Despair as leak repair costs triple

The cost of repairing leaky buildings has almost trebled in three years.

The trend has left many homeowners struggling to afford the costs of mending their houses and some are contemplating demolition.

To make matters worse, experts estimate that up to half the repairs performed on leaky homes so far are likely to fail. Many of these homes will have to be repaired again.

Between 15,000 and 40,000 homes are estimated to be affected by the crisis, which is expected to cost $1 billion to fix.

John Gray, of the Leaky Homes Action Group, said repair costs three years ago were estimated to be $70,000 to $100,000 per house. Now, they are between $200,000 and up to $500,000 - more in some cases.

In the same week that the Government announced reforms to its Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, Mr Gray said many homeowners were now pondering the viability of demolishing their houses rather than fixing them. A wave of demolitions was about to hit, he said, as more people realised the difficulties of remedial work.

Initial under-estimates were made three years ago of the actual costs of repairs, he said. Now that many leaky buildings had been fixed, the sector had more information on the costs.

Prices were being pushed up because of the difficulty in repairing leaky buildings and problems with initial quotes: builders often found more problems once cladding was ripped off and walls torn down.

Building and material costs were also all up this decade and the desperate skills shortage in the construction sector had driven up the cost of labour.

This made it difficult - and more expensive - for victims to get builders and consultants, Mr Gray said.

Pieter Burghout, chief executive of Registered Master Builders, said residential building costs had risen 20 per cent in the past four years and more information had emerged on actual repair costs, including the amount of new timber needed and changes to claddings to fix leaky homes.

Mr Gray said not only were victims faced with rising prices for repairs but they were also hit with a list of extra expenses which included carpet cleaning, costs of alternative accommodation while homes were fixed and storage of home possessions during repairs.

But repairing places was often no escape from the nightmare, Mr Gray said, because the first round of repairs often failed. "There are claimants, builders and 'experts' out there who lack the understanding of what it takes to effectively repair a leaky dwelling," he said.

"It is more often than not driven by budgetary constraints but we are disturbed to see some rather ineffective and in some cases downright shoddy remedial work being done."

Building consultant Steve Alexander agreed and said much of the remedial work done to the existing stock of leaking houses was being done poorly. He cited houses in Ponsonby and Parnell which had been repaired and then needed repairs to those initial repairs.

Mr Alexander estimated up to half the leaky houses which had been repaired would need further repairs.

Mr Gray said he was still being overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and saw many homeowners suffering as they went through the difficult process of attempting resolution.

The Government is this year expected to issue a rule book on repairing leaky houses. Officials have consulted industry experts and Mr Alexander said he welcomed the book.