THE BUILDING industry has topped the list of most complaints about professions and trades to the ACT Government this year.
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A total of 107 formal complaints were lodged with Fair Trading in the past year, 15 more than the previous year.
It has prompted one experienced building industry professional to call for better business management training for people in the construction sector.
Overcharging, work not done by set deadlines, disputes over refunds for incomplete work, substandard pest and building reports, poor work and damage caused by the builder were among the complaints.
ACT Master Builder Association deputy executive director Jerry Howard said it was important to research before contracting a builder.
This included getting references from past clients and making sure you could get along with them.
Canberra construction company owner of 25 years George Tanchevski described the alliance between a builder and a client as a marriage of convenience.
''You need to have a good, productive relationship with them and at the end of the relationship you want a nice, quiet separation,'' Mr Tanchevski said.
One Queanbeyan builder of more than 25 years, Peter Shands, said it was important to get a contractor who specialised in the sort of work needing to be done.
''Would you let a GP do brain surgery on you?'' Mr Shands said.
''It's also important to be patient. Don't sign a contract on a job worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if you have any doubts.''
Mr Shands said most problems occurred because of a breakdown of communication between the client and the builder.
He said this could be remedied by courses for people in the sector targeting management skills, not just technical skills. There was also a concern Fair Trading could be used to unfairly threaten builders who had little recourse for complaints themselves, apart from court action or stopping work.
Mr Shands and Mr Tanchevski both said it was dangerous for people to contract builders based solely on price.
Often this led to disputes about cost increases during the project because expenses had not been properly estimated.
Mr Shands said, ''If you burley around for the lowest price you'll eventually find a shark.''
An Office of Regulatory Services spokesman said he could not speculate on why the building industry had the most complaints.