The Tribunal assessed 138 alleged building defects in common property claimed by an owners corporation against the original builder under ss 8 and 9 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), awarding $373,426.94 in rectification damages. Applying the Stanley/Stone v Chappel considerations, the Tribunal rejected rectification costs where defects were undetectable at a site view, were merely technical departures from plans with no functional impact, or where the proposed scope of works was disproportionate. The Tribunal accepted a 5.5% inflation uplift on expert costings based on the Cordell Construction Cost Index but rejected a further 10% contingency allowance where the expert's base costings already incorporated conservative allowances for unknowns.
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