Building and construction industry
The Commissioner administers two pieces of legislation that impact on the building and construction industry:
- Fair Trading (Building and Construction Industry Dispute resolution Code) Regulations 2017
- Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (the Act)
The objects of the Act are:
- to ensure that a person who carries out construction work (or who supplies related goods and services) under a construction contract is entitled to receive, and is able to recover, progress payments in relation to the carrying out of that work and the supply of those goods and services
- to establish a procedure for recovering progress payments
- a person is able to recover a progress payment is by establishing a procedure (click here for details).
Fair Trading (Building and Construction Industry Dispute Resolution Code) Regulation 2017
The Code provides a mechanism for subcontractors and suppliers in the building and construction industry set out a series of steps or actions that can be taken by the Office of the South Australian Small Business Commissioner (SASBC) to help bring parties in dispute together, with the intention of assisting them and resolving the dispute in a timely and mutually beneficial manner.
Disputes can include:
- payment disputes
- re-negotiation of building contacts
- building work completed incorrectly
- non-payment of account e.g. delivery of timber, bricks, paint etc
- goods supplied not to the standard or quality ordered
The code helps participants in the industry by providing mandatory alternative dispute resolution process on a no or low costs basis overseen by the Small Business Commissioner.
Breaches of the code can attract:
- a civil expiation fee of $4,000 for a corporation and $500 for a natural person
- SASBC may take court action to obtain a civil penalty of up to $50,000 for a corporation or $10,000 for a natural person.
