Apply for a Building Consent

A building consent is the formal approval issued by a building consent authority, in that the authority is satisfied on reasonable grounds that building work, if constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications (provided with the application) will meet the provisions of the Building Code.

You must not undertake any building work which requires a building consent without this approval, it is against the law and enforcement action may be taken.

Most building work requires a building consent, but some minor work is exempt under Schedule 1 of the Act

A building consent is required before you undertake any building work unless it is exempt. Please view the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employments guidance publication Building work that does not require a building consent.

Although some projects are exempt from needing a building consent, all building work must still comply with the Building Code. It may be best to consult with us before starting. The building code and deemed to comply methods are discussed on the Building Performance Website.

If you are unsure, please talk to your builder, designer, or a member of the building team by calling 06 370 6300.

Do electrical work in my house?

No. Council is not involved in electrical work.

Re-pile my house?

A building consent isn’t required for repairs and maintenance of piles, unless it’s ‘substantial’. The building act doesn’t define what substantial is, but it’s generally accepted that if you are replacing more than 10% of the piles, this would be substantial and you would need a building consent.

Full re-piling also needs a building consent because the structural integrity will be affected, i.e. under pinning, foundation design change, or change of pile layout.

Re-clad my house or building?

If you’re repairing the cladding and replacing it with the same materials then you don’t need a building consent, unless the existing cladding hasn’t met the durability requirements of the Building Code which is 15 years. If you’re changing the cladding material e.g. from weatherboards to stucco or some other material, then you will need a building consent.

Build a deck on my property?

If the deck is more than 1.5m above the ground you will need a building consent. The deck has to be built according to the Building Code and details like the structure, balustrade and planning requirements will be checked.

Build a swimming pool?

All pools that hold more than 400mm of water need a building consent for the safety barrier (fence). A pool holding more than 35,000 litres supported directly on ground will require a building consent for the pool structure and installation.

Build a carport?

You will need a building consent if the carport is bigger than 20sqm in floor area unless it is designed by a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) or a Licenced Building Practitioner (LBP) is involved in the project. All carports over 40sqm will require a building consent.

Restricted building work (RBW) is work that must be completed by or supervised by, a licensed building practitioner (LBP). Building Practitioners are licensed by the Ministry of Business innovation and Employment This ‘restricted building work’ applies to, but is not limited to

• Foundations:
• Framing
• Roofing
• Cladding
• Active fire safety systems in small-medium sized apartment buildings.

Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) include, but are not limited to:

• Designers
• Carpenters
• Roofers
• External Plasterers
• Bricklayers
• Block layers.

Registered architects, chartered professional engineers and plumbers are deemed to be LBPs.

It is the owner’s responsibility to check that the tradespeople doing and or supervising the work are licensed building practitioners.

Restricted work is work on homes and small-medium-sized apartment buildings that is critical to the integrity of the building.

An exemption is available to owner-builders (do-it-yourselfers) allowing them to carry out Restricted Building Work (RBW) on their own home and build their own home. There are certain criteria for this and details can be found on the Building Performance website.

Building consent applications are not accepted unless they include a Memorandum Certificate of design work from a LBP certifying that the design work complies with the Building Code or an owner builder exemption.

Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP) will also need to provide a Memorandum - Record of Building Work when the work has been completed. Further information can be found on the Building Performance website.

Charges are based on the length of time it takes to process an application, the number of inspections and complexity of the work. On top of building consent fees, there are also levies that need to be paid to MBIE on all building work with a value of more than $65,000 and to BRANZ on all building work with a value of more than $20,000.

If you choose to withdraw your building consent application once processing has started, you will be charged for any time that’s already been spent and administration costs.

If your building consent application is refused once processing has started, you will be charged for time spent and administration costs. The BCA can charge additional fees for processing time where an unreasonable amount of time has been spent processing the consent or for additional inspections.

See building fees and charges online or collect a copy from Council offices at 161 Queen Street. Fees can be paid at the office, by internet banking or through our online payment portal.

The Building Act provides that if work to which the consent relates hasn’t started within 12 months from the date of the issue of the consent the consent will lapse and be of no effect. This means that you will need to apply for a new consent.

If a CCC application has not been made by the second year anniversary of the grant of the building consent, the BCA is required to make a decision on whether or not to issue a CCC.

Yes, changes to the building work may be made during the build. f you need to change anything on your plans, you must apply for an amendment before carrying out any changes to your approved plans. At the end of the building project, the approved building consent documentation needs to be an accurate reflection of what has actually been built.

Changing the details of the original consent drawings can be completed in two ways, via either a minor variation or an amendment. If you have made changes without approval the BCA may stop your job until the changes are resolved. Fees apply to cover the cost of assessing the change of your project.

Recent changes to the Building Act have allowed for changes to the building consent application form (Form 2). This means you can apply for alternative systems at the same time as you apply for your consent.

If you want to include alternative products, you need to make sure that the products have site specific plans and details to support the use of those products or systems.

BuiltReady is the new modular component manufacturing scheme that will allow manufacturers who meet certain requirements to access a streamlined consenting pathway. This pathway allows them to provide certificates covering their design and/or manufacture of modular components. These components will be ‘deemed to comply’ with the Building Code.

Although no one has approval as yet, you will need to include relevant documentation with your building consent application if you want to rely on BuiltReady.

Changes to the Building Act will allow MBIE to nominate overseas standards organisations that could be recognised as providing standards equal to, or better than what we already have in New Zealand. This might include Standards Australia, British Standards Institute (BSI), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

If you are using a product that is subject to overseas standards you will need to provide an explanation supporting that product with your application.

In addition, MBIE can require Councils to accept overseas product certification schemes as a way to establish Building Code Compliance. For example, The Chief Executive may specify that products certified under the Australian WaterMark certification scheme are suitable for New Zealand.