Building and construction industry
The Small Business Commission SA (SBC) 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 SBC 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 SBC.
Breaches of the code can attract:
- a civil expiation fee of $4,000 for a corporation and $500 for a natural person
- SBC may take court action to obtain a civil penalty of up to $50,000 for a corporation or $10,000 for a natural person.
