Contributed by Canaan Building Inspection Sdn Bhd director Joshua Kang

According to the survey conducted by Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), the house price index in Malaysia has increased for the past few years.

Meanwhile, the housing market remains weak, and many developers are shifting their focus to affordable housing to cater for the demand. Malaysia’s government also have launched a bunch of affordable housing schemes such as PR1MA, RUMAWIP, Rumah Selangorku and several others.

Does affordable Housing mean lower in Quality?

Many have the perception that quality for the affordable housing is always shoddy and below the industry standard. Is the statement is correct? Does affordable housing is meant to be constructed with lower quality specifications and standards which leaves much to be desired?

In principle, either high-end housing developments or affordable housing projects, both should meet with the industrial construction quality standard as stated in the Construction Industry Standard (CIS 7: 2014). However, the feedback and responses retrieved from many home buyers and our inspection records show that the quality for most of the affordable housing projects was found to be shoddy and below the expected industry standard.

Common Problems

Based on feedbacks and inspections carried out, typical quality issues or complaints filed by the homebuyers are always related with the poor painting finishing on the internal wall, hollowness on the wall tiles, misalignment of walls, defective materials and malfunctioning of the fixtures and mechanical and electrical (M&E) services.

In some of the severe cases, structural cracks, water leakages and faulty in the M&E services system also have been detected in their newly completed projects. These cases are experienced by the homebuyers, either from affordable housing projects or the high-end development.

Quality Commitment from Developers

As mentioned above, not all the affordable housing projects are inferior in quality. Every construction must meet the quality standard. Some committed developers have already implemented the QLASSIC Assessment and incorporated the Construction Industry Standards (CIS7:2014) into their projects.

For example, PR1MA and Skyworld have both implemented QLASSIC standards into their PR1MA and RumaWIP projects. I believe there are many other property developers and government agencies also showing their commitment to implement the QLASSIC Assessment in their projects as well.

Conclusion

To recap, buying an affordable housing project does not mean we have to compromise for sub-par quality. In fact, all the housing projects shall comply with the minimum Construction Quality Standard.

As a smart homebuyer, we should always check with the developers if they are adopting any quality standard for their projects. More importantly, upon completion of the projects, we should always inspect and ensure the house that we purchased have been constructed according to the approved construction quality standard and specification specified in the Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA).

To Read More: Building defects and shoddy workmanship affect the property value and rental income

To Read More: Standard procedures during Vacant Possession of a new house 

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To Read More: Performing a building defects inspection during vacant possession

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