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Government Pushes for Trusted Tradies Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk wants Kiwis to identify high-quality, trusted professionals more easily. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and we tend to amplify the negative stories of cowboy builders ripping off New Zealanders, which unfairly tarnishes the construction industry’s reputation. “Most tradies are highly skilled and trustworthy, […]
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk wants Kiwis to identify high-quality, trusted professionals more easily. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and we tend to amplify the negative stories of cowboy builders ripping off New Zealanders, which unfairly tarnishes the construction industry’s reputation.
“Most tradies are highly skilled and trustworthy, but the industry tells me high-profile examples of poor workmanship are tarring the good with the bad. I have also heard that Kiwis want assurances that the Government’s work to unblock the building consent system won’t lead to corners being cut,” he says.
“There is an urgent need to strip back the layers of regulation choking productivity in the building system. Builders are waiting too long for the necessary paperwork to get on with the job, which adds costs for homeowners.
“That’s why we are hammering away at an ambitious programme of reforms, including a proposal that will enable trusted tradespeople to sign off their own work,” he says. “This will make it easier and more affordable to deliver new homes, but it’s important that there are checks in the system to protect against shoddy work.”
Penk says that Master Builders welcome these changes, including:
• Strengthening the disciplinary process and introducing greater transparency by giving the Licensed Building Practitioners Registrar more tools and publishing details of builders who have been suspended.
• Establishing a new waterproofing licence class for LBPs to ensure qualified and accountable work in wet areas.
• Improving the complaints processes for licensed electrical workers, and licensed plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers by allowing Registrars to initiate investigations more easily and enabling the creation of Codes of Ethics to promote professional standards of behaviour.
Concerns regarding fast-tracked self-regulating builders have been rife since they were first announced last year.
Institute of Building Surveyors president David Clifton says Penk was putting the cart before the horse, and that more continuous professional development and education were needed before a self-certification scheme could be trusted.
“There is huge value in refining the consenting process to address time and cost concerns. In fact, there are examples where the time and costs of the consent processing outweigh the cost of the actual work. But these are at the fringes of the process, and so these proposed changes must strike the right balance between oversimplifying the process and protecting homeowners, businesses, and councils,” he said.
“We believe that Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) need further training to be adequately prepared for any proposed change for self-certification.
“The market must have confidence that the sector can deliver with minimal defects from design, to build and completion. This can only be achieved with the process of further education for the sector, and confirmation of this working via independent inspections.”
Former Building Guide publisher Mark Graham called the plan “madness.”
“Group Home Builders operate on a franchise system. Clients have a contract with individual franchisees who often don’t have the financial backing to fix major issues,” Graham says.
“The Master Builders guarantee that many clients rely on for peace of mind is, as with any insurance company, hard to claim on and minimised wherever possible. Furthermore, re-insurance companies largely pulled out of the NZ market because of the overall quality of our construction industry.
“I suspect we’ll be heading into another leaky homes disaster.”
“It takes on average 569 days for a home be built and consented. At the moment, a single-story basic home might go through 10 or more separate inspections. This is clearly too many and the cost-benefit has become unbalanced,” Penk said last year.
“We want builders to take pride in their work, and homeowners to have peace of mind about the quality of workmanship carried out. New rules will give the small minority of bad operators the chance to shape up or ship out,” Chris Penk added in March, with the announcement of policy progress.
“This is just the beginning. More reforms are on the way to crack down on cowboy builders—including increasing penalties for careless work.”
The changes will apply to work completed by licensed electrical workers, licensed building practitioners, plumbers, gasfitters, and drainlayers, and are expected to take effect in 2026.
