Builders voice support for building consent changes

The proliferation and duplication of consent conditions has added to building costs and delays, says the Master Builders Federation

Over-regulation of the industry is burdening builders and home owners with high compliance costs, the Registered Master Builders Federation says.

The Building Amendment Bill (number two) was a start "in winding back this duplication of requirements", the federation said in a submission in support of the bill.

It welcomed the ability to pre-approve multi-use plans which would allow approved designs to be replicated throughout the country with only site-specific matters requiring building consent each time.

"The proliferation and duplication of building consent conditions has added significantly to building costs and delays.

"A process that provides councils with a pre-approved set of plans, and a 10 day turnaround for approval, will improve that situation."

The federation also supported making project information memorandum (PIM) voluntary because the information they contained was often publicly available and they "add only to delay and cost".

Building projects usually experienced some delay and the current requirement to re-consent was "another example of unnecessary expense and delay".

The federation said it wanted minor variations to be recorded against the consent, not require a new consent.

-NZPA