Developers 'must take the rap'

The Star 20/03/2000

It is unfair for developers to pass the buck to architects for poor quality and workmanship in housing projects, said the Malaysian Institute of Architects Northern Chapter.

The chapter's immediate past chairman Dennis Liew Yin Seong said developers were in total control of the housing industry and the ones employing architects and other consultants for their projects.

No responsible developer, he added, would employ architects who were supposed to be inspecting the work but did not do so.

"As such they (developers) are responsible for delivering the end product to housebuyers," he said in a statement.

Penang Housing Developers Association (HDA) chairman Datuk Ong Gim Huat had said on Tuesday that developers should not be blamed solely for complaints over poor quality and workmanship, noting that other parties such as contractors and architects should also bear responsibility.

According to Liew, it was a common practice for developers to also be the contractors for their own projects, particularly in the case of public listed companies.

A comparison of the Penang HDA and Penang Builder and Building Material Dealers Association membership lists, he said, would show that most developers and contractors were under the same group of companies.

"It has often been argued that having contractors under the control of the developers will enable the quality of work to be supervised more stringently," he said.

However, he added that the desire for a higher profit margin at both ends of the building industry often caused the end product to be shoddy.

"How is the architect able to stringently order shoddy work to be redone when the perpetrator and the judge are of the same party," he said, adding that some developers also employed "in-house" architects to save on professional fees.

Liew, who said developers could "in no way" blame architects, acknowledged that there were some black sheep in the profession willing to "sell" their signatures for a small fee.

He added: "It is the prerogative of developers to appoint good and responsible architects. And this will definitely help upgrade the housing industry in the long run."