Tolley Anne: Building Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
Tolley Anne: Building Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:16053] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education)  
on behalf of the  
Minister for Building and Construction 
: I move  
That the Building Amendment Bill (No 3) be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Building Amendment Bill (No 3) be considered by the Local Government and Environment Committee and that the committee present its final report to the House on or before 30 June 2011. 
The Building Act 2004 is the primary legislation that governs the building and construction sector in New Zealand. The building and construction sector is vital to our economy but productivity is low. The sector is finding the current economic environment tough. There has been a rise in construction activity this year but it is a patchy recovery. 
The current system is not broken but it is not creating the right incentives to improve productivity. It is more costly than necessary and less efficient than it could be. Change is needed. When I say that I am not talking about just the Government changing the law; I am talking about culture change in the building and construction sector so that everyone takes pride in their work and stands behind it. There are many good people doing good work in the sector but the behaviour of some has dented confidence and that behaviour has to change. 
I am also talking about homeowners and others who commission building work changing their approach. Often their decision making is based purely on price. That approach needs to change to take into account factors that contribute to long-term value as well as immediate cost. None of this change will happen overnight and we need to manage the change carefully so we do not lose the gains we have made since enacting the Building Act in 2004. 
This Government is committed to regulatory reform designed to unleash enterprise. The Building Amendment Bill (No 3) is the result of a comprehensive review of the Building Act 2004 carried out in 2009-10. I acknowledge the important role played by the sector reference group in the review. Many sector leaders in the building and construction sector put time and effort into making submissions and contributing to meetings and working groups. They are the best source of information about the sector and their input was very valuable. 
A year ago when we started the review the aim was to reduce the cost and complexity of the consenting process. The Government received over 380 submissions in response to the review. The main message of the submissions was the vital importance of getting the balance right between reducing compliance costs and providing adequate insurance that building work is up to scratch. The package of amendments in the Building Amendment Bill (No 3) seeks to achieve that balance. 
The Government has no interest in deregulating at the cost of the health safety or financial security of New Zealanders. Quality of building work must come first—that is the fundamental purpose of the Building Act 2004. The Government’s goal is a more efficient and productive sector that stands behind the quality of its work; a sector with the necessary skills and capability to build it right first time and that takes prides in its work; a sector that delivers good-quality affordable homes and buildings and contributes to a prosperous economy; a well-informed sector that shares information and quickly identifies and corrects problems; and a sector where everyone involved in building work knows what they are accountable for and what they rely on others for. The Governments wants consumers in the sector to make informed decisions and to understand the risks and consequences of their decisions. I am pleased to report there is widespread support for the direction of the proposed changes. 
I will now outline the key changes contained in the Building Amendment Bill (No 3). They cover three broad areas: clearer accountability more efficient regulation and improving skills and knowledge. These areas are all interrelated. We cannot make regulation more efficient without first getting accountability clear and both depend on people having the necessary skills and knowledge. The Building Act 2004 will be amended to make it clearer that the buck stops with the people doing the work. Builders and designers must make sure their work will meet building code requirements; building owners must make sure they get the necessary approvals and are accountable for any decisions they make such as substituting specified products; and building consent authorities are accountable for checking that plans will meet building code requirements and inspecting to make sure plans are followed. 
The bill will also change the current building consent process to allow for risk-based consenting. This change will reduce compliance costs by doing away with unnecessary checking and inspection. It will also provide incentives for builders and designers to ensure they have the necessary skills to build it right first time. 
A new risk-based consent system will allow owners to apply for different types of building consents based on the risk of the work to be done rather than the current one-size-fits-all standard. Low-risk or simple residential work done by a licensed building practitioner does not need a lot of checking or inspection by the building consent authority. The building consents for this type of work will have limited checks and inspections by the building consent authority. For more complex residential work where the risks are higher the current building consent process will remain in place with detailed checks and inspections by the building consent authority. For commercial building work the new building consent will take current best practice and apply it across the sector. This will allow for third-party review and quality assurance processes to take the place of building consent authority checks and inspections. 
The risk-based consent system will work only when we have confidence in the quality of building work being done. The Government has identified a number of pre-conditions that will tell us whether we are on the right track. These conditions include having a sound base of competent licensed building practitioners who know how to comply with the code. We will activate the new types of risk-based building consents only when these pre-conditions are met. 
In February this year the Minister announced measures to streamline and simplify the licensed building practitioner scheme. A robust licensing scheme with a critical mass of licensed builders means consumers can have confidence that their homes will be built right first time. The Government will cut compliance costs for building practitioners without compromising standards. The bill will amend the Act to be explicit about the standard of behaviour expected from people working in the sector. This is the culture change I mentioned earlier. Good standards of behaviour will help restore confidence in the sector. A code of ethics will now form part of the licensed building practitioner scheme and licensed building practitioners will be able to be disciplined for breaches of the code or other behaviour that brings the scheme into disrepute. 
The final key change included in the bill is an owner-builder exemption from the restricted building work regime in the Act. We are a nation of do-it-yourselfers and the Government thinks it is unfair to stop Kiwis wielding a hammer on the weekend which could happen under the restricted building work regime. But we still want to protect consumers from past shoddy work on their prime asset. The do-it-yourselfers will be exempt from the restricted building work regime. This means they will not have to employ licensed building practitioners to supervise or carry out restricted building work but their work must still meet the requirements of the building code and like professional builders they will still be accountable for the work that they do. 
Further we need to prevent unlicensed builders from flying under the radar and passing themselves off as do-it-yourselfers. The bill therefore includes provisions preventing do-it-yourselfers from working on more than one home within any 3-year period. It also requires any assistance given to the do-it-yourselfer by friends or family to be unpaid. The Government believes that these are fair and reasonable steps to prevent bad houses being built by unlicensed builders. 
This bill will see more work built right first time increase confidence in the sector reinforce incentives for the sector to upskill and reduce compliance costs by increasing efficiency.