As residents at the Waterfront, Shell Cove begin to grapple with having to wait another 18 months for defects on their million-dollar homes to be rectified, regulators are starting to take a closer look at how the buildings were constructed.
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NSW Fair Trading is aware of major defects at one property in Shell Cove and has taken action, a spokesperson confirmed to The Mercury.
"NSW Fair Trading is making active enquiries into a property within this development and has issued a rectification order against one property," the spokesperson said.
"As enquiries are ongoing, it is not possible to provide further comment on this specific matter at this time."
NSW Fair Trading can issue a rectification order if an inspector finds the builder is responsible for major defects due to design, workmanship or materials. This may include a load-bearing component essential to the stability of the building, the fire safety system or waterproofing.
The order specifies the work to be completed, the conditions to comply with the order, and the date by which the works have to be done.
A spokesperson for Frasers Property Australia, which is building The Waterfront Shell Cove in partnership with Shellharbour City Council, said that works to fix the issue was underway.
"We have confirmed with Fair Trading that we are already undertaking a detailed warranty works program and obviously have no issue complying with any requests from Fair Trading to undertake the required works," the spokesperson said.
Frasers have identified a design issue with the external facade between the roofing and cladding on some homes in Shell Cove. The issue is thought to affect the majority of homes with low-pitched roofs and lightweight external facades.
"Frasers Property is in the process of reviewing each of the town homes as part of the detailed warranty works program which is already underway," the spokesperson said.
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Frasers has said it would take 18 months to fix the issue once homes in the development are inspected, but the amount of work required would vary significantly from house to house.
Former Shellharbour Councillor Peter Moran, who raised issues with defects in Shell Cove in 2021, said the issues went back to the outsourcing of building certification to private certifiers.
"This whole thing of private certification allows for the construction of homes at a much higher pace, because it's to a much lower standard."
Private certification was introduced by the Carr government in NSW in 1998, and allows a developer to pay a certifier of their choice to inspect construction work at critical stages and ensure it meets legal requirements. Previously, only councils were able to perform this function.
Frasers Property has engaged Greenfield Certifiers as the principal certifying authority on much of the residential homes in The Waterfront development.
Director George Watts said an issue with the design of a facade or roof installation method would be outside the scope of what a certifier (council or private) is responsible for, and pointed The Mercury towards a statement from the NSW government, clarifying the role of private certifiers.
"The aim is to ensure there is compliance with the holistic requirements of the Building Code. Anything beyond this such as an Owner's concerns about the quality of construction or variations from the design are a contractual concern between an Owner and their Builder," the statement reads.
"Each owner will have a copy of their Occupation Certificate which has installation certificates attached from contractors licensed by the NSW Government. This includes such items as waterproofing. The government has determined that they are suitably competent to undertake the work on new homes," Mr Watts said in a statement.
"The builder in this instance has been genuine in their efforts to rectify the issue."
In 2010, the Building Professionals Board cautioned Mr Watts after he issued a final occupation certificate for an apartment building in Homebush, Sydney where there were unsealed penetrations in slabs, tactile indicators were not installed, a disabled car parking space was less than the minimum width and the disabled toilet did not meet the standard.
A Frasers spokesperson said they were confident in the work of Greenfield Certifiers, but had brought in additional manpower for future builds.
"A design issue can create complications in the entire development process and certification is only one part of this process," the spokesperson said.
"Changing certifiers mid-program can create further delays so we have elected not to part ways with the certifier at this point. We are however supplementing the rigour of the process by contracting additional independent engineers to assist in our investigations, design and certification moving forward."
Following scandals of poorly constructed multistorey apartment blocks in Sydney, the NSW government stepped up penalties for corrupt or negligent certifiers, and the Minns government has now committed to beefing up the role of the Building Commissioner.
"The NSW Building Commission will ensure people in NSW have greater confidence in the whole sector," the spokesperson NSW Fair Trading said.
But this is of little comfort to Mr Moran, who said he was "so grateful" that an attempt to purchase a property in Shell Cove had fallen through.
"Private certifiers are an absolute gift to the building industry, because builders have got someone to blame," he said. "The private certifier's industry has boomed, and of course, they're in the situation where if there's any problems, they say, not us, blame the builder."
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