Cutting construction costs

Chris Penk announced:

The Government is proposing further significant action to reform the building and construction sector to support more affordable homes and a stronger economy, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says.

“If we want to grow the economy, lift incomes, create jobs and build more affordable, quality homes we need a construction sector that is firing on all cylinders,” Mr Penk says.

“That is why the next action in our reforms of the sector is to construct a new self-certification scheme for trusted building professionals and accredited businesses carrying out low risk building work.

“The building consent system is intended to protect homeowners from defective building work by requiring work to be inspected and consented by a Building Consent Authority. But the regime is inefficient and adds cost and time to the build process, which makes it harder for Kiwis to realise their dream of homeownership.

“It takes on average 569 days for a home be built and consented – amid a housing shortage, that is simply too long to wait.

“Today we are announcing plans to develop a new opt-in self-certification scheme for trusted building professionals and accredited businesses. The scheme, which will go through a robust consultation process, features two key pillars.

“The first is that qualified building professionals, such as plumbers, drainlayers and builders, will be able to self-certify their own work, for low-risk builds, without the need for an inspection. This brings them in line with electricians and gasfitters who can already do this and is something the industry has been calling for, for years.

“The second pillar is that businesses with a proven track-record – for example, group homebuilders who build hundreds of near identical homes a year – will be able to go through a more streamlined consent process.

“At the moment, a single-story basic home might go through 10 or more separate inspections. This is clearly too many and the cost-benefit has become unbalanced.

These sound like pragmatic changes which should make a difference to the ever increasing time and cost of construction. I note even Labour ave said they are supportive, which is great.