The Licensed Building Practitioner scheme exists because of leaky buildings. The regulatory response to that failure included a requirement that critical building work be carried out or supervised by someone licensed and accountable, with a record of who did what.
What restricted building work covers
Restricted building work is work on a residential building that is critical to the integrity of the structure or its weathertightness. In practice it covers:
- Primary structure — foundations, framing, load-bearing elements, bracing.
- External moisture management — cladding, roofing, windows and doors as they affect weathertightness.
- Design of that work as well as its construction.
Restricted building work must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner licensed in the relevant class, and it applies to work requiring a building consent on houses and small-to-medium apartment buildings.
Notably, the requirement covers design as well as construction. A design for restricted building work must be prepared or reviewed by an appropriately licensed designer or a chartered professional engineer.
Licence classes
Licences are issued in classes — design, carpentry, roofing, external plastering, bricklaying and blocklaying, foundations, and site. Each class has a defined scope, and an LBP must work within the class they hold.
Working outside your licence class is a common and consequential error. A carpentry LBP supervising roofing work they are not licensed for has not satisfied the requirement, however competent the work.
Records of work
An LBP who carries out or supervises restricted building work must provide a record of work on completion, to the owner and to the building consent authority. This identifies who did what.
Records of work are frequently the missing document at code compliance certificate stage. A council cannot issue a CCC without them, and chasing an LBP for a record two years after they left the job is a recurring problem for homeowners. Get them at the time.
The homeowner exemption
Owner-builders may carry out restricted building work on their own home without a licence, subject to conditions. The exemption requires the owner to live in or intend to live in the home, to carry out the work themselves or with unpaid help, and to complete a statutory declaration lodged with the consent authority.
The exemption is limited to one dwelling in any three-year period, which is designed to stop it being used commercially. Owners relying on it should understand that they take on the accountability the licensing regime otherwise assigns to a professional, and that it can affect resale and insurance.
Supervision means supervision
An LBP may supervise unlicensed workers, and this is how apprentices and labourers lawfully work on restricted building work. Supervision has a meaning: the LBP must provide sufficient control and direction to ensure the work is performed competently and complies with the consent.
Nominal supervision — an LBP whose name is on the paperwork but who is rarely on site — is a disciplinary matter, and complaints on exactly this basis are among the more common brought before the Building Practitioners Board.
Complaints and discipline
The Building Practitioners Board hears complaints against LBPs and can impose penalties including fines, suspension and cancellation of licence. Decisions are published.
The grounds that recur are negligence or incompetence, carrying out restricted building work outside your class, failing to provide a record of work, and conduct bringing the regime into disrepute. Reading a few published decisions is a genuinely efficient way to understand where the lines sit.
Practical points
- For builders: check your licence class covers the work before you start, provide records of work at completion rather than when asked, and be honest about what supervision you can actually provide across concurrent jobs.
- For homeowners: verify the LBP’s licence and class on the public register before engaging them, and get the record of work before final payment. It is far easier to obtain while money is outstanding.
MBIE maintains the LBP register and publishes guidance on restricted building work and the owner-builder exemption free at lbp.govt.nz and building.govt.nz.
