Ms Mair?ad Phelan:

The biggest issue we saw was the commencement notice with an opt-out declaration where they opted out from having a professional involved in the building control process, which means an owner has to sign a declaration to say: "I am going to build my house, I am going to make sure I know everything about the building regulations, I understand completely all the requirements and I am going to build in compliance with the requirements of the building regulations." That is an onerous declaration for somebody to sign who is not trained in construction, building or anything else. That person is quite dependent on subcontractors and people who sell the individual components of the house and may end up with a house that is lacking in compliance. Richard might elaborate more on that. He was on a site yesterday where they had no expansion joints and were missing damp-proof courses, DPCs. They had not got their very high exposure area where a designed render would be required over the block to make sure water does not get in. These are the issues we encounter on a daily basis. The fact that anybody can put a label "builder" on the side of their truck is quite depressing. People need to be trained and need to comply with Part 8M of the building regulations. The competency element was probably lacking in many of the defects picked up by the defects committee.

We find modular construction excellent. There are great forms of construction and of innovative design but when it arrives on-site we do not have trained personnel, trained fabricators, on site. We have insulated concrete formwork, timber frame and all sorts of other types of construction. It arrives on site and the guys on site have never seen it before and they stick it together. We come to the site and have to stop construction and explain to them what to do. That is an issue. All those modular buildings come with instructions and the majority of them have an agrément certificate, which states only a competent designer or competent builder should be in charge of it. They should probably be accompanied by trained fabricators. Many good producers of modular buildings will not sell their products to an ordinary builder. They will do it themselves. We are finding that to be the case. I am not sure if that answers the Senator’s question.