Understanding residential house defects in Australia from the State of Victoria

Home building is an important part of Victorian and Australian economy, contributing 3.5-5% of its gross domestic product. While Australians invest billions of dollars in homes building, they expend enormous resources trying to reactively tackle their endemic defects. Notwithstanding, the analysis of this problem remains perfunctory, lacking in depth analysis that can assist in improving the situation. This research aims to determine the interconnections between key house defects to establish whether there is a pattern or sequence in their occurrence. The outcome is an a priori approach to understanding house defects, subsequently leading to their better predictability and control. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.