Inspection wait times up, concern grows

Consents are needed at various points throughout a house build and while average wait times vary across the country, they’ve ballooned for several South Island councils

Christchurch City Council’s current inspection wait time is 33 working days, which has increased dramatically from 2019’s average of two to three days. 

The situation is a little better in Dunedin, which has a waitlist of 10 days – still more than double its 2019 average of four days.

Interestingly, the North Island’s major population centres remain unaffected by these problems, as Auckland and Wellington’s inspection wait times have remained relatively unchanged.

“Our experience is that wait times have come down over the past 12-18 months,” said SLC Builders Director/Lead Builder Cory Carroll. “We work around Greater Wellington and the two councils we deal with, Lower Hutt and Wellington City, generally have good lead times and flexibility.”

The increase in stabilisation of North Island inspection times has been put down to pauses in projects due to material shortages, allowing time to play catch up and/or good luck, with fewer staff off sick due to Covid. 

Deciding who to blame depends on who you ask. Chief Executive of the Registered Master Builders Association, David Kelly, thinks that inspectors have been hit with an unfortunate double whammy.

“We’re working with consent levels New Zealand has never seen before and councils are under extreme pressure. When you combine that with poor
staff levels, either due to struggles recruiting or Covid absences, you get the situation we’re in now.”

Peter de Gouw, Director of Christchurch-based Home Trends Builders, blamed a shortage of inspectors for the Garden City’s woes. 

“They’ve had 18 months to work it out, hire more staff and train them, but they haven’t done it,” he said.  “We’re seeing consents increase by 30% but staffing levels have remained the same!” 

A third factor, according to New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors Vice-President Darryl August, is a vicious cycle of poor-quality builds and the burden that places back on the system.

“Passes and fails are probably a big driving factor in New Zealand, because we still have a huge number of building companies and builders that are not building to the appropriate standard they should be.”

He added that failed inspections would have to be rebooked, which placed pressure back on the system.

Katrina Bach, the Acting Chief Executive of the New Zealand Certified Builders Association (CBA), told Under Construction that it was important to note that some councils were keeping on top of inspections.

“While there are a lot of councils with increases in waiting times for inspections, it is not all councils. Some councils have been working hard to improve response times and timeframes have improved from last year.”

Pressure to build quickly

Regions across New Zealand experienced a huge increase in the number of homes consented in 2021, compared to 2020.

In Canterbury, the number of consents issued over the year increased from 5,896 to 7,714, while Otago went from 1,979 to 2,341. Nationwide, consents were up 24% compared to the year ended 2020, from 39,420 to 48,899.

More building projects also means more inspections are required – a task which councils also need to carry out and which they are struggling to complete. Most sites require between 11-15 inspections before final sign-off.

Longer wait times cost money

Bach added that delays were creating unsustainable problems for everyone.

“They have considerable impact on those carrying out the building work. It pushes times frames out and causes delays and holdups in the building process, which has a knock-on effect for all involved. 

“This adds to cost increases and exacerbates the current difficulties and challenges being faced by the building sector and homeowners. It is also contributes to escalating house prices because it increases build costs.”

Technology needs to be embraced

So how should the problem be managed? Bach suggested a mixture of bureaucratic alterations and training.

“Streamlining some of the consenting process and the number of inspections being carried out would definitely assist. So too would councils putting more, well-trained resources into their building consenting and inspection functions.”

RMA’s David Kelly thinks turning to technology is one way councils could fight their way out of the mess.

“There’s a BRANZ app called Artisan,” he told Under Construction. “It lets builders take a record of construction and can be used to verify key details so the building inspector can run an inspection from the office. Builders should be using Artisan.

“Uptake has been patchy so far, and Artisan isn’t suitable for every inspection, but it has been well developed and piloted and could make a significant impact in terms of reducing inspection times providing there’s consistent understanding on how to use it by councils and builders.”

Home Trends Builders Director Peter de Gouw agreed. 

“Virtual inspections are a great idea and must be used more; however, the Council also needs to embrace it. We tried to get virtual pre-roof inspection but they won’t do them, because they said it’s too dangerous, which is ridiculous.” 

BRANZ isn’t the only organisation to pilot a medium to allow virtual inspections – Master Brick and Blocklayers has just released a similar App for its members that seeks to supplement in-person inspections with virtual ones as required. It can be used to send video or photographic confirmation of tasks appropriately completed, and products used by brand and type. For security purposes, it has the ability to confirm the GPS location of the work and that an LBP is providing the evidence from their own device.

“The evidential trail that a modern app-based system can provide allows officials, builders and clients to have considerable comfort that the work viewed meets the appropriate Building Code and New Zealand Standards with confidence,” says Master Brick and Blocklayers Chairperson Brian Miller.

Under Construction will highlight these new virtual inspections options in more detail in the next issue.

Relationship building can’t be ignored

Kelly said he was encouraged by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) review of the inspection system and would like to see them go further to reward good practice.

“MBIE recognises that councils can’t solve problems by themselves and they’ve accepted that a review is needed. We’d like to see regulation that rewards builders, who have a good track record and excellent past behaviour, with a fast-tracked inspection process. This would give builders an incentive to lift their game, put in consistent practices that work, dial down their reliance on councils to pick up mistakes and generally lift standards.”

SLC Builders Director/Lead Builder Cory Carroll added that councils should look to maintain relationships with tradies. 

“The biggest challenge for councils is keeping their experienced inspectors, who have relationships with local professionals. They know who the competent builders are and they know who to keep a closer eye on.”