John MacDonald: A Cantabrian's perspective on govt building changes

I reckon a lot of us in Canterbury won’t be as excited as people elsewhere in the country about the Government’s plan to let builders, plumbers and drainlayers sign-off their own work.

I say that because of the bare faced lies a lot of us were told by builders after the quakes.

So this is going to apply to the construction of simple, standardised houses to try and reduce the need for so many council inspections and to speed-up building times.

The Government reckons there’s about 3,000 homes that will pop-up sooner through these changes. But the only way I’d be happy to even consider going along with this, would be if the Government listens to what the NZ Certified Builders organisation is saying.

Malcolm Fleming heads it and while he thinks, overall, the Government is doing the right thing, he reckons the Government should go further and introduce a quality mark for builders. To give homeowners confidence that their builder is qualified to sign-off their own work.

I think it's a brilliant idea.

Before the earthquakes we did quite a major renovation and I reckon, back then, I would have been quite happy for the builder to sign things off himself. He was an ex-detective. A great guy. And we didn’t have any problems with him at all.

But that was back in the day when I was a bit more trusting. Not now, though.

Because from what we saw here in Canterbury, when there’s the lure of money and cashflow and a need to keep your people busy, it can be pretty tempting for tradespeople to cut corners.

And that’s what I see this new scheme being. A licence to cut corners.

There are very good and reliable and trustworthy builders, plumbers and drainlayers who probably think I need to get over it.

And maybe I do. But, when you get to the point of dreading seeing anyone in a high vis top coming down your driveway because you’ve been stung one too many times, then I can’t help feeling the way I do about this move by the Government.

I won't be the only person in Canterbury feeling this way. I won't be the only person in the whole country feeling this way.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, though, thinks he’s onto a winner.

He’s saying: “Making it easier and more affordable to build would open the door to home ownership for more Kiwis and support growth and job creation in the construction sector.”

He says: “We can’t achieve this vision while the building consent system remains slow and overloaded. Even simple, single-storey homes must go through around 12 inspections before they’re finished, with costly delays when demand is high.

“At a time when many Kiwis are locked out of the housing market, that’s simply not good enough.”

But what I would say to that is that failing to learn from past mistakes isn’t good enough, either.

And, surely, if we have learned anything from Canterbury's earthquake recovery experience it’s this. That, when it comes to building, more safeguards are needed - not less.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I reckon a lot of us. I reckon a lot
of us here in Canterbury won't be as excited as
people elsewhere in the country about this plan by the
government to let builders and plumbers and train layers sign
off their own work. And I say that because of
the bare faced lies that a lot of us were
told by builders, especially after the quakes. That was my experience.

(00:38):
In fact, I was silly enough to trust some of
these people and I paid for it in the end.
So this is going to apply to the construction of
what the government describes as simple standardized houses to try
and reduce the need for so many council inspections into
speed up building times. The government reckons, well, it reckons

(00:59):
there's going to be about three thousand homes that will
pop up sooner through these changes. But you won't get
me saying yes please, And I don't know about many
other people in Canterbury either. In fact, the only way
that I would be happy to even consider going along
with this would be if the government listens to what

(01:21):
the New Zealand Certified Builders Association is saying today, and
Malcolm Fleming he's the head of it, and he told
Mike earlier that overall he thinks the government is doing
the right thing. There is a butt. I'll get to
the butt, but here's what he likes about it.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Right at the moment to where the sort of low
trough of the economic cycle and it's not such a
big issue. But if I go back three years ago,
it was a very big issue and it will be
an issue again. So waiting around for building and inspectors
is cost, cost and time.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
So Malcolm Fleming he reckons as he said there you know,
it'll fix things up to a certain extent. But he
says the government should go further and introduce a quality
mark for builders to give homeowners confidence that their builder
is actually qualified, good enough, capable of signing off their

(02:19):
own work. And this is what I was saying before.
Would have to happen for me to even contemplate letting
a builder, particularly a builder, for me to even contemplate
letting a builder take off their own work without a
council inspection. I think this is a brilliant idea of his.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Heviolism Key was traditionally like bespoke buildings, so if they
can sort of get a quality mark established through the
license building practitioner regime, and we think this is entirely
possible that a builder, based on their core qualification, based
on their experience, and based on their track record with
the councils, has the ability to opt them to things

(02:59):
like we're talking about here with the self certification schemes.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
And unless the government comes up with that kind of assurance,
there can forget about me signing up to the wild
West of self certification. And my position on this is
based on experience before the quakes. Before the quakes we
did quite a major renovation, and I reckon back then,

(03:23):
I would have been quite happy for the builder to
sign things off himself. It was an ex detective, great guy,
and we had no problems at all with him. But
that was back in the day when I was a
bit more trusting. That was in twenty ten, by the ways,
it was just before the quakes. I was more trusting then.

(03:45):
I'm not now because from what we saw here in Canterbury,
when there's the lure of money and the lure of
cash flow and the need to keep your people busy,
keep your cruise busy, then it can be pretty tempting
for trades people to cut cool us. And that's what
I see this new scheme being a license to cut corners.

(04:07):
And look, maybe the only reason I feel that way
about it, it's because of what we saw going on
after the earthquakes here in Canterbury. There might be very
good and very reliable and very trustworthy builders, plumbers and
train layers. They might be listening right now. It might
be you and you might be thinking, look, you got
to get over it, mate, and maybe I do. But

(04:28):
when you get to the point of dreading seeing anyone
in hiver's top coming down your driveway because you've been
stung one too many times, you've been done over by
cowboy builders, then I can't help feeling the way I
do about this move by the government unless, unless there

(04:48):
is more of a backstop. And that's why I think
the idea of a marking system or a grading system
that the New Zealand Certified Builders Outfit wants to say,
that's why I think it's a great idea because I
won't be I won't be the only person in Canterbury
feeling this way. I won't be the only person in
the whole country feeling this way. Building and Construction Minister

(05:09):
Chris pink though he thinks he's on to a winner
because it's all about faster, faster, faster. He's saying today
quote making it easier and more affordable to build would
open the door to home ownership for more Kewys and
support growth and job creation in the construction sector. He
goes on to say we can't achieve this vision while
the building consense system remains slow and overloaded. He says

(05:30):
even single or simple, single story homes must go through
around twelve inspections before they're finished, with costly delays. When
demand is high, he says, at a time when keywis
are locked out of the housing market, that simply is
not good enough. But what I would say to that
minister is that failing to learn from past mistakes isn't

(05:50):
good enough either. And surely, if we have learned anything
from the earthquake recovery experience here in Canterbury, if we've
learned anything, it's this that when it comes to building more,
safeguards are not.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Less.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
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