Victoria’s new Guide to Standards and Tolerances is in force: what builders need to know
The Building and Plumbing Commission’s 2026 edition replaces the 2015 guide for new contracts from 1 August. Two editions now run side by side, and the wording has shifted from “defective” to “not within tolerance”.
6 min read
Topic
Defects
Articles and news about Defects for Australian builders.
Victoria’s new Guide to Standards and Tolerances is in force: what builders need to know
The Building and Plumbing Commission’s 2026 edition replaces the 2015 guide for new contracts from 1 August. Two editions now run side by side, and the wording has shifted from “defective” to “not within tolerance”.
6 min read
Major or minor defect? Getting the classification right in NSW
The statutory warranties apply to every residential build, but the consequences of a breach turn on whether the defect is major or minor. The definition is narrow, and it decides who pays, how fast, and for how long.
12 min read
Brickwork movement joints, ties and articulation on NSW residential jobs
Masonry moves. Movement joints, correctly specified ties and articulation at the frame give it somewhere to go, and the defects that follow when they do not are expensive and slow to appear.
12 min read
How the NSW defect liability period actually works
The defect liability period in your contract is not the same thing as the statutory warranty period that runs regardless of what the contract says. Confusing the two is how builders end up paying for work twice.
11 min read
Render and texture coat failure: diagnosing cracking, delamination and efflorescence
Render failures rarely begin in the render. Read the crack pattern, the drummy map and the salt bloom together and they point to the substrate, the mix or the water that is still getting in.
13 min read
HBCF eligibility and premiums: how an insurer assesses a builder
Eligibility for the Home Building Compensation Fund is not a form you fill in once. It is an underwriting decision about your business, and it is reviewed against the work you are actually taking on.
11 min read
Metal roof flashing details that cause leaks
Most metal roof leaks are not product failures. They are sequencing and lap-direction failures that are sealed over before anyone can see them.
13 min read
Engineered floor joists: installation errors that show up later
Most engineered joist failures are not manufacturing faults. They are penetrations cut in the wrong place, bearings detailed for solid timber, and moisture allowed into a member that cannot dry.
11 min read
Responding to a rectification order from NSW Fair Trading
A rectification order is a regulator’s deadline, not a negotiation. The builders who come out of one cleanly are the ones who treat the first week as an evidence-gathering exercise, not a phone call to the homeowner.
11 min read
Claiming against the NSW Home Building Compensation Fund: what builders owe when a homeowner lodges a claim
The Home Building Compensation Fund sits behind residential building work when a builder cannot finish the job or fix defects. Understanding the claim pathway, and your obligations while it runs, is what keeps a claim from becoming a licensing problem.
10 min read
Waffle raft slab defects: a pre-pour and post-pour fault-finding checklist
Most waffle raft defects are locked in before the pump truck arrives, and most of the rest are caused by what happens in the first days after the pour. This is a fault-finding checklist built around the failure modes specific to waffle rafts.
12 min read