The man on a mission, Jerry Tyrrell, emphasis the fact that builders need easily accessible and understandable regulatory information, and they need it now.

Builders are ‘terrorised’ daily by excess information. They are too busy, confused or intimidated to fight back against the incessant ‘barrel bombs’ of unnecessary words from government, association and industry bureaucrats. But it is up to us to make things better. I know the Australian Building Codes Board is trying and on our side. They have started by making their NCCs free. They just need to get a move on and we need to apply much more pressure.

Otherwise the tyranny of confusing information will not stop. You all know the business case put by the providers of codes, rules and Standards doesn’t add up. It is slowing us down and affecting our bottom lines. So I think any continued inaction, delay and excuses by politicians and our industry leaders are pathetic and inexcusable. They know global companies spend up big on pictograms and flowcharts to explain complex things. Look at Apple, Dyson, IKEA, Google, Commbiz who make a lot of money from being clear and concise.

Being a builder, architect, engineer or certifier may be a great career. But what if we unintentionally get many things we do wrong and don’t even know it. And so many of these minor departures can be unimportant or simply not matter. However, if we are unlucky enough to be caught out it costs us heaps in time, rectification and reputation. The big mistakes ruin businesses and wreck relationships. Historically, the industry has taken decades to fix technical problems in complex work because no one understood the basics eg. shower waterproofing, external doors swelling and bowing, fire sealants and acoustic barriers in units etc.

And we are stifled from coming up with better ways to build. The Australian Building Code Board wants us to think creatively. It encourages us to propose alternative solutions. There are so many problems we could be solving such as smarter stairs to attics, ways to thermally seal around openings in external walls how to stop; however, you guys and girls are not considered expert enough yet because you can’t get up to speed with the basics of compliance and best practice.
Please make this a major objective in 2016.