Bulletin September 2018

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Every 12 months, registered building practitioners pay an annual fee to the VBA and provide proof of required insurance in order to continue to carry out building work. In July 2018, legislation changes saw the introduction of a new VBA process with regard to registered building practitioners who do not pay their fee and/or provide insurance proof on time.

The new requirements mean that in addition to the suspension of the builder's (company or individual) registration, matters where fees are not paid or insurances have not been provided will now be the subject of a disciplinary or 'show cause' process.

Emails and letters to affected practitioners commenced last month. The VBA have advised that practitioners will be given a couple of weeks to provide necessary documents or to pay fees so as to avoid the continuation of any suspension imposed.

More information regarding the new VBA Annual Fee and Insurance Check can be found HERE

A VBA Practitioner Guide (published 1 July 2018) in relation to Immediate Suspension of Registration can be downloaded HERE

For more information visit the VBA website Victorian Building Authority

Coming up on the SPASA Victoria training calendar:

'Ownership Thinking' presented by Business Strategist and Financial Planner Greg Johnson of Ascend Business Partners on Tuesday 4th September 9.30am at the SPASA Office. It's FREE and on tomorrow!
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'OH&S Made Easy' presented by our SPASA-preferred OH&S specialist Paul House on Thursday 6th September 9am at the SPASA Office. It's FREE and on this week!
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SPASA Chemistry training, Basic on Monday 17th September 9am - 4pm & Advanced on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th September 9am - 4pm
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'Performance Management - Managing Termination, Redundancy and Unfair Dismissal’ presented by Adam Clark from myhronline on Tuesday 25th September 9am - 10.30am at the SPASA Office. It's FREE!
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Bookings are essential! Keep an eye out for our daily reminder emails.

For all-year-round access to webinar recordings and other training resources, see our new page in the Members area of our website HERE

Find out more in our Training Program HERE

Since the implementation of new legislation on 1 July, many building companies including SPASA Victoria members, are enduring a 6-8 week wait while the VBA process their applications for Company Registration.

This appears to be due to far more building companies not being automatically registered than was originally anticipated by the Victorian Government. SPASA Victoria continues to advocate on behalf of members to highlight the inconvenience caused to the affected businesses.

A timely reminder to affected Members that they are not to sign a building contract in their company name until they have received written advice from the VBA that their building company has been registered and their new company registration number issued. Unless alternative legal and insurance arrangements have been made, the only safe way to proceed in the absence of a building company registration is to wait and not sign any domestic building contracts until the VBA advice is received with your new company registration details.

Should you have any queries, SPASA Victoria members are encouraged to speak with Jeremy Johnson - our specialist construction lawyer - and take advantage of your member benefit of one hour’s free legal advice. Contact Jeremy on 0418 132 917.

Members are also encouraged to contact Sarah Gardiner-Smith on sarahg@abphillips.com.au or 1300 242 136 for more information on Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) for your building company. AB Phillips are our Platinum Partner and SPASA Victoria’s preferred provider for Risk Management, Insurance and Financial Services.

A “greedy” unlicensed builder who gambled away money paid by clients and left a trail of substandard or incomplete work in his wake has been fined $175,000 in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for breaches of consumer protection laws.

In court, Peter John Wotton admitted to breaches of the Australian Consumer Law and the Building Work Contractor’s Act.

The court heard Wotton, as sole director of Simplified Installs Pty Ltd trading as Australia Pools and Patios, had entered into contracts with 7 clients for the installation of swimming pools and associated works, ranging in value from $33,000 to $130,000.

Read this article in full HERE

The fallout from Australia's cladding crisis has hit licensed building certifiers and surveyors, with Lendlease taking its consultants to court to recover recladding costs of Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital and professional indemnity premiums soaring as insurers seek to limit their exposure to cladding-related claims.

Licensed private certifiers and surveyors, who assess buildings for their compliance with the Building Code of Australia and issue certificates of occupation – tasks once done by local councils –- say the premiums are rising to unsustainable levels and could push professionals out of the industry, and even bring development to a halt.

Sydney-based Blackett Maguire + Goldsmith this month found the premium for its annual professional indemnity insurance policy had doubled from $70,000 last year to more than $120,000. The firm with 30 staff, one of the largest building certification companies in NSW, is negotiating for a lower bill.

"The insurance industry is saying 'This is all too tough, do we really need this risk?'," director David Blackett told The Australian Financial Review. The risks are real.

Contractor Lendlease, which had to replace the external cladding on Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital, in March filed papers in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging breach of contract by building surveying consultancy Philip Chun and director Shane Leonard, for failing to notice that the design documentation included the use of combustible material and for failing to make it aware that the cladding did not comply with the building code.

Lendlease is thought to be claiming about $8 million to cover the recladding cost. A directions hearing is scheduled for October. Philip Chun and Mr Leonard are the first two respondents in the case that also alleges failures by architects DesignInc and Woodhead, fire engineer Exova Warringtonfire and facade contractor Minesco.

Mr Leonard said that while revisions to the building code announced last February ruled out the use of polyethylene-core aluminium panels, there were no such restrictions at the time the hospital contract was awarded in 2005. "We believe it was installed in accordance with the code at the time," he told the Financial Review. "Under today's scheme you would say an [aluminium composite] panel with a PE core wouldn't comply but at the time it was deemed compliant." Lendlease declined to comment.

The extent of buildings across Australia with potentially dangerous cladding is unclear. Mr Blackett said more such cases were likely – even when certifiers and surveyors were not liable – and that the impact on insurance premiums put their ability to keep practising at risk.

"There will be cases where firms such as Lendlease and no doubt other contractors, as time goes by, will be put in a position where they are forced to replace cladding," he said. "If we see more claims come in 2018 and 2019, then the insurance is going to go significantly higher next year. That's unsustainable."

BMG is not alone. In Victoria, a slew of firms whose insurance policies came up for renewal at the end of June also faced big hikes, said Wayne Liddy, a licensed surveyor and national vice-president of industry body the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors. "We're hearing of 200-400 per cent increases in premium," Mr Liddy said.

Insurance broker Darren Pavic agreed that the current round of premium renewals was expensive. "The increases are large," said Mr Pavic, of national brokerage BRIC. "On average they would be going from less than 1 per cent of a firm's income to closer to 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of a firm's income."

Another risk for building certifiers and surveyors is the growing push by insurers to insert exclusions around cladding-related claims into their policies. This is a further risk for practitioners, as the state licensing bodies require PI policies to be exclusion-free and could declare them in breach of license conditions if they accept a policy with a cladding-related exclusion.

The AIBS says the unco-ordinated nature of state-based responses to combustible cladding is making it hard for the industry to respond and wants the federal government to take charge. If the problem isn't resolved, building certifiers facing unsustainable costs will leave the industry and that will bring construction to a halt, Mr Blackett said.

"The private sector is where all the expertise and experience sits," he said. "If they choose to or are forced to leave, those projects ... will have to stop. Local governments do not have the resources, nor in most instances the expertise to manage these projects." Mr Liddy agreed. "The industry will stop," he said. "It will come to a grinding halt."

021SPASA Our much loved Membership and Sponsorship Manager, Marita Callanan, will be finishing up at SPASA in September to pursue a career in the charity sector.

Marita started at SPASA Victoria exactly three years ago and has worked tirelessly to enhance our Members' businesses and bring increased ethics and integrity to the industry.

Her proudest achievements are being involved in lobbying the Government on mandatory barrier inspections and following the progress of this new Bill in Parliament, and also maintaining our Member retention rate at 95%.

"The Swimming Pool & Spa industry is currently booming, and what a fantastic industry it is to work in. I wish all SPASA Victoria Members well and trust you will all continue to enjoy great success".

Marita will be working in stakeholder management with a youth homelessness/domestic violence charity. We wish her all the best in her new endeavours!

You might know about the sun’s sting in Summer, but did you know UV is a year-round risk for the construction industry?

Unfortunately, only 8% of construction workers are properly protected from UV damage on the job.* Don’t wait for summer to be Sun Smart. Join SunSmart's campaign to get UV safety on the agenda today.

When you work outdoors, you’re exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation every day. Over time, all this time in the sun adds up – placing you at high risk of developing a skin cancer. That’s why UV is a year-round risk, and why you can’t wait for summer to be SunSmart at work.

Now is the time to remind everyone on your site of the importance of UV safety. Download the SunSmart resources below for your jobsites and let your team know why you’re not waiting for summer.

Show SunSmart the steps you’re taking by sharing your photos and stories on social media with the hashtag #dontwaitforsummer. You can also visit SunSmart's Facebook page for posts and ideas.

SunSmart offers UV safety training, policy support and advice to help you create a UV-safe site. Find out more by emailing sunsmartworkplace@cancervic.org.au or call SunSmart on (03) 9514 6419.

These SunSmart resources are available to SPASA Victoria Members all year round HERE

If you want to build up your home renovation business, at some point you’re going to have to market your brand – but how do you do this on a tight budget?

As a home improvement specialist, your clients are probably going to be homeowners, so it makes sense to target your marketing at those who own homes in your local area. Get to know what’s going on in the community, and find ideas for letting residents know about your business. You could sponsor a school fair, donate products or services to a raffle, or even print flyers to leave at the local estate agents.

Read this Houzz article in full HERE

Financial, IT and safety audits are commonplace across all businesses. Audits provide an independent assessment and evaluation of the business to ensure their processes, policies and operations are Compliant and follow Best Practice. In the case of an IT audit it helps evaluate if the IT systems are protected and reliable. Regular audits protect a business through reduction of risk.

Why is it then that many businesses rarely spend the same time and effort auditing the same processes responsible for the day to day management of their greatest resource, and sometimes most riskiest resource – their people?

Read this article in full HERE

An exciting opportunity exists with a market leading company to develop and grow an innovative specialised product in the renewable energy category - large scale PV and thermal solutions for the electricity and hot water/swimming pool industry.

As the Commercial Sales Executive you will be responsible for driving sales through development of commercial business opportunities. This involves having a strong understanding of the market and opportunities, establishing and maintaining sound business relationships, and developing and implementing proposals through government tender processes that meet customer and business needs. You will need to have a good technical understanding of the product and be able to effectively communicate with people on all levels. You will have the ability and willingness to travel both domestically and internationally.

Your skill set will enable you to:

Develop and implement product marketing plans
Develop customer / distributor channels focused on increasing distribution, gaining competitive advantages and channel differentiation
Develop product launch plans including sales training and communications
Learn and develop the technical aspects of the product
Have experience in the Government sector with managing and submitting tenders

Your experience will demonstrate:

A proven track record in sales and relationship management
Polished presentation and strong commercial acumen
Experience working with distributors, manufacturers and end users
Strong communication skills and the ability to present at all levels

The position is based at head office in Bundoora, Victoria and offers an opportunity to join the leadership group, an attractive salary package and a comfortable, family oriented environment.

Applications including resumes can be forwarded to: director@supremeheating.com.au

Since 2004, Decorative Imaging Pty Ltd (DECO) has revolutionised the Australian building and design industries with innovative sublimation finishing technology and their range of quality aluminium building systems.

An Australian family-owned business, DECO prides itself on offering high quality products and first-class customer service.

DECO is the Australian manufacturer of quality aluminium building systems and finishes, including the leading timber-look finish DecoWood®. Via an innovative sublimation process, DecoWood® offers the natural elegance of timber with the versatility and durability of aluminium across a range of profiles and systems such as cladding, decking, battens and slats.

DecoWood’s Super Durable Range is 50% more durable than standard powder coating, and unlike timber, DECO’s range of aluminium products will never twist, warp or rot. When it comes to decking around pools and spas, DecoWood decking offers a chemical resistant, non-slip P4 surface that never needs staining or painting.

DECO works with all levels of the building and design industry. All products offer easy installation and can be managed by any builder or installer. Simply select your product, your preferred DecoWood finish and order your material. We aim to have our products ready within 15 working days.

We welcome DECO to SPASA Victoria as an Associate Member!

www.deco.net.au

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