Government inaction is leaving thousands of house buyers throughout the Republic of Ireland exposed to unnecessary risks due to lack of proper inspection infrastructure. As a result, conscientious trades people are being forced out of the market by the insatiable appetite of unscrupulous builders for cost cutting practices on site. The Building Regulations state that we should use suitable materials and processes, but the onus is firmly placed on builders to comply rather than on the state to police.

“We build very badly in Ireland,” says architect and TV personality Duncan Stewart. “We use outdated and inefficient technologies and our standard of workmanship is very poor. We should be looking at best practice in other countries and implementing that here. Because demand is outstripping supply in this country, builders are getting away with bad work standards both in terms of materials used and quality of work delivered. There’s no proper independent inspections of work either,” he adds. And he’s right.

While no builder will publicise in his glossy brochures that he does shoddy work or that the show house is thermally inefficient and will be costly to maintain, the unfortunate reality is that many do and are, and in a lot of cases the Government here doesn’t seem to care. It is left to the industry itself to attempt to raise overall standards.

Down District Council's building control team receive a British Government award for achieving high standards. The team stress the importance of their enforcement role, contrasting starkly with the lack of an equivalent service south of the border

If a property is under 125m2, the buyer could qualify for Stamp Duty Exemption. As with everything of course nowadays, terms and conditions apply. But significant numbers do qualify and most new homes – certainly the vast majority of those in the housing estates in the towns and cities throughout the country – are below the 125m2 threshold. Cynically, these are the only houses inspected by building control officers from the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government. The reason for this inspection is allegedly two-fold but there is evidence to confirm that there is really only one purpose for the inspection. The primary function of the inspection is to prevent properties that are slightly over the 125 m2 limit from slipping through the net and thereby ensure stamp duty is collected in every case possible. While the inspector is there, he or she will carry out an examination of the building to ensure that it complies with the planning permission issued and with the Building Regulations. If everything is in order a Floor Area Compliance Certificate is issued to the builder who can then sell the property on. If the property is slightly over the floor area limits or if it is evident that it doesn’t comply with the regulations, no certificate is issued. Most people would have no problem with that concept.

But how thorough can the inspection really be if the house is completed or nearly completed when the inspector calls? Can they examine the foundations for example? Can they examine elements of the work which are covered up? This examination by its very nature can only be of the works visible at the time of the inspection and even then, if a row of similar houses is built, can we be certain that each house was actually examined? It would seem that the inspection process concentrates on some elements of the work more than others—in particular the visible elements rather than that which was covered-up when the visit took place. Houses over 125 m2 are not checked by government officials. One can only presume that the reason for this is that these properties don’t require a certificate to say that they are within stamp duty size limits, which is overwhelming evidence that the sole motivation for the inspection was to prevent otherwise non-qualifying properties from slipping through the stamp duty exemption net. The motivation for the inspection is not consumer-driven; it is purely a mechanism to raise more revenue from the industry by the State.






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