Building consents rush a headache for inspectors

A rush to get building consents through before tough new restrictions came into force is now causing headaches for building inspectors.

In the past few months there has been a huge influx of consent applications from builders and contractors anxious to get in before strict new building requirements and increased charges kicked in at the beginning of this month.

In the seven months from September Rotorua District Council received about 300 more applications than they would normally receive in a year.

But the record numbers have left building inspectors struggling to keep up with the huge amount of work.

The council's building control manager Pat Lawrence said staff had worked hard processing the extra consent applications but it was putting a huge strain on resources.

Mr Lawrence said contractors needed to be aware that council staff were running about a week behind schedule.

He said they should book inspections well in advance so construction work would not be delayed. Normally building inspections could be done within 24 hours.

"We're pulling out all stops to keep inspection delays to a minimum, but realistically we expect it will still take another month or so before things settle down."

Mr Lawrence said that in March there were about 480 applications which was almost double the number the council would normally receive in a busy month.

He put the increase down to people trying to get projects done before the new building laws came in, rather than a huge rise in the amount of work being done.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)