Building registration: Training and housing quality

The lack of attention to quality control by house builders has been a contentious issue for more than three decades. In an attempt to improve the quality of housing, various mechanisms have been adopted and discarded by industry-based organisations and government legislation. Now that registration of builders has been achieved (since 1995) the regulating authority, the Building Commission have placed the maintenance of standards from registered builders at the forefront of their priorities. The provision of suitable training and continuing professional development programs is likely to receive greater attention over the next few years. However, a key factor that is often overlooked in the debate on quality of house construction is the use of subcontract labour by both, registered builders and owner builders. The repetitive nature of some activities ensures that tacit knowledge within the subcontract system becomes an integral part of house construction. Research by the authors into defects in housing has provided some interesting analyses from the statistic collected. This paper analyses the incidence of defects over a number of years in a range of functional elements within the house envelope and presents the results. Particular attention is paid to the incidence of defects where the licensed trades are involved compared to the non-licensed trades and elements. This work suggests where housing defects are likely to occur and the authors suggest that appropriate educational resources may be directed to areas where it will be most effective and beneficial. The authors propose a more integrated and inclusive approach.