Working offline on building sites when coverage drops
Many house sites have patchy coverage, and an app that fails halfway through a form is worse than paper. This guide sets out how to prepare for offline work and how to check that entries reach the office.
11 min read
The PointCPD blog
Building industry news and articles
What is changing in Australian building, and what it means on site: construction technology, materials, energy, regulation, safety, contracts and the housing market.
Working offline on building sites when coverage drops
Many house sites have patchy coverage, and an app that fails halfway through a form is worse than paper. This guide sets out how to prepare for offline work and how to check that entries reach the office.
11 min read
Ceiling fans and passive cooling: where a fan earns its place
A ceiling fan cools people, not rooms. This guide sets out where it belongs in a passive cooling strategy, after shading, insulation and night ventilation have done their work.
12 min read
Council stop work orders on residential sites: what to do first
A stop work order is a regulator’s notice, not a commercial dispute. The first steps are to stop the work, read the notice closely, establish the facts and respond in writing.
11 min read
Leave accruals: the wages liability small builders forget
Leave that staff have earned is money the business owes them, whether or not it has been taken. Left out of the numbers, it flatters the profit and arrives as a cash shock when someone leaves.
11 min read
Choosing mortar and joint profiles for durable brickwork
Mortar is usually chosen for convenience, but its strength relative to the units and the shape of the finished joint decide how a wall handles movement and water over its life.
11 min read
Wood dust on building sites: the controls a carpentry crew can use
Carpentry work makes a fine dust that is a respiratory hazard in its own right. The controls that work are cutting off site, extracting at the tool, cleaning up with a vacuum and fitting a respirator where the others fall short.
11 min read
Owner-occupier and investor demand: what each means for your jobs
Owner-occupiers buy to live in a house and investors buy to earn from one. That difference changes the brief, the finance, the tolerance for delay and the variations that follow.
11 min read
Electronic signatures on building contracts and variations: a record that holds up
Signing a variation on a phone takes minutes. Proving later who signed, what they were looking at and when is the part that decides a dispute.
12 min read
Reflective foil insulation: installation mistakes that cost performance
Reflective foil insulation works through an air space and a clean reflective face, not through the foil alone. Most of the performance lost on site comes from a few avoidable installation mistakes.
11 min read
Unauthorised building work: options when a past job was never approved
Work built without approval does not disappear when the job is finished. The route forward is an assessment, an honest disclosure and a certificate process, and the builder’s own exposure depends on how the matter is handled.
11 min read
Vehicle and tool deductions: the records a builder needs
A vehicle or tool deduction is only as good as the record behind it. Builders who keep a trip log, a tax invoice and a documented business share can explain every claim line by line.
11 min read
Efflorescence on face brick: causes and prevention
The white bloom on new brickwork is salt carried to the surface by moisture. Builders can control most of it by managing where the salts come from and where the water goes during construction.
11 min read
Protecting your crew’s hearing from power tools and saws
Hearing loss from site noise is permanent, and it builds so slowly that workers rarely notice it until the damage is done. Protecting a crew starts with knowing which tasks are loud, not with handing out earmuffs.
11 min read
Free site templates for builders
SWMS, JSA, Take 5, inspection checklists, site diary, variations and payment claims. Word and PDF, free for commercial use.