Integrity issues facing a new profession

This chapter discusses professional challenges that building surveyors face in Australia in delivering multilevel apartments, identified through a literature review and interviews with six senior building surveyors across Australia. The primary challenge for building surveyors is undertaking a statutory role in a commercial environment, balancing conflicts between public, client, and commercial interests. To mitigate this tension, building surveyors require support from legislation to define an appropriate minimum standard, and from regulators to enforce the legislated minimum. Other challenges identified for building surveyors include the disproportionate distribution of liability amongst the building design and construction team, and professional anonymity. The introduction of a new professional standards scheme, however, indicates that the profession is evolving, from relying solely on regulation to defining and policing its own professional ethics.