If you will be building or renovating your home on or after 1 March 2012, you’ll need to know about some law changes which may affect you.
From 1 March 2012, some types of residential building work will become Restricted Building Work (RBW), which must be carried out by Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP).
Generally, if the residential building work requires a building consent then at least some of that work is Restricted Building Work.
If any Restricted Building Work is found not to have been carried out by (or supervised by) a Registered Building Practitioner, then the owner and/or the practitioner could be fined up to $20,000.
What kinds of buildings does the law change apply to?
It applies to building work on a “residential building”:
- A free-standing house, or
- An apartment building with 2 or more residential units, which has no commercial units, and has a maximum height of 10 meters
If you are not sure whether the building that you want to build or renovate fits the above criteria, you can check with the
Department of Building and Housing.
My renovation is well under way but is scheduled to be completed after 1 March. Will I be affected?
As long as you applied for building consent before 1 March 2012, then the design and construction work specified in the consent is not subject to the Restricted Building Work (RBW) requirements.
What is Restricted Building Work (RBW)?
RBW refers to residential building work which requires building consent and is structural, or affects the weather-tightness of the building.
Some examples of RBW are:
- work on the foundations, wall studs, roof rafters, columns or bracing
- damp-proofing, water-proofing and cladding
- fire safety systems
So what kinds of building work aren’t classed as Restricted Building Work?
Generally, if it doesn’t require building consent then it isn’t Restricted Building Work. This includes things like:
- Building a deck at ground level
- Building a garden trellis less than 2m high
- Putting in kitchen cupboards
- Replacing spouting or a bit of weatherboard
- Building a small garden shed
- Installing a small garden pond
How do I know for sure whether the work I want done on my house would be classed as Restricted Building Work?
If building consent is required for the work then it is probably subject to Restricted Building Work requirements.
Building consents are granted by district and city councils, so if you aren’t sure whether or not the building work you want done requires building consent, you can check with your local council.
Another option is to choose a Licensed Building Practitioner to design the project, and they will be able to tell you whether that work requires building consent. If it does, they can tell you which bits of work needed to be done by a Licensed Building Practitioner.
What is a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP)?
LBPs are tradespeople whose skills have been assessed and meet the standards required to be licensed to do Restricted Building Work (registered architects and chartered professional engineers are automatically considered to be licensed):
They may include:
- Carpenters
- Roofers
- Bricklayers and blocklayers
- Site magers
- External plasterers
- Foundations specialists
There are different licence classes which specify what kinds of work a LBP is licensed to do.
How to I find out whether someone is a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP)?
You can search for a registered architect, chartered professional engineer, registered plumber or registered gasfitter, by searching the register on their professional association’s website.
Other LBPs are on the Department of Building and Housing’s Licensed Building Practitioner register.
What will happen if I hire someone who says they are a Licensed Building Practitioner but it turns out they aren’t?
If someone carries out or supervises work for which they are not licensed to do, they could be fined up to $20,000.
Similarly, if you were to knowingly hire someone to carry out or supervise Restricted Building Work that they are not licensed to do, you could be fined up to $20,000.
I’ve always dreamed of building my own house, with my own two hands. Does this law mean I can’t?
You’ll still be allowed to carry out the non-Restricted Building Work (work which doesn’t require building consent).
If you can get the plans drawn and apply for the building consent before 1 March 2012, then the design and building work is not subject to the Restricted Building Work (RBW) requirements i.e. you can legally do the the RBW yourself (it still needs to meet building compliance).
Building Amendment Bill (No 3), if passed, will allow an owner-builder to carry out Restricted Building Work without supervision from a Licensed Building Practitioner. You might be prepared to wait and see whether the Bill is passed.
Otherwise you will need to employ Licensed Building Practitioners to carry out and/or supervise the Restricted Building Work. And don’t forget that some electrical, plumbing and gas work must be carried out by licensed tradespeople too.
Where can I get more information about Restricted Building Work and Licensed Building Practitioners?
The Department of Building and Housing has information for home owners on their website.
They also have a 
guide for builders and other tradespeople, which includes a revised summary of the building consent process, and a guide for designers, architects and engineers.