Sumandeep Dhillon

Mr. Sumandeep is a builder working on the outskirts of Ngunnawal. “Canberra is a great city to do business,” he said. His off-camera comment was surprising, given everything I had heard about the city’s high taxes and high costs. Why is that?

It turns out Canberra has very strict building regulations, enforced rigorously. Mr. Sumandeep explained it with a modest smile, saying that in the end, every builder simply has to deliver houses of high quality. Yet between the lines, the message was clear: he and his team welcome such high standards, because they know how to thrive under them.