As carpenters, we spend a fair bit of time with Building Inspectors, Certifiers and Surveyors on site… but there’s a decent amount of confusion surrounding their actual role.  We ran a talking point on our Instagram and Facebook pages and got a lot of interesting responses… see below:

• “In NSW, their increasingly popular role is to pass responsibility on to someone else who actually knows what to look for, and then charge the builder or owner an inspection fee…”  @m.atthew.z
• “How much time have you got … building surveyors are now the pretty much the policeman of the entire building industry.  Responsible for reporting on any non-compliance across the entire spectrum. Not a great gig if you ask me!”    @everclearforever
• “The guys who have problems with building inspections deserve it! They are there to ensure a house is built to code and hopefully protect client from rubbish builders! Make them stricter I have nothing to hide! The chilies who think being a Chippy means owning a nail gun, can’t read a span table are the ones who worry…”   @critiquebuilding
• “Good carpenters have a good professional relationship with inspectors and certifiers, they’re not enforcing anything that’s not in the NCC or AS. If you don’t like them or think all they do is hassle you then you’re likely no good at your job. ”   @dylmah85
• “To protect the owner/public.”   @Sjsikkem
• “They’re there to ensure compliance. It’s easy to get along with a surveyor, if you’re doing your job properly and willing to listen and learn, you will be just fine. ”   @josh_d_gill

Firstly, cheers to all of you for getting involved in the debate!

While most of us understand and appreciate the role of the inspector, the fact is there’s been widespread and growing frustration over the years, mainly caused by what seems to be inconsistencies and/or contradictory advice.

The role of the inspector is to oversee work and ensure it complies with the relevant rules and regulations. But, (and it’s a big BUT), the interpretation of those rules and regs can and does cause confusion and that’s where the real pain kicks in!   So, is there anything we can do to help fix that issue? Stay tuned – we’re working hard behind the scenes to do just that…

At CA we believe in fostering BETTER COLLABORATION – BETTER COMMUNICATION – BETTER OUTCOMES. Because together we ALL do better!