Chandler retires but the war on dodgy rages on

Building Commissioner David Chandler is to retire in August – but he says dodgy developers might want to keep their celebrations on hold until they see what his successors bring to the apartment industry.

Having just secured the agreement of more than 120 residents of Mascot Towers to accept an exit deal from that benighted building, Mr Chandler has announced that he won’t seek to renew his contract when it comes up in Ausgust .

And while he has admitted privately that he is exhausted, he intends to leave, not only with a structure in place to continue his work, but with all guns blazing as he goes.

For instance, dodgy developers and builders are getting easier to spot and deal with, he says in his latest post on Linkedin. And it’s time for those in the development and building industry who have not yet got it, to course correct.

Thanks to enhanced intelligence gathering and the results being fed into every area of his office’s operations, the key message to risky players is that “it is not if but when you will get caught,” he says.

The Building Commission’s core intelligence and investigations capabilities now feed into the whole of its strategic activities across inspections, enforcement, licensing and policy work, Mr Chandler says.

Risky developers, builders, certifiers and associated players “who operate at the fringe of the residential industry in NSW (and no-doubt others) … are now easily identified across the more than 70,000 residential building sites in NSW,” he says.

The inspectorate now prioritises developments and residential building work, where non-compliant building work may occur.

“It is these sites where the most frequent presence of dodgy building qualifications and questionable business practices are most likely to prevalent.’
Inspectors now call in and review key documents such as the contracts for the builders, designers and certifiers, as well as the construction certificates, design drawings and technical specifications. The process can involve interviews on top of the review of documentation.

The Commission calls out non-compliant work under its powers to issue and enforce orders, and has a duty to report its observations to other agencies, the Commissioner says.

“There are many observations being made when dodgy developers and builders go into administration or phoenix to avoid being held accountable. These observations are part of the Commission’s strategy to assure confidence in the NSW residential building industry.”

While he may be gone from the day-to-day war on defects and dodgy developers, David Chandler will still be around.

“He advised while he is not looking to continue full time work as the Commissioner, he is looking forward to continuing to support industry and governments in an advisory capacity,” says Department of Customer Service Secretary, Graeme Head.

“Mr Chandler has brought commitment and expertise to the building industry during his past five years as Building Commissioner for NSW and for decades in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

“He has achieved great success in his role as Commissioner and we wish him the best with his future endeavours.”