Heatley Phil: Building Amendment Bill (No 4) — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHeatley Phil: Building Amendment Bill (No 4) — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14978. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei): I rise to support the Building Amendment Bill (No 4) which has gone through a tremendous amount of scrutiny since the review of the Building Act carried out in roughly 2009 flowing on to 2010. It is worth noting that the construction sector is a critical player in the New Zealand economy. It is the fifth-largest sector in New Zealand. It employs 174000 people which equates to somewhere roughly between 7 and 9 percent of the workforce overall. It contributes to about 4 percent of the GDP. It employs large numbers of Māori and lots of those of course leaving school and looking to upgrade their skills in that very sector.It is not surprising that in a sector employing so many working so hard in this country and contributing so much to our GDP there would be a few if you like cowboys out there. The idea of this legislation is to reform the building rules such that they “build it right first time”. New Zealand in some senses in some parts of the country and with some building companies has been seen as something of a wild west historically and of course that must stop because although we talk about the very high-level figures for New Zealand the reality is that if it was just one home that was built in New Zealand by one builder contributing very little to the GDP to that particular family it is a complete tragedy if their largest and most valuable asset actually crumbles underneath them and they are left essentially with big bills to pay on top of a mortgage.This legislation will ensure that homeowners can make informed decisions about their homes and who builds their homes. Improvements to productivity efficiency and accountability can be achieved only if building work is designed and constructed right the first time and meets the requirements of the building code. The review did find an over-reliance on building consent authorities. It is important that we do have the monitoring the policing and of course the accountability that comes from that. The reality is that we want to trust the builder in the first place to give good advice and do an excellent job on site.The changes will enforce in law what is already best practice in the industry. The majority of builders who have already behaved professionally have nothing to fearwhatsoever but the cowboys do and that is a good thing. I am sure that this House agrees. The major change is that homeowners will be better able to identify between a professional and those who are lax in their work. And of course the drawing up of contracts and the obligations on builders to provide some sort of transparency about their business and what they are going to give I guess to their clients have been fully opened up. I commend this bill to the House. It has taken a long period of work by this Parliament and the Minister to pay attention to detail. I congratulate the Local Government and Environment Committee on its work and I commend the bill to Parliament.