About ABLE

Background	Primary reference pages:
Local Practice Resources	Profile - James Bertram
How Can You Participate?
Project Contributors

 

 Background

What first attracted me to the housing industry was its competitive nature. But when I started to strike technical problems my “competitive” mindset led me to believe that I could not discuss them with my competitors.

My capacity to learn how to make better decisions was limited to what I knew – and what I learnt from experience.

Later, when I started providing housing industry technical support I realised that everyone was paying to solve the same common issues.

This led me to believe that a common local solution was a better option. It was only paid for once, and the common practice that emerged credentialed local building practice.

I established the As-Built Learning Exchange (ABLE) and developed the Open Exchange operating process as a way to publish recognised local practice resources.

Local Practice Resources

As-Built Learning Exchange (ABLE) believes that industry benefit is the foundation upon which commercial benefit is sustained.

Taken from this perspective, whilst industry needs people with the competence (skills and training) to undertake work, it is the capacity of the individual to actually make better decisions in-the-moment whilst they are working that reduces errors and disputes, improves productivity, and sustains industry’s product and service reputation.

By taking a common approach to solving local issues, industry resources its future, achieves outcomes that are relevant to the way they work, and they credential their building practices.

Local Practice Resources enable better decision-making and this improves building process productivity. In a building process where descriptions are handed from client to builder and from builder to contractor, buyer satisfaction is more likely when there is clear, shared, and consistent exchange of descriptions between each person in the process.

When common practices are “recognised” local industry has the certainty of knowing that the work they are doing meets the regulators expectation for compliance and/or workmanship. 

ABLE Local Practice Resources publications include:

Compliance & Workmanship Information

Recognised Local Practice (compliance)

Local Practice Solutions developed using a process of investigation and verification to demonstrate that the local practice is DTS compliant. They are recognised by a Building Commission Advisory Note.

Local Practice Interpretations developed using a process of investigation and negation to reach an accepted description of how DTS compliance applies for local practice. They are recognised by Building Commission.

Acceptable Local Practice (workmanship)

Specification, Addenda, Variation, Purchase Order and other document templates developed to reasonably describe the building work to be undertaken and Work Practice Descriptions developed to clarify what is required for the outcome to be of an and acceptable standard.

Building Process

How Can You Participate?

ABLE is not membership based.

Website access

Building Professional are granted Learning Access to Local Practice Resources on the ABLE website for the purposes of personal learning and professional development (the matrix below explains ABLE’s operating process and how Building Professionals can participate in the development of useful information and solutions).

Downloading Local Practice Resources

If you are a Building Professional and you want to download resources for Learning Access purposes, you will be asked to Register.

Using Local Practice Resources

If a building company, design practice, thermal assessment practice or building surveying practice wants to use a resource, then they can request a Resource Use Rights agreement (use without an agreement is a breach of copyright).

Project Contributor

If you or your business wants to contribute to the development of a Local Practice Resource, then you can become a Project Contributor (see below).  Project Contributors are recognised on the Contributor Registry.

Project Contributors

Regulators, experts-in-their-field, building companies, design practices, suppliers, and associations contribute support and resources for Local Practice Projects because they recognise that the Open Exchange of common local practices is an effective way for industry to achieve affordability, compliance and workmanship gains.

Project Contributors participate in different ways and for different reasons:

• Building Commission provides “recognition” of agreed Local Practice Solutions and Local Practice Interpretations because they support better work practice outcomes.
• Experts-in-their-field provide evidence to verify Local Practice Solution compliance because they believe it supports the development of better local practices.
• Suppliers and supply associations contribute to the development of local practice outcomes because they resolve installation issues and lead to better product use.
• Building companies contribute because the information is relevant to the work they do and the published solutions can be used to credential their work practices.

If you have an issue that needs a local practice solution, or if your business is willing to be a Project Contributor, then contact ABLE to discuss how you and your industry can benefit.