New rules requiring residential building work needing a building consent to be carried out by a licensed building practitioner come into force in just over a month.
A change in the Building Act 2004, to come into effect on March 1, means building work relating to the structure or moisture penetration of homes will be classified as restricted building work.
Restricted building work can be carried out only by licensed building practitioners.
Department of Building and Housing sector capability deputy chief executive Alison Geddes said the programme of work being introduced over the coming months would raise standards in the sector while doing away with unnecessary red tape.
"The first step has been to ensure we have enough licensed building practitioners assessed within a range of competencies relating to their licence class. Only they will be able to carry out restricted building work which is design and construction work critical to the integrity of a building," Ms Geddes said.
