More than 10,000 homes under construction in NSW could be in the hands of “risky players” who would cut corners and leave buyers with defective homes that could cost them money and take years to rectify, former NSW building commissioner David Chandler said.

The watchdog, founded by Mr Chandler in 2019, focused initially on high-rise apartment construction – a result of development failures such as Sydney’s Opal and Mascot Towers – and only gained powers in December to regulate detached and low-rise housing.