Regulation 7A – Inspection requirements

Last updated: 21 August 2025

The policies and procedures that a BCA has in place concerning building work inspections must ensure that it meets the specified performance requirement.

The objective of the regulation

Regulation 7A was introduced by the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Amendment Regulations 2025, which come into force on 22 August 2025. It sets a performance standard requirement for inspections and is intended to reduce delays in wait-times.

You can view Regulation 7A on the Legislation website.

MBIE's guidance on meeting the accreditation requirement

Regulation 7A of the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) must be read in conjunction with regulations 5, 6, 7(2)(e) and section 90 of the Building Act 2004 (the Act).

Under regulation 7(2)(e) a BCA is required to have a policy and procedure for planning (booking), performing and managing inspections. Regulation 7A requires that these policies and procedures when implemented must ensure that a minimum of 80 per cent of inspections are carried out by the BCA or their agent within the period of three working days after the date for inspection requested (DIR) by the building owner or their agent.

The three working day period in the performance requirement starts the day after the DIR (if the inspection was not able to be carried out on the date requested). Under section 54 of the Legislation Act 2019, the DIR is not counted as part of the three working day period. ‘Day 1’ of the three working day period will be the next working day after the inspection date that was requested.  Each day after that adds one day to the count.

The performance requirement applies to building work inspections specified on all issued building consents.

BCAs have the flexibility to determine how they will meet this requirement, including through greater use of remote inspections (RI). MBIE developed RI guidance for BCAs, which provides practical direction on implementing RI as part of their inspections function. RI can complement physical onsite inspections, especially for re-inspections and simple or low-risk work.

Remote inspection guidance for Building Consent Authorities [PDF, 1.3MB]

To comply, a BCA’s policies and procedures must cover certain matters

How inspection requests are processed, prioritised and scheduled (regulation 7(2)(e))

This includes specifying the criteria for prioritisation and scheduling protocols. The policies and procedures should also clarify how requests received after-hours or on weekends are handled, and how applicants are notified of confirmed inspection dates and times.

Regulation 7(2)(e) - Planning (booking), performing and managing inspections

How inspection capacity is managed to meet demand (e.g staffing, rostering, contingency planning) (regulation 8)

To meet demand and maintain compliance with the performance requirement, a BCA must demonstrate effective management of inspection resources in accordance with Regulation 8 and 17. This could include staffing levels, rostering strategies, and contingency planning. For instance, BCAs may use floating inspectors or contract support during peak periods, or implement geographic zoning to reduce travel time. Rosters should be flexible enough to accommodate surges in inspection requests.

Regulation 8 - Ensuring enough employees and contractors

How performance against the performance requirement is tracked and reported (regulation 17(2)(e))

BCAs must track and report on performance against the three working day inspection wait time target. This involves maintaining accurate records of inspection request dates and actual inspection dates, calculating wait times according to regulation 7A (where both request and inspection dates are counted as day 0), and generating performance reports. These reports could identify trends, highlight areas of non-compliance, and support continuous improvement.

Regulation 17(2)(e): Supporting continuous improvement in BCA performance

Transitional provisions

Regulation 7A does not apply to:

  • Accreditation applications made under section 250 of the Act before 22 August 2025
  • Audits under section 249(1)(a) of the Act that are started before 22 August 2025

In these situations, the accreditation body must determine these applications or conduct audits as if the 2025 Amendment Regulations had not been made.

Example scenarios

The PDF document in the link below illustrates four common inspection booking scenarios, how to count the period specified in the performance requirement, and whether in each scenario the timeframe specified in regulation 7A is met. 

Understanding the three working day timeframe for inspection [PDF, 248KB]

You can read the following on the Legislation website:

This information is published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Chief Executive. It is a general guide only and, if used, does not relieve any person of the obligation to consider any matter to which the information relates according to the circumstances of the particular case. Expert advice may be required in specific circumstances. Where this information relates to assisting people: