Across Europe, home builders are committed to the quality of their work. German builders must meet exacting specifications so their homes will stand for 50 years. Major Swedish developments are now being constructed to meet 100 year specifications. The situation in Australia? Well, we are at 7 years…

Buying a house is, by far, the biggest investment most of us will make in our lifetime. Around our smaller capitals, you won’t get much change out of $500k for a home/apartment within 15-20km out of the CBD. When you look at major capital cities, you can double or triple that.

 

So, what should we expect, buying a home at this level of investment?

 

The purchase price of building a new home in Northern Europe is very similar to our own. The big difference lies in the quality, design, materials, workmanship and efficiencies of Euro-built homes.

 

A European home is designed and built to withstand sub-zero winter temperatures. Homes are constructed to be warm enough for Swedish families to wear shorts and t-shirts all year round, even with outdoor temperatures at minus 30 and with a howling wind.

 

At a very similar price, that same Australian home, built in Europe would not stand a snow flakes chance of meeting that specification of quality, efficiency and comfort. Often European visitors will complain of being colder in Australia than back home because the standard of construction here is so poor. If it is 14 degrees outside, it will be about 17 degrees inside, all thanks to poor insulation, build quality and materials.

 

Pound for pound, the amount of energy, comfort and money that Australian-built homes leak, year round, would astonish European builders.

It should be outraging us.

 

That $500K new home should warrant a serious standard of quality. In most cases - it’s not. Worse still, the buyer is having to accept it as standard.

 

We have a construction industry that is settling for mediocrity, thanks to a distinct lack of strong, committed building regulation standards. And this is due to a Federal Government attempting to ‘stimulate’ economic (building) growth by lowering the bar on the quality to which we build.

 

In the 18 months or so following an investigation into the National Construction Code (NCC) a major criticism was, when it came to enforcement, the NCC was a toothless tiger, beyond the design certification stage.

The South Australian Department of State Development commissioned (and residential building weighted) report suggested consumers were preferring to pay for a particular ‘look’ rather than follow design and efficiencies.

 

This makes selling quality, sustainable building measures to a client more difficult, while making cutting costs easier for builders and tradesman. In short that market demand is missing from the equation. The imperative to innovate and add quality does not exist to drive local industry.

 

Ultimately, this is accelerating a downward spiral - little or no standard building quality compliance. And a growing number of cash-driven developers in a hot investment property market are proving to be the worst offenders.

 

Leading strata lawyer, Suzie Broome of Sachs Gerace Broome thinks unscrupulous developers are “getting away with murder”, with the alarming level of cost cutting and safety compromises. Especially when buyers are too quick to buy in, spending less time considering on contracts, and even less, inspecting the finished product.

 

Leaking roofs, faulty shower membranes, fire compliance; the list of cut corners snowballs. Investors rarely have to live with them. Tenants are less likely to know about or report them. Leaving the investor to address, fix and pay for the mess when they a compelled to.

 

Shaun Carter of Carter Williamson architects, and NSW chapter president of the Australian Institute of Architects is spot on when he called for a need for more regulation in the industry to halt the progress of bad developers and safeguard quality of buildings. Particularly, keeping architects involved passed the DA stage.

 

For the construction industry to be a longterm, sustainable industry, there needs to be tougher and enforceable regulations and standards. Companies only innovate in the face of competition or compliance. At the moment the bar is pretty low for everyone, and in a booming market, there is plenty of money.

 

Not only are consumers being shortchanged in terms of value for money, our society is as well. With such poor energy efficiency our need for extra power creation is something we all have to pay for. The amount of waste going to landfill due to shoddy construction is again something we all have to pay for, sooner or later.

 

With a more sustainable industry that has a stronger focus on quality and value, will mean better results for consumers, help the industry to become more innovative and ultimately avoid a hellish situation when global competitors realise they can cash in on an industry that’s become complacent.

 

Far fetched? Ask the taxi industry about Uber.

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