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The government is proposing changes to the Building Act to make it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent.
New construction data from Stats NZ released in April shows that it takes around 569 days on average for a home to be built after it receives a building consent.
“This means that once you account for the time it takes to issue a consent, it takes nearly 600 days to build a house in New Zealand,” Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says.
“In the face of a housing and cost of living crisis, this is simply too long. Unclear and inflexible regulations add unnecessary time and delays to the build process.”
The changes proposed will allow builders to swap out comparable building products, in the event of a shortage, without having to submit a completely new building consent or wait until that specific product becomes available.
For instance, replacing one brand of a product such as plasterboard with a comparable product from a different brand, or putting a window where a door was initially planned.
Penk says this involves clarifying the definition of a ‘minor variation’ and introducing ‘minor customisations’ to the Building Act. This will provide more flexibility, which will help reduce delays and lower the cost of building and renovating.
“Building consent authorities will still need to assess building work to ensure it complies with the Building Code, but Kiwis won’t need to submit a new consent for minor product or design changes.
“This will also help increase competition for building products and give effect to the Commerce Commission’s recommendation from its market study into residential building supplies to remove impediments to product substitution and variations.”
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is working to prepare draft regulations to give effect to these changes before the end of this year. In the interim, MBIE is creating guidance material to support the understanding of the changes and how to use them once they are in force.
The changes are the latest in a package of initiatives designed to streamline the building process, which include moves to:
- Remove barriers for the use of overseas building products and require councils to accept products that meet international standards, which are the same as or higher than those in New Zealand.
- Bring forward a review of the earthquake prone building legislation and extend remediation deadlines by four years while the review is underway.
- Exempt small building projects under $65,000 from paying the building levy.
- Require councils to submit timeframes for building consents applications.
- Raise the height threshold for farm dam safety regulations from one to four metres.
An estimated 43,160 dwellings received a code compliance certificate last year, up 20 per cent on the year ended December 2022.
