Building watchdog David Chandler to ‘run hard’ before finishing, target thousands of risky new builds

Up to 20 per cent of the 70,000 new homes being built in NSW could be defective, and building watchdog David Chandler will “run hard” at dodgy builders before he exits the job.

Outgoing developer watchdog David Chandler has vowed to “run hard” at dodgy builders until he finishes his job later this year, as he revealed that up to 20 per cent of the 70,000 homes currently being built in NSW are at high risk of having defects.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Tuesday Mr Chandler wouldn’t seek to renew his contract as NSW Building Commissioner when his term expires in August, following five years in the job.

Mr Chandler warned that although there had been a drop in the number of faulty apartments being built in NSW during his tenure, information gathered by his department indicated thousands of homes being built across the state still remained at risk of having dodgy waterproofing, fireproofing, and structural issues.

He said his office was tracking 70,000 homes being built across NSW – with up to 20 per cent of the builders of those homes designated as risky player.

Mr Chandler said the figure was informed by intelligence gathered by his department, which red-flagged builders with a history of safety issues or faulty work.

Pictured in his office in Sydney is NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, who will leave the role later this year. Picture: Tim Hunter.

He said a heatmap of those developments would be used to crack down on parts of the state where the building watchdog previously hasn’t been active, like the Illawarra.

“We’re now starting to work out, ‘where do we need to be?’. We haven’t been in the Illawarra at all. And that’s the reason why we’re seeing so many issues down there yet. So we’ve been able now to work out whether we need to move around the existing resources (we have),” he said.

Partly built Skyview, in Castle Hill, by fugitive Jean Nassif's now-barred Toplace developer was among a multitude of dodgy builds. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Chandler said he was buoyed by a decline in the number of apartment blocks being found with serious defects – down to 17 per cent in 2022 from 56 per cent in 2019, saying that was helped by the collapse of major developers Ralan Group, Dyldam, Merhis and the Jean Nassif-helmed Toplace, which prevented about 1500 defective apartments a year being built.

“I’m starting to feel that we are certainly on the road to reducing the presence of serious defects … You won’t be surprised that there’s four or five developers who are no longer in business today who were delivering over 1500 of those defective apartments every year,” he said.

Mr Chandler started in the industry in 1969 as an apprentice carpenter, while studying building at university. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“You’re going to get a big drop because some of the worst players are no longer in play …(but) what we’ve got to do is to make sure that we don’t let new players replace them.”

Mr Chandler, who started his career in the construction industry as an apprentice carpenter in 1969 at the same time he was studying building at university, said he was “totally” happy with the NSW Government.

But after getting 400 staff folded into the new Building Commission department under him late last year, he asked himself “do I want to run an organisation at that scale, at this stage of my career?”

He said he was likely to continue taking advisory work with the government and private sector, but ruled out taking a board position with a private developer or builder – saying it would be “a complete breach of faith with the public” and “wouldn’t pass the pub test” given his current role regulating the sector.

“I’m going to run hard at this job until the day I finish it. So anybody (who) thinks … that I’m going to have a Johnny Farnham show – (it’s) not happening. I’m running hard at this until the very last day,” he said.

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