PROPOSED CONSENT REFORMS – YES OR NO?

Builders’ Business is a column by builders for builders. Its objective is to provide a forum, particularly for small business operators, in which to share knowledge, experience, tips and ideas

Q: How do you feel about the government’s proposed reforms on modern methods of construction (also known as prefabricated building)?

Firm: A1 Homes Wairarapa
Principal: Paul Southey
Location: Wairarapa
Staff: 10

The reforms on modern methods of construction will help build affordable housing around the country. Prefab factories can build homes on a larger scale, which would benefit first home buyers and those in need of social housing.

Unfortunately, the consenting process remains an issue for traditional building, with long timelines and frustrations. The councils are in the same boat as most of the building industry, in that they are understaffed and don’t have enough resources to support the consenting process.

I believe improvements can be made regarding other forms of building too. In our business, we might work with four councils and the same designs might get four different questions from each council. When we build the same plan, the process would be totally different again.

More collaboration and sharing of resources and documents between local councils would allow companies, who build similar designs in high volume across many councils, a more efficient process.

Firm: Form Builders Ltd
Principal: Matt Stevenson
Location: Christchurch
Staff: 13

The cutting of red tape as proposed by government will benefit the affordable housing and social housing sectors in a big way.

I think any simplification of the consent process, so long as it’s maintaining robust quality assurance standards, is reasonable.

For factory builds that offer products at the cheaper level, not having to apply for consents at both the manufacturing and build stages streamlines the process and makes that model more economically sustainable.

Firm: John Creighton Builders Ltd
Principal: John Creighton
Location: Christchurch
Staff: 30

Streamlining the consent process at the factory level will benefit the construction of affordable housing, reducing the number of inspections and associated costs.

However, factory building is a small percentage of the market, and even if it grows with red tape being cut, there’s still a large portion of the industry building traditional houses and having issues with the consenting process.

Future reforms should look at improving the consenting process across the sector. For high-end homes like those we build, it’s hard to find consistency in the way buildings are inspected. With the council contracting different consent officers, you can find yourself with ten things to fix or 100.

Establishing a consistent approach to building inspections would go a long way. It would allow builders to know what to expect with every inspection and save having so many corrections to make, which slows down the process.

Now have your say…

Some disgruntled homeowners recently suggested builders should have to provide the average number of inspections failed per job. Do you think this would accurately reflect a builder’s skill level?

Answer this question to enter our quarterly prize draw. 

Email your answer with your full name, contact phone number, company name, number of full-time staff and the city or town in which you’re based to editor@pmundersconstruction.co.nz. All responses must be submitted by 25 April 2020. The answers to this question will be published in Under Construction June/July 2020.