The Government is planning to make a number of changes to the laws governing building, as a result of the year-long review of the Building Act 2004.

The changes include new contracting and information disclosure requirements for residential building work, more exemptions from the need for a building consent, and future changes to the consenting system.

The Minister for Building and Construction Maurice Williamson says the planned changes set the scene for an efficient and productive sector that stands behind the quality of its work.

The changes form part of the Government's better building blue-print and sit alongside other initiatives to drive improvements in building quality, including the licensing of building practitioners and improved education about Building Code requirements and how to meet them.

The Department would like to acknowledge the Sector Reference Group for its input and advice.

Further information about the key changes can be found in the following articles, and on the Building Act review section of our website.

On this page:

• New contract requirements for residential building work
• Changes to building consent process on horizon
• More work exempt

New contract requirements for residential building work

Building contractors who are building new houses or doing major renovations or other projects in the residential sector will have to be ready to meet new contracting requirements from late next year.

'There are many good people doing good work in the sector, but the behaviour of some, and the weathertightness crisis, has dented confidence,' says Mr Williamson.

He says the planned changes to contracting requirements and supporting information are aimed at rebuilding confidence, by making it clearer to all parties what is expected and how any problems will be fixed. Under the new rules, it will become a legal requirement for building contractors to have a written contract in place with their clients for all residential projects over $20,000.

The building contractor could be an individual or a company, and the contract requirement will apply to work to construct, alter, repair, demolish or remove a building.

Every contract will have to include the already-existing warranties in the Building Act that require building work to be fit for purpose, meet the Building Code and be undertaken with reasonable care and skill (among other requirements).

The building contractor will be expected to fix any defects in their work that are reported within 12 months of completion, on top of the existing obligation to 'put things right' for up to 10 years (provided there has not been misuse or negligent damage by the consumer). At the same time, consumers will get more information about what maintenance they need to carry out and the importance of reporting any defects as quickly as possible.

New information disclosure provisions will also make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about who they contract to carry out their building work.

The building contractor will have to give the consumer information before the contract is signed about the skills, qualifications and licence status of those who will do the work and any publicly available information about any disputes (for example the results of any court judgments). They will also have to disclose what, if any, surety or insurance backing they have, to cover the cost of fixing any faults.

Mr Williamson says these requirements are not that different from what many responsible contractors already do.

'Both the Certified Builders Association and the Registered Master Builders Federation have standard contracts and offer forms of surety for their members.'

'I would expect to see these changes resulting in any faults being fixed faster, and fewer disputes ending up in court.'

Changes to building consent process on horizon

The Government is signalling that it wants to make changes to the building consent system once other measures to provide more quality assurance are in place.

It plans to introduce a 'stepped' risk-based approach, where the amount of checking and inspection is directly aligned to the risk and complexity of the work and the skills and capability of the people doing the work.

'We can only do this once we can have confidence quality is being built in,' says Mr Williamson.

This planned approach is more conservative than the suggestions consulted on during the Building Act review.

The first step would be a stream-lined process for some low-risk work (such as a free-standing garage or large rural shed) that simply checks that certain conditions are met (for example the work is undertaken by a licensed building practitioner).

The next step would see a simplified and more prescribed consenting process for certain simple residential building work at the lower-risk end of the spectrum (such as a simple single-storey house built using proven methods and design with low structural and weathertightness risks). Existing consent and inspection requirements would continue for other residential work.

As part of this new risk-based approach, change is also on the cards for consenting for commercial buildings.

This would provide for reliance on third-party (non-building consent authority) review and quality assurance processes as an alternative to the current consenting and inspection requirements, provided certain conditions are met.

Mr Williamson says this new approach would reduce compliance costs by doing away with unnecessary checking and inspection, and would also provide incentives for builders and designers to get licensed and demonstrate their professionalism. However he says the Government is not prepared to compromise building quality and wants to see some pre-conditions in place before changing the consent system in this way.

In practice this means these changes will only come into effect once there is a strong base of licensed building practitioners, who show they understand the performance requirements of the Building Code and how to comply with them (mid-2012 at the earliest). It will also depend on new contracting arrangements for residential work being in place, and the results of monitoring of building quality.

Longer term, the Government is also looking at how it could make the building consent system more nationally consistent and efficient. This could be achieved through nationally consistent back office support and IT systems, in support of efficient local delivery.

An initial assessment found there was scope for significant efficiency gains. The Government now wants to develop a detailed, fully costed plan for how this might be achieved. Local government will be involved and the Government will receive a report by the end of March next year.

More work exempt

The Government is moving to exempt a broader range of building work from needing a building consent by adding to Schedule 1 of the Building Act.

The exact date depends on regulations being passed, but this is expected to happen later this year.

All exempt work must still meet the Building Code and other relevant regulations, such as the provisions of the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006 and the Electricity Act 2002, and district plan requirements.

The planned exemptions include:

• replacement or alteration of internal wall and floor linings and finishes in a dwelling. This clarifies that linings are exempt but not the entire wall
• lightweight stalls (eg, used at fairs and exhibitions)
• fabric shade sails and associated structural supports that do not exceed 50 square metres in area (with limitations on matters such as the level on which the sails are installed and distance from a legal boundary)
• installation, replacement or alteration of thermal insulation in existing buildings (excluding exterior walls and fire walls). This clarifies that retrofitting ceiling and underfloor insulation will not need a consent
• penetrations with a maximum diameter of 300 mm (including associated weatherproofing, fireproofing and any other finishings) to enable the passage of pipes, cables, ducts, wires, hoses and the like through any existing building. This clarifies that for example a heat pump can be installed without needing a consent, although the wiring must be done by a registered electrician
• signs and associated structural supports where the sign is no more than 3 metres high and the face area of the sign does not exceed 6 square metres
• height restriction gantries (eg, a vehicle height warning in a car park)
• private playground equipment used in association with a single household where no part of the equipment extends more than 3 metres above the ground.

Exempt if carried out in accordance with the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006:

• replacement (including repositioning) of water heaters, except for systems that are not open-vented, have an uncontrolled heat source or a controlled heat source other than gas or electricity.

Exempt if carried out or designed by a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng):

• signs and plinths
• retaining walls in a rural zone that retain not more than 3 metres depth of ground with limitations on matters such as the distance from any legal boundary or any existing building
• playground equipment installed in a public place for a government department, Crown entity (including a school), licensed early childhood centre or a local authority.

In addition, Schedule 1 will be amended to clarify the following existing exemptions.

• Additions to clarify that the current exemption relating to internal walls does not include load-bearing or bracing element walls (ie, as originally approved by Cabinet in May 2008) or any part of a wall that is fire-rated or part of a specified system.
• Increasing the height of exempted fences and hoardings from 2 m to 2.5 m and removing the term 'wall' from the same exemption as this is adequately covered by the term 'fence' and avoids potential for confusion with reference to walls that are part of another building.
• Adding to the exemption for tanks and pools to allow a wider range of volume-height configurations than are currently provided for.
• Increasing the size of marquees and tents for public events to 100 square metres (ie, the same as is currently allowed for private events).
• Increasing the height of exempted decks, other platforms and bridges from 1 m to 1.5 m and adding the term 'boardwalks'.
• Increasing the floor area of exempted porches and verandahs from 15 square metres to 20 square metres, adding carports to the same exemption and removing the requirement that the structure be over a deck or a patio.
• Increasing the area of exempted awnings from 15 square metres to 20 square metres and adding the term 'canopies' to the same exemption.
• adding to the existing exemption allowing alterations to sanitary plumbing the clarification that the exemption excludes water heaters (which are now covered by a separate exemption) and does not permit the total number of sanitary fixtures in a dwelling to be increased. 

For further information you may call the Department of Building and Housing on 0800 116 926 from 8.30am to 5pm weekdays, or email info@dbh.govt.nz