Watchdog body provides practical property information

By Andrea Milner

The Consumers Institute and the Department of Building and Housing have launched Consumerbuild, a website that brings together checklists for house buyers and DIY builders and renovators, as well as those who need to brush up on maintenance.

Among other topics featured are sections about the Building Act, how to avoid buying a leaky home and special considerations when buying an apartment.

Consumers’ Institute chief executive David Russell says a driver behind the site was today’s heated property buying environment where consumers were feeling too pressured to make adequate pre-purchase checks.

The website will be kept up-to-date, Russell says, and will help property buyers to communicate in an informed way with builders and developers – knowing the right questions to ask and understanding when to engage expert advice so they make sound investments.

He launched the site with Building and Construction Minister Clayton Cosgrove at an Auckland show home demonstrating new energy efficient and weathertight construction features.

New energy efficient building standards will be released in March 2007, and while Cosgrove acknowledged they would raise up-front building costs by 6-8%, he said over time the new measures would result in savings on energy costs of 25-30%.

Building costs will rise by an additional 2.9% when the new builders licensing regime starts this November.

Councils will also be audited and accredited this year for consistency of their inspection services, Cosgrove says. “Keeping an eye on the bureaucrats” will be the Consumers Institute, Russell says, to ensure they don’t go “over the top” with charges.  

There are no qualifications for building inspectors presently.