Con­struc­tion — inde­pen­dent ver­i­fi­ca­tion, is it that simple?

The Aus­tralian Stan­dards Design and Con­struct Con­tract AS 4902–2002, does not make any pro­vi­sion for an inde­pen­dent ver­i­fi­ca­tion process through­out the build. With build­ing defects on the rise, one has to con­sid­er that the appoint­ment of an inde­pen­dent project ver­i­fi­er, to over­see the works and con­duct inspec­tions at cer­tain hold points through­out the con­struc­tion, may assist in reduc­ing defects giv­ing rise to the neces­si­ty of builders return­ing to rec­ti­fy defects at the end of a build.

Many projects see the appoint­ment of a site fore­man or a project man­ag­er on behalf of the builder but, this may not give much com­fort to the own­er or devel­op­er. In many cas­es, that site fore­man may be spread thin across many sites with insuf­fi­cient time to con­duct basic checks of the works in between trades. And whilst there may be a project man­ag­er appoint­ed by the developer/owner to con­duct inspec­tions and man­age progress