The Dutch Quality Assurance for Building Act: how you keep your administration in order

What is the Quality Assurance for Building Act?

Residents and users want high-quality buildings with, for example, low energy consumption and proper fire safety. The government wants more supervision and control in the construction industry to ensure that installers and construction companies comply with the applicable quality requirements and that consumers are less confronted with construction errors and defects. For this reason, the Quality Assurance for Building Act has been drawn up, and this act entails five changes:

1. Independent quality controllers check during the design and on the construction site whether a building meets legal and technical requirements. These inspectors are called quality assurance officers.
2. The contractor is responsible for the consequences of all defects during construction that he causes. If there are defects, the customer may force the contractor to repair the errors, even if the customer only discovers these errors after delivery.
3. The contractor must inform the customer whether and how he has insured himself against bankruptcy and the risks of damage and defects.
4. Customers can park 5% of the construction amount (the contract price) at the notary. However, since 1 January 2021, the notary will only pay the money to the contractor if the customer indicates that there are no defects or the defects have been remedied.
5. If the quality assurance officer or the municipality sees a problem, the municipality may stop construction.

When does the Quality Assurance for Building Act come into effect?

The Senate passed the Quality Assurance for Building Act on 14 May 2019. The Quality Assurance for Building Act is expected to take effect step by step on 1 July 2022. This means that the Quality Assurance Act will come into effect from then up to and including 2024 for superficial structures, such as single-family homes and smaller business premises. In this way, construction companies, installers, municipalities, and other involved parties can gain experience with the new requirements and supervision in construction during the more straightforward projects. The Quality Assurance for Building Act is expected to apply to all buildings from 2025.

What will change for me as an installation company?

The most significant change is that contractors are responsible for the quality requirements of the construction project. Contractors must build a file during the construction project to comply with this. This file contains all information about the different construction phases from start to finish. Suppose you are hired by a contractor as an installation company. In that case, the contractor expects you to work in the same way as an installer. For example, many contractors already require you to take several photos before and after the job to justify how you found and left the work. Upon completion, the client receives the complete file of the construction. In this way, construction companies and installers can demonstrate that all quality requirements have been met.

The preparation in your administration for the Quality Assurance for Building Act

Use the exemplary service and maintenance software. You can keep installing installations on construction projects as efficiently as possible. Bluace’s Technical Management solution is such software. With this software in the cloud, all employees always and everywhere work with the same system according to an unambiguous working method. Installers work on location with the Field Service App and use it to easily take photos or other notes before and after the job, which are stored directly at the object level. Thanks to the cloud, all this necessary information is now available in the system. A real-time overview is always available to view progress, tasks, and profitability.