Submissions of the Association of Building Consultants
to the
Review Policy and Legal Unit of the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs, Government of South Australia
re
Building Work Contractors Act 1995
Date: 19 September 2007
To: Office of Consumer and Business Affairs
From: Association of Building Consultants
Subject: Building Work Contractors Act 1995
Review Policy and Legal Unit
Attention: Mr Simon Beer
By Email: leap@agd.sa.gov.au
Executive Summary
The members of the Association of Building Consultants ("Association") are in the business of providing reports to home owners in respect of existing homes or homes under construction. In that regard the Association is well placed to provide submissions in relation to the proposed review of the building work contractors act 1995 (“Act”).
In relation to building consultants, submissions were requested in respect of two questions:
- Should there be some independent measure of whether a person is qualified to operate as a building consultant?
- If so, what model of regulation would be appropriate for South Australia?
The Association’s response is set out in the following submission but in brief is as follows:
- There should be an independent measure of whether a person is qualified to work as a building consultant.
- The model of regulation appropriate for South Australia is licensing in a manner similar to the way in which building work contractors and building work supervisors are currently licensed.
Licensing of Building Consultants
The Association supports the licensing of building consultants. The Association recognises that the present system allows any person to commence operating as a building consultant with no requisite prior experience or qualifications. The Act provides only for disciplinary action against a consultant, a form of retrospective regulation. The Association acknowledges that the current situation enables inexperienced and ill equipped persons to operate as a building consultant thereby potentially tarnishing the reputation of reputable operators within the industry.
The Association considers that licensing of consultants would be preferable to accreditation unless the accrediting body was an independent third party or panel.
Licence requirements
In respect of general applicants for a license the Association proposes that in order to obtain a licence a building consultant should:
- Obtain a satisfactory National Police Certificate.
- Have at least 5 years experience in the building industry.
- Obtain, or be eligible to obtain, an appropriate building work contractor's license or a building work supervisor’s registration under the Act.
In respect of the third requirement, appropriate building work contractor's licence, the Association acknowledges that there are a range of such licences, varying from handyman licences through to unrestricted building work contractor's licences. The Association proposes that a minimum requirement for the issue of a building consultant's licence should be the possession of a general building work contractor's licence to construct at least singles storey residential homes.
Professional qualifications
Architects and consulting engineers who have at least 5 years relevant experience should be entitled to a licence. The relevance of their experience should be assessed by interview.
Grandfather provisions
The Association recognises that the introduction of licensing might unfairly impact on experienced building consultants who do not possess formal education requirements that might be required to obtain a license. For that reason, the Association proposes that the Act when amended include transitionary provisions that entitle persons who have significant experience in the industry to obtain a license even if they do not hold the same level of formal qualification as would be necessary for an inexperienced person to obtain a licence.
A similar clause is found in the ASHI Position Statement on Regulation of Home Inspectors and is in the following terms:
For the first year after enactment, to be eligible for a licence as a [building consultant], an applicant shall fulfil the following requirements:
- Be of good moral character
- Have successfully completed high school or its equivalent
- Have been engaged in the practice of home inspection for compensation for not fewer than 3 years prior to the effective date of this Act.
- Have performed not fewer than 250 home inspections for compensations.
- Have passed the National Home Inspector Examination offered by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors. The examination may have been passed before the effective date of this Act.
The Association proposes that the transitionary clause in the revised Act should adopt some of these requirements and in particular, persons currently working as building consultants would be eligible to obtain a licence if they:
- Obtain a satisfactory National Police Certificate;
- Have been engaged in the practice of home inspection for compensation for not fewer than 3 years prior to the effective date of the amended Act; and
- Have performed not fewer than 250 home inspections for compensation during that 3 year period.
Persons excluded from requirements to be licensed
The Association recognises that the goal of the Act is to protect the general public. Some operators within the building consultant industry do not work for the general public. For example persons who work for the State or Federal Governments inspect and provide reports as to building work on behalf of their employers. Similarly, persons who inspect on behalf of banks or investment companies do not deal with the general public. Such persons would not need to be licensed under the Act.
The Association suggests that these matters might be addressed by way of amending the Regulations under the Act.
General comments
A large portion of the work of a building consultant relates to the provision of reports for pre purchase inspections. Where this relates to a home that is purchased subject to a cooling off period, it is common that the purchaser requires the report to be prepared before the expiration of the cooling off period. In South Australia, the cooling off period is two days. In other states this period has been extended to five days.
The significant difference in time scales points to a need for caution in comparing the legislative provisions in relation to building consultants in South Australia with the provisions of other states. The difference between the five day cooling off period and the two day cooling off period frequently puts a considerable increased pressure on building consultants in South Australia to deliver a report in a short period of time and may, in part, contribute to a lower quality product.
The Association considers that the introduction of licensing and the reduction of time pressure on consultants is likely to lead, in the long term, to an improvement of the service offered to the public.
Conclusion
The Association commends the submissions to your consideration and invites any questions to be addressed to the President of the Association, Mr Chris Short on 8339 8333.
The ASHI document is publicly available at http://www.ashi.org/documents/pdf/2005-Position-Statement.pdf . The quote is from page 12.
Form 1 – Schedule 1 Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Regulations 1995