Completing your project
Final steps to complete your build, from checking for defects to council sign-off (plus essential product information).
Last updated: 9 February 2017
You need to apply to council for sign-off as soon as you believe your building work is completed.
If your contractors have met all of the building consent requirements, including all scheduled inspections, getting a code compliance certificate should be straightforward.
As part of completing the build, your contractor must give you certain information and documents related to the building work, regardless of the price or size of the project. You might need them for your code compliance certificate application, as well as for management and maintenance of your building.
Your contractor needs to give you:
Good maintenance, including best approach, major matters (including warranty requirements) and a checklist.
Protecting your investment provides information about maintenance
You also need to review the work, as you have 12 months from the date your building work is complete to tell your contractors about any defects in their work or the work of their subcontractors.
If you’ve contracted other tradespeople directly, you’ll need to contact them yourself (in writing) about any defective building work.
If you tell contractors about any defective work within the 12 month period, they must put it right within a reasonable timeframe from receiving written notification. If there is a dispute, it is the contractors’ responsibility to prove that any defects are through no fault of their own (or their product).
How to identify defects includes guidance and next steps.
Rights and obligations can help you understand responsibilities.
If your property has a specified system, you will receive a compliance schedule as part of your council sign-off (code compliance certificate). A specified system could be a cable car, sprinkler system or any system that requires ongoing maintenance so that it is effective and safe to use.
If your property is a multi-unit residential, commercial or public building you will have ongoing compliance building warrant of fitness (BWoF) requirements. Single residential buildings with cable cars also have BWoF requirements.
Commercial, public and multi-unit residential building manager responsibilities.
See information about <span>compliance schedules and BWoFs.</span>
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:
This will print only the current page of this guidance document.
Print this page