The latest ruling against the former North Shore City Council should keep legal firms from having too lavish a Christmas party, as the central government continues to encourage the non-legal route as the best option for the 1.4 million rate payers exposed in the leaky-building developments.

Estimated at $11-22 billion, the repair bill is certainly going to feed through to the building industry, in multiple forms, as well ultimately flowing through to the general public, however the focus needs to concentrate on dealing with the effects, providing the means to allow people adversely effected to get on with their lives.

We should expect to see the leaky building repayments flowing through in terms of sales of materials and demand for trades people, we should also expect a demand for design fees, as people look to rectify the design issues, or use this as an opportunity to change or renovate the current structure.

Let me know your thoughts on how we as an industry can use this development to improve the industry as a whole. I look forward to reading your comments.