Outstanding builders in New South Wales are now being publicly called out as the building commissioner in that state seeks to highlight positive examples for others to follow.

In his latest LinkedIn post, New South Wales Building Commissioner David Chandler has highlighted the efforts of building and development company DASCO as the first builder to be publicly praised for its ongoing commitment to quality and safety.

Chandler says DASCO has consistently demonstrated best-practice across its work.

“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,” Chandler wrote.

“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’s NSW (Office of the Building Commissioner – the precursor to the current Building Commission) Learning Modules to ensure 100’s of undergraduates could undertake Ross Taylor’s waterproofing course.

“Dasco walk the talk.

“Their Willoughby project (the site being visited on the day of the post) 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.”

The latest post comes as New South Wales is five years into a program of reform to improve the quality and safety of buildings throughout the state.

Thus far, there is cautious evidence that the reforms are bearing fruit.

A major survey of strata managers which was conducted late last year indicated that the prevalence of serious building defects had been trending downward for buildings registered in 2019 or later.

Although some caution should be observed in interpreting numbers of that survey as some of the newer buildings that were constructed in more recent years may yet have defects which are yet to be identified, this appears to indicate that the quality of buildings is improving.

The call also follows the inception last December of Building Commission NSW, which saw the previous Office of the Building Commissioner lifted out of Fair Trading NSW and beginning operation as a stand-alone regular with its own staff, resources and specific focus on the building sector.

Last week, the Commission began early audits of Class 1 residential building sites (detached housing).

This followed regulatory changes that were made last year that extended enforcement powers of the Commissioner which had previously been restricted to multi-storey construction to also cover detached housing and other forms of low-density residential construction.

Chandler says the new focus on low-density housing is important as there is a ‘rump’ of operators in this area who are not doing the right thing.

These operators will need to either reset or ‘find another place to wreak their havoc”, Chandler wrote.

Chandler says it is time to start highlighting the efforts of those who are doing the right thing whilst continuing to call out those whose work is not up to scratch.

In addition to DASCO, he says there are a growing number of other outstanding examples.

These include Deicorp, Decode, Lords Group, Help Properties, Ultra, Urban and others.

When calling out good operators, Chandler dismisses concerns that about regulators endorsing those who operate effectively.

“There will no doubt be howls from those that feel that regulators should not endorse any player, even those that show good practice!,” Chandler wrote.

“I disagree.”

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