Verification of a building defect classification system for housing
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to verify and validate a building defect classification system that has been previously developed and presented in Structural Survey. In doing so, the paper also seeks to address the following question: “Can Government regulatory control improve the quality of house construction?”
Design/methodology/approach
Archicentre House Inspection Reports were used.
Findings
The houses built under the HCGA (1988‐1996) from a previous study recorded an average of 2.29 defects per house. The 100‐house sample constructed under the DBCTA (1996 onwards) recorded 536 defects, equating to an average of 5.36 defects per house. This finding suggests that the quality of housing has dropped since the two Acts of Parliament were enacted. There also appears to be a significant increase in the number of consumers requesting inspections by industry professionals while construction is still in progress and before handover is achieved. This, coupled with the substantial increase in the number of defects per house, would suggest that the new Act has not had the desired impact.
Originality/value
The research is the first of its kind to examine the effectiveness of Government regulatory control of quality of housing that is constructed. Using the defect classification system, governments can examine the effectiveness of their domestic building policies.
Keywords
Citation
Georgiou, J. (2010), "Verification of a building defect classification system for housing", Structural Survey, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 370-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/02630801011089164
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited