Learnings from Board complaints

Codewords 101: June 2021

A complaint can relate to building work (including design work) or poor behaviour related to building work. The Board cannot hear complaints regarding payment disputes, or commercial or contractual disputes including employment disputes.

To be able to make a complaint about an LBP you need to ensure that:

1. The person you are complaining about was an LBP when the conduct occurred.
2. The conduct you are complaining about is covered by one or more of the ‘grounds for discipline’ listed in section 317 of the Building Act 2004.
3. You can provide sufficient evidence to support your complaint.
4. Your complaint is made on the approved form.

There are a number of grounds for discipline, but the majority of complaints are in relation to a lack of supervision, poor workmanship, not building to the plans or bringing the LBP scheme into disrepute.

An LBP is needed for the design, supervision, or the physical carrying out of any restricted building work. For design work, this could be undertaking a thorough check of the drawings and documents once they have been completed by a non-licensed person. But on-site, it means that the work must be closely supervised while it is being carried out to the extent that the LBP who is completing the record of work (ROW) is satisfied that the work has been completed as per the plans and to a good level of workmanship.

This can be difficult, if you, as the LBP, are not on-site when the work is being carried out – best practice is being ‘proximate’ to the work. Of course, if you know the skill level of the person doing the work and have seen them carry out similar work in the past, then the supervision can be a bit less constant. However, remember – if the work fails some time in the future, your name is on the ROW. Why would you want to jeopardise your licence because someone else did not do their job properly? There is a Registrar’s practice note on supervision [PDF, 1.6 MB] to provide guidance on supervision 

Poor workmanship is not something any LBP ever wants to be accused of. We should be proud to put our name to our work, which is one of the main principles of the scheme – you have been assessed as being competent at your trade or profession. Workmanship is a hard thing to define – I would ask myself that if someone else had carried out work to that level of workmanship on my own house, would I be happy to accept and pay for it? A Guide to tolerances, materials, and workmanship [PDF, 710 KB](external link) can be found on the Building Perfomance website.

Not following the plans, or using the BCA as quality assurance (“you tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll make sure I fix it for you…”) are becoming more prevalent, and the penalties handed out to respondents who have been found guilty of doing so reflects the Board’s stance on this type of complaint.

Bringing the LBP scheme into disrepute stems mainly from communication issues – not answering calls from clients who may have an issue with something you have or have not done, arguing with the client, or not complying with a lawful request from the Board are among the cases that we are seeing.

And last, but definitely not least, is failing to provide a ROW. The main excuse for not providing the ROW seems to be trying to use it as a lever to ensure the final payment is made. The ROW should always be completed and given to your client and the BCA as soon as possible after the restricted building work has been completed. The average fine being handed down for this offence is $1500, along with $500 towards costs – is it really worth $2k to not provide it?

Quiz:

1. How do you make a complaint made against an LBP?
   1. Talk to your local Building Inspector
   2. Phone your lawyer
   3. Use the approved form available at lbp.govt.nz
2. Why could someone make a complaint against an LBP?
   1. Inadequate supervision resulting in mistakes being missed
   2. Poor workmanship
   3. Not following the plans
   4. All of the above
3. When must a record of work be issued?
   1. Following completion of the RBW
   2. When you’ve been paid
   3. When someone asks for it
   4. At the end of the financial year