Building surveyors welcome the building reform announcements on 18th August
Building surveyors are hailing major changes to building regulations as a win for ratepayers, homeowners, investors and the wider economy.
Nick Hill, Chief Executive of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk’s reforms announced today will drive much needed behaviour change and weed out the cowboys.
“No other sector has such a disastrous track record and impact on innocent New Zealanders and the economy. Now, after decades of lobbying for change, it is great to see that common sense has prevailed.
“We are particularly pleased to see that the joint and severable liability scheme will be replaced with a responsibility-based model, ensuring parties are financially accountable for their own contribution to defective building work.
“For years this “last man standing” model has left ratepayers bearing the cost of leaky buildings once the cowboys have scarpered.
“Now, by wrapping the new liability doctrine in a cloth that targets the skillsets, responsibility and accountability of builders and subtrades, the burden is lifted from ratepayers and will change the behaviour of the sector.”
Mr Hill says rebalancing of risk will create a level playing field and improve social outcomes through avoiding innocent investors suffering from the pain and cost of shoddy buildings.
“It will also improve our economy through driving a more qualified and compliant building sector and importantly it will encourage our Building Consent Authorities to be less risk averse.”
Mr Hill says BOINZ also welcomes the Minister’s decision to support voluntary amalgamation of Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) rather than an enforced restructuring or centralised system.
“Our country’s 66 BCAs are already working together to integrate building consenting functions where it makes sense. Indeed, contrary to the Minister’s comments around 66 different interpretations of the regulations, new technology and collaboration across the sector means there is consistency across a majority of BCAs.
“With this commonality, voluntary amalgamation is a natural progression. So, it is pleasing that these reforms will facilitate that process with legislative change to remove existing barriers to doing so. There is a lot of work to do to ensure that this legislation is fit for purpose and we will be continuing to engage with government to make that happen.
Mr Hill says the Minister’s references to perceived ‘blockages’ and ‘delays’ in the consenting system also needed to be clarified.
“It’s important to understand that BCAs are not the problem when it comes to any delays in the consenting process. The real problem lies in the poor quality of work by builders and designers in making non-compliant consent applications, that in turn lead to requests for more information. That said, BCAs are turning round 50% of applications in under 10 days on average.”
Mr Hill says the reforms will ultimately lead to the maturation of the building and construction industry.
“As it stands, the industry is not mature, as the data and countless experiences of innocent people irrefutably shows.
“The reforms will drive change in multiple ways, including encouraging builders to become educated and qualified in order to get insurance cover and likewise designers to undertake more professional development.”
