Construction process
Notification to council
Before restricted building work commences under a building consent, the owner must give the council written notice of the name of every licensed building practitioner (LBP) who is engaged to carry out or supervise the restricted building work (RBW) under the building consent and has not already been stated in the building consent application.
Once the RBW construction has commenced, the council must also be notified, as soon as practical, in writing if:
- An LBP ceases to be engaged to carry out or supervise the RBW; and/or
- Another LBP, not already named is engaged to carry out or supervise the RBW.
Identifying RBW on a project
Look for the certificate of work – it should be attached to the issued building consent. This certificate identifies which work is RBW. It’s provided by the Design LBP (a licensed designer, New Zealand registered architect or chartered professional engineer).
You still need to meet the requirements of the Building Code, and the owner still needs to get a code compliance certificate (CCC) from the council.
Licence classes
There are 7 LBP licence classes:
- Design
- Site (these are on-site supervisors or project managers).
- Carpentry
- Roofing
- External Plastering
- Brick and Blocklaying
- Foundation
Here’s a diagram showing the parts of a home that LBPs can do RBW on (depending on the material and construction type, and the person’s competence).
Do you need to bring in another LBP?
Each licence class has its own set of distinct skills. However, there are times when more than one licence class can do a particular type of construction.
For example, licensed carpenters, plumbers and gasfitters can do other types of RBW. A Carpentry LBP may be able to carry out an entire project on their own, without needing to bring in another LBP.
On the other hand, sometimes you may need to call in another LBP to do an aspect of your work.
For example, when:
- the work required (for example, material used or construction type) falls outside the scope of your licence
- the work is within the scope of your licence but falls outside your personal competence.
Record of work (‘Memorandum’)
A ‘record of building work’ (also called a ‘Memorandum’ or just ‘record of work’) is written by each licensed building practitioner (LBP) that carried out or supervised each part of the RBW on the building. It details the work that was done.
You'll need to fill out the record of work when your part of the RBW is complete.
You must give a copy to the building owner and one to the local council.
The building owner will need all the records of work from all the LBPs involved to apply for a code compliance certificate (CCC) from the council.
If there are lots of LBPs doing the same kind of RBW, each of you will need to detail what you specifically did. For example, there might be several carpentry LBPs working on the house, each one needs to write down what they did on a record of work.
Supervising RBW
If you are supervising RBW, you provide direction and oversee the work to make sure it’s done properly and complies with the building consent.
To do this, you must:
- be a licensed building practitioner in the appropriate licence class
- sign a ‘record of work’ stating you supervised a particular kind of RBW and that the finished work complies with the building consent.
You can only supervise and sign off RBW if you are licensed to do so for that particular kind of RBW.
Site LBPs cannot supervise or sign off RBW.
Offences and penalties
You must comply with restricted building work requirements. If you carry out or supervise RBW, but you are not a licensed building practitioner, then you could face prosecution and court fines of up to $20,000.
You can also be reported to the Board if you:
- carry out or supervise restricted building work that’s outside your licence class
- carry out or supervise design or building work negligently or incompetently
- don’t provide a record of work
- claim to be licensed in an area that you are not.