Explanation of building consent fees

Building consent initial fees are collected on application of a building consent and are made up of three parts, all calculated from the estimated value of the building project.

QLDC collects two fixed levies on behalf of the Building Research Association and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment:

• BRANZ Levy @ $1 per $1000 of estimated building work
• MBIE Levy @ $1.75 per $1000 of estimated building work

QLDC also uses a calculated formula to estimate its cost recovery for staff time on consent applications, rather than invoicing for all hours worked on a consent that may take years to complete through the process.  This quick calculation is resulting in no further invoicing in over 60% of applications.

Basing the initial estimate of cost recovery on the estimated value of work results in 30-40% of applicants receiving further invoicing.  Every project is slightly different in terms of design, construction completion time and variations, which has an impact on time required by staff that QLDC seeks to recover its costs for.

Things that may result in further invoicing are:

• multiple requests for information not provided in your initial application
• multiple design changes that require extra assessment
• multiple extra inspection requirements as a result of construction sequence
• post consent issue variations to the approved documents 
• inadequate Code Compliance Certificate applications requiring multiple email exchanges for information to meet the stated consent requirements

Tips for avoiding/reducing extra costs:

• Calculate the estimated value of building work correctly using the definition found in the building act
• Ensure your application is well prepared and in clear order, use the information on our website for what is required
• If you receive a further information request, ensure you respond completely.  The more times we receive partial information responses, the more time it takes to process your application
• Make sure you are ready for inspection when you book one.  We cannot absorb resourcing costs where we have turned up and nobody is onsite, or the site is not ready for the inspection
• Ensure you complete your Code Compliance application with the attached construction documentation and energy certificates

Building trends

We are now five months into the new financial year and the effects of COVID-19 on building activity in the district are becoming clearer.

In the first five months of the last financial year, QLDC’s Building Team received 851 building consents.  In the first five months of the 20/21 financial year, 673 consent applications were received – a 20% reduction.

When comparing the value of those consents, last year’s five month figure was $403m while this year the value of consents received so far is $325m – again a 20% drop.  Commercial activity has certainly slowed, which isn’t surprising with the ongoing uncertainty of tourism (particularly in the accommodation sector).  Residential building continues at pace, especially in Wānaka.  Nearly 50% of residential consents have come from the Upper Clutha area.  This trend will continue until more land becomes available in Queenstown to build on.

The roll out of a successful vaccine next year will likely see our numbers return to pre-COVID times in 2022/23, as all the underlying factors that make our district such an attractive place to live haven’t changed.

Two positives from COVID-19 are that for the last three months we have processed 100% of consents within a 20 day timeframe, and now we have inspections down to 2-3 days in both Queenstown and Wānaka areas.  That’s a significant turnaround from four weeks ago, where builders were having to wait 15 working days for an inspection.     

Building code update - 2020

The Acceptable Solutions and Verification Methods were updated earlier this month.

Some key changes include:

• C/AS1: Changes to scope of risk group SH
• E1/AS2: Issue of this new Acceptable Solution which references AS/NZS 3500.3 Stormwater drainage, with modifications, as a means of compliance with NZBC clause E1 Surface Water
• E1/AS1: Replacing Appendix A Rainfall Intensities maps with a table listing rainfall intensities areas using data from NIWA
• E3/AS1: Modifications of accidental overflow protection and introduction of integrated sink overflows as means of compliance in some cases
• E3/AS2: Issue of new Acceptable Solution referencing IWAM Code of Practice, with modifications, as a means of compliance with E3 internal moisture

A full summary can be seen at https://www.building.govt.nz/building-code-compliance/annual-building-code-updates/november-2020-building-code-update/#jumpto-outcome-of-2020-building-code-update

The Hawea Grove - a project in achievable sustainability

Do you realise how much waste a standard three-bed new build creates?

This was a question posed and answered in a recent episode of the The Hawea Grove.

The project, a recipient of QLDC’s Waste Minimisation Community Fund, sets out to showcase the twists and turns of creating and managing a sustainable, eco-focused build through a webisode series and accompanying editorial.

In Episode 6 Keith Stubbs, founder and filmmaker of the project, explores some of the issues around construction industry waste, highlighting that the average three-bed new build generates up to five tonnes of waste, the equivalent of three to four 9m3 skip bins.

Keith, together with his builder Erkhart Construction, is using the webisode series to demonstrate how waste can be minimised and diverted from landfill.  In the episode, Erkhart Construction showcases a simple but effective onsite waste sorting system used to separate out reusable or recyclable materials like polystyrene, cardboard, metals and untreated timber offcuts.

After five months of building, the project has only sent 320kg of material to landfill, most of which was unusable offcuts of treated timber.  All other material has either been reused or recycled through Wanaka Wastebusters and the Wanaka Transfer Station.  A great result so far.

The topic of waste management will be revisited in later episodes, so make sure to follow along on your preferred channel or subscribe to The Hawea Grove mailing list to be notified when new episodes are released.

Hawea Grove onsite waste sorting system. Photo credit: Keith Stubbs.

Liquefaction and good ground

In November 2021, the definition of good ground in the building code is changing to have further exclusions.  This will impact commonly cited standards, such as NZS 3604:2011 Timber-framed buildings, being used for foundation designs.

Where ground could foreseeably experience movement of 25mm or more caused by liquefaction and/or lateral spread, stronger foundations maybe required.

QLDC is currently reviewing our information and the level of assessment required for building consent applications.  We will provide further updates as decisions are made.

New portal for uploading files

QLDC has a new portal under development for uploading resource and building consent documents. 

Customers have expressed frustration with the current file transfer system, including difficulty uploading, no receipt of document upload and no tracking.  Here at QLDC, our process involves a manual transfer of uploaded documents and this can be time consuming.  In addition to this, we need better transparency of the volume of documents sitting with our teams and better reporting to meet (and hopefully improve) timeframes.

The new portal is currently being trialled and is anticipated to be available for building consent documents by mid-December.  The first time you upload documents, you will be asked to register.  All future uploads will prepopulate your information.

Some of the benefits to customers include:

• email notification
• pre-population of contact details
• tracking and status of uploaded files

For now, this will only be a file transfer portal.  However, in the future we will be able to develop more web forms with better self-service capability, hopefully removing another source of frustration for our customers.