The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called for the establishment of a national building product accreditation scheme.
The announcement came out this week at its annual Building Better Cities summit in Melbourne. This year's summit was titled 'Building Products: a compliance free zone'.
It was focused on the important issue of ensuring building products and components used in the Australian housing industry comply with codes and standards.
"This has been on the agenda of HIA's building & manufacturing members for some time, but it should equally be of interest to consumers, regulators and policy makers," said HIA managing director Shane Goodwin.
"As more and more building products move from local to offshore manufacture, we must ensure all products are compliant with our codes."
"One thing we do know for certain is that the cost of failure and subsequent replacement of substandard materials - and the damage they can cause - will invariably outstrip any initial savings on the original purchase."
"And in the case of structural materials, sanitary and electrical components particularly, the potential cost to the health and safety of our staff or customers is far greater."
"Scoping the extent of the use of non-compliant materials in Australian residential construction, considering the costs, and proposing solutions to ensure compliance are integral to this challenge and something that will be tackled at the summit."
"The challenge for industry and regulators is to ensure that the 'solution' is not just more bureaucracy and red tape. Outcomes will need to have a positive cost-benefit and be market driven."
