Leppington Building
Inspections

Defect, or simply inside the allowance

The fight is over what is permitted, not over what is there.

Leppington 2179 · 8 May 2026

Fully licensed & accredited

  • NSW Fair Trading NSW Fair Trading
  • Australian Society of Building Consultants Australian Society of Building Consultants
  • Strata Community Association Strata Community Association
  • Building Dispute Practitioners Society Building Dispute Practitioners Society

In short: Citing the tolerance turns a disagreement into a measurement.

Two questions

What got built, and whether that falls within an allowance. Only the second gets argued.

Where allowances come from

Your contract, the National Construction Code, the relevant Australian Standard and the Guide to Standards and Tolerances 2017.

Why citation matters

Call something poor workmanship and you have opened an argument. Set against a tolerance, it turns into a number.

A worked example

A bottom plate overhanging the slab by 25 millimetres is not an opinion. It is a dimension set against an allowance.

The split

We divide every report into structural and cosmetic, since that is what tells you where to push.

Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Leppington. Licensed building practitioners.

Guides

More defect reports guides for Leppington

All guides →

Book a building inspection in Leppington

Instant online pricing for Leppington, or contact the booking team.

FAQ

Questions Leppington owners ask about this

Must I accept anything inside tolerance?

Within your contract, generally yes, and knowing that saves an unwinnable fight.

Who sets NSW tolerances?

The Guide to Standards and Tolerances 2017, read with your contract and the Code.

And if the citation is wrong?

The report and the guide go side by side, which is why items are cited at all.

Does a big cosmetic list serve anything?

It does, so long as it is marked cosmetic and you can sort by priority.

Get a Free Quote