Building work

In future, some types of building and design work will have to be done or supervised by a licensed building practitioner. We explain the new rules.

Licensing of building practitioners

The Building Act 2004 introduces the licensing of building practitioners, which is being phased in from November 2007. 

The Scheme aims to set national standards of competence for people in the industry, and to ensure skills are raised and through ongoing skills maintenance.

It also recognises that some work is so fundamental to the structure and weathertightness of a building that it should only be designed and carried out by a competent practitioner. This work is known as ‘restricted building work’.

The exact extent of restricted building work has not been defined yet, but it will be introduced from November 2010.

From that date, people either designing or undertaking restricted building work will have to be licensed for their area of expertise (or be supervised by a licensed person). 

The types of licence
There will be 13 classes:

• Three for Designers (Design 1, 2 and 3).
• Three for site supervisors or construction managers (Site 1, 2 and 3).
• Seven Trade and Specialist classes:
  • (for Carpenters, External Plasterers, Roofers, Brick and Blocklayers, and specialists in Concrete Structure, Steel Structure, and Building Services).

The specific licensing class(es) a practitioner has will determine the type of work they will be able to supervise or carry out. Some practitioners will be licensed in more than one class.

To help you understand, the following table gives an indication of the sorts of work practitioners with different licences will be able to do: 

Building Category	Design licence level	Site licence level
1.Straightforward houses	1.eg. Builder with design knowledge	1. eg. Experienced house builder
2. Moderately complex commercial or residential	2. eg. Experienced architectural designer	2. eg Experienced large-project builder
3. Large or publicly important buildings	3. eg. Registered Architect, Chartered Professional Engineer	3. eg. Experienced construction manager

Registered Architects and Chartered Professional Engineers with current practising certificates are treated as if they are licensed in Design Class Three by virtue of their own registration schemes. Even so, they are still expected to work within their own areas of expertise.

From 2010, all projects will require the appropriate Design and Site practitioners to work on, or supervise them.

All projects requiring licensed building practitioners must have people with the appropriate Specialist and/or Trade licences to supervise or do any work on those areas of a building; ie the foundations, framing, and concrete and steel structure; and roofing, exterior cladding, external windows and doors.

The Trade and Specialist licence classes apply across all buildings.

Under the licensing system:

• Licensing will cover both design work (plans) and building work.
• People wishing to become licensed will have to pay a fee and demonstrate they have the skills and experience to meet national standards. The standards are still being developed.
• Unlicensed people will still be able to carry out work restricted to licensed building practitioners under the supervision of a licensed person.
• Anybody will be able to access a public online register to find information about licensed people.
• If you are licensed and do substandard work, a complaint can be laid against you with the Building Practitioners Board. If the complaint is upheld, you may be censured, fined, ordered to do some extra training or struck off.
• If you do any work restricted to licensed building practitioners, without a licence, you can be fined up to $20,000.
• Licensing applies to individuals. You cannot get a company licence.

What this means to DIYers

The licensing system will have little impact on the type of work most often done by DIYers.  You will still be able to maintain your property and make alterations to your house.

This will include renovating your property, replacing a window or door and building a deck, so long as you follow the consenting and inspection procedures.

The Government has also come up with a set of proposals on how you will be able to undertake larger work on your house. 

Under these proposals, you be able to build a house from scratch if you want to. However, you will need to do the work yourself, you will need to sign a statutory declaration that you are intending to live in the finished building and you will be required to take on the same liability as a professional builder for the work you have done.

The proposals can be read about in full on the Department of Building and Housing’s website.

If you hire someone to do work for you and it is restricted building work, then they will need to hold the required licensing class.

By following these guidelines, future homeowners will have more certainty that significant work undertaken on any house they buy has been done to a good standard by competent and accountable practitioners.

When does it come into effect?

Licensing of building practitioners is being phased in at the moment. Practitioners have until November 2010 to become licensed. After this date, it is intended that certain restricted building work will only be able to be done or supervised by someone who is licensed.

For more detailed information about licensing, visit the Department of Building and Housing website: www.dbh.govt.nz or call the Department on 0800 60 60 50.