Skip to content.
Return to Department of Building and Housing home page.

what's new

MultiProof now available for volume builders – 1 February

New regulations about building issues – 18 December

Solar water heating technical guidance document available - 17 December

keep up to date

Codewords. Codewords: Latest issue | Subscribe to Codewords update

Building Controls Update. Building Controls Update: Periodic email news update service. Subscribe to Building Controls Update.

Licensing update. Licensing Update: Quarterly email news update service. Latest issue | Subscribe to Licensing Update.

essential resources

Building Act online Link to the Legisation website..

Consumerbuild website. ConsumerBuild: Help with building, renovating and maintaining your home.

Smarter Homes website.Smarter Homes: Creating healthy, affordable homes for better living.

New Zealand Government website. Your Council: Look up the contact details of your local council.

Resource Management Act. Information about the Resource Management Act [External website].

building A-Z

A glossary of building terms with links to further information.

Building

Welcome to the building section of the Department of Building and Housing website. Here you will find information and guidance on building legislation and controls and the better building blueprint — a series of measures that will make it easier and cheaper for New Zealanders to build good quality homes and buildings.

The better building blueprint will lead to better building safety and quality. It is about reducing costs, not cutting corners.

The better building bluepint measures:

  • simplify and streamline consenting processs, to make consents faster and easier to maintain
  • support standardised solutions to deal with simple, straightforward consents
  • do away with unescessary consenting requirements for the lowest risk buildings
  • reduce consenting costs.

The better building blueprint series is ongoing and the measures will be announced from February 2010, starting with MultiProof.

Building law and compliance

Includes information about:

MultiProof

Volume builders can apply to obtain MultiProof for building designs that will be replicated multiple times.

Determinations

A way of solving disputes about the rules that apply to buildings, and how they are used.

Licensing

Licensing for designers, site supervisors and some trades comes into effect from November 2010.

Got a question?

1. See what the law says. Review the legislation.
2. Check our information for different groups.
3. Use our search function.
4. Contact us.