Restricted Building Work

Restricted Building Work (RBW) is design and building work that is critical to the integrity of a residential building. It was introduced into the Building Act in 2012 and its aim is to ensure a building is structurally sound and weather-tight.

RBW only relates to residential construction, alterations and design. Residential means houses and small to medium sized apartment buildings. To find out if your building project is Restricted Building Work, visit the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employmentwebsite.

Who can do restricted building work?

Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) are the only people allowed to supervise or carry out Restricted Building Works (RBW). These are people who through assessment have shown to meet the standards of skill and competence in particular areas of building practice.

They include, but are not limited to:

• designers
• carpenters
• roofers
• bricklayers and blocklayers
• external plasterers
• foundations specialists

Professional engineers, architects, plumbers and gasfitters are treated as LBP and can carry out some RBW.

You and the building consent process

You need to:

• Ensure the people you plan to employ are Licensed Building Practitioners
• When you submit your building consent application, you will need to include a Memorandum - Certificate of Design Work using Form 2A from a LBP certifying that the design work complies with the Building Code.
• Before work begins you must supply the names and registration numbers of the LBPs who will carry out the work. This is a LBP Notification Form (T-26.s1)
• When the building work is complete, you will need to include the Memorandum - Record of Building Work using Form 6A from your LBPs with your application for Code Compliance Certificate (CCC).

Owner-Builder Exemption

Owner-builders are able to carry out or design restricted building work (RBW) on their own home.

You are an owner-builder if you:

• live in or are going to live in the home (includes a holiday home)
• carry out the RBW on your own home yourself, or with the help of your unpaid friends and family members, and
• have not, under the owner-builder exemption, carried out RBW to any other home within the previous three years.

Using the Owner-Builder Exemption

Before you can use the owner-builder exemption you need a written declaration showing that you meet the owner-builder criteria. Use Form 2B - Owner Builder Statutory Declaration

The statutory declaration form has to be witnessed and signed by a Justice of the Peace or someone else authorised by law do so. This form needs to be given to the Council with your application for a building consent, or before the construction of RBW on your home starts.

It is an offence under the Crimes Act 1961 to give false information in a Statutory Declaration, and it is also an offence under the Building Act 2004 to give false information.

Please ask our Building Control team if you want more information on the owner-builder exemption. Phone 03 419 0200 or email help.desk@cluthadc.govt.nz.