Information on this page will be updated from time to time and is categorised by month.
To provide feedback or suggestions please email building.support@tasman.govt.nz
Minor variations, as a rule, should be dealt with on-site during your scheduled inspection. This enables the inspector to see the context and discuss directly with the applicant, including advising what else is required.
If it is a simple change they will record this on the consented plans, sign and date and take a photograph.
More complex minor variations that require further documentation, will need to use the new form created to make this procedure consistent and simple for everyone.
Complex minor variations:
Council has recently decided to allow applications for Building Consents to be received and processed prior to issue of the Record of Title where the subdivision application has reached 224 stage and been signed off. This decision has been made with the intention that this allows for workflows to be undertaken at the earliest opportunity, particularly where Covid-19 has resulted in delays and downtime. There are some specific requirements you need to pay attention to when applying for Building Consent prior to title (where 224 has been signed off). These are included below:
If you have multiple consents to submit, we would strongly recommend only submitting one application until it has passed the vetting stage. This will prevent the same VRFI question being asked for multiple applications and gives you the opportunity to add additional required information to the other applications prior to submission.
We are always looking at ways to improve our service. We have identified that with your assistance we can create efficiencies in the processing of Building Consent applications if a PIM only application has been applied for prior to the Building Consent Application.
By submitting a PIM only prior to your building consent, this means that you will be aware of any Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP) obligations and any non-compliances. This will allow you to either adjust your proposed design to meet the requirements or apply for the required Resource Consent. It will also prevent receiving requests for further information (RFI’s) from multiple parties during the Building Consenting process. This can prevent confusion, save time and save money for our mutual customers and prevent unexpected roadblocks within the building consent process.
We have created a checklist to assist your PIM application.
Building site inspections continue under Level 2, the site protocol requirements established at level 3 must remain.
As part of the preparation to move to level three and resuming site inspections, we have developed an induction checklist based on CHHSNZ protocols.
Our inspectors will be required to complete this over the phone with the nominated site contact for the inspection. At level three, all sites are expected to meet the requirements outlined by CHHSNZ. For more information please visit their website.
Council, as a responsible employer, must take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of its employees, in the same way as all businesses are responsible for their on-site employees and contractors.
The very first question we will be asking is whether you have a Covid 19 plan, an inspection will not be able to progress if you have not.
The key elements will be:
1) A Covid 19 site plan which will includes a controlled site with sign in/sign out and sanitization facilities.
2) The inspector will advise on the call the requirements for the site inspection e.g. for a residential site, the site will need to be vacated until inspection is complete (this need only mean site staff are waiting off-site i.e. in their cars or taking a break).
3) Plans need to be available, however, if possible inspectors will use tablets to avoid touching
4) There will need to be a main contact, and that person must be on-site. This list is not exhaustive and it is expected that everyone will be familiar with Construction Protocols from CHHSNZ (linked above).
Please note that current situation has prompted us to consider other methods to satisfy the BCA for compliance. It is not intended to be perpetual, however, depending on how it goes we may consider some similar procedures to be added even when we're back to normal.
The options below will need to be discussed with the inspectors when they call to complete the induction checklist and is not a guaranteed option as will vary from site to site.
Third party inspections alone may be sufficient when covered by chartered professional engineers. Sometimes they may also be used in conjunction with photographic evidence, however this will depend on the questions asked/answered.
If there are proposed variations to the consented plan please let your inspector know.
If your consented documents didn’t previously state that the inspection would be covered by a CPENG but you would now like to consider this alternative method please book an inspection with us.
When the inspector calls the day prior please advise whether you would like approval for CPENG to carry out the inspection.
If your consent documents did state that an inspection was required by a CPENG, please discuss with the inspector if you wish to use this alone to establish compliance.
We will need the following information:
- Full name and details of the chartered professional engineer and ENGNZ registration number
- Confirmation of how you will take responsibility for the siting of the building, confirmed by a building location certificate - Engineers site notes and siting confirmation to be sent in as soon as possible (The inspector will block any further inspections until the required documentation has been uploaded and checked)
- Record Of Work (ROW), or PS3 to cover specifically B2 durability where applicable particularly covering polythene under slab and slab pipe penetrations
Zoom or another facility to be able to video inspections may be a good option. However will depend on the complexity of the inspection and there will be some inspections unsuitable particularly where inspector needs to read a moisture meter, or test ground bearing.
Nevertheless, if you think this is an option and can do it please discuss with your inspector when they call.
Postline
- Full name and details of the licensed building practitioner (LBP) who supervised and/or carried out the Gib bracing (or Elephant board or plywood)
- Details of any substrate in wet areas that would normally be part of the Postline inspection (the inspector will ask for details of how this is going to be fixed and what materials are used)
- Details of any particular tiling preparation (the inspector will use discretion depending on the complexity and may require an inspection)
- Please send in the ROW as soon as possible, it is likely a carpenter has finished all restricted building work (RBW) so can be sent in after this work is completed
- The inspector will advise if photographs are required and of what specific areas
Membrane
This will only be considered for low risk membrane/waterproofing only i.e. single level only
- concrete floor, shower liner used or single tiled shower (photographs or video preferred for tiled shower)
- Evidence or proof that the waterproofer has been specifically trained for the system used
- Full name and details of waterproofing and license or proof of qualifications (see note above)
- The inspector will advise if photographs are required and of what specific areas
If you need assistance uploading your documents please review the instructions available on our website or contact building.support@tasman.govt.nz.
We acknowledge the difficult time that everyone is experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic moving to alert level 4. We have put measures in place to continue to provide services where we can, however, Building Assurance has been deemed a non-essential service and our office is now closed.
Where possible Building Assurance staff will be working from home, this includes Administration, Consent Processors and Inspectors. We will continue to process queries, correspondence, required documents and new applications.
Building site inspections have stopped from mid-day on Wednesday 25 March in line with the alert level. Anyone that has a current booking for after this time, won't lose their place in the queue and will be rescheduled for when we are able to reopen this service. However, due to the uncertainty of the situation, we will not be taking any new bookings until the alert level is reduced. Please contact us if your building work is deemed an essential service.
For more information about what Alert Level 4 means for the building and construction sector please visit the Building website.
Any further queries please contact our Building Assurance Manager, Ian McCauley via email ian.mccauley@tasman.govt.nz.
Many of you are already taking advantage of the AlphaOne system and submitting Required Documents during your building project, and leading up to code compliance certificate.
This is the most efficient of getting your documents to us, and is our preferred method. As such, we will soon be requiring all Required Documents to be submitted this way. We have included the procedure below to assist those new to this.
We have been accepting and processing emails with Required Documents attached, but this method is very slow and requires many steps. This slows down our ability to deal with documentation efficiently and also creates more room for error.
The step-by-step procedure outlined below is very easy to understand and follow.
However, if you have any difficulty or need further assistance please contact building support and we will be happy to offer assistance.
1. Save the documents you wish to upload on your local device. Note: They must be in a PDF or JPEG format or they will not be accepted
2. Log into the AlphaOne portal using the email address you originally registered with and your password. Click here to link to the portal.
3. Click on the “Upload Documents” tab.
4. Select which BC you wish to upload documents from by clicking “Select”.
5. This will take you to a new window.
6. Select which document you wish to upload by clicking on “Attach File” on the right-hand side.
7. Navigate to where your document is saved to on your local device and double click on it.
8. The document will automatically load up into the portal.
9. An email notification is sent to the Building Support Team and the document is then reviewed.
All required documents must be uploaded prior to applying for your Code Compliance Certificate
We need all Required Documents to be uploaded prior to the booking of the final inspection. We appreciate that in some cases you will need to book your inspection before the energy certificate, for example, has been provided to you. However, please ensure that these odd documents have been submitted prior to the day of the inspection.
We are trying to get to the ideal situation where a final inspection can be undertaken, and all documentation has been submitted, technically reviewed and processed. Your Code Compliance Certificate can then be issued more quickly and efficiently
The success of this ideal situation depends on us doing our part and you doing yours. Please remember that we are dealing with many thousands of documents each year after the issuing of the building consent.
From the 2nd of December last year we made some changes to the inspection booking process.
The changes were intended to help pull back inspection wait times to 48 hours maximum.
We have been monitoring and are pleased to see the wait times significantly decreasing.
We are making another change with respect to final inspections which will be actioned from the 4th of February.
These inspections require more time due to the documentation that needs to be checked. Prior to the 2nd December we required all documentation to be uploaded into the system before you could book a final inspection.
The change we made on December 2nd was to allow the inspection to be booked without having all CCC documents lodged and the inspector would check paper documents on site. This has not gone well and some have been confused both lodging documents as well as bringing paper ones to site.
The feedback from staff is also that the process is taking longer and due to the dual system not efficient as was thought. Most have not changed and are still uploading the required documents to the consent.
Therefore we have decided to revert back to requiring all documentation to be submitted prior to the final inspection as it was prior to 2nd December and this will take effect from the 4th of February. Apologies for the change back but hope you realise we are doing all we can to make the process efficient. We will change what we need to make any improvements.
What if there is delay in getting a document and I still need to book the inspection? We recognise that there can be delays at times with chasing contractors i.e. energy certificates is often the last document to get. We will allow provisional bookings to be made in these cases. However, please ensure these missing required documents are sent in prior to the day of inspection.
We are putting more resources into reviewing technical CCC documentation that is submitted prior to the final inspection.
This will help speed up the final inspection and certification process. We are currently working to resource and train support staff to be able to do this. The better we get at it the more efficient the CCC process will be. Submitting all your CCC documentation as early as possible before the final inspection will enable it to be reviewed and processed as quickly as possible. It also gives you the opportunity to provide any documentation missing or correct any errors you will be notified of. Imagine the inspector undertaking the final inspection with all documentation having been processed already. Code Compliance Certificate cannot be issued until all required documentation has been provided. Final inspections prior to this do not speed up the process.
This will also free up more inspection time to even further reduce wait times. Help us to help you by managing your jobs well. Get a system in play where consent documentation is sent in as soon as possible to clear it.
There have been issues with people adding to the waiting list and not being ready when called by the inspector. We appreciate one of the reasons this was an issue in the past was due to the extended delay in inspection times. You cannot easily manage inspection times 4-5 days out. But now we are pulling these wait times back, so please do not go on the waiting list unless you know you will be ready. This only slows everything down.
There will be increasing options to get next day inspections and the more efficient we get the more common these will become. The waiting list should only be used if you cannot get the day you need within 48 hours and you must be ready on the day you say you will be.
Inspections of course have to be cancelled from time to time for various reasons. However, they must be cancelled by 2pm the day before since that is the time inspections will be allocated.
If it is not cancelled there is one less inspection done and arrangements have to be made to fill up the inspectors day. This is what the waiting list is used for. The Team Leader and senior cannot waste time calling bookings on the wait list that have stated they will be ready only to be told they are not. This is why we have to charge for inspections that have not been cancelled and are on the waiting list but not ready at the time they said they would be.
If the inspection is cancelled whether booked or on the waiting list before 3pm the day before the inspection there will be no charge and this gives another person the opportunity to get an inspection in its place.
The word fail does not necessarily mean your work is not good. It is a word that is also used to manage required documentation. The most common fails are at foundations when an engineer is required to certify the ground or foundation prep. Also when set out cannot be confirmed at the time of inspection and we need a surveyors certificate, or this is required as noted on the consent by the processor.
Concerning engineers, we are not after a PS4 at this stage but at least engineers site notes to certify the concrete can be poured (PS4 can come later). The inspection must fail and a block on further inspections added until we receive the document. Upload this into the consent (even a photo is fine) and the block will be removed. It protects us all to ensure the right certification has been confirmed. We cannot continue inspections when these documents have not been provided and litigation experience has taught us this.
Whatever your document management system is the sooner you get us these the sooner we will get them reviewed and cleared in preparation leading up to the final inspection.
We can assure you that the procedures we are developing and changes made are intended to help get you to the Code Compliance Certificate as efficiently and as soon as possible.
The efficient management of documentation is a key part of this. Feel free to provide any feedback or suggestions. While we will not be able to please everyone, I can assure you we will be able to explain the reasons why.
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