The commission is recommending competition be an objective to be promoted in the building regulatory system.
It wants a Māori perspective reflected, to open pathways for a broader range of key building supplies, an examination to be made into removing impediments to substitution and variations and an investigation into whether barriers to certifying new products can be reduced.
A new register has been announced to share information about building products and consenting. This will help centralise information and allow people to share knowledge.
Rawlings referred to the plasterboard sector in particular and said there were some initiatives being employed already that were good examples of what's possible to better enable competing products to come here.
But the commission has stopped short of recommending breaking up any businesses in the sector, saying "vertical integration" of businesses in the industry did not appear to be a factor affecting competition over the longer term.
Proceedings were planned to be brought this year against one business to enforce the law, Rawlings said.
Referring to rebates, she encouraged builders to invoice their customers at the true price they had paid for goods and be "truthful" about what they were paying when they invoiced their customers.
In 2014, the commission ruled out rebates as causing issues in the plasterboard sector. Then, it probed allegations that Winstone Wallboards acted anti-competitively to maintain its plasterboard market position.
"Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation the commission does not believe Winstone has breached the Commerce Act 1986 and it will not be taking any further action," the watchdog said back in December 2014.
The loyalty shown to Winstone and its large market share was likely a result of its level of service, the quality of Gib products, comparative prices, regulatory barriers to entry to the market, and until recently import duties on plasterboard, the watchdog said then.
Building duopoly giants Fletcher Building and Carter Holt Harvey challenged the commission's house cost probe.
The cost of building materials has been a talking point, even before the latest bout of inflation.
The Productivity Commission estimated people in New Zealand pay between 20 and 30 per cent more for building materials than those in Australia and 28 per cent product price rises are being clocked lately.
An Ebos survey out in December showed 16 per cent rises in the latter three months of last year.
But participants forecast a further 12 per cent rise in the next half-year, resulting in a compound 28 per cent.
The Auckland-headquartered companies sent defensive submissions to Wellington.
Ross Taylor, Fletcher's chief executive, told the commission materials were but a small portion of overall house price costs and it wasn't looking in the right direction if it wanted to uncover why house prices were high.
Carter Holt said there were "numerous other competitors" in the sector. Rebates or loyalty payments by its Carter's national retail chain to trade customers didn't affect their buying decisions.
Taylor said: "Building materials in total comprise only approximately 19 per cent of the residential development cost of a typical double-storey house in Auckland, which is one of the most common build types in that region.
