Greg Wallace: Master Plumbers Chief Executive on the increase in homeowners needing to call tradies back in

Almost everyone who moves into a new house needs to call back a tradie to deal with a defect, according to new reports.

Data in the new BRANZ Build Insights dashboard shows that after they had moved in, 86 percent of new homeowners needed to call back their builder or other tradesperson to fix something after they've moved in.

Greg Wallace, CEO of Master Plumbers, says tradies need to focus on getting things right the first time.

"There is no benefit for a tradesman to go back and have, no charge to the consumer, to rectify a problem."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together due to see Allen nine two ninety two is
the text number standard text fee. Supply I want to
hear what's going on out there to hit me with it. Now,
you've bought yourself a new house. Where'd you get that money?
But you did it anyway. It's a new build. You've
waited ages for it to be finished. Now it's done.
It's ready for you to move in. But unfortunately it's
not actually a finished is it, Because chances are, in
a matter of days after moving in, you're going to

(00:21):
find out that some of the lights don't work, or
pipes in the wrong place, where there's been some sort
of an issue with the paint job. According to new
data from the Building Research Association, eighty six percent of
new homeowners have to call a trade back in to
fix something shortly after they move in. Now, Greg Wallace
is master Plumber CEO, and he's with me. Now, Hey Greg, afternoon, Heather.
Eighty six percent seems like a loss, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, look it is, But I think we've got to
look at some of the granular detail under that and
what's actually causing that. I noticed the brand's report doesn't
really give us the details what those callbacks are I
think the other point is when you're spending more than
a million dollars on a how and it is quite complex. Now,
there's design aspects that's changed, there's technology that's coming through

(01:05):
that is complex, and some of that needs to be
refined or commissioned as we go through that build process.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
What are you talking about what's complex?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, look, we've got heat pump technology, we've got radiators,
we've got bid a's, we've got central heating systems.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Are you saying that it's a bit hard for the
people to figure out they may have to come back
and do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, there's some education to be done with consumers about
how to operate some more complex design systems that we've got. Now,
we also see that our homeowners are trying to move
into their new property as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
And sometimes stop stop it, you're making excuses. Stop it,
you are making excuses. And you know it. Who were
the most? What trade was the one called back the most?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
The painters were.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
There's nothing technological about this, it's simply painting. Why didn't
they do it properly the first time?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I think most of the time the painting is
normally cause any effects has caused from the actual property
owners moving in, and there's some defense that happened. The
defects also happened when there's insulation of other products. But
I mean the reality is, you take the plumbing set
to heather, right, twelve percent of the thirty percent is

(02:18):
actually product issues. Right. So we've got a very deregulated
plumbing product infrastructure.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I'm getting to sell with it, Greg, Are you ready
for it?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay? We go.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Okay, So I didn't want to have to bring this up,
but you're bringing the bazookas, so I've got to bring
the nuclear weapon. Okay. So what happened is I've had
a pool installed out the back came and they put
the pool in, and then they built the deck around it.
And as you would imagine with the deck, you've got
to have the glass installed. You got to have the
deck put up, you've got to have the balustrade, you've
got to have the paint job. They all finished, it

(02:50):
all finished on our Friday last week. I spent the
weekend going around. I found nineteen snags. They have to
come back and fix those nineteen. No disrespect to the boys,
I love them, but they've got to come back. In fact,
it those snags include greg They include painting the balustrade
white and dripping all over the gray steps, every single

(03:11):
gray step. It would appear on three different flights of steps,
drips everywhere. That is not a technological problem. They did
not paint the underside of the railings probably at all,
Like it's half painted and then it's not done finished. Right,
They got paint on the spar pool. They have to
paint all over the concrete. They didn't even attach one
of the posts to the railing, which meant that the

(03:33):
glass gate was hanging. Now, you can't tell me that
this is just because there's technological problems or inability to
understand what's going on here. This is just like mistakes,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, look, I can probably honey comment on the plumbing
vane gets fitty industry right to be fair to.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
To be fair to you. This is not your people.
But what I'm trying to say is, come on man
like with love and respect. Don't don't make excuses when
you know full well we're getting them back. Just to
put a blinking nail into something, isn't it. It's not
a hate pump it's just a nail they forgot.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
But yeah, look what I'm saying is like what we've
got to make sure we do a better job. I'm
completely in agreement with you. We want to get it right.
You've got to remember also, I don't think anyone wants
a callback as a tradesman because that's a cost to
their business. Business right, they're normally on a fixed rate
to build that house all this time. We need the

(04:31):
granular detail of what these issues are so we can
go back to the industry and try and rectify. There
is no benefit for a tradesman to go back and
have no charge to the consumer to have to rectify
a problem. But brands need to provide the details about
what are those issues, Corey, and so then we can
address them. I agree no one wants callbacks, but we've

(04:53):
got to be reality. Some of this is product failure
as well.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Hey, can I ask you question, Greg? This has been
bugging me for ages. What is up with trades that
trade's will say to you, Oh, look, it's a three
day job and then it turns into a four month job.
What's going on with you guys? Why can't you estimate
this stuff properly? It's like every single trade he does this.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, look, I don't know about your job, but look,
you can just what we're seeing jobs. My whole life
is we're seeing design changes happen after the construction starts,
and that changes the perspective quite significantly. And I think
that's underestimated when design or other aspects are added to

(05:35):
the job, which takes a job from two to three
days to two to three weeks, and there's a lack
of understanding of how that actually controls the outcomes.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, okay, Greg, listen, thank you so much for having
a chat to me. I appreciated It's Greg Wallace. Oh lord,
I don't even I don't even want to tell you
all about this because the boys still have to come
back and fix it, and they are such nice men.
I really don't want them to feel bad about themselves.
So maybe we'll park that story about the all over
the steps for another day and we can talk about
it liberally. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen

(06:06):
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