Richard O'Donoghue: New Rules Fail to Match Today's Building Standards
Richard O'Donoghue addressed the minister to criticise proposed rules on repair and rebuilding standards. He argued the proposals are impractical, would not reflect current foundation and roofing requirements, and would prevent engineers from signing off on houses.
He said the way the scheme is laid out is not practical for on-site construction, arguing that the categories A, B and C approach ignores the realities of rebuilding and repair work and would not allow houses to be brought up to current standards.
He highlighted changes to foundation criteria, saying the standard has shifted to three times the width of the wall and that foundations previously a metre wide for a standard house are no longer adequate. He also raised roofing as a distinct issue, citing different weight-load requirements that must be met when rebuilding.
He warned that many repairs are specialised and more expensive, giving examples such as taking down and repairing individual walls and noting that specialised trades and structural engineering are required on site.
He said insurance and rebuilding practice require houses to be reconstructed to "today's standards" rather than past norms, and criticised the proposal for not allowing for that. He also stated that, while structural engineers he works with are competent, they are not recognised under the proposed standards to sign off on a house.
He identified himself as a "black layer" who has built all his life and described being on site regularly, underscoring his practical experience in raising concerns about the proposed rules.
Main criticism
He said the way the scheme is laid out is not practical for on-site construction, arguing that the categories A, B and C approach ignores the realities of rebuilding and repair work and would not allow houses to be brought up to current standards.
Foundations and roofing concerns
He highlighted changes to foundation criteria, saying the standard has shifted to three times the width of the wall and that foundations previously a metre wide for a standard house are no longer adequate. He also raised roofing as a distinct issue, citing different weight-load requirements that must be met when rebuilding.
Specialist work and costs
He warned that many repairs are specialised and more expensive, giving examples such as taking down and repairing individual walls and noting that specialised trades and structural engineering are required on site.
Regulatory and sign-off issues
He said insurance and rebuilding practice require houses to be reconstructed to "today's standards" rather than past norms, and criticised the proposal for not allowing for that. He also stated that, while structural engineers he works with are competent, they are not recognised under the proposed standards to sign off on a house.
Speaker background
He identified himself as a "black layer" who has built all his life and described being on site regularly, underscoring his practical experience in raising concerns about the proposed rules.
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Transcript
Minister, I'm in construction on my life and the way this is laid out is not practical. Part of what you are proposing on different sectors of A, B and C, some of them are saying you can take down one wall, repair that wall, go on to another wall, repair that wall. That's specialized work. On the point of being specialized work, it's more expensive. A lot of criteria is foundations. The criteria for foundations at the moment have completely changed. It's three times the width of your wall as a standard. So your standard foundations are a metre wide for a standard house. You don't want to build something new on top of something old, do you? The criteria around roofing, completely different weight loads. So we're either going to put back in the new, if your house went on fire tomorrow morning, you've got to put it back to today's standards. Not 1980 standards, not 1990 standards, not 2000 standards, today's. So when we want to rebuild houses, we build them to today's standards. The same way as under insurance regulation that is stated that if your house did go on fire, you have to put it to today's standards. This doesn't allow for that. It does not allow for that. And unless we put in something for the future, it's a waste of time. And this comes from a person, I'm a black layer. I'm building all my life. I'll be on site sometime tomorrow, checking work myself. And the other side that I'm looking at here, Minister, is the way the system is done up with engineering, the engineers. Right. I work with structural engineers on a daily basis, very, very competent engineers on a daily basis. And they know what to do, but they're not qualified in your standards to sign off on a house.