Making, selling, using and/or installing unauthorised copies of Dam Buster products exposes everyone involved to the potential for substantial liabilities and legal consequences, which almost certainly won't be covered by any standard business insurance and can also easily leave owners and directors of companies personally liable - including financially. 

Despite what some might claim, unauthorised copies are also legally uncertifiable; this includes by Compliance Certificate or Performance Solution. Regulators, Building Surveyors, Inspectors and Forensic Plumbing experts all know this and will defect unauthorised copies because they can't meet the mandatory conformance requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC).  The NCC describes them as Non-Conforming Building Products.  All such products are banned Australia wide.  You also can't use any of our copyrighted Dam Buster technical information or other Intellectual Property to support an unauthorised product. 

If you are a manufacturer and someone approaches you asking to copy our products, please get in touch with us immediately, because our simple licencing arrangement (see more information on this page) can enable you to make them yourself very easily and legally, while making good money doing so.  

If you are a buyer like a plumber or builder, make sure you avoid being left holding the baby with an unauthorised product and having to redo the work at your own substantial cost and also being made to answer to a regulator such as the BPC or maybe even worse - a very unhappy home owner who has just given you the worst Google review in history after their pride and joy flooded out in a storm.  

You can easily avoid any problems by ensuring you are buying the real deal from one of our authorised suppliers.  All genuine Dam Buster products can be individually traced.  They also carry a range of security features including physical product name plates, long life serialized stickers and unique, laser cut physical markers, so if you are ever in doubt, please Contact Us Immediately.

If you've already somehow been conned and talked into buying any of these unauthorised rip off products, you should return them, demand your money back and never buy from that supplier again.  

HOW HOME OWNERS, BUILDERS AND PLUMBERS CAN AVOID BEING RIPPED OFF

If you want a genuine Dam Buster product, you must ask for proof they are genuine e.g a sales receipt from one of our authorised retailers or licensees.   All genuine Dam Buster products also come with individual serial numbers and  a range of other security features mentioned in the section above.  Genuine products are very easy to identify and if you are not sure what's being offered, please reach out to us. 

For any building product at all, you should also ask to see the MANUFACTURER's National Construction Code (NCC) documentary EVIDENCE OF SUITABILITY for the products they want you to buy and/or have installed.  It's an absolutely critical but killer question.  Evidence of Suitability should be a significant document, explaining and proving beyond doubt how that makers product has been tested and fully complies with all  NCC requirements. Be warned that "She'll be right mate" or "We've been doing this for 20 years" or "I've got a mate who certifies these for me" does not remotely amount to Evidence of Suitability.  If you ever hear anything like this, the alarm bells should be ringing loud and clear. For unauthorised copies of Dam Buster products, Evidence of Suitability legally cannot exist (no matter what it looks like or who it's from) and your buying decision should end right there. 

Dam Buster's own extensive and fully NCC conforming Evidence of Suitability can be downloaded any time from the Technical Downloads Page.

But there's some disreputable people out there who are creative and will find any way possible to sell unauthorised, illegal, non-conforming products and take your money.  The classic example is where someone e.g the plumber, tries to give you a Performance Solution from some supposed expert instead, claiming this will somehow certify unauthorised look alike products e.g attempted copies of Dam Busters rainheads, another way, but that's a serious breach of the law anywhere in Australia.   Those sorts of documents are legally invalid and not acceptable as Evidence of Suitability under the NCC or by regulators because (for pretty obvious reasons) all unauthorised, non-conforming building products are banned nation wide and no convenient piece of paper from someone saying otherwise can alter that.  It's a fundamental public safety and regulatory issue.  See https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/ncbp for more information.   

Home owners in particular should be extremely cautious if presented with any Performance Solution or other documentation that is attempting to justify products that look like copies of Dam Buster products but are not genuine.  Often owners are under pressure to get their new homes built and get pressured by the plumber or the builder to sign these sorts of documents.  But those documents are also illegal anywhere in Australia; its a con job. Some more key warnings to look out for with any Performance Solution: 

• No marked up plans for the specific site in question showing what is proposed to be done.

• No calculations for each and every box gutter and outlet device e.g rainhead.

• Does the Performance Solution even list the site address?  Some don't because it's just been cut and pasted from a template.

• No attachments to the Performance Solution, despite it mentioning various documents which should be enclosed e.g reference to testing supposedly conducted and reported on by someone else, but which isn't even attached. 

• No photographs of the supposed physical testing carried out, probably because it was never even done. 

• No diagrams of the proposed solution, nor of the products being used in that solution. Instead you just get pages of waffle designed to confuse on purpose and which could mean just about anything. 

• No calibration or identification of the measurement devices supposedly used to check flow rates etc.  Maybe they just guessed??   A real expert will detail all of this in considerable detail. 

• "Made Up" post nominals.  Just because someone is a member of an apparently reputable industry related organization does not mean they can suddenly use that to produce a non-sensical post nominal.  Hence beware of anybody who claims a qualification like "M.1234" where "M" means "Member" and 1234 is the industry organization.  Just being a member of 1234 because you paid the $50 annual fee does not entitle you to fabricate post nominals and in most cases, organizations like 1234 don't even have post nominals like that.  Its as meaningless as saying something like "M.RACV" or "M.NRMA" when you have roadside emergency assistance with the RACV or NRMA or if you've got your Home Insurance with them.  Beware: sadly there's no shortage of people out there who make this stuff up to make their qualifications and CV's look more impressive. 

• Supposed experts who are not even licenced in the relevant field of expertise.  In Victoria for example, only licenced plumbers (NOT registered plumbers) who are licenced in the appropriate category and class e.g Roofing, are legally allowed to certify plumbing design work and that includes writing Performance Solutions.  Any unlicenced or inadequately qualified practitioners should be treated with complete contempt and any Performance Solution they provide rejected out of hand. You can easily check on this - for example in Victoria you can search a practitioner to see if they are even licenced by going to https://www.vba.vic.gov.au/tools/find-practitioner 

• Training courses attended which provide the so called expert with no further qualification or experience to be issuing the Performance Solution than it would for you or any random member of the public to be issuing that document.   A law degree from Oxford University for example is possibly impressive, but it certainly does not qualify you to write Plumbing Performance Solutions. 

Often the Building Surveyor (or Building Certifier) is not even told a Performance Solution is being used, but the existence of any Performance Solution must be approved by the Surveyor/Certifier as part of the permit and must also form part of the Occupancy documentation.  But some dodgy builders and plumbers try to get around this by only having the owner sign the documentation (often under pressure), and they then keep it hidden from the building surveyor or certifier until the job is all handed over and paid for.  With 'spec' type homes, often these documents will also be concealed from everyone and only see the light of day if a potential incoming purchaser asks for the plumbing compliance documents. 

Who loses here?  Generally everyone except the dodgy manufacturer.  The owner is left with a Non-Compliant home fitted with Non-Conforming Building Products which were certified by illegal means, but by the time that's discovered it could be some years down the track and all those involved have disappeared into the sunset leaving the owner holding the baby.  By that time the house may also have suffered a catastrophic failure like being flooded out in a storm or else been plagued by ongoing leaks and mould.  If the Home insurer discovered this (and they all have their own consultants these days), your claim for water damage could also be denied in full and they may also refuse to ever reinsure you.

Selling a house covered in legally uncertifiable Non-Conforming Building Products? That's also not easy - they are a simple 'free kick' for any capable pre purchase inspector working for a lender or the new potential purchaser.  It could cost you tens of thousands on any potential sale and also cause considerable delays.  Some potential buyers will also drop out immediately and you might not be able to sell to anybody.  

Anybody who tries to con you with any of this is simply trying to rip you off.  They don't care about you or anybody else apart from making a fast buck themselves by flogging these cheap unauthorised attempted copies into the market.

In the case of plumbers and builders being sold this legally uncertifiable rubbish - even in some cases by apparently reputable suppliers, they are also risking their own licence and potentially substantial regulator imposed fines, apart from legal action for breach of Intellectual Property.  Any Compliance Certificate a plumber issues is potentially also legally invalid even if supported by a supposed Performance Solution, and that could have catastrophic implications for the entire building Certificate of Occupancy.  For the builder that's also a contractual and liability disaster. 

We know it's a competitive market but unsurprisingly, those who sell such rubbish products don't care about Dam Buster either, nor all the time, money and hard work we have put into developing these amazing Aussie invented products - they just steal the ideas instead, cook up ways to make their unauthorised junk products look legitimate, sell them to make a fast buck and leave the problems for others to deal with.  Very simply, these people are rogues who do not deserve your business.  They should be shunned by all reputable purchasers and home owners must also be absolutely alert. 

Reports of any potential infringements of our Intellectual Property are actively encouraged, will be immediately acted upon by our capable team, and may also attract a financial reward if the information is confirmed by independent investigation.  

If you suspect the roof drainage products you have been offered are not genuine Dam Buster products but look like them, please contact us immediately - confidentiality is assured. We can also easily confirm for you whether or not any product or seller is genuine or not. 

Any queries or reports should be emailed to enquiries@dambuster.com.au