An investigation into the effectiveness of the inspectorate in the South African home building industry

Abstract

The lack of protection for prospective homeowners from inferior workmanship in homebuilding has led the South African government to introduce legislation that give inspectors powers to enforce compliance with building regulations in order to address this shortcoming. In spite of this endeavor the home building industry still produces houses built with many structural problems caused by poor workmanship. The National Home Building Registration Council (NHBRC) has spent large sums annually on remedial works. It is against this background that this research project has been conducted. The study sought to establish criteria necessary for and barriers to an effective inspectorate function in the South African home building industry. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for the study, including interviews, and knowledge, attitudes, and perception (KAP) surveys of relevant stakeholders such as inspectors and homebuilders. The study presents the perceptions and opinions of building contractors on their interactions with building inspectors in the housing industry. The study demonstrates that having dealings with the inspectorate at various levels does not necessarily mean that, for example, newly constructed houses will be inspected on a more regular basis.The findings of this study provide baseline data for inspectorate departments and researchers, thereby contributing to understanding the importance of an effective inspectorate in the homebuilding industry. The primary study conclusion is that homebuilding contractors do not have regard for the competence and levels of knowledge of inspectors given that these are evidently lacking. The preferred characteristics of inspectors were helpfulness, trustworthiness, fairness and being knowledgeable and thorough. It is clear that one of the major challenges facing the home building inspectorate in South Africa is the lack of competent and knowledgeable inspectors to insure adherence to the National Building Regulations and specifications by building contractors. Considering that the majority of South African contractor in the housing sector are emerging contractors it is imperative that the inspectorate play a developmental role by providing them with useful advice more frequently than is currently the case. If continuous training on technical maters of both inspectors and contractors is applied the desired quality standards and workmanship in the homebuilding industry can be attained.