The country’s building and construction crisis will cost $6.2bn in remediation and associated costs, according to a report from Equity Economics.
The research analysed the additional costs to owners of remediating water leaks, fire safety breaches, structural failure, and combustible cladding, and associated costs in apartment buildings constructed in the last 10 years.
More than 3,400 apartment buildings across the country had defective, non-compliant combustible cladding installed, requiring remediation work to make the buildings safe, the report said.
Unfortunately, homeowners will likely foot the majority of the bill, according to Dave Noonan, general division national secretary at Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
“Australia's building and construction crisis will cost a staggering $6.2bn to fix apartments they've already paid for,” Noonan said.
In some cases, the remediation has been up to $165,000 per dwelling, according to Noonan.
The construction industry’s “obsession with deregulation” and “poor oversight by the government” caused the construction crisis, he said.
“It's the result of years of not enforcing building standards and of allowing (the) industry to 'self-approve' with little or no oversight. Often, it has fallen on the union to blow the whistle,” he said.
CFMEU is willing to work with the government to resolve these important issues for the community, Noonan said.
“We'll be producing detailed policy solutions and will work with the federal and state governments across Australia over the coming months. Now is the time to come together – not silence dissent,” he said.
