Will the government’s changes bring down building costs?
The government on Sunday announced it would be releasing a list of overseas certification schemes that would automatically qualify products for use in New Zealand.
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the list would “have the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars when building a home”.
“There are thousands of well-made, high performing products that have been tested against rigourous international standards but have faced barriers for uptake here, purely because they have not been specifically tested against our own standards. From tomorrow it will be much easier to use plasterboard manufactured in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Europe and the United States,” he said.
“This is just the beginning of our work to open the door to more building products, lower the cost of homes and turbo charge the construction sector and there will be more to come.”
He also announced a pause on “any new major changes to the Building Code system” and shifting instead to a “predictable three-year cycle for Building Code system updates”.
“This new approach will give businesses the clarity they need to prepare in advance, rather than constantly having to react to unexpected rule changes.”
Penk is easily the best performing National Party politician.
His focus on the common good over vested interests marks him as a unique talent, this policy is a smart one that bypasses the monopoly roles many suppliers control across the market.
The problem is that the sheer scale of damage National caused itself and the economy with the dramatic amputation of government public housing and infrastructure has caused a body blow to the entire constriction industry with over 12000 jobs lost in just one year, the majority to Australia.
So, Yay Penk for making things cheaper, but boo it won’t make any fucking difference to the train wreck National have already started.
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It might mean cheaper houses. It more likely will mean another leaky houses crisis.
The materials are usually reliable, it’s the way they are installed that is the most common cause of the problems. The most common system of the main building contractor with sub-contractors to reduce risk means that speed and not quality tends to be the dominant choice in how things get done which is why I think that letting people certify their own work is likely to cause most future problems in construction.
“It more likely will mean another leaky houses crisis.”
why?
Not only that but the gib board has to be BRANZ tested…that costs a lot of money.
Th Gib Site Guide book is the bible that every Architect, Designer and licensed builder knows about and is issued with.
It gives every type of design and calculation possibility for any type of Gib board use… ie…Standard , Braceline , Fireline, Noiseline, Aqualine etc etc….however.. .it was put together and paid for by Winstones who sell the bulk of Gib in N.Z.
It was a complex and very expensive process and the Councils around N.Z defer only to this book for this product for passing plans and site visits.
There have been other Gib products in N.Z for years used in a very limited way because they have not provided the testing through BRANZ…. for example…. Elephant Board from Thailand is here but not Branz approved . Architects and Engineers have to do their own calculations to prove to councils that it’s o.k. for a given situation.
Knauf Board from Germany tried to set up here about 12 years ago but because they didn’t spend money on getting the costly BRANZ certification they couldn’t make many sales and so pulled out…. there are others as well who have tried and failed.
Penk will have to ensure that each company entering the country gets tested by the BRANZ testing compliance scheme so Architects and councils and builders don’t wear lawsuits if things go pear shaped….Whether all those companies want to go to that expense will determine the success or failure of having all those extra players in the market.
The gib might be cheaper at a retail level….possibly $1000 per house lot as was the case with Knauf board.. but one has to factor in the extra cost of getting the calculations done to get it through council.
Penk’s other thing about cutting insulation standards to supposedly save money is sheer stupidity.
The installation cost will be exactly….i mean exactly… the same as the higher standard insulation.
The difference between a higher and lower standard of insulation for a house lot is about $500 … but.. the unsuspecting owner will lumbered higher heating ,or cooling, costs for in perpetuity.
Houses would be significantly cheaper immediately if Penk dealt to the real estate agents who add a significant cost to the overall cost of a house with their larcenous fees…
It should be $10,000 per sale max. and that includes advertising …end of story.. This would immediately reduce 30- $40,000 off the cost of an average house.
Of course, he won’t, because Barfoot and Thompson , Bayleys and Harcourts are big donators to the National and Act Party.
You seem to know exactly what you are talking about, so quite informative to read. I can add is if Chris Penk is so great way is he in National. Also, so many people were ruined by the leaky building debacle hard not to see another disaster coming with looser building regulations that make things cheaper.
He lost me with”turbo charging”
This is a deliberate effort to bring in inferior materials to the advantage of National’s foreign paymasters. The US has seven completely independent state building codes, all of which have lower standards than any civilized country, as well as the also-inferior IBC and IRC which are adopted in part piecemeal by the remaining states.
Whatever happened to ‘BUY NZ MADE’? Do ask this toxic, inept CoC. Talking about fixing the construction industry is yet another farce. With 18,000 workers already gone, the horse has bolted. We don’t want a repeat of the repairs done for the Chch earthquake! This CoC just keep scamming, cheating, lying, distracting, and of course filling their pockets and those of their “mates”. And Luxon’s latest ‘press conference’ OMG which lala land does he truly live in? He’s so full of BS. Surely everyone can see this? He needs to go NOW, not soon.
Luxon lives on Planet Key where everything is brighter and sorted
Yes both very clever astute persons.
( people if you will)
Illiterate Bob troll. Use commas appropriately. D-
It should read…
“Yes, both very stupid ingenuous people”
Penk gets bad advice – eg his amazing claims about how much more a house costs in Bay of Plenty to meet the insulation standards – given as justification for revising insulation standards again. Proven to be he was relying on bad information – scuttlebut.
“Penk really is one of National’s best”
Damned with faint praise?
Sorry what a load of rubbish
It’s nice to hear that someone in blue is trying to do a decent job – perhaps he will be a core of sanity around which a sounder party can coalesce after the usual suspects meet the natural and inevitable consequences of their failure to govern.
Looks like more shitty Hardies type cladding, which is not water proof with out a heap of good quality paint ,and the aluminum cladding that killed people when it caught fire in the GRENFELL building in the uk .Cheap is not always best .Then there is the toxic materials that will kill more people in a fire .Have you noticed the black toxic smoke from newer house fires these days .Thats all the plastic and other artficial products that are used in homes now .
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