Make Or Break Decision Expected From BIA
The Building Industry Authority will decide the fate of the country’s independent certifiers in the next few days when
it rejects or accepts a weather-tightness insurance clause initiated by Manukau City Council on behalf of private
certifiers.
Building certifiers are required to have insurance that meets the BIA’s standards before they are approved as
certifiers. The recent insertion of strict new exemptions into policies by insurance companies meant the BIA would no
longer renew independent certifiers’ licences as they came up for renewal.
A1 Certifiers, the first casualty who were forced to close their doors last month, approached Council for help along
with other certifiers after being told by the BIA they could no longer continue to inspect buildings. Under the Building
Act, Councils must pick up any work handed to them by certifiers or individuals.
Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis immediately set up and chaired a working group to find a solution. The working group is
made up of senior council staff across the region, independent building certifiers, the Master Builders Association and
the President of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand.
“Having independent certifiers go under one by one will cripple the building industry. All building work would
reasonably be expected to slow down or stop,” he said.
“Given such a dire outlook this is the first time to my knowledge that all players in this fiercely competitive industry
have put all their cards on the table in an effort to find an immediate solution.
“What the group has proposed is an exemption clause for insertion into insurance policies that would reassure the BIA
and insurance companies while continuing to allow certifiers to operate effectively, “ said Sir Barry.
Sir Barry met with the BIA Chairperson and Chief Executive, and the Minister of Internal Affairs George Hawkins, over
the last few weeks to advise them of the seriousness of the situation. Sir Barry will be speaking at the Select
Committee on weather-tightness issues, to be held in Mangere on Friday 8 November, to ensure the certifiers’ situation
is represented.
Bevan Smith, Director of Professional Building Certifiers based in Manukau, says if it wasn’t for Sir Barry intervening
on their behalf the consequences would have been disastrous.
“The BIA’s decision will hopefully allow us to continue to work while long-term solutions can be found. It’s positive
that the industry has had such a massive wake-up call but having a lot of small companies like ours forced out of
business through no fault of our own is not the way forward, “ said Mr Smith.