You may recall that I have been doing a bit of building work of late. Well, actually, I’ve only just finalised all the necessary paperwork and appointed a Principal Certifying Authority (PCA). The process of appointing a PCA, in particular, has been quite educational.
In an earlier post, I discussed the building approvals process in some detail. The relevant part of that process in the present context is that, after your Development Application has been approved, before you begin any work you will need to apply for a Construction Certificate (CC) and appoint a PCA. Council can issue your CC and act as your PCA, or you may appoint a private certifier to provide either or both of these services.
If you choose to have your CC issued by council, as did I, you will also receive a quote from them for PCA services. Quite unfairly, I must now confess, I assumed that the council quote would be at the top end of the scale and that a private certifier would be more efficient and therefore less expensive. I will say right now, I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
Having received a quote of a little under $1,000 for PCA services from council, I checked out the Yellow Pages and phoned around for a ‘fee proposal’. Each of the three organisations I contacted asked me to forward details via email so that they could provide a quote, and here’s where the ‘fun’ began.
One of the organisations replied, providing a quote as requested, the very next day. Excellent service, addressing the needs identified in my approval paperwork, but more than double the quote I had from QPRC.
A couple of days later, I received a response from the second organisation asking me to sign the paperwork appointing them as my PCA. I responded, politely advising that I was not wanting to appoint a PCA at this time, that I was simply seeking a fee proposal. Imagine my surprise when they replied, claiming that the signing of the paperwork they had provided, which included a formal contract for their services, was simply “a technicality required by the council for their archives”. Needless to say, my subsequent response was brief, and I still have no idea what they might have wanted to charge for their services.
The third organisation provided a proposal about ten days later, but it was even more than the first quote I had received. This proposal also included inspections that were not required by the Schedule of Conditions attached to my DA.
Lest there be any doubt, there is absolutely no legal requirement to sign anything at all when requesting a fee proposal for PCA services, not for a prospective certifier nor for council. Nor is there any requirement to undertake inspections that are not identified in your approval paperwork—you can do that if it makes you feel more comfortable, if you want someone to check work done by subcontractors for example, but there is no formal requirement.
This account is not so much an advertisement for council’s building certification services as it is an illustration of the sad fact that not everyone out there has your best interests at heart. In the end, my choice was pretty simple and I’m now signed up with QPRC as my PCA.
Pete Harrison ~ The QPR Blog cross-reference
3 October 2020 @ 13:03
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