Posts by chris
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Green MP Jan Logie weighs in regarding Judith Collins’ hypocrisy.
"This is the woman who as Justice Minister defended Maurice Williamson's intervention to the police on behalf of a man accused of domestic violence."
-
In this article I can’t seem to find how many third strike convictions there were. If only the first and second are being discussed then why have three?
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Yeah, I did think of that earlier on. By that stage I knew pretty much exactly what would and wouldn’t work. Unfortunately the 5 or 6 pages of info I’d originally provided months in advance clearly hadn’t been looked at and it seemed to boil down to the fact that a 70 minute video was easier for them than 20 minutes reading with diagrams. Though I also suspected that their approach might have simply been a gambit to save money (because who’d know). From then onwards I made a point of checking in daily to do the ironing out; steep learning curve.
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Matthew Poole,
And you definitely come across as implying that anyone who doesn’t get that deeply involved deserves whatever they’ve got coming.
I’m not that hard-line. I kind of wish I were that hard-line. On a recent job where two days into a two person job {having up till that point left the builders pretty much to their own devices – because that’s the ideal isn’t it) I discovered that they’d basically ignored all the documented discussion and information I’d provided prior to the quote; they’d not moved the door, they’d used different materials to those specified, they’d decided against raising the floor, they’d ignored the required angles of walls, they’d basically ignored all the physics I’d spent 4 months researching.
I’m fairly confident that If I were as impregnably militant as you have just portrayed me, the sudden arrival of 5 builders at 7:45am to intimidate me into compromise would have been no thing. An adequate consolidated resource might not have made much of a difference to builders whose understanding of sound insulation extended about as far as some Pink® Batts® Silencer and a couple of sheets of GIB Noiseline®, but it could have been more efficient than me then having to trawl even deeper through acres of youtube videos, five days into a ten day job in order to find a video made by some guy in the UK who was able to instruct them how to do their job in a language they could understand. No one deserves that Matthew.
My original reply to you was one of agreement that the rest of us have to trust in the work of others with the caveat that I feel this is an imposed and inadequate position to be in.
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Sacha,
People vary in how much involvement we want in decisions (and the monitoring of them afterwards).
I wonder if Matthew may have misconstrued my posts to mean I support Paula Bennett’s proposed deregulation of certification processes. There’s no way I’m in favour of that. I just want as much information available to the general public as its possible for the Government to provide, I’m not advocating a compulsory reading program.
My posts are informed by Joe’s link of the experiences people have had in Canterbury with the dodgy inspector and my own experiences.
A simplified example of what I’m getting at is that I am legally permitted to build a 10m2 shed (sleepout) or a 1.5 metre retaining wall (providing it’s not carrying any load other than the ground) or remove or change a non load-bearing wall or build access ramps all without a consent and as far as I can see there are no consolidated Government guidelines as to what constitutes a safe structure or how one should go about it. And because no consent is required there’s no obligation to notify tenants or future inhabitants. These are disasters waiting to happen. Someone may argue that only a fool would attempt these kinds of projects without the basic knowledge, and I just thank Hephaestus that there are no fools in New Zealand. It's great if you know who to trust but as things are the vast majority's lives are at the whim of private enterprise.
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Matthew Poole,
See, here’s the thing: as much as I am curious about pretty much everything and want to learn about as much different facets of life as possible, I simply do not have the time to both do my primary job and supervise some notional future builder on such notional future home as the economy might be so generous as to allow me to build. I’m very good at what I do, and I’m sure I could learn enough about building to be able to take a passable punt at supervising a builder, but I don’t have the time to become so expert in something totally unrelated to my day-to-day employment that I could spot the things done poorly in the many hours of the day when I would not be able to be present and watching over their shoulder.
That’s Fascinating Matthew, perhaps get back to me when you’re forking out however many tens of thousands of dollars and have no recourse to second guess a builder who has unilaterally decided to deviate from the job agreed on in the quotation given by his boss. Or simpler still get back to me when you’re purchasing a property that someone else has had built and you have no recourse to independently verify the findings of the inspector’s indemnified report. There is legislation to indemnify these inspections so why should the Government not also provide a resource for those invested enough to seek out information from official channels as a second opinion on what is the greatest and most important purchase they will ever make?
Essentially you believe that the Government need not provide ample information for the general population because you currently don’t need it or you don’t have time, while conflating a computer system with a domicile, because (as far as I can tell) many peoples’ livelihoods are specialised.
There are numerous resources available online for anyone wishing to ascertain how something is built and should function, we can find the manufacturer’s specs for a car or a washing machine but housing is quite unique in that it must only conform to nationalised standards, so what exactly are they? These are peoples’ homes, the Government can afford it, you are welcome to ignore as much information as you like at you and your family’s own risk but why argue against the dissemination of valuable information? Is there still no corruption in New Zealand?
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Steve Barnes,
do you feel comfortable getting your building information from a source that feels like the next image you will see is of a Royal baby or an article on what to wear when you go shopping?
Exactly, no. Thanks for your perspectives here Steve they are very much appreciated. I want a bible, something like Wikipedia, but with more comprehensive diagrams/photos, I don’t want to feel like someone is trying to sell me something. I want an interface that is both accessible while covering everything from the mundane to the advanced. If a builder suddenly decides to change a prearranged plan on the basis that a material or technique will “work just as well” I want the trusted source to help me quickly verify they’re not telling me porkies. From that same source I want to know what nogs and flashings are. I’d far prefer a child emerged from life-skills class able to recognise that a retaining wall is unsafe than ‘drugs are bad mmmkay’. I want to be able to verify that dimensions, angles, measurements are up to code before the inspector comes. To me this kind of resource and education seems to be exactly what the internet and schools were designed for and exactly what a democratic Government should work towards when attempting to leave a tangible legacy for the betterment of our society. In doing this I don’t think the Government would so much kill industry as renew confidence. Until then, not knowing the words, we must content ourselves with humming along.
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Mark Graham,
But there are resources available for consumers – Building Guide, for one. But people have to choose to seek them out…
Absolutely, there are tons of resources on the internet for every conceivable aspect of a project; how-to guides, videos, almost anything you could want to know is readily available, except from the official source, so roll on 2016.
As for the checklist on that Branz site, there’s a lot of general tips but it’s not a one stop shop for the layperson. As an independent company Branz have no liability for an information shortfall.
Ideally the proposed Government Building Code site will address a range of issues: currently the general population have very little recourse to dispute the findings of dodgy inspectors. It is essential that New Zealanders have ready access to the current standards required in order to assess work carried out without a consent. Sufficient information must be available for future occupants to capably inspect an abode or other structure independently of a builder, trades-person or inspection agency – whose report will invariably include the standard exclusions and disclaimers. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders live in aging homes that need to be maintained, and that for the most part can be under schedule 1 of The Building Act – being accurately informed as to exactly what is required to bring work up to code and keep it there is essential.
There’s no ethical reason for the Government not to be disclosing all the information as well as actively educating us and our kids as a means of empowerment. The current practice of keeping New Zealanders in the dark remains lucrative for insurance companies, building inspectors, builders, councils, trades-people as well as for local Governments.
-
Hard News: The positive option of Red Peak, in reply to simon g,
"Every year the same four things! I'm mighty tired of those old things! I want something NEW to come down!"
-
Speaker: The government's Rules…, in reply to Matthew Poole,
So however skilled and capable you might be, the rest of us have to trust in the work of others.
So long as the general public are kept in ignorance without the education and resources freely available to oversee inspectors’ work and knowledgeably supervise builders.
