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The Epidemic of Dodgy Builders in Sydney: Why They Keep Getting Away With It

Sydney is in the grip of a dodgy-builder epidemic — defective work, phoenix companies and homeowners left with the bill. Here's why they keep operating, what the regulators are doing, and how to protect yourself.

TL;DR Sydney has a dodgy-builder problem that won't go away. Despite the toughest building reforms in a generation, defective work, collapsing companies and homeowners left holding the bill remain disturbingly common. In a single year, Building Commission NSW inspected more than 850 sites and issued hundreds of rectification orders — a sign of both serious enforcement and the sheer scale of the problem. The reason dodgy operators keep going is structural: they exploit company collapses, licensing gaps and the simple fact that bad work is hidden until it's too late. This article explains why the epidemic persists, what the regulations actually say, real cases that made it to court, and — most importantly — how to make sure you're never one of the victims. An epidemic hiding in plain sight B…