During the Defects Liability Period:
- 4 Minutes to read
- Print
- PDF
During the Defects Liability Period:
- 4 Minutes to read
- Print
- PDF
Article summary
Did you find this summary helpful?
Thank you for your feedback
During the Defects Liability Period:
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Supervisor | Make sure we have allocated a supervisor that has time to deal with the issues and has exceptional communication skills in this environment |
| Set up a project defects email distribution list so the people that need to know about an issue are contactable and so that the distribution list can be modified over the defects period with alternative Hutchies’ people if required | |
| Central Email | Use the central project defects email address to accept new defects and distribute information |
| Phone Calls | We don’t screen calls or avoid issues – a completed building means the people involved have their work and personal life disrupted so it doesn’t take much for them to be frustrated. It’s like a new car breaking down and the proud new owner having to stand by the side of the road waiting. |
| Contact | People that don’t have success contacting us, or getting us to attend to defects fall back to regulators and that’s not the outcome we want. |
| Relationships | Establish a good relationship with the building manager/building owner/body corporate – maintain healthy positive communication – if there is an issue we want them to be upfront and tell us. The closer we are to them, the more likely they will want to work with us. |
| Maintenance Schedule | Make sure we get the required scheduled maintenance completed. The CA for the project should schedule an Outlook diary invitation or use WebFM (one example of an online shared maintenance system). Make sure you see evidence the maintenance has been done before releasing subcontractors. |
| Attend to defects | Attend to issues/defects that are raised progressively – don’t delay them or let them build up without clear agreement. The more time people have to look at a defect once they’ve identified it, typically the more irritated they become and will go looking for more to escalate the importance of dealing with them. |
| Be polite | Be polite, helpful and respect the building managers/building operators/owner’s privacy and time. Be conscious of how you handle this – we are working around their schedules, not the other way around |
| Building handover | Once a building is handed over and occupied, we lose the ability to efficiently provide cost-effective attendance to the works, so our aim is to avoid getting to this point in the first place |
| Post Completion Inspection | Complete a full project defects inspection at 6 months and 12 months (refer Final Completion) to ensure we identify any issues during the initial operation/use of the building. Remember your Project team as a part of Hutchies built a new product that has a decades long service life so the first 6, 12 and 18 months are opportunities for us to check the performance and tweak any issues while they are minor. |
| Sensible judgement | Use sensible judgement to review the defects. Regardless of the contract people will have their position on what is acceptable. There is also precedence of minimum acceptable quality in documents like the ’Standards and Tolerance Guide’ |
| Standard of works | Complete any required works to a good (Hutchies) and acceptable (contract/statutory warranty) standard |
| Works control | Consider the works carefully and implement controls to ensure suitable security, safety, protection of building works and building contents (including vehicles), and cleaning are provided |
| Check defects | Check the defects are complete yourself (don’t take anyone’s word for it) and maintain records as typically these works have an extended warranty |
| Written confirmation | Get written confirmation of the acceptance of the defects from whoever raised the defect |
| Loose ends | Don’t leave any loose ends |
| Statutory requirements | You cannot contract out of statutory requirements – so don’t do other works or try and offer financial compensation in lieu of actually attending to the defect – and just appreciate that when you don’t attend to a defect and make it good, it exists in a defective state for everyone to see. |
In respect to understanding the importance of statutory warranties and actions by regulators or legal action in this respect:
• Regulators exist to protect the rights of owner - to ensure we go back. Since we always go back, we should never need regulators involved in our business
• Hutchies never suggests that regulators get involved because that’s an admission that we can’t resolve our own issues and that we’ve lost control of the situation
• If you have any issues and need support, feel free to call the Quality or Service Teams for support. You need to contact your Team Leader to intervene in the first instance. Don’t let it escalate!
‘We need to know about it by COB day one’
• Establish a good relationship with the regulators – if there is an issue, we want them to be upfront and tell us. The closer we are with them, the more likely they will want to work with us.
• Insofar as the regulators are concerned if they are called in by an owner they will follow their process of giving us written notice and an opportunity to address the works before they attend an inspection
• They will use the legislated definition of defects (12-month general non-structural/minor defects definition example below) to identify a defect
• They will then use the NCC and referenced Australian Standards as well as the ‘Standards and Tolerances Guide’ and other documents to confirm the defect and provide advice as to what is required to be fixed by the builder. If the builder doesn’t complete the work, a direction can be issued by the regulator
- Hutchies’ Statutory Defects Quick Guide
More information on the regulator’s procedures/legislative requirements are below:
Was this article helpful?