Building FAQ & Resources

A building consent is required to install a new or second hand burner.

If you are in an urban area and/or your property size is less than 2 hectares in size, you are required to have a burner with an Environment Canterbury approval and this number must be included on your application.

When applying for a building consent please supply the following:

• Dimensioned floor plans showing the location of the wood burner, bedrooms, escape routes (ie exit doors) and location of smoke alarms.
• The wood burner and flue installation details.
• Roof flashing details.
• Photos of where the burner is to be located in the room and of the roof where the flue exits.

Please note: Wet back models require the services of a registered plumber to make the connection to the hot water cylinder.

While you do not need a building consent to replace a flue or firebricks with comparable materials, your work will still need to comply with the building code. Installing a heat pump does not require a building consent but must be installed by registered electricians who certify their own work.

Gas fires are considered energy works and are exempt from the building consent process, however they must be installed by a registered gas fitter in accordance with the requirements of the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act. We would advise you to provide us with a copy of the gas certificate so that this can be placed on the property file for future reference.

Associated links:

Consent application for a solid or liquid fuel heater

Environment Canterbury - List of approved burners

Second hand wood burner producer statement

Installer's installation certificate

From March 1 2012, Restricted Building Work came into effect. This applies to most residential building or renovation work and only a Licensed Building Practitioner can undertake or supervise the work. Contact the building team for further information or head online to the Build It Right website.

Associated links:

Public search to check if your builder is licenced

Occupational licensing

Property owners can carry out some restricted building work on their own homes. To find out if you can be classified as an owner builder see the information on the Building Performance website page for Homeowners.

Before you can use the Owner-Builder exemption you need to complete a Statutory declaration as to owner-builder status form showing that you meet the owner-builder criteria.

The statutory declaration form has to be witnessed and signed by a Justice of the Peace or someone else authorised by law do so. This form needs to be given to your local council with your application for a building consent, or before the construction Restricted Building Work on your home starts.

It is an offence under the Crimes Act 1961 to give false information in a Statutory Declaration, and it is also an offence under the Building Act 2004 to give false information.

This depends on the type of application, cost of work involved and the level of detail provided. Our Fees and Charges are listed on our website and are based on the length of time it takes to process an application and include costs such as:

• Levies payable to the Department of Building and Housing (payable on all applications over $20,000)
• Levies payable to BRANZ (payable on all applications over $20,000)
• Time spent processing the application
• Number of Inspections required (type and number vary depending on application)
• Issue of compliance schedule (if applicable)
• Development contribution (if applicable)

An estimate of the fees involved may be provided, however the final cost will not be known until the application is processed. A fee will apply if you withdraw your application for time already spent processing the application.

Please note that all outstanding fees and charges including development contributions will need to be paid before the Code Compliance Certificate can be issued.

Building Fees and Charges

Development Contributions

Building consent processing time depends on the complexity of your project and whether or not you have provided sufficient information.

All building consents are required to be approved within 20 working days, however: if information is deficient the time clock is stopped and a formal request will be made for further information. The time clock is not restarted until all the requested information is received.

It is possible that your building consent application requires checking by several disciplines; it is possible therefore that the clock maybe stopped on more than one occasion.

Changes to consented building work are often proposed during a building project. While the 'approved building consent' (obtained before work commences) is the foundation document for most building work, the building consent process does allow for this consent to be altered before or during construction, through the 'building consent amendment process'.

For information on amending your building project see the guide to building consent amendments on the Building Performance website.