Malcolm Fleming: New Zealand Certified Builders Association CEO on the Government's proposed changes to insulation standards

The Government is looking to shake up how builders can meet insulation standards for new homes in a bid to reduce building costs.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has proposed several new changes - with a consultation period set to take place until February.

New Zealand Certified Builders Association CEO Malcolm Fleming says this shows the Government is taking industry opinions into account.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The government has decided not to roll back the new
insulation standards that were introduced last year. The Construction Minister,
Chris Penk organized a review of the H one standards
after reports that they made building a new house cost
forty to fifty thousand dollars more. But there was a
backlash from the industry and now the Minister is going
to keep the standards but makes some changes to them.
The changes are going out for public consultation. Malcolm Fleming

(00:22):
is the chief executive of Certified Abilities with me now.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good evening, Fighting me on to your show not a problem.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's a pleasure to have you here. Are you pleased
with this outcome not dropping the standards altogether?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, we are, And he's introduced the Minister has introduced
a change in terms of eliminating the availability of what
they call inscheduling method to assess the insallation available in
the house, and that change has been well signals, it
signaled and presents a sensible solution and demonstrates that the

(00:59):
Minister has listened to the industry on this matter.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Did he get it wrong initially when he said, you
know it was it was forty to fifty grand per house?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, we're advocating strongly to the Minister that that sort
of level of cost was a little bit over blind
and to demonstrate that, we surveyed a membership base, but
we also did a case study with a new ENDEDCB
Design Studios and when using the more sophisticated calculation method,
which you're going to have to either use that or

(01:30):
even more sophisticated modeling method going forward, it demonstrated that
the costs impact on a new home, a standard sized
home were pretty minimal. The Minister's officials did the same
sort of numbers and came up the same sceerisum right.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
And when you're talking about just for those who aren't
in the know, when you're talking about the modeling method
that went you're now going to be able to use
that enables designers tojus the things adjust the insulation levels
of things like walls and ceilings and under floor et cetera.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
So there's been three types that you can use. The
now defunct schedule method which uses a table that was
described I think I'm well described, but I see in
the Minister's also described as a blunt instrument, which it
is that's no longer available going forward. So the more
sophisticated methods, which are calculation which is online calculator method

(02:23):
or the modern method which is software. Both of those
are more sophisticated. They drive down the cost they provide
the designer and the build with greater has ability as well.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
So it's more targeted. Essentially, it's more bespoke for each
house and therefore you're not potentially ramming insulation into a
house that doesn't need.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
The best way to describe it. Both those more sophisticated
methods which we now need to use look at the
house holistically, the whole house and its entirety, rather than
elevation or material singularly, and that's the big difference, and
it drives down cost when you use those right.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Bigger problem here, of course for the rest of us
who are maybe trying to renovate or maybe trying to build,
is that the price of building a house has gone up.
I think the Minister said over the last couple of years,
what do we do about that.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
We need to drive down the cost of building, and
there's a number of ways of doing that. The government's
tackled some of that. We're heading some headlines recently with
looking to utilize building products from overseas and they are
looking at from trusted jurisdictions. That's not the single answer,
but it's part of the suite of options that they're

(03:37):
looking at. They're also doing quite a lot of work
in the compliance cutting area as well and putting streamlining
the process which requires the buildings and designers to pick
up some more of that risk. So those are being
consulted with currently and as a suite of package could
well lead to some cost savings. We agree with the

(03:58):
Minister that the price of building in New Zealand is
too high and we're determined to do something about it.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
You'll submit on these consultations on the changes. Presumably, is
there anything in there that you would like to you
know that you will that you will submit to amend.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
In terms of these particular.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
H one line changes.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
No, we're pretty happy with where we're lunded with H one.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
So basically, he came out, he said something outrageous, you responded,
he listened. Everyone's happy.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
It's pretty much a good summary. We're lotful of the
submission in terms of the detail, but as the outline,
the board brush outline that has been proposed demonstrates that
he has indeed listened and that industry would be supportive
of this change.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Malcolm Fleming, Chief Executive Certified Builders, thank you very much
for your time. It is just gone, which I begs
the question, I mean, was it worth it in the
first place, We've saved ourselves all of this time and
energy and effort. I suppose at least there was a change,
and as welcome outline, there was a change going from
the more prescriptive scheduling method, which I didn't know about
before this whole issue came up, to the modeling or

(05:09):
to the calculation method. So there you go, things you
didn't know about building the intricacies of building a house.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
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