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neb

neb
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  #3303680 31-Oct-2024 11:53
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Senecio: We recently bought a house that was only built in 2021. We were provided with almost 1,500 pages of PDFs that detailed every council inspection completed on the house over the ~9 month build period. My god, I could understand how frustrating that process would be if you were trying to build, but as the current owner of that house I'm glad that every one of those inspections were carried out. This place was built by one of the 4 largest residential builders in NZ so not some fly by night builder. Not one of those council inspections were passed on their first inspection. Every single one of them required some kind of rectification before the council inspector would sign it off. Sometimes it was minor, sometimes requiring more work to rectify. Those PDF's contain before and after photos of all remedial work performed to pass inspection.

 

Same here for our redo, there were a couple of failed inspections and, while I know the builder did a good job (Father Neb was a builder), it was good to have that extra check here.  You can also see this in e.g. Scott Brown's videos, "we failed this part of the inspection because we thought X was OK but we actually needed Y in addition to X", and that's from a builder who goes above and beyond on his work.  Even if they're not cowboys, everyone slips up from time to time, and I want an inspector going through to double-check things.




Bung
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  #3303688 31-Oct-2024 12:38
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One or two missed items is one thing
1500 pages sounds more like the whole building code got dumped on the printer with no real proof that every item was checked.

eltheanine
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  #3303814 31-Oct-2024 17:14
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mattwnz:

 

johno1234:

 

Inspections are a small cost. Delays waiting on an inspection are a big cost. Auckland council has mandatory timeframes to respond to inspections and if they come back with a question it restarts the clock. The number if times they've asked a nonsensical question... which can only be to put us off and buy them some more time. Meanwhile, the house is still not complete, or even closed in so costs accumulate for all sorts of things including interest, scaffolding and site security and so on. Have had this issue on several projects over the last decade or two. 

 

 

 

 

It shouldn't restart the clock, it should pause the clock, and then it will restart again from the time it was paused. It sounds like that could be more an issue in Auckland during a building boom, and not hiring enough staff.

 

 

johno1234 is correct. They often wait until the end of the time period then ask a question which resets the timer. I am rural NZ and this happens, not just Auckland.




tweake

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  #3303839 31-Oct-2024 18:01
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wellygary:

 

Blurtie:

 

Does anyone know when this system will be put in place? The linked article mentions that detailed policy details will be released in the new year. We're currently in the design phase of a build - almost ready to submit plans for BC, so I'm guessing it'll impact our build... 

 

 

Only if you want it to... 

 

Its "opt-in", so the current system continues, its just there will be alternate path available 

 

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/trusted-building-professionals-able-self-certify

 

 

 

 

the catch here is "opt in" will become the norm because anyone who doesn't opt in will be priced off the market. thats a common thing to happen, things that are an option end up becoming the norm or the requirement. then its slide downhill as corners get cut and they get overlooked.

 

even good builders will not have a choice. they simply won't get work otherwise. (the high end market won't be so effected as they tend to be on a different playing field). this is happening overseas where good builders are exiting the industry because they can't compete with all the dodgy builders. that leaves only dodgy builders to build your home. you will not have a choice and people are finding this out the hard way.


cddt
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  #3304068 1-Nov-2024 12:03
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I suggest following this guy on LinkedIn and looking at some of his posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-fahrensohn-31a702a4/ (Auckland Council building inspector). 

 

 

 

Absolutely incredible the shoddiness of the work. 





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Bung
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  #3304079 1-Nov-2024 13:02
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Eating places have to display their grading from the council health inspectors. If a builder is consistently failing inspections he needs a C or D grade as a warning.


mattwnz
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  #3304125 1-Nov-2024 15:03
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Senecio:

We recently bought a house that was only built in 2021. We were provided with almost 1,500 pages of PDFs that detailed every council inspection completed on the house over the ~9 month build period. My god, I could understand how frustrating that process would be if you were trying to build, but as the current owner of that house I'm glad that every one of those inspections were carried out. This place was built by one of the 4 largest residential builders in NZ so not some fly by night builder. Not one of those council inspections were passed on their first inspection. Every single one of them required some kind of rectification before the council inspector would sign it off. Sometimes it was minor, sometimes requiring more work to rectify. Those PDF's contain before and after photos of all remedial work performed to pass inspection.


I for one am grateful that the current inspection process is in place and would not like to see it change. 



Yes and it isn't actually as complex as it may look. It is also very useful information for a homeowner to have. But that many pages signs very high. I think mine only had about 30 pages and some included photos. I think a lot of the frustration is due to building booms and not having enough inspectors at the time

 
 
 

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tweake

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  #3304147 1-Nov-2024 16:21
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Bung:

 

Eating places have to display their grading from the council health inspectors. If a builder is consistently failing inspections he needs a C or D grade as a warning.

 

 

yes, its a good idea. however even today some builders won't have inspectors they don't like, they will only allow best mate inspectors on site. those guys will always get A grade. with privatized system, everyone will be A grade no matter what. 

 

 


Bung
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  #3304165 1-Nov-2024 17:27
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Having to have repeated inspections doesn’t sound like the builder has any mates.

mattwnz
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  #3304171 1-Nov-2024 18:19
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cddt:

 

Absolutely incredible the shoddiness of the work. 

 

 

 

 

The thing is that some of these big building brands which are often franchises, then also end up subcontracting out  house builds to small building companies. So maybe 2-3 different building companies in the chain. The devil is going to be in the detail on how this is going to work out. But there is going to have to be some sort of mandatory warranty scheme and you can bet it won't end up being cheaper for the consumer. Potentially it also allows building companies to increase their margins too. 


fastbike
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  #3304239 2-Nov-2024 06:22
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cddt:

 

I suggest following this guy on LinkedIn and looking at some of his posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-fahrensohn-31a702a4/ (Auckland Council building inspector). 

 

Absolutely incredible the shoddiness of the work. 

 

 

Holy crap Batman, thanks for posting. I've never seen such crap as in those videos that the inspector posted on LinkedIn  - I built my own house before the whole LBP boon dongle got started - we had decent plans, engaged a builder, my father in law was a retired builder so acted as the "hawkeye" on the job.

 

The problem in my opinion is that there seems to be no consequences to suspend/revoke the licence of the LBP when they are turning out such shitty work. Either the LBP is not up to the job, or they are failing to supervise their workers. There should be a points system like your drivers licence, a certain number of points within a prescribed time frame means your LBP ticket is suspended.

 

Either way the current system is not fit for purpose and that is what the clowns in the beehive should be concentrating on, but regulation does not fit their political views. They somehow think that further deregulation will sort this mess, when anybody with experience or an ounce of common sense can see it will lead to a bigger mess.





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Bung
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  #3304249 2-Nov-2024 08:08
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fastbike: - I built my own house before the whole LBP boon dongle got started - we had decent plans, engaged a builder, my father in law was a retired builder so acted as the "hawkeye" on the job.

 

 

New builds shouldn't be the problem unless builders can't read or wilfully ignore plans.

 

 

In 2017 my neighbour had a new house built. Concrete slab with frames delivered. One builder whose wife helped with some details. Compared with renovation or repair it looked like a dream to work on. The franchise had material like all the structural brackets and screws arriving on time. The only issues were the slab was high in one corner that needed grinding, some windows had changed size after the frames had been completed and amusingly after the house was completed the 1st time the gutters filled with heavy rain the plastic clips holding the fascia let go. The plastic clips were supposed to stop expansion squeaks but weren't as strong as metal. All gutters had an extra downpipe added and nothings gone wrong since.

 

 


fastbike
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  #3304254 2-Nov-2024 09:16
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Bung:

 

New builds shouldn't be the problem unless builders can't read or wilfully ignore plans.

 

 

I love your optimism. The house is two story concrete block, with conc intermediate floor, external insulation with a brick veneer and some solid plaster.

 

The idiot block layer was shonky as. All the rebar had been cut and bent by the steel supplier, bundled and labelled/tagged to the wall details in the plans. Every morning I would place the horizontal rebar pieces at the base of the walls they would be working on. I diod an inspection each evening, often the rebar was not placed in the wall e.g. at row 2, 5, 8 etc. I made them pull down a wall to put the steel in as I knew the engineer would not allow the block fill unless the steel was present/ and we live in eq country.

 

To cut a long story short, after the block work was done I got a Disputes Tribunal notice - the block layer was claiming an additional $2k. The hearing became farcical - his story was that the job had taken longer than his fixed price quote (we paid for reasonable extras) so he wanted extra $. I walked out of there with a cheque for $5k in counter claims due to the delays and rework his stupidity had caused. 

 

You need to be a hard arse at times - not my natural mode !

 

Bung:

 

... amusingly after the house was completed the 1st time the gutters filled with heavy rain the plastic clips holding the fascia let go.

 

 

Ouch, that would be no fun.





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Bung
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  #3304260 2-Nov-2024 09:55
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So you had a case of wilful ignorance. If it was all laid out for him what did he gain?

 

 

On the neighbour's job the builder was in his late 40s and deliberately didn’t have a labourer or apprentice because they tended to go off script.

tweake

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  #3304261 2-Nov-2024 10:00
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fastbike:

 

 my father in law was a retired builder so acted as the "hawkeye" on the job.........

 

Either the LBP is not up to the job, or they are failing to supervise their workers. 

 

 

houses are not built by builders, they are built by subbies. very common to have no supervision on site.

 

there is builders/tradies around that won't work if the owner or the "hawkeye" is on site. they don't want to see the crap work they are hiding and don't like being told what to do.


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