The State Government is investing an additional $1.1 million over the next two years to support consumers and industry with building complaints.

This funding will support the state’s consumer watchdog, Consumer and Business Services (CBS), to expand its response and better support consumers and builders, following the challenges that have confronted the industry over the past few years.

The additional staff will boost CBS’s response to building issues at every point in the process including providing advice to assist consumers and traders to resolve their building disputes and overseeing conciliation.

They will also assess complaints to determine whether enforcement action is required.

On a per capita basis, South Australia has had one of the lowest rates of builder insolvencies nation-wide.

Most consumers do not experience major issues while building a home and complaints largely relate to completion delays caused by historic issues.

The State Government is also currently undertaking the most significant review of the state’s building regulations in nearly 20 years.

The review will consider a range of issues including:

• Developing an easier dispute resolution process for consumers and reducing the costs of dispute resolution for all parties.
• The introduction of a permit system for owner-builders to prevent unlicensed builders posing as owner-builders.
• Requiring building inspectors to be registered due to concerns about unqualified inspectors providing shoddy reports.
• Considering whether developers should be regulated to ensure sanctions can be issued where they have failed to fulfil their obligations.
• Ensuring consumers are adequately protected where builders may seek to exploit sunset provisions in contracts.
• Considering whether tougher penalties and new categories of offending are needed for breaches.
• Considering whether mandatory Continuing Professional Development Schemes should be introduced for builders, electricians and plumbers.

The topics for review came from a series of roundtables convened by the State Government and CBS with key industry bodies and training providers with extensive consultation to commence shortly.

The State Government is also undertaking a review of Building Indemnity Insurance with a view to improve consumer protections and the insurance framework for builders.