With a view to encouraging the commencement of new home builds and renovations the Federal Government has announced a stimulus package named “HomeBuilder” which is available to eligible occupier-owners, including first home buyers.
NSW Parliament releases “Regulation of building standards, building quality and building disputes” final report. The final report of the Public Accountability Committee, “Regulation of building standards, building quality and building disputes” was tabled by NSW Parliament on 30 April 2020. The report and its 22 significant recommendations are being considered by the government which must provide a response within six months. The 22 recommendations from the lengthy report are as follows: Recommendation 1 That the NSW Government introduce and debate the powers bill granting the NSW Building Commissioner new powers to ensure building standards as a matter of urgency when the NSW Parliament is reconvened in May 2020, with prompt circulation of the proposed bill to members of Parliament. Recommendation 2 That the NSW Government resume debate on the Design and Building Practitioners Bill 2019 as a matter of urgency when the NSW Parliament is reconvened in May 2020. Recommendation 3 That the NSW Government empower the NSW Building Commissioner to oversee all licencing inspections, within the newly created Building Commission. Further, that the Building Commission hire additional,…
Administration of construction contracts is an important process for building contractors and sub-contractors in the life of a construction project.
The NSW Government announced today, 2 April 2020, that it has eased hours of work restrictions on construction sites, dark kitchens & food trucks.
The current climate threatens to wreak havoc with industry stakeholders - whether sole traders, sub-contractors, contractors, principals and head contractors, developers or investors.
NSW Update: Legislative Reforms In a Nutshell Ahead of the upcoming Building Ministers Forum to take place in February 2020, the Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation the Hon. Kevin Anderson issued a press release on 21 January 2020 outlining six different reform workstreams that the government proposes to implement – titled “Pillars of Reform”. The Minister proposes presenting the proposed “pillars” at the next Building Ministers Forum in February 2020. Key reforms being proposed to shake up the industry include: Introduction of a ratings system to rank the track record of industry participants – builders, developers, certifiers across a range of criteria. Providing the NSW Building Commissioner with a large stick to wield against dodgy operators by stopping building works and removing an occupation certificate for problematic projects. The New Workstream Pillars The “pillar” concept referred to in Minister Anderson’s press release involve the formulation of work streams that will be actioned by working groups the government will populate with participants from different areas of the construction industry. It is envisioned that the separate workstreams will work…
https://player.vimeo.com/video/385135130 NSW Update: Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 Like all good things, change has come to the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (“the Act”), with effect to building contracts entered into from 21 October 2019. The amendment comes on the back of the Jim Murray AM report into subcontractor payment disputes. While the words of Don Draper, the colourful fictional advertising executive with an enlarged liver who appeared in the award winning TV serial Mad Men, could be paraphrased as change to the Act is neither bad nor good, it simply is – he didn’t ever have to deal with construction payment disputes and the amendments to the Act are largely an improvement in a number of respects. This is not a review of all amendments many of which are by way of clarification only and we discuss in this update some of the key changes, being: A return to the requirement that payment claims identify that they are made under the Act – containing the ‘magic words’ – this is…
