Building Commissioner David Chandler has announced two new Acts in New South Wales that aim to combat poor build quality in some multi-story housing developments.
At the same time Mr Chandler has been granted significantly increased rights and powers when it comes to shutting down work sites, through stop-work-orders for poor builds and as of July 1st 2021, for poor reporting and record keeping.
The new Acts mean that all designs must be submitted and approved ‘for construction’ and uploaded into the portal six months before work on site begins. The builder will then need to build to this design and any changes to be re-submitted. The Topcon LN-150 construction set out tool from Aptella makes this process very simple to manage.
“The new legislations are all about increasing the quality, and accountability of all aspects of a build. Once the designs have been uploaded into the new portal, they need to be executed with accuracy and detail to avoid any changes to the designs through incorrect implementation onsite,” said David Grabham, Sales Consultant – Building Construction, Aptella.
“Those using The Topcon LN-150 will build according to those authorised designs extremely accurately when it comes to their set out, whereas those using the traditional methods of set out, pulling sting lines and using tape measures, are more likely to have to re-submit revisions to the portal, due to incorrect set out resulting in design changes.”
Using the Topcon LN-150 construction set out tool on site will allow the builder to, not only accurately build to design and avoid design revisions, but it will also increase data traceability. The builder will have records in real time and also be able to accurately pinpoint where any mistakes are made in the design to allow these to be swiftly amended.
“When using the LN-150 during set out, the system will record how accurately you set out each line, or point, or wall or pipe onsite. It will also record when the set out was done, and who performed the set out,” said Mr Grabham.
“As-builts or Work As Executed records can be recorded in real time onsite during the build, to have a digital record of the accuracy any particular point or asset was installed.”
The builder or site foreman can also use the LN-150 to check the points and levels to ensure the design is accurate before moving ahead with the concrete pour or pre-installation of an asset to avoid costly re-work and error-disputes. This can be extremely important when the set out is contracted to the sub-contractor.
“Compliance with the approved designs onsite will be difficult without the use of technology like the Topcon LN-150. Not impossible, but certainly more difficult.” said Mr Grabham.
“Using traditional methods, you will not have any traceability over your data or set out, which will certainly slow down any project under these new legislations. We have reached the point where the risks will certainly increase for those not taking up this type of technology,” he added.
To read more information about these reforms, visit: Building industry reforms | NSW Fair Trading
For more information digital construction set out and how it can assist you on your next build, visit: Topcon Construction Set Out