Chandler’s parting words: message is the mission

Last week NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler rocked Strataland when he announced he will be retiring in August.  But he’s not going away – in fact, he has given himself a new mission – to spread the word that buying off the plan is a lot safer a prospect than it was when he first took office five years ago – but you have to be smart about it.

He wants to get the word out to the 70 per cent of potential apartment purchasers who don’t realise that there is now a star rating system for developers or that some insurance companies are offering 10-year building cover.

So you might want to do him and them a favour and share this – his most recent “Sunday Roast” post – with anyone who might be even vaguely interested.

Happy Sunday (now Monday) everyone,

Not such a happy weekend for apartment owners impacted by moisture.

Seems the debate that you can fix leaks with applied finishes is shot here.

Buildings need falls, redirection and discharge resolution in their design and making.

The good news is that the playing field seems to be levelling for consumers, designers, builders, certifiers, trades people, financiers and dare I say developers.

This commentary seems to be the growing narrative.

I urge all of you who receive this post to share it widely. We need to get the message out to prospective apartment purchasers. We want them back. (You can read, subscribe to and share David’s Linkedin posts HERE)

I have adopted a new style of video post where more images can be shared in a useful way for learning. 

Many contractors are requesting insights into what we are seeing so they can share these with their project teams – including designers and trades.

I should have cottoned on to this a while back. Helpful also for teachers in TAFE and Universities.

This week most of you would have heard of my decision to retire as NSW Building Commissioner in August this year.

The time is right. Building Commission NSW is now established and the hard task of setting up a 450 person team is nearing completion.

This is all coming together quite well, obviously with the transition challenges to be expected.

I will not be retiring fully, as there are many areas I can see where a useful contribution can be made.

I will not be accepting any appointments with developer or builder boards as this would be in conflict with the public interest activities I will explore.

Thank you all for the many well wishes.

It has been my privilege to serve as NSW’s first Building Commissioner.

I believe the playing field is levelling for everyone across the NSW residential development market.

Together, I think we have made quite an impact. There is much to do, but the momentum is moving in the right direction.

NSW needs its residential customers back.

The industry wants its mojo back and most certainly don’t want to re-subscribe to the race to the bottom that was apparent in 2019.

You all own this. I urge you to keep it up, 

I will be running hard until my last day as NSW Building Commissioner.