Building Bureaucracy in Our Democratic Society.

Everyone gets a say in what you build.

 

It’s New Year’s Day and I feel it’s a good time to vent some frustration with the “red-tape” I battle daily as a residential builder.

 

DDB Design is due to start three new building projects in the next few weeks, but they are all significantly delayed due to the inefficiency and recalcitrance of several layers of bureaucracy.

 

Rightfully so, my clients are all screaming “WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO GET A BUILDING PERMIT?”

These are my thoughts on the matter.

 

• The administering of the building regulations in Victoria is currently locked in a three-way-arm-wrestle between building surveyors, local councils, and the state government.
• On 1^st May the new NCC (National Construction Code) will be adopted by all states and nothing upsets bureaucracy like a completely new rule book. (More about the NCC in a future email)
• Good design and excellent documentation have no currency.
• Town Planning (the army on the front-line processing applications) is used as a political instrument.
• Local councillors are elected officials that have the final say in what gets built, but they are beholden to the electorate and always make the “safe” decision.
• In our democratic society, everyone gets a say in what gets built.
• This all adds up to a system that has no consistency or predictability and considerable additional time and cost for anyone wanting to build something.

 

“Bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of his or her actions.” Nassim Taleb

 

 

According to Investopedia, the term bureaucracy refers to a complex organisation that has multilayered systems and processes specifically put in place to maintain uniformity and make decision making slower.

 

Most bureaucracies are formal, rigid organisations that are inept at dealing with anything unusual or challenging. Generally, set procedures must be followed which are far more important than efficiency or productivity.

 

The wheels of these authorities turn very slowly and there is no guarantee of the best/right decision being made.

 

“The only thing that saves us from bureaucracy is it’s inefficiency.” Eugene McCarthy

 

The most frustrating part of this flawed building approval system is, people that have no idea about design or building can delay your application and cost the builder and the client a lot of money.

 

We are currently battling for the approval for a “personal renovation” which is being held up by a neighbour who’s written objection states that “they are disagreeing with the protection work agreement because they do not understand the plans”.

 

Another “new house project” has been delayed several months because the next-door neighbour has objected to the proposed front set back being greater (i.e. further back from the street and better for them) than the set back of the current house that’s been there for over 50 years.

 

Avoidable delays are constantly being created by local council’s where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. A third “ready to start renovation project” is caught up in a game of “council approval ping pong “. Six months ago, the council town planning department issued a permit allowing a single car garage. However, last month the building department at the same council overruled this permit insisting on a double car garage , which now requires a complete re-design of the renovation. So much frustration, lost time and lost productivity for so many people!!

 

I believe the factors contributing to such widespread bureaucratic bungling are.

 

1. Too many layers in the building approval process.
2. A lack of transparency and poor communication during the application and approval process.
3. Neighbours have a lot of power but very little knowledge.
4. Emotion often gets in the way of a good decision.
5. Everyday disputes between neighbours are allowed to corrupt the approval process.
6. Lawyers love town planning and building disputes.
7. So, building anything unusual or architecturally significant is incredibly difficult…

 

“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible” Javier Pascual Salcedo.

 

I feel there is no ultimate solution for fixing all this “building bureaucracy” other than persistence and hard work.

 

It’s fitting that the only Latin I know is,

“illegitimus non-carborundum” which means “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”.

 

Thanks for reading,

Stay safe and have a fulfilling New Year.

David