Some burning questions for the Australian Construction Industry

We are all living in some very interesting times. The following are open questions to the construction industry but in particular the Australian Contractor's Association, Master Builders Australia, Australian Owned Contractor's Association and the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

1. If formal Bills of Quantities are no longer being prepared for the majority of construction projects, who is measuring the quantities for tendering purposes and how are they being measured in terms of a reference standard method of measurement if any?
2. Following on from question 1, What is the relevance and purpose of the Australian Standard Method of Measurement both in the current marketplace and the future marketplace?
3. Another follow on from question 1, If all Main Contractors and subcontractors are measuring their own quantities for every project they tender for, would this not be a gross duplication of measurement resources in an Industry that has been short on resources for a very long time and an obvious drain on productivity. In addition, it raises the question of accuracy of quantities for comparative purposes by Main Contractors as well as the potential for the introduction of padding in the quantities to cover any potential errors in the measurement of quantities. This is of course all against the well advertised backdrop of rising (beyond CPI) construction costs in Australia.
4. Could the high levels of insolvency (Main Contractors & Subcontractors) currently being experienced be related in some way to the trend away from formal Bills of Quantities for tendering purposes?

It is fair to say the Construction Industry is not in a good place at the moment and hasn't been for quite some time. I've written many articles and made submissions to Federal Government Inquiries about the root cause which has driven the industry to where it is today, so I'm not going to go into the details here today, but suffice to say the Australian Construction Industry was purring along BEFORE the Trade Practices Commission and the ACCC acted to ban minimum scales of professional fees which at the time produced quality well coordinated documentation (drawings, specifications and Bills of Quantities) for tendering and construction purposes.

Until the Federal Government recognizes the errors of its past decisions and legislation and adopts a back to the future approach, the Australian Construction Industry is destined to remain in a very bad place despite the best intentions and endeavors of every construction industry association and institute in Australia.

Australian Constructors Association (ACA)

Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors

Master Builders Australia

Australian Owned Contractors