How building surveying boomed in New Zealand

Until the early 1990s, if you happened to mention to someone in New Zealand that you were a surveyor then the chances are they would immediately assume you went to work with a theodolite and a tripod.

It's no surprise of course, because at the time this was more or less what anyone called a surveyor did. Cadastral surveying, setting out of roads and bridges on infrastructure schemes and subdivision of land into smaller sections for housing or other development would have been your go-to projects.

A small group of New Zealand professionals who had practised as clerks of works had by the early 1990s formed the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors, but this body was primarily engaged in carrying out pre-purchase surveys.

No one could have possibly known what lay around the corner, though, and the momentous changes it would entail for residential and commercial property, the construction industry as a whole and the building surveying profession in particular.

First, changes in building consent regulation under the Building Act 1991 made design standards less prescriptive, and gave architects more freedom to explore new types of building. Public tastes were moving away from traditional Kiwi weatherboard houses with corrugated tin roofs and wide eaves. Instead, they favoured the apparently sophisticated aesthetic of Mediterranean-style houses with monolithic walls, low-pitched membrane roofs, parapets and internal gutters.

The walls were typically clad with textured fibre-cement sheets fixed directly to timber framing, but with no cavity to manage the moisture that would inevitably leak through poorly detailed junctions and joinery penetrations. Similarly, the internal membrane gutters drained through parapets that were often poorly designed and constructed, directing rainwater into the wall framing where it would remain.

Second, New Zealand was – like much of the western world – experiencing a decline in trade skills and apprenticeships. Traditional construction know-how was being replaced by cheap materials, quality was being value-engineered out of the majority of construction projects in favour of lower costs and faster completion dates. The overall effect of this was the construction of tens of thousands of poorly designed and constructed houses and apartment buildings, clad with materials and systems that were ill suited to the environment.

The reality was that, with the burgeoning design and construction deficiencies outlined above, much of the timber used in the new buildings of that period would not remain dry unless preserved.

From February 1998 to March 2003, timber used in house frames was untreated. To understand the enormity of this decision, it is necessary to acknowledge that around 90% of residential construction in New Zealand is timber-framed.

With the range of design, consenting and construction deficiencies already identified, combined with the absence of timber treatment, the seeds of what was to become known as New Zealand's leaky building crisis were well and truly sown.

By 2000, the foregoing construction-related deficiencies had collectively conspired to create a disaster, and within two or three years buildings were rotting where they stood.

The owners were often the last people to realise there was an issue. When builders began investigating what appeared to be minor leaks they soon discovered that three-year-old framing had turned – literally, in some cases – to what was fundamentally compost.

New Zealand consultancies formed to deal with leaky building claims therefore started advertising in the UK for chartered building surveyors, and a steady stream of professionals started to make the 19,000km trip.

While most UK building surveyors are obviously familiar with typical British construction systems, statutory and regulatory processes, New Zealand is a very different context. Making the transition to a completely new regulatory environment takes time and experience.

Nonetheless, within a relatively short period the full value of chartered building surveyors' skills and experiences – particularly their ability to investigate complex building defects and prepare detailed reports for dispute resolution – was being realised.

By around 2010, building surveyors were becoming more established as property professionals in New Zealand. The owners and operators of large commercial and institutional property portfolios and government agencies were beginning to identify building surveyors as the right people to talk to about managing their assets.

As part of that work, surveyors were charged with preparing commercial dilapidation reports, long-term maintenance plans, and undertaking technical due diligence surveys and condition assessments. For many, this was a welcome departure from working on rotting buildings, and allowed experienced surveyors to use their expertise on an array of work not previously considered by property owners.

These erstwhile leaky building specialists, sometimes operating with just one or two building surveyors originally, now provide the full range of consultancy services including investigation, expert witness, remedial design, building consent, procurement and contract administration.

We have also weathered the COVID-19 pandemic far better than many other countries. Our ability to close our borders and keep the virus out has meant that life here has largely carried on as normal for most of the past 18 months.

But our geographic isolation is both a blessing and a curse. We are a country that relies heavily on the inward flow of talent to take on roles in building surveying, among other professions, and the tap of immigration has now been turned off for quite a while.

Although the worst of the leaky building crisis should be behind us, buildings are still being constructed with defects. There is also a growing need for chartered building surveyors to service the ever-expanding range of commercial property.

We currently have around 600 chartered surveyors in the country, but we will need more. With luck, we will soon be open for business again – and building surveyors from all over the world will once more be able to consider New Zealand as a working destination.

Gerard Ball FRICS is a technical director and building surveying team manager at Babbage Consultants
Contact Gerard: Email

Related competencies include: Building pathology, Housing maintenance, repair and improvements, Inspection