Transforming the system

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 could the consent system be improved?

 

Firm: Broswick Builders

Interviewee: Todd Wickenden  

Role: Director/Builder 

Location: Auckland

Staff: 20

I really believe the consent system needs to be streamlined because, right now, consents take too long to process and the system isn’t working very well. It seems like you could place two identical consents and get two different outcomes.

In my experience, the building consent officers (BCOs) aren’t as knowledgeable as they need to be and that makes them very risk averse. Our designers and architects will put in good consent applications and get back heaps of requests for more information (RFIs) that they don’t think needs to be there.

I also think there needs to be more trust placed in our engineers and designers – especially when BCOs are inspecting work that has been engineered and inspected by an engineer. Half the time, you get a council inspector come along and they have no idea what they’re looking at. In terms of streamlining the process, that’s an area I feel could be looked at.

Our biggest issue is code compliance certificates (CCCs). They are taking forever to process and that’s not good either, because most customers can’t lock in their interest rates until CCCs are issued. Right now, that could be a 2% difference in the interest rate, which can be huge financially.

 

Firm: Fixation Builders

Interviewee: Darren Robinson 

Role: Owner/Director

Location: Queenstown

Staff: 13

A lot of our clients come to us with pre-consented plans, so we don’t have to deal with the consent system for the design phase. However, inspections can be frustrating and I believe there are a few ways the system can be improved.

For example, I think that communication between building consent authorities and builders can be improved. Sometimes I feel that we aren’t told about changes to processes or regulation and then we get failed on inspections for something we didn’t know was wrong.

I’ve also found that there’s a vast inconsistency between inspectors. On one build, we had a final inspection that was failed for a few things. We fixed those and booked a re-inspection. A different inspector then told us that we shouldn’t have been failed and shouldn’t have had to take remedial action!

I’d also like to see builders trusted more. I understand things need to be inspected, but when BCOs are checking GIB screws it feels like we’re having our hands held through the process when other trades can sign off their own work. I’d like to see us given the power to sign off our own work under certain circumstances.

Virtual inspections could be a good tool moving forward, but I’ve been billed for 30 minutes work after I sent one photo to a BCO! So, if the costs are going to stay that high, then virtual inspections won’t be the answer for me.

 

Firm: Gray Brothers

Interviewee: Mark Ward 

Role: Co-owner/Director

Location: Dunedin

Staff: 13

Our biggest gripe is that the council keeps losing the forms and documents that we submit online! We’ve had to submit the same thing three or four times and it drives us spare. So, if that could be improved, it would save us a lot of time.

That’s not down to the inspectors themselves, it’s the support staff. Improvements there would help a lot. 

Additionally, we can have one inspector say one thing and a second will say another – but that’s the human element of the job and it depends on experience and knowledge, so I’m not sure there’s a fix to that.

I like the idea of online inspections and being able to submit photos but it’s another tricky subject, because we can’t have one rule for some companies and another rule for those who can’t be trusted with virtual inspections.

Finally, we’re shaped by the market. If we do a bad job, we’re in trouble, but there doesn’t seem to be enough of a performance incentive for BCOs, who can do a bad job and get away with it. I think that could do with being changed.