The Dumb Reason Our Cities are Crumbling
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ม.ค. 2025
- The cities are collapsing.
More on property developers: • Corruption at Every Level
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I live in one of these highrises that are drenched in that highly combustible cladding (there's been a fire in the basement of the apartment before). Each unit in the apartment complex has to pay a $40k levy just to get that replaced. False fire alarms just about once or twice a month, although sometimes they are due to electrical issues. People are starting to take evacuation alarms less seriously due to the myriad of false alarms we've experienced, and considering the building is covered in highly combustible cladding, this could get someone killed if heaven forbid a fire occurred. Now we've learnt that cracks have been reported in the concrete.
Moral of the story: take it from me, don't buy a new apartment.
Bet you the builder is long gone with his millions
The apartment I'm renting right now has that problem of the fire alarm going off falsely twice a month if not more (and often at awful times like 2AM)
I don't know if my building has diesel walls but considering it's a brand new building I suspect it very well does
Which building?
I remember a building in docklands Melbourne caught fire because of this cladding and a blocked air con vent
@@stevenmadsen53 yep... to China
My mother was in real estate as a rental manager when I was a teen. Every last one of her colleagues was a disgraceful human being. When she tried to run her department so that the renters got something decent to live in for their hard earned the bosses complained. When she turned around the many rental departments she worked in over the years from making huge losses to turning a profit by only listing for landlords who were prepared to live up to their end of a rental agreement ergo the properties had decent tenants who were happy to pay the rental plus any increases over time....her bosses would fire her. Then they'd allow the landlords to behave like prick and the real estate agencies would lose heaps of clientele. Real Estate agents, property developers, property investors and local councils are the major reasons housing so preposterously priced. Australia has turned into a country full of Real Estate speculators who believe themselves to be some couple from 'the Block'. Wankers all of them.
You just described our previous landlord/property investor. They jumped into the deep end of the pool mortgaging a tiny old unit with a litany of issues. Paid some inexperienced sod to paint the entire interior including light fixtures, and very poorly installed new bathroom hardware. The renovation was entirely cosmetic and poorly executed.
The amount of work it ACTUALLY required was outrageous! The entire 40 year old plumbing system needed to be replaced because the water was deemed "unsafe to drink". The oven wasn't working and was dangerous. The electricity had issues too!
And after all of those issues were addressed by a safety inspector after we made a complaint after having sent numerous emails asking for these things to be fixed, the landlord decided to sell up and her agents reasons were "she's pregnant and can't pay now, and has decided to sell the unit instead"
Funny thing was, I was pregnant at the time too, me and my husband drinking contaminated water!! The guys face dropped to the ground after my husband explained our situation.
So after having given birth to our son who was only a few weeks old at the time.. there were prospective buyers walking through the unit.
@@Lara-xu3yc hope you did warn the buyers about the renovation just to make the landlord lose couple of thousands
As a tradie with over 20 years experience in the building industry, I 110% agree about the poor quality of everything built these days..
It is truly shocking 🤯
I’m a surveyor so part of my job is preparing strata plans. The measurement is done towards the end of construction (essentially once the gyprock is up) and some of the things I’ve seen are beyond belief. Three blokes will prep and paint an entire floor in a day. I’ve seen dodgy locks on fire stair exit doors. I remember putting my pen down on a kitchen bench and it rolled off. The safety issues highlighted in the video are just the beginning. I would strongly advise anyone from buying anything from within the last 20 years. A leaking shower will be the least of your concerns.
My builder brother in law says the same about new properties. My unit was built in the mid 80's and each Tradie who has done work on it always mentions how solidly built it is, whereas friends in a new property have massive flooding and drainage problems that no one wants to take responsibility for. It's going to cost them a fortune to fix. Councils love our rates, maybe the checks and balances should be tightened up so we don't end up through no fault of our own being screwed financially.
@@elenawilliams32 I was on a project building about 300 townhomes, all for 300k+ USD a unit. Total junk, you couldn't have paid any of the trades to live in those things. Some of the units had the freaking frame HANGING off the concrete foundations. Sad thing is nothing any of us could do about it, its up to the builder to want to build something that will last.
All i can say for certain is that the electrical was done right.
It all began with the 1999 John Howard Capital Gains Tax discount turning property from being a home into an investment.
@@SLACkra that wasnt even a good thing, it took power directly out of your hands as a citizen, giving force to your words, to top it off, the only people who have guns are the aristocrats in the form of armed security, and criminals (one in the same tbh). so no, not even that.
@@c-boi1414 you can still have guns, just not military weapons.
@@c-boi1414 so wrong .
Let's just all agree to have the discussion about guns elsewhere.
@@2partiesnotpreferred226 but military weapons are awesome, why not let the average person own em.
Funnily enough I had a conversation with my Dad about this just the other day. He worked in construction during the 1980s and 1990s.
I said to him it's really weird that all these modern apartments they're building now have so many problems within a few years of construction meanwhile my small apartment from the around the 60s or 70s has zero structural issues or visible damage.
He said, yeah that's because back when your apartment was built it had to be inspected by the local council and if it wasn't up to standard they were required by law to fix it. Nowadays property developers get private certifiers who are basically just paid to rubber stamp it and cause no trouble. As a result modern apartments are significantly lower quality than the older ones built prior to councils being taken out of the equation.
There’s a four corners report on this and an entirely separate one about cladding alone if anyone’s interested. As an aside, as of Feb 2021 the Vic government has banned the use of “high-risk” cladding including polystyrene and aluminium composite panels with a PE core.
Also making owners pay for the removal “medium” and “high risk” claddings already extant on their buildings. This part leaves a sour taste in the mouths of pensioners whole sold solid brick to downsize to appartments and and now bankrupted in their twilight years.
The cladding industry is very competitive as builders are always choosing tender applications who are cheaper rather than in compliance with safety. I have a family member who has struggled to get work as he only uses Australian made cladding products and complies with safety standards rather than the cheap Chinese version companies who are not compliant with safety and are still endorsed by libs and labour also approve materials for import here. Gladys promised to regulate the safety of industry but no outcome to date, than again she was full of empty promises. The local councils have the power to decide on development applications and starting from my local council, every member has connections to the building industry or is in the building industry under different company names. Mayors are elected with prior negotiation, labour lib and green members, rotated annually ..its so visible one only needs to look at the past pictures on the councils walls and see the black and white checker board.
@@KristenLee I know a person is facing an 80K out of pocket expense after the grants.
@@mulletjocks Urgh that sucks. I didn’t go too far into the eligibility requirements for those grants but it does say for “high” risk buildings. Bit confused if it’s for a medium risk building because technically mid risk is still allowed? I wonder if the owners corp is doing something dodgy here because this doesn’t seem just.
I lived in Mascot all my life. I remember my neighbour across the road had a horse and then the land became houses. The entire Mascot area became congested with apartments. Too many people everywhere, traffic everywhere and all the problems you get with that. I was so stressed out and with all this covid crap going on, I sold my house and stopped working. Moved to the south coast. I'm so over it. Sydney just lost a professional and to make it even better, the government cannot count me because I don't receive any benefits. Basically, I don't get counted as unemployed. There are many people like me that just stopped and moved. We are not counted. The unemployment figures are wrong. Simple. A bit of a picture there.
True. All who do not work are not unemployed. You have to be actively seeking paid employment in order to be counted in unemployment figures.
Mascot around the train station is a horrible place to live.
i can confirm, i live in a Meriton apartment (only rent) the exhaust fans for the bathroom are so small it doesn't extract the hot air/steam very well, drains always block (regularly purge them), mold always growing In the bathroom (bathroom has no windows). Always too much moisture in my apartment so had to buy an expensive ass dehumidifier. Wind always coming through the window frames (can hear the whooshing etc etc), fire alarms positioned so every time you cook something it will go off. My other bathroom shower tiles are laid in a way water doesn't go into the drain but gets pushed over the barrier thing and creates a big puddle on my bathroom floor. The bin shoots are too small so you need to carry all your trash down to the basement to put it in the bin, don't even have enough bins so by the end of the weekend the basement bin area is literally overloading with trash you need to walk around it.
I tried to speak to the property manager about this, they said it is now the responsibility of the owner to fix these issues which will never happen, pretty sure there is a roof leak in one of my bathrooms, there is also a mould stain constantly appearing in the same place!!!
The Australian dream
@@ludogayko2512 New Australien horror-movie genre - buildings trying to kill their occupants, but there are no evil spirits, occult rites or desecrated native burial grounds involved, just the results of long-gone dodgy property developers.
@@ludogayko2512 Its like a water stain coming from clearance above bathroom, extraction doesn't work too well so the concrete of the building roof (top floor) is always dripping water, the insulation is probably rotten. I cant bring me to peep into there.
The Australian dream: you need to be asleep to believe it....
Move out when you can brother mold is no joke
I rent a small apartment built in either 1960s or 1970s and your apartment sounds like it's in way worse condition than mine. Mine only has a bit of a moisture problem in the bathroom and even then it's only really a problem in winter. The standards modern apartments are built to are an absolute joke.
As a Private Building Surveyor, who has been working in the WA industry for 11 years, I feel the need to post a comment, despite how useful or useless that may be.
Jordies, while most, if not almost all of your points are correct, I do believe your discussion missed a couple of important clarification points.
Firstly, it’s important to note that the different states and territories enforce private certification differently. Over east (QLD, NSW) the systems are completely privatised, while in WA the system is a hybrid system which still requires council interaction. Unfortunately, council officers have become pencil pushers over the last 30 years, and thus, in all instances, they rarely have practical or even theoretical knowledge of the building code, and how it may be interpreted.
Secondly, the Building Code of Australia, while a Performance-Based document, is also interpretation-based, thus, unless the individual Building Commissions educate and enforce interpretations, the industry inevitably forms dozens of different interpretations of the same code, clauses and standards. In regards to the combustible Aluminum Composite Panels (ACP), this issue pre-dates private certification, and was also poorly prescribed within the building code. The requirements for ACP were set under an ambiguous clause; Specification C1.1, Sub-Clause 2.7.
Following the several high profile building cladding fire events, the Australian Building Code Board (ABCB) amended the 2016 BCA to include clause C1.14 and alterations with C1.9 as a means of regulating ACP. However, it’s little to late at that point and insurance companies in Australia, and globally, have now turned their back on both Private Certifiers and Builders, leaving building owners out to dry.
Thirdly, in regards to the privatisation of inspection. This is a very tricky and somewhat controversial topic (at least within the industry), as the State Governments set what inspections are mandatory and what are voluntary, and thus, each State has a different level of both quality control and suitably experienced inspection officers.
The main point that I would add to your video, from my own perspective, is that majority of the issues within the certification industry, are due to poor Governing from regulatory authorities, as it often takes decades for highlighted issues to be addressed by government, and subsequently, regulated, enforced and educated. This results in exactly what you discussed, corrupt and inexperienced action by cash-grabbing consultants.
However, as fantastic as your video is (as per usual), this is not an issue that can be accurately discussed or portraited within 10minutes. There is a lot more involved in this topic, however, my post is already too long, especially for a comment that probably won’t be read.
I doubt you would be interested, however, if you'd ever be interested in having a chat regarding this topic, I'd love to chat with you. Thanks, mate
When its no doubt demolished,( possibly by "natural"causes,) shall we count the number of bags and the amont of rubble chucked into the pour ?
Kwollify ME! I been gobblin the boss more than you.
I'm glad someone else has brought this up, these are all very good and valid points. This is not a subject that could be summarized in a 10 min video.
Read the whole comment & yes there are about a dozen volumes of relevant material left out of Jordies report. So.
Anyone have a better suggestion on how to cave humans?
Liked to get this up the top
Ah yes the ol "I'm an expert, please be my friend" bit
Truly the most cursed timeline, where Queensland is a beacon of progress and success.
Always has been, always will be. Queenslander!!!!!!!
So glad I moved to QLD 5 years ago
you salty jelly bitchas! HAHHAAHH QLD FKIN OWNS! :P
this is the thread i expected. i still decided to read 🙄
@@John-gm8ty $3.8Bn budget deficit? I probably wouldn't yahoo about it.
Meanwhile here in WA, life has barely changed during covid and a budget with $5Bn in surplus.
But ummm. Yay Kweelennnnd
I know someone who works in solar and he says he keeps losing contracts to bigger companies because most big solar companies don't comply with safety laws, allowing them to offer cheaper products. Essentially their panels are too weak, leaving them vulnerable to damage from storms and that damage is likely to cause fires.
With these two issues combining and renewables on the rise, we may have fire starting power sources on buildings lined with petrol all over the country.
Well THAT isn't good news!!
Has your dad got any tips on what people should be looking for in solar panels? there's a lot of misinformation, propaganda and shit covered in glitter out there, it'd be nice if people had some information on what traps these larger companies are using and how to know when you are looking at a cheap knockoff job versus quality and safety.
@@reaperspartan6571 Buy German made solar panels , they cost an arm and a leg but at least you'll have your arm and your leg at the end of it .
I know someone who works in solar aswell and she says it doesn't live up to the hype and a rip off
Just a little twist for how cool solar is ... where I live they've added a $60/month solar surcharge to your electric bill. That's right, whatever your monthly electric bill is, if you have solar panels the power company is going to charge you an extra $60.
I work with developers all the time, I provide them images etc. The real problem is they get some high end architects to do the initial design and documentation then get approval. Once approved they outsource the project to the lowest bidder and the original architects get paid out for their costs but are not commissioned to complete/manage it through construction. Contract constructors are brought in at the lowest bid, who redo all the original engineering to cheapen the cost of construction and increase their profits. OUTCOME = Shody. Solution is easy if you put in the approval the Architects must be kept on to complete the project. They have real reputation to loose and are generally very interested in good design and construction.
That sounds terribly like exactly what happened with the multi-million dollar building I presently work in. I am not at all surprised it is SOP in the industry. :-/
This is true. Good buildings require a dedicated team to go the whole way. Good designers are just a name then pass it on to some other mob
I know an ex-civil engineer that started out in the mid to late 70s. At their first job, and on their first job, their boss made them stay at the work site until the poured concrete was no longer workable. When this person asked their boss why later he was told that it's to ensure the contractors don't nick the reo to repurpose / sell for scrap. If standards of professionalism from the architects and chief engineer have slipped that much ... not a good thing to call home.
Good to know, thanks mate
@@xpost92
I recently watched a house constucted by an owner builder and marvel at the difference in quality as opposed to the flimsy short term 'homes' from speculator style businesses.
I've worked in high-rise construction for decades. No way would I live in one! 1.5 million and the bedrooms barely fit a queen sized mattress and if you do put one in them you can't open the wardrobe doors! Half of the apartments have a bloody great concrete column running down the middle of your lounge room precisely aligned between where you'd put your couch (well a single armchair, no way a proper couch would fit there ) and your TV. They're about as soundproof as the inside of a snare drum and the panoramic view from your window consists of a broad swath of painted concrete on the podium level. They used to use crushed rock but the ravens worked out that it was great sport to roll chunks of rock off the sides onto pedestrians heads. I've seen them do it! Then there's their energy efficiency. It would literally use less power to jam a 55 storey naked radiator element into the ground and have it directly attached to a dedicated brown coal fired power station. And fire proof cladding made of white phosphorous lol
A Raven dropped a small rock from the top of a powerline pole when I was walking on a footpath once. Just missed me by a foot. I looked up and it was staring down at me. I couldn't believe it.
I guess you're not keen on them then...
"They're about as soundproof as the inside of a snare drum" lmao
Yeah shitty designs. Allot of them are just shitty designs. Can’t blame the certifier for that
@@lilsebastian2625 wtf lol!
“YILMAZ DID U ADD THE HUMUS TO THAT CONCRETE!!!”
Having worked as a maintenance plumber in Melb city high-rise apartments, the nicest thing I can possibly say is…stay as far away from buying one as you possibly can.
my brother who works in architecture has only ever given me one piece of life advice that’s stuck, and that is “never move into an apartment with shops underneath, they have different building codes so they’re dodgy as hell”. i’ve barely learnt anything in my life, but that is one thing i’ll never forget :-p
I would have thought residences above retail/business would be extra safe because of higher risk.
A few years ago, my mom and dad was overseeing the construction of their new house. And oh my god the number of dumb mistakes the builders made blew my dads mind. The only saving grace is my dad knows a thing or two about buildings things and was able to keep denying them payment till they fixed the things he found wrong.
But despite that, the number of dumb mistakes we found after moving in still beggars belief. There is no insulation in the roof so the upstairs gets scolding hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. There is no double glazing on the windows so in summer the upstairs front room turns into an oven. One of the down pipes wasn't connected to the gutter. There were so many holes in the roof that leaked water they are still finding them.
there's no double entry system of sighting and signing-off here ,I mean there is, but was probably too rushed. Cutting corners, time and money. Least it wasn't an apartment and your dad was cluey.
Did you know Scott Morrison, before Liberal for Cronulla, was part of Property Council of Australia?
This is why I bought a 50-year-old apartment made out of bricks (and I was broke lol). It may not have all the fancy (but often very cheap) new-fangled tech, but I am not going to DIAF while I sleep. In fact, there was a fire in my block some 20 odd years ago caused by a man falling asleep while smoking. His entire apartment was gutted, but there was not a single bit of damage to any of the surrounding apartments - even above. Good vid FJ.
Yeah me and my partner did the same. Bought an older place that is double brick. Spent a little more than we wanted but I'd rather own something that's not going to fall apart or burn to the ground in 20 minutes
Smart move imo.
I have worked in the construction of these highrise apartments (can't say what company because they make you sign your life away) and that quote you put up from anonymous is 100% correct. Anything built in the last decade is almost a literal house of cards.
Is there any company you could say you might buy? Or are all bad?
So a physical representation of the Australian housing market. Neat
@@guysmith1846 I don't work with the smaller companies so I cannot speak for them. But Mirvac make some great buildings, and the quality is higher than others.
@@shavencarrot - it’s all relative, isn’t it 🤦🏻
I would rather that there are known, qualified standards which are actually measures that Consumers can use to make sound financial/social/environmental purchases.
Almost like we need a whistle blower to name and shame them
I tried to talk my mum out of buying off a plan but she thought she would have less problems if she bought new. I showed her a segment about the cladding going up in flames but she thought she will be fine so long as she asked about it not having it. Of course there are so many other dodgy things they will be up to in the build process because no one is accountable if it goes bad. I questioned the agent saying in no other industry to you pay up front for something you can't see first and she replied that ppl buy things online without seeing them all the time, I said yeah and they cost 1% of a new home and you can return them if your not happy....This is the alternate reality, reality agents live in.. 'Alternate Reality Agents' they are I guess :)
I've been working in the construction industry for 3 years now. The fact that every single apartment building Ive seen or heard of has needed thousands of steel beams put all through the fucked up and cracked concrete just to stabilise the building from falling down is completely fucked and I'll never buy an apartment because in 20years it will all come crushing down
Fucking oath mate - spot on.
20 years is plenty of time for the current lot of politicians to have left office and moved on to their directorial positions in the private sector. :-/
I live in an apartment made in the 1940s.. maybe you're just shit at your job if your work cant last 20 years
@@GirlWhoCriedAardvark thankfully alot of those old cunts will be dead too. Hoping our generation can rebuild this corrupt government and make Australia a safe and secure place to live. Would also love some human rights written into our law too, freedom of speech and such.
And if anyone is wondering, I work in Canberra. I wouldn't even think of touching any geocon building or the atria apartment buildings in Kingston. Some of the most fucked shit you can imagine has been done to those buildings. At one point atria was almost shut down and started from scratch because the building (only 5 stories) was moving too much, not to mention the flooding in the underground car parks either. Each unit going for minimum 500k and of course alot were bought before construction started so quality wasn't an issue, it was how fast can you build it and how much can you get away with.
I would love to publish a version of New Idea where the tabloid-y stories are focussed on the corruption of property developers and politicians but written in the same tone as New Idea.
get on the photoshop mate, great idea I'd definitely give it a read
“You won’t BELIEVE the scandal this developer is in!”
“I can’t believe this local government area walked out in THAT outfit”
@@Vidler13 Hahaha! "Politician and Prop Dev's BITTER BREAKUP!!" XD
If people were as interested in politics as they are in sport and celebs the rotten bastards in charge wouldn't get away with a tenth of the crap they do.
Meriton tower rejected for being 'too ugly'. (This actually happened.)
So now it turns out Qld being espoused as 20 years behind the rest of Australia is a positive.
My partner and I have been looking for apartments to purchase in the Perth city area, and have discovered very quickly that the developer who makes a HUGE percentage of all high rise apartments here (Finbar), uses cheap off brand components in their designs, and an apartment we live in now built 2014 is already starting to break and fall apart constantly. We live on the 12th floor of a Finbar construction now and genuinely don't feel safe. We cant wait to get out.
Having watched buildings going up, homes as well as apartments, in Perth since 1970s, I suggest be wary of things built after 1985 - excessive sand in mortar, lightweight underlength roof beams pinned together, fastbrick walls, underpaid subcontractors, cheapest (rapid corroding) plumbing... all started to be standard.
Renting and saving may be safer, given the life-span of the building is (for investor tax depreciation deduction purposes, and probably by builder design also) 40 years.
At least with a house you own the land.
Get out and never look back
"For the love of money is the root of all evil" Kochie's 101 ways to survive 2009
That quote is from the Bible.
@@tanookigt I hold Kochie in high regard too but I don't know if I'd go that far...
@@Mr_M_History 1 Timothy 6:10
I thought everyone knew this.
@@tanookigt tbh Paul of Tarsus probably wrote that after seeing the Cash Cow. Chicken or egg situation if you ask me
Praise Kochie the prophet
The problem, as with most things in such a complex system as our society, is misaligned incentives. I think private building inspectors are fine... just so long as they get jail time should the building be defective. China went all the way to execution in some cases. I think we can start with jail time and work up from there.
I'd be interested in, a Firefighters perspective once they know the walls of the place they are rushing into are made of petrol.
You would like to think that firefighters have some sort of say in signing multi story complexs off
@@cjyoung7372 sadly fire safety standards have nothing to do with the people that fight them.
@@cjyoung7372 In NSW when a building is been constructed the Fire Engineers submit a Fire Engineering Brief Questionnaire (FEBQ) to FRNSW. This essentially outlines any non-compliances with the Building Code of Australia and allows FRNSW to respond to these non-compliances to determine if they accept the proposed solution or if more is required to be done. In terms of the panels, I think the can go onto buildings which have a rise in storeys of 5 then you wouldn't comply with the BCA. This is identified in the FEBQ and the Fire Engineers put together an argument as to why it's alright for 6 storey vs 5 storeys. I don't believe FRNSW would accept any argument to permit this given the recent incidents which have occurred.
@@Bongsandquotesilike Not entirely correct in some jurisdictions.
Currently sitting in my 90 year old cottage home in a little town in the outback, pondering the likelihood that it'll still be standing long after all these recently constructed buildings no longer exist. Makes me want to hug my house.
Trust me it'll be...
Jesus Christ that article at 8:27. "It's okay to line the walls with petrol as long as you put a sprinkler near it."
Sidenote: sprinklers may or may not work, good luck.
@@Johnnocide06 yep, damaged pipes might not get the water up to where it needs to go. My heart sunk, it’s so negligent.
Yup. Water on an oil (petroleum-based-product) fire. Fun times, I'm sure!
I live in London and for the last coupla years I've been listening to the BBC's podcast summaries of the Grenfell Fire Inquiry. It was clad in ACM panels of polyethylene sandwidged between two thin sheets of aluminium. The inquiry has revealed what I assumed it would: lions led by donkeys in the London Fire Brigade, and dopey donkeys led by dodgy donkeys in the building industry. It stands as a monument to Thatcherism on the one hand, and the typically slap dash work ethic of the Poms on the other.
That country's fucked, which is why I'm back here.
Holy shit - these towers are more faulty than Fawlty Towers
Government and their developer buddies definitely need a large garden gnome inserted somewhere!
Built by O'Reilly & Co
And that's why I bought a 1970s home. I'd rather replace small things as they get old rather than have the actual structure fall in on itself.
A workmate got a brand new home, which is 3 years old now and the slab has shifted so much its cracked! The builder has since claimed insolvency and won't pay for rectification works.
Watching this while living in a high-rise building... lol
(Just had an earthquake this morning, lmfao felt like I was gonna die. The timing of it after this video.)
I hope you have an emergency exit strategy
As long as you are below the 12th floor supposedly you have an okay chance (coming from a safety inspector who lives in high rise, he also doesn't trust our buildings.)
(chuckles) I'm in danger
I love you
@@seanwalsh8468 I live in a high rise that's still waiting for anything to be done about the flammable cladding. My emergency strategy is living on the first floor and aiming for the bushes.
I’ve made these comments on Betoota articles too. I work as a surveyor in sydney and I will not buy anything new or over 6 stories high. I was on L17 of a high rise in Parra at 4.30am setting out the 8 ton precast walls so they could drop them in at 7am, less than 12 hrs after the concreters finished. There is no way the concrete testing would’ve been signed off by then, and concrete shouldn’t have any pressure on it for at least 7 days but realistically after 28 not even considering the massive spikes in temp on a normal sydney day. Opal happened a few months later, and after shitting themselves for approx 2-3 months, the industry carried on.
I could literally go on I’ve seen so much horror stories. Hoping to get out of the indo ASAP.
The more you find out about Australia the less hope you have.
Get on a plane and see what it's like where a country really IS owned and run as a farm by a single tribe/family/church/business. Money eats everything it touches, we're more protected from its teeth than some, that's why there's outrage and scandal.
I work for a small engineering firm here in Perth doing insurance work repairs in most of Perth , northern and Southern suburbs for 7 years now and YES !!! and after living in Darwin for 12 years before this I was HORRIFIED !! by the shoddy workmanship I have seen here in Perth 80% of buildings we repair ( cracking , extrusions popping out , balconies falling away , footings collapsing etc , etc ) are basically held together by ' Sikaflex ' , gaps you can put your fist into , roof trusses without metal ' tie ' strapping under the iron / tiles , stairway block work supports without any ' Reo bar ' .
it is amazing that no one has died yet ,,, LOOK At the tower in Florida receintly !! , 1/2 of the work we do to repair this shit should have never been signed off !!! it's a scam .
All this does is give me flashbacks to sewage coming through the light socket of a particular building in Melbourne
Nah nah it was clearly because the lights were shitty mate I'd know I've been putting in lights for years
To that one autistic guy who can't get sarcasm this is sarcasm :)
Da fuq??
We might have lived in the same building. I lived in a 4 story set of apartments and the toilets were installed too far from the sewage hole for the collar between them to be with in specification. As a result six months later one by one the collars gave way and sewage water from the apartment above would come in through the down light. Around 85% of the bathroom ceiling went mouldy and there was no one to take responsibility. It took six months for there to be any kind of a fix coming because no one would accept any responsibility for it.
@@sparkyenergia i didn't live there personally. And it was/is a pretty tall building
Hey Jordies, are you aware of the current industrial action being taken by train drivers, guards, and station staff at the moment? The Libs are trying to force new trains into service without guards and under an operational model that independent safety inspectors have said is unsafe on 3 separate occasions.
Strike is on Tuesday from 9am to 1pm.....i work for them. Just found out today after 4 days off. There is a list of 45 gripes the Union has with m'ment
Can 100% confirm do NOT buy an apartment.
10 years construction, strong family ties and I’m friendly with more than a few private certifiers.
Don’t worry I’m poor, not evil
A fireman told me about a Sydney CBD fire they were called to. The fire was on the west, say, but the internal smoke on the eastern side was hard to fathom until it was realised that the builder left out a course of bricks which would have let the fire propagate laterally.
I should point out that what Jordie showed in the diagram example was actually an EPS wall construction system rather than PE.
Grenfell Tower in the UK, LaCrosse in Melbourne and the ironically named Torch Tower in Dubai all had major fires due to Aluminium Composite Panelling (ACP) igniting. ACP is basically two sheets of aluminium with a core material inside and prior to Grenfell; this core was most often PE. Given the way physics/chemistry works, low melting points typically mean low ignition temperatures, so not only do the panels catch on fire very quickly, they also fall off the building when the core is ignited given there's no longer anything holding the panels together. This was also exacerbated by these panels being glued to the building. The fires spread extremely quickly (within minutes) and this is usually before the emergency services can even make it on-site to extinguish the flames. Often, the emergency services will not enter a building with this sort of cladding/similar given the danger it poses to the fire fighters and people nearby from the falling panelling/the heat of the flames.
Certain developers may often tout that the cladding they're applying to the building is AS1530 compliant and therefore compliant with Building Code/s which may be true, but some PE in the core is still PE. When it takes 15 minutes for emergency services to arrive, it won't make a difference if the building catches alight in 5mins vs 7mins.
The ABC's Four Corners program also did two great videos on both the cladding and defective building issues.
Cladding: th-cam.com/video/gnTZLzXq8fU/w-d-xo.html
Defective buildings: th-cam.com/video/NYzwIrybSjU/w-d-xo.html
Great comment..cheers
Grenfel 72 people died in. Just to highlight how bat shit insane this all is.
Grenfell Towers were ancient, built in the 60's or 70's I think.
At this point all you have to do is watch Monty Pythons "The Architect Sketch".
"I don't know whether I'd worry about strengthening that much after all they're not meant to be luxury flats"
"Yeah I quite agree. I mean provided the tenants are of light build a relatively sedentary, and good weather, I think we're on a winner"
It seems many problems today are old problems. A lot of Monty Python is on point for stuff you would think is a recent development. Including unaged social commentary.
Now it makes sense why Matthew Guy approved a huge percentage of the world’s super tall apartment towers in Melbourne a few years ago. That might be worth a look now he’s the LNP leader again down here…
He’s the opposition not the government
@@the1barbarian781 Exactly, he’s the LNP leader who are the opposition.
And paid some property developers hundreds of thousands compensation against his own departments advice.
Scares me they would let Guy back in after the debacle at Phillip Island which is the other side of dodgy property development.
@@tcbgarage2845 shows you the nature of conservatives in this country
As someone who has issues with air quality and chemical sensitivity, I'm glad you are spreading the word of the importance of buildings that aren't made as cheaply and nastily as possible.
i have parrots and they are extremely sensitive to anything in the air, ventilation systems are garbage these days
@@gorderumsi6424 there needs to be better regulations and laws protecting the health of renters, landlords should be required to have any air ducts professionally cleaned regularly.
@@Christoff070 that will make housing more expensive, we should exterminate anyone associated with the central banks and then housing will be borderline free.
@@gottaproxy8826 that too 🤣
Stav making an appearance lol
Hell yeah dude
Yeah dude
Also, I'm gay
I work in the industry. Architects and Engineers make specifications etc. for these projects. The developer / builder then ask suppliers for Value Added savings from the suppliers. Yeah an oxymoron of sentence, if ever there was one. Basically asking for product that looks a bit like what is specified but way cheaper. ie imported from China.
Having been an apprentice on a couple Meriton sites I would never ever ever buy an apartment
Did you ever see the appartments where they wheel complete bathroom/kitchens in and just connect the services 😅
@@7jaymc no but I believe it
@@MarniCollier I've worked in new student accommodation in the city. All bathrooms fully completed made overseas of course and just rolled in on skates
The rot started back in the nineties a couple of friends of mine had a party at the newly built townhouse they had just moved into, the moment I walked in the door I collapsed see issues with the construction.
So much so I contacted a mate of mine who was a certified surveyor in construction to have a look at the place, he walked in, took one look and told my friends that they needed to move out ASAP because the building could collapse at any moment.
The dodgy construction I saw there still blows my mind at how it was signed off in the first place and how one of my friends housemates the one who found the place thought it was fine certainly beyond me.
Turned out that the entire row of townhouses had to be torn down because the developer bribed the council certifier to sign them off and a few years later along comes Labor and made it all legal
My old man calls the new 312sqm no backyard houses “the slums of tomorrow”
There's one particular country that has heavy migration to NSW that consider those houses as a luxury
@@QuailsFarmY which one?
Ah yes Aura development comes to mind
@@QuailsFarmY Id guess an Asian one. Asian cultures LOVE apartments for some reason.
@@redhammer92 That's because many Asian countries are so dense and highly populated, that having a decent standalone house on a quarter-acre block is something only the rich can afford. It's not uncommon to have blocks and blocks of identical apartments jutting up 30 or more floors into the sky with little greenery in between.
I love how infrastructure in Australia is just Cecil after Cecil building the Springfield dam, cheaping out on building supplies to take the money and trying to frame Sideshow Bob for it
Ahh the rake gag ehhuuhhuh
Yes, my 10am dose of depressing reality has arrived!
Keep it up Jordan and Co!
PS nice Wog mousty Jordy.
A few years back in the regional centre of my council area, hutchinsons builders won the contract to build a $30M LIbrary in the CBD it was to be clad in fire retardant copper sandwich panel, The roofing company I worked for gave hutchinsons two quotes, one for copper sandwich panel filled with rock wool and another for copper sandwich panel filled with foam, Hutchinsons chose the foam and the building failed inspection by the fire department, resulting in the whole building having to be re-clad... Very little came of it Hutchinsons and the roofing company replaced the sandwich panel with compliant materials but the local newspaper ran a story pointing the finger at a local insulation company that supplied the roofing insulation and not the copper sandwich panel.
They just passed a first home buyers grant in the ACT. The catch is it has to be an off the plan apartment worth over 500,000. Why would i want to spend that much money on 65 square meters that wont last as long as my kmart toaster
Man, that “Bart after drinking Nature’s Goodness” clip was a deep cut. I totally forgot about it, it’s like you just unlocked a core Simpsons memory and my brain is nearing 100% capacity. I’m basically Lucy from the film of the same name played by everyone’s favourite Russian spy Scarlett Johansson.
This doesn't even surprise me, when I was a teenager and in my early 20's - and my dad worked in construction at the time - he would always tell me not to rent in certain apartment buildings and stuff, because the actual structure and foundations weren't proper and it was only a matter of time before the buildings fell.....
That Greek construction worker looks awfully familiar. Stavros “Boss Hog” Halkias
Either shanks listens to cumtown or he just googled stavros lmao
@@socialswine3656 I want to believe he’s a patreon subscriber but he has thrown out “Stavros” in his other videos talking about Greeks.
as a private certifier, alot of this video is true - particularly the lack of liability in commercial/apartment developments (unlike dwelling houses), however you've clearly never had an interaction with a council certifier, you'd get further trying to talk to a frog
I have a mate from Europe that now lives in Australia and is in construction. He told me he has never been anywhere that they build things as poorly as Aus. It was coming practice to put all the reinforcing in place for the inspector and then remove it again before pouring concrete.
On another project he said he got to level 20-something on a building and the project manager was replaced. The new guy was shocked to see what was going on and they said the whole building was done like that and he just let them finish it off.
Sydney is about to crumble.
Jordy is slowly morphing into an Italian landlord change my mind
Didn't know a millenial could be a landowner
I work in construction as a rooofer and have had cause to work on some horrendous shit, but the thing that stands out the most for me is that a volume builder (project homes) can build a duplex on 300sqm with gutters near on touching the house next door in my local government area but the small town I live in (same council region) has a numerous hundred year subdivisions of 750 sqm to 1/4 acre that cannot get building approval under any circumstances due to the blocks being too small, It is a deliberate act by council to ensure that money gets spent in the regional centre leaving everyone outside of the city limits in a 13000sqkm region paying rates and receiving nothing whatsoever in return while council beautifies the cbd of a town 70km away... No private citizen can pay enough to get building approval on a 300sqm block with gutters touching the house next door.
Haha imagine Stav doing anything remotely physical
You missed ACP Aluminium Cladding which is even worse and more prevalent. It also cannot be put out. And it's on most buildings and shopping centres
Yeah yeah mate, just small round tha houz stuff, lik a sunroom, or Opal Tower. Ya know?
Oh my God mate, your're killing me! Keep up the good stuff. Its insane how accurate this is.
ah yes my favourite childhood memory, jamming bits of timber into the hallway so we could get outside
When we were looking for our first unit in Sydney last year, we noticed something. Whenever we looked at any building built in the last 20 years, the strata rates were regularly 3 to 5 times higher than any building built fifty years ago. Sometimes there were even special levies. Why?
Because a few years back, the state government changed the law so that developers are no longer liable for issues that pop up within the first few years. Now the unit owners are getting dumped with fixing up all the shoddy construction issues. Even the federal government knows this - they excluded some suburbs from the First home deposit scheme because they know all the new buildings in those areas are time bombs waiting to go off.
Be warned Sydney - if you buy in one of these new buildings, you're going to get screwed.
Around here the quarterly strata fees on new high-rise builds is often higher than my current quarterly rent on my current 70's-build low-rise apartment!
@@GirlWhoCriedAardvark Highrises have lifts, HVAC, multi-level parking garages, lots of lighting, fire alarm & sprinkler systems, and may also have swimming pools, spas, gyms, and other facilities. All which need to be powered and maintained. That translates to higher strata fees.
Some things I know first hand Meriton has at least 3 apartment towers out there where the concrete slabs were 70mm thick, that's about half what it was supposed to be, the slabs had 3mm single layer REO (reinforcing bar). Some things I know second hand "MORE WATER" was/is the cry of concreters and pump operators on site, more water makes concrete MORE brittle but piss easy to pump and level. 25 years ago Solicitors & Accountants of the funny handshake variety warned off like minded folk from buying into the sub standard future slums of the CBD.
It's not just property developers - home builders do the same dodgy stuff. Right now, I'm 7 months into a back and forth with my home builder because they keep changing the contract every week because they are finding issues with the contract THEY signed with me (this is because they told me to go through a private certifier, which would be the "fast-track" option, so they claimed), and they are trying to make me pay more for these changes which I have no say in. They promised to build my house within 14 weeks and 7 months in, they haven't even started. The worst thing is I can't do anything about it, and they aren't liable for any of the delays.
HB: So that brick colour you paid extra for - we don't have that in stock, so you have to choose from our normal range (cheaper bricks)
HB: So that window facing your neighbour's house needs a $1500 privacy screen (for some metal screening that looks like a cage that only costs like $400)
HB: Only half of your house will get fly screens, if you want all fly screens, you need to pay more
HB: You need to build a $2000 retaining wall before we can start building your house as the cut with be over the allowed height (which it is not)
HB: We can't start construction because there is an obstruction on your land (my neighbours built a fence without my permission inside my property line)
HB = Home builder
This has been a nightmare, but I think the worse is still to come - I'm really worried about the construction of the house now.
That sucks, I personally have not had a good builder yet, I'm on my 4th house.
A guy I worked with got so fed up with his last house he took an owner builder course and is building his new house, perfect, as he wants it. Not some shoddy rushed in and out job that everyone thinks they should be allowed to do.
I used to work for a building supplies company around either side of 2010 and we delivered that polystyrene cladding for the outside of residential homes. It was in sheets anywhere from 2 to 6 inches thick polystyrene on the inside, a rough renderable grey coating on the outside and varied diamensions. I asked about its flammability and I was shown that it readily catches fire if you hold a lighter to it just like ordinary polystyrene. I couldn't believe they were putting this stuff in homes. I was also told about the toxic gas it gives off if it catches fire. If your house catches fire you don't want to be anywhere where you breathe in the smoke. There was also a product that had corrugated iron on top and thick polystyrene foam on the underside used as insulation from the hot days this was for a verandah. The insulating properties meant that the house was really well insulated and I suspect may have saved costs of purchasing thicker insulation batts because they were still used as well. Something we also sold. And if anyone tells you the product Aquachek by CSR is waterproof, which is a paper plaster board, it's not. It might be okay after all the waterproofing you put on it and as long as it doesn't get wet under the membrane, but any exposed unprotected paper will absorb moisture. I sat a piece aside at a job while taking in the other boards and it was a lightly moist misty kind of day and after about half an hour of the board sitting under an eave of the house, it crumpled and fell in a big heap. So I would never use a waterproof plasterboard unless you want future problems, I'd stick with cement sheet (villa board) for wet areas and all brands are going to have their own version of Aquachek, is just paper covered plaster board that is meant to have a waterproof core. But I don't see it.
Came here right after feeling that massive earth tremor in Melbourne.
I worked on a building in sydney a few years ago, it had a coles on the ground floor and high rise units on top. The builder was hemoraging money by the end of the project which led to them cutting corners. You could see dodgy work everywhere if you looked.
The most concerning factor was in the lower basement level (5 levels underground) in a plant room. The room had a hole in the wall for some reason which exposed the sandstone the building was situated on. You could put your finger into the sandstone and it would crumble due to the water and compression it was subjected to.
With the foundations only being metres below that basement, I can only imagine the structural issues that will arise within the next 5 years. I'll be genuinely surprised if its still standing in 10.
Yikes, a Florida condo in the making... except that one stood for 40+ years...
Don’t tell me it’s auburn.
Legend! Thanks for the education on insanely corrupt politicians lead by huge property developers.
This is beyond a joke.
Your channel is doing all the heavy lifting to reduce corrupt politicians eroding our society for personal gain.
I hope you gain more momentum to share your work further. 🙏🏾
I used to live in a new high rise building and we weren't allowed to have candles, BBQs or open flames of any kind because the cladding was under investigation that it could be incredibly flammable. Safe to say the residents never received an update about the findings of the investigation... Big surprise
Yeah I work in cleaning and maintenance. The build quality of most of the newer properties that we clean is pretty atrocious. They look fancy with the straight lines and textured finishes, but the actual functionality of the basic bones of the building like the exhaust fans, frames, walls, layout, etc. are all really lacking.
We clean so much mould and gross crap that shouldn't be there if the basic principles of building that we all know were followed instead of the profit-incentivized practices.
I work in printing factory built out of that petrol cladding. We have literal tons of paper and flamable oils and crazy hot gas heat sources. We have actual fires at least once a year. Turns out while we have sprinklers installed we didn't even have a fire alarm installed because that was going to cost and extra $2000 to protect a factory worth over 30 million. Where even a single day of production lost could be worth 100k
I hope everyone’s day or night is going great and you can keep on going
We also have a generation of contractors now who aren't interested in anything except new builds and don't want to deliver quality work at the expense of time.
@@ragebait988 truth
its pretty hard to find a decent person to do any jobs and when you do its 50/50 if they do a good job or not and then after that good luck getting anything they fuck fixed.
@@ragebait988 probably the last 30 contractors we've had over the past few years, from roofing, electrical, etc. Had some cheats, some extremely bad experiences, and a lot of different disappointments. I've ended up doing a lot of work myself in the end and buying a set of dewalt tools, so not all bad, but it's irritating that I've had to do that as that's not really what I wanted my life to be.
After working in the NSW Building Industry for 40 years I could tell you stories that would make your head spin.
Go on
Barry, I met Sir Al Jennings before he settled in Aus. He was a NZ crim in 1969. They would distract the building inspector often and use the same sheet of rio (reo?) for many houses... for starters
It's not just apartments, it's any type of construction... What can we do though? Honestly? Apart from voting with our feet, what can we do? I literally just bought an apartment, I don't have a choice. You can say all you want move some where cheaper, further out etc, sure OK, I'll isolate myself even more from my family and friends.
What choice do we have when developers offer bucket loads of money to land owners, to demolish and build apartment blocks on inner surban land? This isn't the worst thing either, the fact is that developers are not required to take a domestic builders warranty insurance or contribute to HBCF if a building is more than 3 stories high. This was in direct response to the Opal and Mascot towers issues, why am I not surprised? So all a developer has to do is build a residential tower, taller than 3 stories and they're not required to provide any warranty insurance...
yep. what choices do we have left? fewer and fewer every day
Rent? Invest your money somewhere else? Biggest investment of your life and you bought garbage because you convinced yourself you had no choice.
@@nil0bject I've been renting since I was 17. What a stupid comment. Invest my money elsewhere? What in the share market? Bitcoin? All that bullshit that can be there one minute and gone the next? And pay some else's mortgage for the rest of my life? Sure OK.
@@adzysim Yeah you are just making excuses.
"Why work? So that money you earned one minute is just gone the next?"
You think paying rent is silly but buying an awful long term investment is good? The fact of the matter is you DO have a choice you just think its too much of a trade off.
My husband's friend has bought (on a mortgage) one of those tiny as a fucking matchbox units in one of those high rise buildings in Doncaster, Melbourne.
I'm scared for him. Buying one of those comes at an extrmeme loss in terms of assets and as it was pointed out in the video, structurally dangerous and cheap.
I might be reaching here a bit, but I have come to realise that immigrants are being taken advantage of where these properties are concerned. They look visually appealing with "sleek modern design" as it's advertised, but once you actually live in the property it becomes painfully apparent how shit the entire unit is, and by then the "owner" is fucked.
Why would someone ever ever ever take a mortgage on something like that?
Immigrant background here from Asia. A lot of people from that region are attracted to highrise living with the latest modern looking facade and interior decor. Also, building standards & quality in many Asian nations are comparatively worse (asbestos is still legal in many countries there, including Indonesia... so have fun when you check into that new resort in Bali...). So any defects and flaws they will get with their off-plan purchases will be considered mild compared to what they or their families have experienced or heard about in their home country.
they come to australia and get to live in brand new apartments with a view. that’s a massive upgrade in lifestyle for them. so any defects will be overlooked.
Sydney is one bad earthquake away from disaster.
Jordie has more journalistic integrity than any Australian reporter at the moment hat off to you mate I watch from NZ everyday and you are smashing it mate I hope you grow into powerful force and voice for the people
the problem isn't the PE itself, its the construction of the cladding. It is certainly a contributing factor but the air gap behind the cladding helped it climb by giving it completely unimpeded travel, and the waterproof aluminium skin was well, waterproof, which makes the extinguishing of an internal fire with water a bit bloody difficult. The whole damn cladding design looks like it was literally made to facilitate the spread of fire. combine that with poor electrical systems in some buildings, like the one I lived in, where the fire alarm would go off at random, multiple times a week, most residents went back to sleep when it went off. Imagine... Another Grenfell will happen, in an east-coast Australian city.
Its like the Tornado sirens in my city in the US. They blast them like once a week for testing, the result? No one pays attention to the sirens.
We should be building more family suitable mid-rise building though. The whole detached house on a half acre of land is not sustainable or suitable for climate change and urban city planning.
Very much. But they have to be properly designed ones, not modern throw-up-fall-down trash.
@@GirlWhoCriedAardvarkI agree 100% :)
You can keep that and ill keep my bungalow sitting on a generous plot of land. I live in an entire town of 100+ year old bungalows, seems quite a bit more sustainable than towers that fall over after 30 years. Cleaner, less spread of disease, safer....
Or we could just stop importing half a million nonwhites every year
I worked on the Royal Women's Hospital Melb refurb and was shocked to see they clad it with a petrol-like substance. I overheard someone saying some great amount they'd save in energy bills. I asked if it was dangerous, nah she'll be right mate it's on the outside.
as a kiwi in construction who moved here 6 years ago, i was appalled by some of the construction here, using 2x4 for structural walls instead of 4x4, the lack of care with any roofing because plumbers do roofing, yeah the same people that fix your hot water cylinder, instead of training actual roofers that do only roofing. i could go on all day about the defects i've seen, so watching this video, i can actually say Im not surprised, more surprised its lasted this long without people noticing. me? im just an architectural wallcladder of 20 years, what would i know lol
"I have come here to chew bubble-gum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubble-gum."
A backyard with a lemon tree is a human right. Property developers and urban planners deserve the rope.
I prefer to live in an apartment, but definitely not one of the shitty thin-walled tacked-together-from-factory-seconds things they build around here! (Not that any freestanding home you buy off-the-plan is going to be any better!) I will end up in a freestanding home, though, because designing and building it myself is the only way I could be sure it was actually long-term habitable.
@@lukeatmadik4644 Can't put a slice of grapefruit in a shitty beer, what's the point?
Lemon Tree? Rossi? Found the Mediterranean! :D
5:25 Reminds me of the big short "I assume no risk for these products"
2 days after this video was made, there was a literal earthquake here in Australia.
Crazy times ahead.
You should take a look into how Meriton use to operate...
They were previously able to own a majority stake in the apartments following construction. They could then decide how they would address any defects that are not noticed in the building. Unsurprisingly, band-Aids were a common solution.
Once the defects period was up they could bounce out of there without the risk of being chased.
Though, that has since been changed.
...
What they can now try and do is set up dodgy arrangements with strata managers. This is why if you do buy off the plan, or buy into a new apartment complex, you should seriously consider punting your existing strata manager and find someone reputable and preferably that is known for looking after people and their assets properly.
You don't need lots of regulations, you need one. Everyone who sells or rents a property must get an insurer to say how much it would cost to insure against damage or injury caused by faults in the building. You don't have to actually insure anyone, but anyone who does want insure can get it at a price known to them before they buy or rent. That way you have someone who actually has an incentive to say how dangerous the building is to live in.
In fact I think there's a huge market here for developers who want to sell properties that aren't shit. For a small (not really) extra amount you get not just the property but insurance against it falling on your head, for say the first 20 years. Builders would have an incentive to build something that wouldn't fall on your head. Buyers would know that if it does fall on someone's head at least they get compensation. Renters could get the same reassurance. Builders who don't offer this risk having people think it's too expensive because they build crap.
I was renting out a room in a 2 bedroom unit about 5 years ago in Northcote, Melbourne. The unit itself was built in 2012. You had the front door, which opened up to a long-ass hallway. My bedroom immediately on the right, the second bedroom was at the other end of the hallway to the right, and turning left at the end of the hallway took you to the kitchen and living room. Imagine a big L-shape.
It was fine in summer, but in winter, it was uninhabitable. The ONLY form of heating for the entire unit was some rinky-dink split system in the living room. Neither bedroom had any heating whatsoever. Come winter time, black mould would grow on the windowsils and skirting boards because it was so damn damp and cold. I actually got quite sick from it.
I was also paying $300 a week in rent (just for my bedroom) for the privilege. The lease wasn't renewed because the owner managed to sell it at auction for like $650,000.
OH THANK GOD THE MONEY WAS OKAY.
Thank you for shining massive halogen floodlights on these issues
Ask any tradies who work on these apartments if you should buy one. We'll first laugh uncontrollably then shake you by the lapels and tell you a caravan would be a sounder investment
Just want to put this here to see if it comes true; the developers will get bailed out by the government
@1:33 is that stav? Hell yeah dude
Now the earthquake....
Friends that had a Meriton apartment in hornsby had cracks right through main wall of house (ground floor) 3 weeks after they bought new (2001ish)
Mount colah has entire blocks of units that are not level and the supporting Colums are very thin. Most of the piping and electricity had to be re done just to get the systems to handle the extra buildings