Mind your maintenance!

Maintenance isn’t just up to homeowners. Builders need to think harder about the maintenance of the buildings they construct following changes to the Building Act that came into force on 1 January

A requirement under the new Building Act is that, once a job is complete, the contractor must give clients copies of guarantees/warranties that apply to materials and appliances supplied under their contract, and inform them of the building’s maintenance requirements. This is required regardless of the contract price.

Information about the maintenance needed for any element of the building is required to:

• Ensure that Building Code durability requirements continue to be met.
• Fulfill any conditions set out in product/system guarantees and warranties.

Wall cladding and coating systems, in particular, are likely to need regular maintenance to remain waterproof and durable. Some cladding systems also incorporate functional components (such as drained and vented cavity drainage outlets) that require maintenance and, in some cases, protection to ensure that they continue to function.

The best way to help the new owners of a building keep it in top condition is to provide them with a maintenance schedule that lists the specific materials used and the maintenance they require. Frequency of tasks is typically described as:

• Washing down painted weatherboard cladding at least once a year, for example, and repainting every 8–10 years.

A maintenance schedule can:

• Help property owners know what they should do to keep the property in good condition and avoid potential problems.
• Let builders and property owners find the details of a building material years after the property was built.
• Reduce a builder’s potential liability if lack of maintenance leads to issues such as weathertightness problems.

BRANZ provides a considerable number of resources around maintenance, from Build articles to sections in books, bulletins and websites. BRANZ also has a maintenance schedule tool (www.maintenanceschedules.co.nz) that lets you put together a customised schedule for each new property.