The Dumb Reason Our Cities are Crumbling

The cities are collapsing.

[newox]

I live in one of these highrises that are drenched in that highly combustible cladding (there's been a fire in the basement of the apartment before). Each unit in the apartment complex has to pay a $40k levy just to get that replaced. False fire alarms just about once or twice a month, although sometimes they are due to electrical issues. People are starting to take evacuation alarms less seriously due to the myriad of false alarms we've experienced, and considering the building is covered in highly combustible cladding, this could get someone killed if heaven forbid a fire occurred. Now we've learnt that cracks have been reported in the concrete.

Moral of the story: take it from me, don't buy a new apartment.

[shannonpincombe]

My mother was in real estate as a rental manager when I was a teen. Every last one of her colleagues was a disgraceful human being. When she tried to run her department so that the renters got something decent to live in for their hard earned the bosses complained. When she turned around the many rental departments she worked in over the years from making huge losses to turning a profit by only listing for landlords who were prepared to live up to their end of a rental agreement ergo the properties had decent tenants who were happy to pay the rental plus any increases over time....her bosses would fire her. Then they'd allow the landlords to behave like prick and the real estate agencies would lose heaps of clientele. Real Estate agents, property developers, property investors and local councils are the major reasons housing so preposterously priced. Australia has turned into a country full of Real Estate speculators who believe themselves to be some couple from 'the Block'. Wankers all of them.

[allanmaccaul]

As a tradie with over 20 years experience in the building industry, I 110% agree about the poor quality of everything built these days..
It is truly shocking 🤯

[TheUnitedfan]

I’m a surveyor so part of my job is preparing strata plans. The measurement is done towards the end of construction (essentially once the gyprock is up) and some of the things I’ve seen are beyond belief. Three blokes will prep and paint an entire floor in a day. I’ve seen dodgy locks on fire stair exit doors. I remember putting my pen down on a kitchen bench and it rolled off. The safety issues highlighted in the video are just the beginning. I would strongly advise anyone from buying anything from within the last 20 years. A leaking shower will be the least of your concerns.

[Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

It all began with the 1999 John Howard Capital Gains Tax discount turning property from being a home into an investment.

[Jacob-McGregor]

Funnily enough I had a conversation with my Dad about this just the other day. He worked in construction during the 1980s and 1990s.

I said to him it's really weird that all these modern apartments they're building now have so many problems within a few years of construction meanwhile my small apartment from the around the 60s or 70s has zero structural issues or visible damage.

He said, yeah that's because back when your apartment was built it had to be inspected by the local council and if it wasn't up to standard they were required by law to fix it. Nowadays property developers get private certifiers who are basically just paid to rubber stamp it and cause no trouble. As a result modern apartments are significantly lower quality than the older ones built prior to councils being taken out of the equation.

[KristenLee]

There’s a four corners report on this and an entirely separate one about cladding alone if anyone’s interested. As an aside, as of Feb 2021 the Vic government has banned the use of “high-risk” cladding including polystyrene and aluminium composite panels with a PE core.

[HypoCamTron]

I lived in Mascot all my life. I remember my neighbour across the road had a horse and then the land became houses. The entire Mascot area became congested with apartments. Too many people everywhere, traffic everywhere and all the problems you get with that. I was so stressed out and with all this covid crap going on, I sold my house and stopped working. Moved to the south coast. I'm so over it. Sydney just lost a professional and to make it even better, the government cannot count me because I don't receive any benefits. Basically, I don't get counted as unemployed. There are many people like me that just stopped and moved. We are not counted. The unemployment figures are wrong. Simple. A bit of a picture there.

[krishammond]

i can confirm, i live in a Meriton apartment (only rent) the exhaust fans for the bathroom are so small it doesn't extract the hot air/steam very well, drains always block (regularly purge them), mold always growing In the bathroom (bathroom has no windows). Always too much moisture in my apartment so had to buy an expensive ass dehumidifier. Wind always coming through the window frames (can hear the whooshing etc etc), fire alarms positioned so every time you cook something it will go off. My other bathroom shower tiles are laid in a way water doesn't go into the drain but gets pushed over the barrier thing and creates a big puddle on my bathroom floor. The bin shoots are too small so you need to carry all your trash down to the basement to put it in the bin, don't even have enough bins so by the end of the weekend the basement bin area is literally overloading with trash you need to walk around it.

I tried to speak to the property manager about this, they said it is now the responsibility of the owner to fix these issues which will never happen, pretty sure there is a roof leak in one of my bathrooms, there is also a mould stain constantly appearing in the same place!!!

The Australian dream

[BoereworsRoll]

As a Private Building Surveyor, who has been working in the WA industry for 11 years, I feel the need to post a comment, despite how useful or useless that may be.

Jordies, while most, if not almost all of your points are correct, I do believe your discussion missed a couple of important clarification points.

Firstly, it’s important to note that the different states and territories enforce private certification differently. Over east (QLD, NSW) the systems are completely privatised, while in WA the system is a hybrid system which still requires council interaction. Unfortunately, council officers have become pencil pushers over the last 30 years, and thus, in all instances, they rarely have practical or even theoretical knowledge of the building code, and how it may be interpreted.

Secondly, the Building Code of Australia, while a Performance-Based document, is also interpretation-based, thus, unless the individual Building Commissions educate and enforce interpretations, the industry inevitably forms dozens of different interpretations of the same code, clauses and standards. In regards to the combustible Aluminum Composite Panels (ACP), this issue pre-dates private certification, and was also poorly prescribed within the building code. The requirements for ACP were set under an ambiguous clause; Specification C1.1, Sub-Clause 2.7.

Following the several high profile building cladding fire events, the Australian Building Code Board (ABCB) amended the 2016 BCA to include clause C1.14 and alterations with C1.9 as a means of regulating ACP. However, it’s little to late at that point and insurance companies in Australia, and globally, have now turned their back on both Private Certifiers and Builders, leaving building owners out to dry.

Thirdly, in regards to the privatisation of inspection. This is a very tricky and somewhat controversial topic (at least within the industry), as the State Governments set what inspections are mandatory and what are voluntary, and thus, each State has a different level of both quality control and suitably experienced inspection officers.

The main point that I would add to your video, from my own perspective, is that majority of the issues within the certification industry, are due to poor Governing from regulatory authorities, as it often takes decades for highlighted issues to be addressed by government, and subsequently, regulated, enforced and educated. This results in exactly what you discussed, corrupt and inexperienced action by cash-grabbing consultants.

However, as fantastic as your video is (as per usual), this is not an issue that can be accurately discussed or portraited within 10minutes. There is a lot more involved in this topic, however, my post is already too long, especially for a comment that probably won’t be read.

I doubt you would be interested, however, if you'd ever be interested in having a chat regarding this topic, I'd love to chat with you. Thanks, mate

[bradynruhle]

Truly the most cursed timeline, where Queensland is a beacon of progress and success.

[wafflingmean]

I know someone who works in solar and he says he keeps losing contracts to bigger companies because most big solar companies don't comply with safety laws, allowing them to offer cheaper products. Essentially their panels are too weak, leaving them vulnerable to damage from storms and that damage is likely to cause fires.

With these two issues combining and renewables on the rise, we may have fire starting power sources on buildings lined with petrol all over the country.

[passivehouseaustralia]

I work with developers all the time, I provide them images etc. The real problem is they get some high end architects to do the initial design and documentation then get approval. Once approved they outsource the project to the lowest bidder and the original architects get paid out for their costs but are not commissioned to complete/manage it through construction. Contract constructors are brought in at the lowest bid, who redo all the original engineering to cheapen the cost of construction and increase their profits. OUTCOME = Shody. Solution is easy if you put in the approval the Architects must be kept on to complete the project. They have real reputation to loose and are generally very interested in good design and construction.

[planetdisco]

I've worked in high-rise construction for decades. No way would I live in one! 1.5 million and the bedrooms barely fit a queen sized mattress and if you do put one in them you can't open the wardrobe doors! Half of the apartments have a bloody great concrete column running down the middle of your lounge room precisely aligned between where you'd put your couch (well a single armchair, no way a proper couch would fit there ) and your TV. They're about as soundproof as the inside of a snare drum and the panoramic view from your window consists of a broad swath of painted concrete on the podium level. They used to use crushed rock but the ravens worked out that it was great sport to roll chunks of rock off the sides onto pedestrians heads. I've seen them do it! Then there's their energy efficiency. It would literally use less power to jam a 55 storey naked radiator element into the ground and have it directly attached to a dedicated brown coal fired power station. And fire proof cladding made of white phosphorous lol

[mikespike]

“YILMAZ DID U ADD THE HUMUS TO THAT CONCRETE!!!”

[AussieTrendKill]

Having worked as a maintenance plumber in Melb city high-rise apartments, the nicest thing I can possibly say is…stay as far away from buying one as you possibly can.

[WafflesXXD]

my brother who works in architecture has only ever given me one piece of life advice that’s stuck, and that is “never move into an apartment with shops underneath, they have different building codes so they’re dodgy as hell”. i’ve barely learnt anything in my life, but that is one thing i’ll never forget :-p

[zixx]

A few years ago, my mom and dad was overseeing the construction of their new house. And oh my god the number of dumb mistakes the builders made blew my dads mind. The only saving grace is my dad knows a thing or two about buildings things and was able to keep denying them payment till they fixed the things he found wrong.
But despite that, the number of dumb mistakes we found after moving in still beggars belief. There is no insulation in the roof so the upstairs gets scolding hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. There is no double glazing on the windows so in summer the upstairs front room turns into an oven. One of the down pipes wasn't connected to the gutter. There were so many holes in the roof that leaked water they are still finding them.

[barryvaldek]

Did you know Scott Morrison, before Liberal for Cronulla, was part of Property Council of Australia?

[DAh-xozm]

This is why I bought a 50-year-old apartment made out of bricks (and I was broke lol). It may not have all the fancy (but often very cheap) new-fangled tech, but I am not going to DIAF while I sleep. In fact, there was a fire in my block some 20 odd years ago caused by a man falling asleep while smoking. His entire apartment was gutted, but there was not a single bit of damage to any of the surrounding apartments - even above. Good vid FJ.