Inspections reform designed to make homebuilding easier and cheaper

The Government has proposed that building consent authorities should be required to use remote inspections as the default approach.

The purported benefits include:

• Reducing costs by removing the need for inspectors to travel to site – something that's particularly important in congested cities and isolated locations.
• Increasing efficiency by allowing inspectors to do more jobs per day.
• Improving record-keeping and documentation.

The Government will release a discussion document in the third quarter of this year, so councils and industry participants can provide feedback.

Current consenting system is “cumbersome”

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the Government was taking action because building homes in New Zealand was too expensive and time-consuming.

“Building costs have increased by 41% since 2019 and data from Stats NZ shows that it takes around 569 days on average for a home to be built – and that’s not even including the time to get a consent in the first place,” he said. 

“A constant frustration getting in the way of building is the cumbersome consenting system and building inspections which are carried out to ensure a build is compliant with the building code. 

“Inspections are typically in-person, which can lead to long delays as builders are forced to wait sometimes for weeks for a spot to be available which often means building work must stop in the meantime. 

“Remote inspections offer significant productivity gains that make it easier and cheaper to build. However, the use of remote inspections is currently inconsistent across the country, with some councils being reluctant to use it. That’s why the Government is progressing work to make remote inspections the default approach across New Zealand.”