Tradie's grim warning after alarming report on Australian homes: 'It's serious'
According to the Australian Housing and Urban Institute, almost thre quarters of all homes in the country have at least one serious building defect.
A very worrying picture has been painted of Australia's housing stock with new research claiming a staggering 70 per cent of all Aussie homes currently have at least one serious defect. Reacting to the report, a leading building inspector, who routinely finds defects in new home builds, says it's a "serious" problem facing the country.
Released this month, the Australian Housing and Urban Institute (AHURI) report found that nearly three quarters of all existing homes in the country have some form of building quality problem, while two-thirds of homes have an energy rating of three stars or lower.
A national strategy to improve residential building quality must be developed to improve the quality of our homes, the report urged.
Echoing those calls, building Inspector Zeher Khalil said he's seen homes in shocking states despite being built relatively recently.
"I've been to homes in NSW where they have no bracing on the roof trusses, missing steel in the slab, there's structural [and] weather proofing issues, it is serious," he told The Project on Tuesday night from an unfinished home that had "been under construction for five years".
"It's a combination of issues... some homeowners have to spend so much money ripping up the whole roof to meet the minimum standards, they're ripping up the bathrooms, and we're talking about the minimum, not even exceeding standards.
"This homeowner has spent over $30,000 from one inspection report, and it's still defected."
New homes sometimes not meeting standards
Earlier speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Khalil said one of the biggest problems he and his team see is non-compliant roofing which isn't finished in adherence to strict regulations, as well as dodgy waterproofing which can cause leaks. And once water gets into the home, it leads to serious problems.
"It's unbelievable," he said. The problem is, when Aussies buy off-the-plan, in many cases they aren't allowed to get their homes inspected privately before taking possession of the keys.
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"Under the Builders Contracts Act in Victoria, if there's a building contract between the homeowner and the builder, it's [the builder's] right to have reasonable access, and they don't allow private inspections," Khalil explained.
"So after the homeowners get us in, they're often ripping up carpet. They don't even know where the water is coming from. And at this point, the builders have been paid, so they're taking their time on rectification".
It's not just in Victoria these poor builds are slipping through the cracks. Site Inspections covers jobs in NSW and Queensland too and, according to Khalil, "NSW is probably the worst".
"We've been there and we just can't believe how bad it is. So bad in terms of finishes and even worse workmanship. So it's everywhere across Australia".
The AHURI report called for better building regulations to align with international standards.
"A national strategy to improve residential building quality should be developed and include the following regulatory mechanisms: improved performance standards for new houses; mandatory disclosure of dwelling energy performance; and minimum housing standards for the rental sector," it said.
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