New banding system for developers, builders and private residential projects
New banding system for developers, builders and private residential projects
May 25, 2023
DEVELOPERS, builders and private residential projects will now be assessed under a new banding system which aims to help homebuyers make informed choices about the quality of the private residential projects they are buying.
On Thursday (May 25), the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said this is the first time developers and builders are banded under the Construction Quality Assessment System (Conquas) based on their track record for the past six years.
Introduced in 1989, Conquas is a quality assessment tool used to benchmark the workmanship and quality of private residential projects. Units are sampled and tested for major defects such as water leakages and wall tiles popping off, which may compromise the functionality or liveability of the project.
Neo Choon Keong, BCA’s deputy chief executive officer of industry development, said: “The Conquas banding aims to give the homebuyer a sense of the past performance of the developer and the contractor of the project that he or she is interested in.”
Neo noted that when the buyer signs the option to purchase, the actual project is still under construction, so the buyer does not have the chance to see the quality of the unit he or she would like to purchase.
He said that some homebuyers had provided feedback that the previous Conquas system – which was score-based – was not intuitive for comparing the performance of developers and builders before buying a home.
Under the new Conquas system, developers, builders and private residential projects will be sorted into Band 1 to Band 6 based on the incidence of major defects.
Bands 1 and 2 recognise good-performing firms which have consistently delivered private residential projects with no or very low incidences of major defects.
Based on past data, projects in Band 1 were found to have an average of 0.6 dwelling unit with major defects per 1,000 dwelling units. Projects in Band 6 were found to have an average of 80 dwelling units with major defects per 1000 dwelling units, according to past records.
BCA said that the benchmarks and scores for each band are calibrated with reference to feedback on major defects received from homebuyers. BCA will validate feedback received “based on objective evidence and verification with the project team”.
Currently, 20 developers and 15 builders have been sorted into Band 1, including City Developments Limited and Woh Hup.
Neo said: “We want the virtuous cycle. Informed buyers drive responsible developers to select competent builders who want to consistently improve their quality.”
A total of 110 developers, 76 builders and 350 private residential projects are available on BCA’s Quality Housing Portal for homebuyers to check. This includes developers that did not adopt Conquas or have projects that are being assessed for the first time in the last six years.
Between 2020 and 2022, about 95 per cent of private residential units have adopted Conquas, said BCA.
Homebuyers may visit this website for more information: https://www.go.gov.sg/bca-qhp
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