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In these newsletters, we cover the latest building industry news, trends, and tips. In this particular issue, we talk about consent values and their return to pre-COVID-19 levels, building consent fees and how they're calculated, and Council's new Backflow Prevention Policy.
Building trends
COVID-19 has certainly made its presence known across the building sector, with a significant number of staff absences due to isolation requirements. Building Services at Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) isn’t immune to this, and we’ve had staff and contractors unavailable due to COVID-19 in the last few months. We’re also seeing staff keen to travel overseas to see family now that the borders are open. These factors have resulted in a decrease in the Building Services team’s resource available to process consents and undertake inspections. We’ve tried to bring in more contractors to fill the gap until COVID-19 has receded and staff are back from leave, but all contractors are working to capacity as Councils around New Zealand experience record building consent volumes.
This has resulted in consent processing times being pushed out, with some exceeding the 20-day statutory timeframe. We see this as a short-term issue which should be resolved in approximately two months, and we appreciate your patience as staff try and keep up with demand.
In terms of building statistics, consent numbers and consent values are at pre-COVID-19 levels, and we will exceed $1bn of processed consent values this financial year. The interesting fact is that commercial consent value prior to the global pandemic made up over 30% of consent value. Since COVID-19 appeared, not surprisingly, this has dropped to 17% but the increased demand for residential building has made up for that drop. With ever increasing building costs, product availability issues and increased interest rates, it will be interesting over the next 6 – 12 months to see whether that trend continues.
Explanation of building consent fees
Building consent initial fees are collected on the application of a building consent and are made up of four 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: $1.00 per $1,000 of estimated building work
MBIE Levy: $1.75 per $1,000 of estimated building work
QLDC also collects:
Accreditation levy: $0.20 per $1,000 of estimated building work
Cost recovery: a calculated formula to estimate cost recovery on consent applications, rather than invoicing for all hours worked on a consent that may take years to complete through the entire 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 does result in further invoicing for 30-40% of applicants, but every project is slightly different in terms of design, construction completion time, and variations – all of which have an impact on time required by staff which QLDC seeks to recover 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 part only 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
QLDC adopts new Backflow Policy
QLDC adopted its Backflow Prevention Policy in April 2022. The establishment of the policy is an important step in ensuring that the district’s water supply is protected from contamination.
Backflow occurs when the water supply flows in the opposite direction to that intended, potentially drawing with it contaminants from the downstream water use. Backflow can be prevented by installing a backflow prevention device inline of the water supply. The appropriate device depends on the risk of the associated water use at the property.
The water supply network is protected through the use of boundary backflow prevention devices. Whereas a source protection device is used to protect those within the property from contamination that could result from a specific activity within the site. The requirements of the boundary devices are defined within the Water Services Act 2021 and the source protection devices are controlled by The Building Act 2004.
The Backflow Prevention Policy sets out how QLDC will achieve compliance with the legislative requirements of the new Water Services Act 2021 and The Building Act 2004. It also provides guidance around how the backflow risk should be assessed and the appropriate device selected, as well as defining ownership, maintenance, and testing obligations.
The policy can be viewed on the QLDC website, or by following this link.
Transition to new inspection types
We’re updating our mobile inspection platform, and as part of the update we’re changing and consolidating our inspections. QLDC’s new inspections will be rolled out over the next six months, with the issued building consent reflecting what inspections are required and the correct name to use when booking inspections.
An overview of the new inspection types and their description can be found here. To view our current inspection types and descriptions go to our IS SI Site Inspection Descriptions document.
See our website for more information, including the new inspection templates as they are deployed: QLDC Inspections.
Avoid failed inspections by having your building documents on site
The Building Control Authority at QLDC will be enforcing building consent documents on site.
Be prepared by having these ready when our inspectors arrive on site. Without approved documents the inspection will not occur and will be recorded as a failed inspection.
Do your bit on site to keep pipes flowing right
It’s important to manage your site properly to ensure construction material is not entering the stormwater and wastewater network and polluting our beautiful waterways. We've included a few tips below on how you can do your bit to keep pipes flowing right.
TIP #1
Keep all pipes capped to prevent any debris, building material and gravel from entering Council
stormwater or wastewater pipes.
TIP #2
Cap all open-ended pipes to prevent unwanted material from entering Council
wastewater or stormwater pipes.
TIP #3
Ensure all manholes are covered to prevent unwanted material from entering Council
wastewater or stormwater pipes.
For more tips on how to protect our stormwater and wastewater network,
check out our Construction Trade Waste flyer.
To view previous issues, please visit: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/services/building-services/additional-information/brace-yourself-building-services-newsletter
If there is a topic that you would like to see covered, please let us know by emailing: chris.english@qldc.govt.nz
