From tomorrow, a wide range of building materials — including plasterboard, cladding systems, windows, and external doors — will become easier to use on construction sites across New Zealand, in a move the Government says will reduce costs and boost economic growth.
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk announced the changes, stating they are aimed at breaking monopolies and injecting much-needed competition into the building sector. “It is 50 per cent more expensive to build a standalone home in New Zealand than in Australia. That is frankly outrageous,” said Penk.
The reforms will allow overseas products that meet rigorous international standards to be used in New Zealand, even if they haven’t undergone local testing. This will immediately affect thousands of building products from countries including Australia, the UK, the US, and across Europe.
Penk cited the example of plasterboard, where Kiwis currently pay up to 67 per cent more than consumers in the US. In 2022, supply issues with a single dominant manufacturer saw prices spike and builders paying up to six times the usual cost. “That changes tomorrow,” Penk said.
The Government is releasing the first version of a new Building Product Specifications document, outlining approved international standards. Later this year, more pathways will be introduced, including access to over 200,000 plumbing products through the Australian WaterMark scheme.
“This is just the beginning,” said Penk. “We’re pulling every lever to reduce building costs, speed up home construction, and drive economic growth.”
Image credit: Sandy Millar
Already know all this and have said so on this site. The same materials can cost 50% more here than in Australia, which is indeed outrageous.
This is a decent start but needs to go further to reducing tariffs on pre-fabricated houses, which are widely used in Germany and of a surprisingly good standard, in terms of both quality and style.
I know of a builder, who get’s NZ timber out of Oz, cheaper than what he can buy it for in NZ, he get’s it set over in container’s
Yeah we are being deliberately taken down here in NZ. Plundered.guinea PIgs for the Globalists, run by cartels and FULL a of corruption and money laundering to the govts mates and iwi.
If the govt was that serious about reducing housing costs they would immediately remove all urban/ rural boundaries to free up land and approve a range of eco fully off grid septic and power system options. Then we don’t need a dumb local councils “services”.
All our problems would dissipate if the government got out of the way, far far away.
You only need to sit at Picton wharf and see all the timber being shipped off to China. How about we keep this onshore and mill it ourselves or is that too logical?
This is proof of deliberate price gouging. Where are the cops MBIE and the SFO???
Now that this has been exposed, are there any criminal charges coming for the Old Boys who have been over-charging Kiwis?
Probably not…they all meet-up on Thursday at the Lodge to determine who they will f*#k-over next week…!
And the materials?…cheap thin plasterboard as opposed to wire mesh plastering or solid wood paneled walls,…ceiling moulding made of plaster instead of wood…wall studs that are sub-standard in size for earthquake resistance, and nails used where timber screws should be!
In Canty, especially in Rangiora, there are ‘new’ homes which have no mesh in the concrete foundations, and no insulation barrier underneath concrete tiled roofs. (Concrete tiled roofs in earthquake zones should be outlawed anyway!).
Long-run iron Coloursteel roofs should also be tech-bolted instead of nailed…
As it stands, the build quality and sub-standard minimalist wood studs, joists, etc. are just one step up from a pre-fab shed that you find sitting out in the parking area at Mitre 10 or Bunnings..!
And, builders who are trademarked are well-known always have add-ons to their homes which do not reflect what is in their ‘show homes’..!
The slap-dash ‘she’ll be right, mate’ attitudes of builders and their abused on the job apprentices have done this country a dis-service. The leaky homes are proof of that, and the human dog kennels that we see going up are disgusting in cramped-in living conditions, population densities, and greed from the councils getting 8x’s more rates on the average for the same property that once yielded on one set of rates before the former dwelling was razed / demolished from the quakes.
But, this is what is planned for the open-air electronic prisons known as :15 minute cities, of which NZ is the guinea-pig.
https://rumble.com/v6uj0oj-the-agenda-their-vision-your-future-2025-full-documentary-4k.html
And the ‘Master Builder’ designation is pure bullshit, as anyone can pay a fee to ‘Master Builders’ and then be allowed to call themselves the same which, in many cases, they are not.
Builders and contractors go about in their new Ford Rangers, in designer clothes, with their sex partners who are spending machines.
The appearance of looking successful vs actually being successful is deceptive.
I’ll take a factory pre-fab flat-pack kit home with three layers of quality control over a ‘build on site’ where the price increases weekly while the home is still being built. You can easily add additional EQ hardware as a flat-pack is going-up on the property.
And then there are contractors who do NOT get council consents for the various stages of a site-built home, leaving you stuck in an un-approved home that will usually cost tens of thousands of dollars to remediate.
Some ‘new’ site-built homes haven’t even been connected-up to water, power & sewerage, and the TV program ‘Fair Go’ had a whole list of criminal activities that these ‘builders & contractors’ left off. But, that’s probably why the show was cancelled, in order to protect the criminals in this country!
BUT- will it really matter when 40% ofthe Kiwi population is deceased from EMF, Covid vaccines or participating in a war offshore?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtTKOtJ5ABc