Building professionals will be able to certify own work

Checkpoint

Building profesionals will be able to certify some of their own work under a new government scheme aimed at speeding up construction by cutting red tape. Qualified building professionals like plumbers, drainlayers, and builders will sign off their own handy work for "low risk" builds without the need for an independent inspection. A single story basic home will go through ten or more seperate inspections and that's too many and too costly, according to the government. It said the scheme, that's still to be finalised, will shift financial liability for defective builds away from councils and ratepayers onto building professionals, and will have a clear pathway for customers to remedy shoddy work, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk spoke to Lisa Owen.