Woods Megan: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWoods Megan: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 15 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6593. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]11.Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) to the Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission: Can he confirm that based on the MBIE survey findings EQC expects to remediate one-third of homes with “jack and pack” repairs in Canterbury; if so what will the costs to EQC be?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission): No. Of the 69000 homes in the repair programme 3600 had repairs completed that required specialist technical input and 2100 of these have now been identified as having the “jack and pack” repair method applied to them. Clearly not all of these will be problematic but all of them are being checked. Until these checks are made a definitive number cannot be known although the Earthquake Commission in some communications has taken or made a generous estimate. These repairs fall under Schedule 1 of the Building Act and do not require consents. The cost of further remediation is estimated at between $500 and $1000 per property but this will not in most cases come at a cost to the Crown.Dr Megan Woods: Has he met with representatives from the building industry to discuss potential liability issues for those repairs?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: The liability for those repairs as has been stated by the managing director of Fletcher Residential will fall in the first instance on the contractors who failed to do those repairs properly. So the $500 it might cost them to fix it or the up to $1000 it may cost them to do the work properly as they have already been paid for it will be on them.Dr Megan Woods: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was has the Minister met—Mr SPEAKER: I am going to invite the member to ask the question again.Dr Megan Woods: Thank you. Has he met with representatives from the building industry to discuss potential liability issues for those repairs?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I have most certainly met with Fletchers which runs the programme. That is the appropriate level of engagement. What I have been assured of by both Fletchers and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is that these are at the lesser concerning end of any scale and that where there is a failure of some kind it is expected that the repair would be somewhere between $500 and $1000 and that will fall on the contractor who has failed to meet the standard in the first instance.Dr Megan Woods: What deadline if any has he set for the completion of the reassessment and repair of those homes?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: The process—I think it is worth knowing—for the assessment of those 2100 properties is that they will have some form of below-floor inspection and then a programme will be put together for the individual repair of those houses. I do not think it particularly useful to put an artificial date out there for when they could be completed. Deadlines I have found in most things relating to the Canterbury earthquake recovery have not worked well for the people who do want to ensure that they get a good job.Dr Megan Woods: In light of foundation specialist Bevan Craig’s statement that this is the very diluted tip of a very big iceberg is he concerned that a thousand more homeowners may be living in homes with other shoddy repair work?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: No and I think it would be—Denis O’Rourke: Should be.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: No and I think it would be—well some people live in two homes of course even though they are attached. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Wind it up.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Well you should not judge a house by its mailboxes—that is the thing. No and I think it is inappropriate for the member to conflate two different types of damage that might have occurred to the house. So the issue that we are talking about and I think she is talking about is subfloor “jack and pack” as a method. I do not believe that the concerns that some are expressing are around foundation repairs.Dr Megan Woods: When 30 percent of repairs are defective in one review Cantabrians are increasingly expressing concern about the wider Earthquake Commission repair programme and the allegations of nepotism at the Earthquake Commission are rife what will it take for him to start taking this seriously and launch an independent inquiry?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I have taken the issue of repairing houses in Canterbury seriously since 7 September when we had the first meeting about those issues. There have been a large number of houses that are damaged. Many of them are over-cap but 69000 fall under the $100000 repair cap set by the Earthquake Commission. I do not believe that the excitement that some want to generate about a small amount of failure to meet a compliance that might cost between $500 and $1000 to fix if found to be defective is a reason for an inquiry of the nature that the member seeks.