22 April 2005

Carter says DIY culture alive and well

DIYers will still be able to carry out home building work under the Building Act 2004, Building Issues Minister Chris Carter said today.

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Carter says DIY culture alive and well

DIYers will still be able to carry out home building work under the Building Act 2004, Building Issues Minister Chris Carter said today.

Mr Carter was speaking in response to claims that DIY activities in the home would be heavily curtailed when licensing for carrying out critical work on homes enters into force on 30 November 2009.

"For many New Zealanders, their most significant asset is their home," Mr Carter said. "Home owners, and those who buy houses in the future, need to be sure that any critical building work has been done properly. That's what the new licensing rules are all about."

"The Government recognises the importance of our Kiwi DIY culture and wants to introduce a sensible way of allowing New Zealanders to continue to make the full range of modifications and renovations at their homes by ensuring sensible quality standards."

"People will still be able to do kitchen and bathroom renovations, build decks, sheds, do cladding, painting, interior decorating, shelving, cupboards and other interior work with no restrictions, which is sensible. This covers the vast majority of DIY work in New Zealand."

Only building work deemed by regulation to be 'restricted work' - for example, framing, roofing, building load-bearing structures - will need to be undertaken, or supervised by a licensed building practitioner. A decision on the definition of restricted work is yet to be taken by the Government.

"The National Party is making extravagant claims, scaring the public to gain cheap political points. How they can come to the conclusion that DIYers won't be able to do work on their properties is beyond me."

"I am also mystified as to why National would support a situation in which there are few controls on building work critical to the structural safety of people's homes. That's how we ended up with the whole leaky homes fiasco in the first place."

Notes:

·The licensing system is one of several government initiatives introduced by the Building Act 2004 which aim to improve the quality of building work done in New Zealand.

·Licensing aims to ensure that critical design and building work is carried out by people who have demonstrated they meet a national level of competence

·DIY renovators will be able to carry out any work falling outside the restricted building work category - this will include repairs and maintenance, low decks, small detached buildings and most interior building and decorating

·DIY renovators will also be able to do restricted work as long as they are supervised by a licensed building practitioner. The extent of this supervision will vary and require judgment by the licensed building practitioner

·In addition, some DIY renovators may be able to get a licence to do critical work if they can demonstrate that they meet national standards of competence, even if building is not their primary profession

ENDS

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