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The government is moving ahead on plans to allow building consent authorities to use remote inspections in a bid to make building houses easier and cheaper. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said building was too costly and time consuming, with costs increasing by 41 per cent since 2019 and Stats NZ data showing that it takes an average 569 to build a home – excluding the time needed to get consent.
“A constant frustration getting in the way of building is the cumbersome consenting system and building inspections which are carried out to ensure a build is compliant with the building code,” Penk says.
“Inspections are typically in-person which can lead to long delays as builders are forced to wait sometimes for weeks for a spot to be available which often means building work must stop in the meantime.” Penk says the benefits of making remote inspections the default approach included lowering costs by removing the need for inspectors to travel to site, reducing delays with more inspections per day, reducing transport-related emissions and better record keeping.
