The Death of Kiwi DIY

Do It Yourself (DIY) is a Kiwi birthright.

However, traditions get remodelled for the modern world and in the case of DIY, parliament through the Building Act, has done some pretty serious renovations.  It is no longer simply a matter of “getting some mates around and knocking it out in half a day”.

The Act has, for the protection of the homeowner and future purchasers of the property, restricted how renovation and/or building work must be done in order to ensure a good standard and compliance with the law.

So how do you know what can be done and what can’t?

It’s simple really - residential design and construction work that is critical to the building is now defined as “Restricted Building Work” and must only be carried out or supervised by a recognised competent person – a Licensed Building Practitioner. 

So what does the beaucratic speak actually mean?

The Ministry for Everything (otherwise know as the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment – MBIE) has a really useful website to help:

www.building.govt.nz

The Government defines restricted building work as including the design and construction of a house or small-medium sized apartments and covers:

• Primary structure (e.g., foundations and framing) - to ensure the building can withstand vertical and horizontal loads.
• External envelope (e.g., roofing and cladding) - to ensure the building is weathertight.
• Fire safety systems (e.g., sprinklers, fire alarms) - to ensure people are adequately protected from the dangers of smoke and fire.

Simply put, restricted building work requires a building consent from your local council and must be done by a licensed building practitioner.

A common question we see from home owners is what work can be done without a building consent?  The website helps us answer this question here:

http://building.govt.nz/bc-no-consent

Indeed there is a 116 page booklet to help clarify the question – which it does with useful examples.

It is important to remember that not needing a consent does not mean you can necessarily do the work yourself.   Much of the work must be done by a suitably licensed person to avoid the need for a consent.  For example, replacing a hot water cylinder does not require a building consent – if it is carried out by a person authorised under the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act (page 91)...

When in doubt check - it is much better to do that up front than get to the LIM or building report stage of your home sale and find out you got it wrong!