SR335 New house construction quality survey 2014 (2019)

This is the second of two reports on the inspection of new houses. The aim of the inspections is to ascertain the quality of construction, problem areas for the builder including adequacy of construction details, building complexity, and any building code compliance issues.

There are cost and time pressures on builders to complete their projects, particularly at present due to high demand levels. During rising demand, building companies find it difficult to contract staff with adequate skills and quality of work often declines. Designers and building inspectors are also under pressure during high demand. For designers, this may result in less than complete drawing details to guide the builder. For the council inspectors, the high workload may leave inadequate time to carry out inspections.

This project has found failings in work of all three sectors. Designers have not always supplied sufficient details. Some builders have failed to follow the details provided, quality of finish is poor in some cases and there are compliance failures. For inspectors some compliance issues have been missed partly due to lack of knowledge and partly due to work covered up due to some areas not inspected. This report quantifies the incidence of all these failures and discusses the remedies required for better outcomes.