Yes, according to a construction lawyer, who said he's seen "shades" of the same waterproofing problems that caused structural and health problems in tens of thousands of New Zealand buildings right here in Canberra.

"Being a New Zealander I love the All Blacks but I'm appalled at a concept called Leaky Building Syndrome," Kim Lovegrove told a forum on urban policy and planning last week.

"The leaky building syndrome in New Zealand was the product of deregulation without safeguards in the 90s and it's culminated in what will march towards $20 billion worth of carnage in the building industry in New Zealand ... and we're starting to see shades of that in the ACT."

To prevent the same level of "carnage" in Australia, Mr Lovegrove has suggested a radical overhaul of how private building certifiers are audited.

The ACT's risk-based auditing program would be replaced by a mandatory twice-a-year audit of all private certifiers at their own expense under Mr Lovegrove's proposal, similar to the way lawyers operating trust accounts are monitored.

"Why is that so critical? Because under the current system in every jurisdiction in Australia it's the complaint that culminates in the audit. By the time the complaint crystallises, the damage has been done. If you had a complaint-based auditing system for lawyers to disincentivise the recalcitrants from plundering client trust accounts you'd only find out the money was gone when the money was gone," Mr Lovegrove said.

"The private building certifier is your regulatory policeman, charged with the responsibility under the legislation of ensuring that what is designed and gets a building permit complies with the building code and the building act. You cannot have a free-market model applying to the remuneration of your regulatory policeman."

But planning minister Mick Gentleman maintained the ACT's current risk-based system was better placed to pick up compliance problems than periodic auditing.

"The building auditing program includes auditing a percentage of each certifier's projects throughout the year, and for apartment complexes the auditing program aims to audit all residential complexes during construction," Mr Gentleman said.

"The focus of the auditing program is to prevent and minimise serious building defects, and detecting and rectifying problems earlier, which would be more difficult under a once-a-year auditing system."

He also pointed out Canberrans can actually hire independent building certifiers for building work.

"We will shortly commence an awareness campaign to ensure people better understand their rights when they are renovating or building," he said.