After numerous defects have been found in Shell Cove properties built by Frasers Property within five years of moving in, residents are questioning how their homes were signed off as correctly built and fit for occupation.
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Shell Cove resident Christopher Maude moved into his semi-detached home around Easter 2021. Within two hours, he realised he had no hot water.
"The first weekend I realised things had been rushed with the property and then within a matter of weeks, I noticed in the spare bedroom, there was water damage," Mr Maude said.
In the years since, Mr Maude has found minor defects throughout his off-the-plan home. Being under warranty, each time workers from Frasers or a subcontractor came out to fix the problems, but the series of issues are sapping his confidence in what he hoped would be a sea change to a quieter life.
"I've lived in units in Sydney - bought and owned - and I've had less problems with them than I have had with this house," he said.
"Units get a bad rap, but with this house there have been continuous underlying issues with it."
After heavy and constant wet weather in 2022 revealed issues with waterproofing and leaks throughout the precinct, in late 2022, Frasers informed residents that a series of works would be carried out in their suburb to rectify defects that were found in the original builds.
"A design issue with the external facade interface of some homes, between roofing and cladding, was identified during adverse weather. A warranty works program to rectify the impacted homes commenced in mid-2022," a Frasers Property spokesperson said.
Earlier this year, Frasers told residents that the scaffolding that remained in front of their homes was in some cases not coming down anytime soon, as works were not being completed as quickly as expected.
"We acknowledge that the program wasn't progressing efficiently enough. Inadequate resources were initially dedicated to the program, so we added resources to scale up the pace of works, however this took longer than initially anticipated given the current skill shortages in the construction industry," the Frasers spokesperson said.
All homes are currently being reviewed, and remedial works are being undertaken under warranty.
The Frasers spokesperson said a "significant number" of homes were impacted, "specifically the majority of homes with light weight facades or low-pitched roofs.
Twelve teams are undertaking the works across the Shell Cove precinct.
In an email sent to residents, Frasers could not provide households with an indication of when works will be completed, because of the "widely" varying in scope of work between each home.
"Works on individual homes can range between 3 and 12 weeks."
Since The Mercury revealed Shell Cove residents' concerns with their properties yesterday, Shellharbour Mayor Chris Homer said he had been seeking an answer to why so many residents were reporting defects.
"A lot of major developments have a certain percentage of defects here and there, across the industry, and [Shell Cove] is one of the biggest joint venture developments [by a] local government," he said.
"I've been in contact with operations staff today, regarding Shell Cove."
The Shell Cove marina and associated housing developments first were given planning approval in the mid 1990s. The former tip, golf course and swamp - land which was owned by Shellharbour Council - would be turned into a 'world-class' marina along with a hotel, apartments, restaurants and hundreds of homes.
Shellharbour Council engaged Australand - purchased by Singapore-based Frasers in 2015 - to be its commercial partner in the project.
In other, private development projects, councils are the principal certifying authority, giving residents the tick of approval that their home is constructed correctly and fit for occupancy. In this case, as the landowner selling the development, Shellharbour Council engaged an independent certifying authority, to avoid a conflict of interest, something that Mr Homer - elected in 2021 - said gave him confidence in the quality of the project.
"Operational staff are good at what they do, I place a lot of faith in them, and they're putting in 100 per cent to get it right for the community."
A Shellharbour Council spokesperson said a private certifier was engaged by Frasers Property as the principal certifying authority.
"Council's Shell Cove Probity Plan covers the organisation's governance and oversight in the development of Shell Cove," the spokesperson said.
"The Probity Plan highlights responsibilities of staff, requires formal acceptance by staff and prevents staff responsible for statutory decisions from being involved in operational development planning decisions for Shell Cove."
The role of independent certifiers has come into question after numerous high-profile building scandals across Australia. Late last year, Queensland's building and construction watchdog launched a statewide audit of building certifiers. An ACT inquiry in 2019 heard that the model of developers hiring certifiers to check off multi-unit buildings was "fundamentally flawed".
With construction underway on the Ancora and Nautilus apartments, as well as the hotel, and further development of the 'peninsular precinct' in the future, Mr Homer said the community should be confident in the standards of future builds.
"It's one of the biggest public developments in Australia, it does come with its challenges, but I want the public to know that I'm on board with what's happening and pushing the people responsible to get their act together."
For some home-owners, this may have come too late. Mr Maude said at a previous inspection a Frasers Property manager told him the lifespan of his home.
"He said to me, 'To be honest, the houses were built to last 20 years.' I said, 'Well, I've got a home loan mortgage for 25.'"
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