You might be wondering why builders need a license – I mean, doesn’t experience count as a qualification? You’re right, experience matters, but being licensed shows the public and potential clients that the builder meets a minimum standard of competency and enables them to carry out or supervise restricted building work. A license is a guarantee that you can trust the builder and know that they know what they’re doing.
The License Difference
Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) are designers, carpenters, brick and blocklayers, roofers, external plasterers, and site and foundations specialists who have been assessed to be competent to carry out work essential to a residential building’s structure or weather-tightness.
The LBP scheme includes 7 licensing classes based on specific roles or occupations. These are:
- Design
- Site
- Carpentry
- Roofing
- External plastering
- Brick and blocklaying
- Foundations
Building practitioners must not carry out or supervise Restricted Building Work (RBW) that is outside of their licensing class, unless they or someone supervising their work is appropriately licensed. Carrying out Restricted Building Work without a proper license results in a fine of up to $20,000. However, builders can apply for more than one license.
To become licensed, building practitioners need to comply with all the rules set out by the government. Each licensing class comes with a set application fee and administration fee, and the assessment fees differ between categories of licenses. For most classes of licensing, there are 3 pathways to apply to become an LBP: qualified application, standard application, and the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Agreement (TTMRA).
To learn more about performance standards for all New Zealand building work, read the Building Code here.
Smartway Builders’ Qualified & Licensed Builders
At Smartway Builders, we have a team of licensed building practitioners who support and follow our vision and values. This means you can trust all of our builders to treat your project with care and respect, creating quality work that mirrors our vision. We currently have 5 New Zealand Government Approved Licensed Building Practitioners which means we are building, renovating, remodelling and extending homes to the correct NZ standards. Our LBPs are qualified specialists who have been assessed to be competent to carry out work essential to a residential building’s structure and weather tightness.
If you’d like to talk to us about your future project, give us a call! We work with a team of house builders in NZ who have been handpicked for excellence.
