Defect: New Houses, Units & Additions

As a result of inspecting hundreds of recently built houses, units, and additions (particularly since 1996), it became increasingly apparent that there has been a sharp decline in the quality of work at least in the residential housing sector. This book attempts to defi ne basic contractual terms-such as defect, specifi cation, and performance-that form the very basis for quality in housing. Once defi ned, these terms should go a long way to ending the shortcutting rife in the industry, make insurance fairer for homeowners, and greatly reduce the costs associated with building disputes. It also attempts to set up various models to make this all happen and to ensure that quality is of a high standard well into the future so as to avoid a sizeable blight resulting from the steady decline in the standard of building work being constructed today.

Mark Whitby is a building consultant and architect who has extensive experience (over a period of more than thirty years) assessing quality of work in houses, units, additions, and apartments in the Victorian residential building sector. He has inspected a wide variety of styles of houses-big and small, old and new-including many houses and additions under construction today. He diagnoses problems and scopes the rectification works needed to bring defective homes up to a workmanlike standard.