If you want to change your building plans before your consent has been issued, please let us know as soon as possible. We'll let you know if it changes your timing or cost.
If you need to change anything on your plans, you must apply for an amendment before carrying out any changes to your approved plans. At the end of the building project, the approved building consent documentation needs to be an accurate reflection of what has actually been built.
Changing the details of the original consent drawings can be completed in two ways, either by an amendment or minor variation.
If you have made changes without approval, we may stop your job until the changes are resolved.
After your consent has been issued, we charge a fee to assess the new information. We may also charge for any extra inspections needed. It takes up to 20 working days to process your request.
Amendments are those where work is outside the scope of the original consent e.g. additional footprint or increases in floor area, construction method, and significant changes to layout.
An amendment form is required to be completed and fees are payable.
For further information see MBIE guidance: Guidance to building consent amendments.
Minor variations are changes that do not usually affect compliance with the Building Code e.g. changes to types of taps, the position of kitchen joinery, and non-structural walls or doors.
You may need to provide information to record the change, however it is not necessary to complete a new building consent application form.
Minor variations can be approved on site by an inspector or in the office by a processing officer.
There may be a cost involved in approving the minor variation.
If your building work doesn’t comply with your building consent at time of inspection, you may be given a notice to fix. The notice will set out what you need to do to fix the non-compliance.
Find out about notices to fix: Acting on a Council notice to fix.
A list of our current fees and charges can be found here
You’re committing an offence if your project needs a building consent and you do the work without one. You could be issued with an infringement notice and substantial fine. In rare cases, if the building is not safe or sanitary and doesn’t have a suitable way to escape from fire, you may even have to remove the building.
Check the guidelines for building infringements: Building infringement scheme guidelines.
