Surveying firm accused of exaggeration

By FRANCESCA MOLD

A federation representing 1700 building companies has accused building surveying firm Prendos of exaggerating the extent of the leaky building problem and the cost of repairs.

The Master Builders Federation yesterday told a parliamentary inquiry into the rotting homes crisis the overestimation was making it difficult to settle disputes over repairs without the issue being forced to go to court.

The federation's chief executive, Chris Preston, warned the Government to make sure that experts used as part of its new mediation and adjudication service were honest and represented remedial work accurately.

He said some experts were raising the expectations of homeowners and this was making it difficult to reach a "pragmatic solution".

"The gaps between what we believe would need to be fixed and their recommendation is quite significant," he said. "We're talking like 100 per cent difference."

Asked who was exaggerating the problem, Mr Preston replied: "Prendos".

Prendos directors Philip and Greg O'Sullivan have been raising concern about the "potential time bomb" of leaky building syndrome since 1994.

Philip O'Sullivan told the Herald yesterday that he was disappointed with Mr Preston's comments about his company.

He said, "We are acutely aware of the cost of repairs because we are working at the coalface every day."

Mr O'Sullivan said Prendos had brought Canadian surveying experts to New Zealand for seminars which were attended by the builders' federation.

He said the federation and its members needed to take a hard look at themselves rather than point a finger at others.

Mr Preston told the committee that 50 per cent of the 1000 claims lodged with the federation under its Master Builders guarantee in the past seven years related to leaks.

But the average cost of repair was only about $5000 because the problem was usually identified early.

Overall, it had paid out $3.5 million in remedial or non-completion work.

It had repaired only one house that could be described as having the symptoms of a "rotting home".

Mr Preston admitted the guarantee only lasted up to five years so there could be problems after that period which were not reported to the federation.

However, he would still have expected to hear if there were significant problems with a house that had been guaranteed.

The Government Administration committee inquiring into leaky homes syndrome also heard from the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation yesterday.

The organisation has been the qualifications standards setting body for the "physical trades" sector of the building and construction industry since 1993.

Chief executive Pieter Burghout said about 32 per cent of the 36,800 people working in the "trades" sector of the industry, which it represented, were trade qualified. This compared with about 20 to 23 per cent in the 1990s. He said the organisation was working on a review of the apprenticeship course in carpentry and other trades as recommended in the report into leaky buildings by former State Commissioner Don Hunn.

Concerns likely to be identified were that too few workers were involved in industry training, more polytechnic training was needed and the industry should move back to time-served apprenticeships.

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Further reading
Feature: Leaky buildings

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