Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme on-line component launch

Greetings and welcome

Today we are here to launch the online component of the Licensed Building Practitioner’s scheme. A component which will make it simple for our professional licensed building practitioners to comply with the requirements of the scheme and keep their details current.

LBPs are essential in bringing a qualified, professional workforce to the building and construction sector and ensuring quality buildings for the future.

Using Smart Technology will make it easier and more accessible for LBPs to keep their skill requirements up to date and stay licensed and is the way of the future.

LBPs are an important component of the changes which bring national consistency to the building sector, up-skill the sector and make it more productive.

As New Zealand begins one of the biggest rebuilding projects in its history, with the repair of leaky homes and the Christchurch rebuild, the need for the New Zealand public to have confidence in the building industry and in the quality of the work that homeowners will receive has never been greater.

The good news for homeowners and builders throughout the country, is that the Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme is progressing well. In fact, we have issued over 8000 licences, meaning the Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme is on track to hit its target of 14,000 LBPs by March 2012.

While the Scheme itselfis important for the recovery of Christchurch for a number of reasons, many of you will be aware that the LBP actually pre-dates events in the South Island by a number of years.

Restricted building work and the llicensing of building practitioners was one of a package of changes introduced by the Building Act 2004 to improve control and to encourage better overall practices in design and construction.

Owning your own home and making improvements to the home you have are ideas close to the hearts of most New Zealanders. But shoddy workmanship and a lack of consistent credentials have historically made planning, design, building and repair risky endeavours. Homeowners have often had little idea what they were getting or what they could expect.

To help Kiwis source the genuinely good people, the LBP Scheme was introduced as a simple, universal and reliable way for people to recognise who they could trust.

Licensing is important because it aims to ensure that critical design and building work is carried out by people who have clearly demonstrated they meeta nationally licensed level of competence.

That’s the goal of this Government and the Department of Building and Housing – to ensure that only those who have the skills to design and build to the required level are licensed to do so.

One way that we’re doing that is through the introduction of restricted work.

This is work that in the Department’s view is critically important because, if it is done badly, it has the potential to cause significant harm to people and/or costly damage to property.

Under the restricted work programme, which will also be introduced in March 2012, only an LBP will be able to carry out or supervise the design and construction of restricted building work on houses and small to medium sized apartments. In other words, if building designers and contractors don’t have the correct license they will be legally excluded from carrying out the work. They won’t even be able to tender for it.

As I said earlier, the LBP Scheme will be important for the Christchurch rebuild. And the fact that we are more than half way towards our end target at this stage means that the people of that city can be more assured that there are quality endorsed licensed building professionals available in sufficient numbers to really progress the redevelopment of Christchurch.       

In fact, after the earthquake, the Department focused on getting as many practitioners licensed as quickly as possible in Christchurch. It’s a great example of licensing in action. Of the 8300 licences already issued, more than 2000 are in the Christchurch area.

As Minister, I can tell you it is very pleasing to see builders and designers giving the Scheme good support.

This is a Scheme that looks to safeguard home owners, but it is also a Scheme that rewards those diligent, hard-working and trustworthy members of the sector who have been doing very good work for many, many years.

They too need to be clearly and easily distinguishable from their less reliable colleagues – and this Scheme gives them that recognition and that standing publicly.

The license provides a real credential that they can use to bolster their reputation and get more of the work they want. Many of the building contractors and designers I’ve spoken to have said they support the Scheme and what it stands for. They too want people to know that they are good at their work.

I’d like to take a moment to play you two pieces of feedback.

The first is from Dave Hughey, a builder from Christchurch, the second is from Kevin Garrity, a builder in Tauranga

As part of the LBP Scheme, we’ve also introduced software that allows licensed building practitioners to manage their own profile and keep it up to date. This is an efficient tool that both minimises paperwork and also is an effective database management system

A key feature of the Scheme is responsibility for the LBP to ensure competence and skills are maintained to a high standard. The online tool helps them to identify approved training as well as allowing them to update their annual activity and progress towards their training target.

And at the end of the year, re-licensing provides the opportunity to check their competence, check their profile and then simply generate their own invoice to be paid.

This database gathered by the system doubles as a tool for consumers to check if practitioners are indeed licensed and to obtain the latest information about them.

This Scheme sends a clear message to those who can’t deliver quality that their time in the industry is up. And that in turn will see standards and expectations rise across the whole industry, which must work to everyone’s advantage.

Homeowners will feel more assured, licensed building professionals can expect to be more trusted and the industry will be well on its way to restoring widespread public faith.

My thanks and congratulations to all those who have signed up for the Scheme already. You’ve set the example and the challenge for those who have yet to do so. Just as importantly, with so many having signed up already, there is now a real momentum for meaningful change, and it is my hope that those who have not signed up yet will do so sooner rather than later to avoid a last minute rush.

My thanks too to the Department for the hard work they’ve done in getting the Scheme up and running, and for the workshops they’re running up and down the country to help builders and designers learn more about the Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme and help them apply for their license.

Finally … to those who are looking to rebuild or build a new home in the next while. The Government has heard your concerns and through this Scheme we believe we have gone a long way towards answering them. Please now help yourself, the industry and the economy by ensuring that you only ask for licensed building professionals on your projects. Thank you.