Over the past decade, the ACT has experienced a construction boom; at the same time it has experienced a boom in the number of complaints about build quality. Small defects in important parts of the building process can result in buildings unsuitable for purpose.

For example, water damage is one of the most common complaints to ACT’s Fair Trading unit. In many, if not most cases, the culprit is not the plumbing – it is the waterproofing and tiling. A brief glance through the archives of the Canberra Times reveals a litany of failure in cases ranging from the AIS and Gungahlin pools, to the Belle apartments in Bruce and a range of other units in Gungahlin.

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Waterproofing is a complicated, exacting and highly specialised trade, in which even the slightest error can lead to an unseen leak that - over time - can damage, or even destroy, a structure. After that’s done, the tiling performed over the top of the waterproofing layer must be performed carefully and to a high standard to avoid puncturing the waterproofing layer.

In the ACT right now, all you need to be a waterproofer is self-confidence and resin; while a tiler is defined as whoever picks up a trowel that day. No wonder we’re in such a mess.