While the reductions in public servants and the change of direction in a lot of services has caused a number of problems and struggles for those laid off, there is at least one part of the government where the changes have definitely led to improvements in their service…. the building and housing section of MBIE.
If council refuse to issue a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) for a project because a producer statement from the roofers, or water membrane installer hasn’t been received, or a any one of a hundred reasons, the way to get it resolved is for either the developer, or the builder, or the owner to take the council through MBIE’s dispute resolution service who make a determination of whether the council should or shouldn’t issue a CCC…. council’s liability increases for bad workmanship if they’ve issue a CCC.
But MBIE’s scope doesn’t just finish there, they would also make determination on whether work had been done properly. For example, a roofer may use a propriety flashing system which a council building Officer was unwilling to pass an inspection and MBIE called in to determine whether it was correct or not.
Anyway, MBIE had became very focused on middle management, outside consultants and communications staff to the point where it took over 500 days to investigate a compliant and issue a determination. Now, because they’ve priorities have been reset, they now taking less than 100 days.
Now, if it’s an addition to an existing dwelling and the issue is over the waterproofing in a bathroom under some tiles, the house owner may not be worried about how long it takes because they are still able to live in the house and, can in fact, sell the house without a CCC while waiting for the MBIE determination.
But, if the issue is over a cladding system and no work can be done until a determination is released, a heck of a lot of damage could be caused over a 500 day period or additional cost on “tenting” the house while waiting for a determination.
Then, if the house is a “spec” house being built by either a developer or builder for sale when completed, they can’t sell the property, or if it’s been “brought of the plans”, hand it over to the new owners until a CCC has been issued. The holding cost of not being able to settle for three months is bad enough but the holding costs of 18 months waiting for a determination is huge.
And other times, it’s council’s who seek a determination to show that they were right in not passing an inspection or issuing a CCC.
Even just the time it takes for MBIE to respond to questions about material suitably or okaying construction details when none are available from manufacturers has decreased from over a week to less than 24 hours… and, in some cases, within a few hours.
As much as I hate to think the public service has been gutted, this is one case where the reset has worked out well.
BUT, my fear is that other departments have been gutted in the name of “efficiency” and it will eventually lead to less favorable outcomes for staff and for customers/tax payers. While the public service had become too bloated, I think the pendulum has swung back too far. It’s all about balance, and I don’t think this government has it right, and, when there is eventually a change of government, I don’t have very much confidence that they’ll get it right either as they try to make the cost of election promises (i.e. vote winning bribes) work.
Please Lord, spare us from politicians who only care about swing voters and their party’s financial backers and not what’s best for the country. Amen.
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