The Building Practitioners Licensing Regime – What You Should Be Doing NOW To Ensure You Are Able To Obtain A License Under The Building Act

The 2004 Building Act introduced a new concept of building practitioner licensing.  Although the date by which these provisions become compulsory is not until November 2009, preparation for them is well underway and the period in the meantime is being used to establish and implement them. Lawyer, James Johnston discusses what builders can do now to make sure they are ready.

Building practitioner licensing means that certain building work, referred to as “restricted work” will have to be carried out, or supervised by, a licensed building practitioner.  As restricted work includes all building work that requires a building consent, the application of this regime is wide.  The reasons behind this significant change include giving consumers a level of comfort that building work will be designed, constructed and inspected by people who have the appropriate expertise.

Although these provisions have not come into practice yet, they are part of the new Act and the Regulations to give effect to them are under draft. They include:

• Establishing a process to deal with consumer complaints, which will be under the control of an independent Board who will hear complaints and make disciplinary decisions.  These decisions can include fines, suspension of licences or cancellation of licences.
• Defining classes of licences.
• Establishing a Register of Licensed Building Practitioners under the control of a Registrar.  The Registrar will determine whether applicants meet the criteria for initial or continued licensing.

So what can Builders do in the meantime to prepare for this change?

The first hurdle will be qualifying for a license, so in a nutshell, builders need to keep their nose clean.  The factors that are likely to be taken into consideration are:

• Building trade qualifications;
• Building experience;
• Historical problems (such as involvement in construction of leaky buildings).

The second hurdle will be keeping the license. As in all industries that are regulated, the responsibility will fall on to the license holder to ensure their work, or the work of those under their supervision, meets the appropriate quality standards. This involves:

• Using Building Code approved products;
• Ensuring the work meets industry approved standards;
• Complying with all other aspects of the Act such as obtaining building consents before building commences, building in accordance with the consent, obtaining codes of compliance for all building work, rectifying faults with workmanship and/or products within a reasonable time;
• Standing by the warranties imposed by the Act and any other provisions of the Act, such as a general duty to report to the relevant territorial authority and the owner, if they consider any building work is being carried out otherwise than in accordance with a building consent;
• Certifying specified systems in a compliance schedule for a building, including inspection of and issue of certificates and written reports to the building owner.

Each building consent will be required to include details of the licensed building practitioners who will be involved in carrying out or supervising the work and those named will be required to certify that the work complies with the relevant building consent at conclusion of the work.

Given that the license is personal to the building practitioner and the responsibility comes back to them as the named practitioner dealing with the project, there is little doubt this regime will change aspects of building industry practices as we know them, in particular the supervision levels required.

Builders need to start thinking now about their future staffing needs, as those with the appropriate skills to become licensed will be in hot demand by 2009.

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