bandaid or #CultureChange? #BuildingCommissionNSW launches into the 5th year of NSW building reforms strengthened, and tasked with continuing the reforms while helping to build the capability and capacity of the industry to deliver on the much needed housing stock that our community so desperately needs. Increasing the #Quantity of new housing across all of the Class 1, 2, 3 and 9c supplies, must not compromise on the #Quality that the industry has recently demonstrated its ability to deliver. #Buildex is but an example of companies trying to lift their game. The challenge for them, and so many others is to understand that embedding best practice is a continuous process, not a reactive one. I called this project out a month ago. The company is a member of the #MBA and the #ChineseBuildersAssociation (CBA). Both organisations have been active proponents of the NSW reforms. Following my call out I received the following text from CBA (4/12/23). "The company has taken actions to improving their site safety. They contacted me to advise, 1. Site Safety improvement from today, 2. Engage and consult with Master Builder's Safety department." The ladder onto the shed storing reinforcement was the initial image that caught my attention in December, it was the same a month later. A look over the fence showed that noting had changed much. Still a safety nightmare. This is often the case when #Safework and the former #FairTrading (now #BuildingCommissionNSW) inspectors visit sites and issue improvement notices. Typically builders rush around to address the immediate notice issues. Further inspections a few weeks later show nothing has been learned or changed. The reality is that adhoc site improvements are just bandaids. They do not lead to systemic business change. The Commission is now deploying #BusinessImprovementUndertakings. Here builders enter into an undertaking to engage a competent consultant to do a compliance roots and branches of their whole business's approach to safety and building regulation compliance at their cost. The Consultant reports back to the commission following an audit, an improvement implementation plan, and a 12 months implementation period with the prospect of a second period if considered apropriate. Buildex will be next. In addition the Commission now has a suite of #YellowCards that link to a #TAFE hosted learning site developed by the OBC over the last 4-years. All workers and managers on Buildex sites will be required to undertake at least 3 modules over the coming year. The industry must come to terms with the reality that the NSW regulator will not be backing down from the reform journey. Contractors must shift from being unconscious of their duties and making token efforts to change. We want continuous business improvement to lock in change. For those who do not seem to be getting these shifts, 2024 could shape up to be a disruptive and expensive learning curve - statewide. #LetsCollaborate #EveryoneHomeSafe

What construction price premium should #iCIRT rated contractors achieve? This question arises when builders report they are losing projects to unrated players by margins as low as 1.5 to 3-percent. On a $30m contract this may be $450,000. The pleas are for me to advocate to correct this seemingly unfair outcome. After 4-years of hard-won reforms in NSW, #Developers are now looking into a growing pipeline of new apartment opportunities. As the sector faces into 2024 and beyond, there are reasonable prospects that more will make smarter procurement choices than others. The consequences of poor choices has been well evidenced. This applies to #ForProfit, #NotforProfit, and #PublicAgencies who all face the same developer accountabilities to match quality with quantity. There are two approaches to this conversation. Firstly #iCIRT rated developers correctly see their brand as the paramount value proposition for new apartment depositors over an unrated player. The degree to which this proposition applies to contractors is the case at point. Purchasers are now showing that they are prepared to pay a premium to avoid the risk of buying a defects riddled apartment off dodgy developers. Indicators suggest that a 3 to 5-percent premium may be tolerated. On a $750,000 apartment that may justify a premium of $22,500. Modelling by #EquityEconomics point to defect exposure risks well in excess of such a premium. https://lnkd.in/gCvnyN9J When lower NSW apartment defects are regularised, premiums may dissipate. Until that occurs iCIRT rated builders can help developers, their financiers and customers to be more confident that a competent and resilient builder can lower their risk exposure. Bid differentials could be justified on this basis. A second view and question arises. What should iCIRT rated builders do in the face of the risky players being targeted and held more accountable in the face of strong NSW legislation and enforcement powers? Here past behaviors where speed and what you could get away with, by cutting corners and cost shifting to consumers are prevailing less. The net circles these players. The fallacy that one of the three project apostles of time, cost and quality has to be sacrificed remains profoundly wrong. Builders now faced with delivering better quality over and over, should notice that they are substantially cutting back on re-work, over-ordering, waste, safety breaches, scheduling delays and the time and cost risks of serious latent defects. A race to the top is the new opportunity to pivot away from the previous race to the bottom. Construction IT firm #Procore reports that as much as 12-percent of construction costs are the product of poor project initiation. My response to the cost premium lament, is that a premium is not a right. Improved competitiveness and profits must be earned by rethinking out of date construction paradigms. #RABAct #DBPAct #BDCAct