Feature WEATHERTIGHTNESS
Weathertightness issues and leaky homes are back in the national news, with high-profile cases making the headlines. NZ Plumber takes a closer look at some recent settlements and progress for building law reform proposals.
LEAKY BUILDING SAGA
DRIPS ON AUTHOR: SARAH JOHNSON
Houses don’t just leak from the outside. Substandard plumbing products, particularly those hidden behind the wall, can cause significant water damage to property interiors.
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n Tauranga, the city council has spent over $20 million settling with luxury apartment owners in the Cayman Apartments case, after investigations revealed a wide range of alleged structural and cladding defects. In Napier, the council has also just settled for an undisclosed sum in the ‘rusty’ West Quay apartment case. While in Auckland, owners of the Mountain View apartments have secured funding to pursue their case against building consultants Maynard Marks, for what has been dubbed New Zealand’s ‘most expensive leaky building’.
Weathertightness plumbing industry impacts Weathertightness is a very real issue for plumbers and gasfitters. Not only does the work, by necessity, involve penetrations in claddings, but tradespeople are vulnerable as installers of products
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that may subsequently fail to live up to manufacturers’ specifications or durability requirements. In addition, legal concepts of joint and several liability, can leave plumbing companies out of pocket for building work they were not directly responsible for. Ian McDermond of McDermond PNG Solutions Ltd in Auckland, has first-hand experience of the toll weathertightness issues and claims can have. Along with numerous other Auckland-based plumbing firms, his company was swept into the initial rounds of weathertightness claims that emerged in the early 2000s. Merely being involved on a build that subsequently turned out to be ‘leaky’ was sufficient to make you a party to any litigation, no matter how minor your role. “The claims operate on the principle of ‘last man standing’,” says Ian. “If you show up, you’ll be pursued for a share of
the settlement. Often, the builder will have folded, leaving the subcontractors to carry the can.” Ian remains thankful he had professional indemnity insurance, and advises all companies to get it, if possible. He still regularly encounters leaky buildings in his work, and his advice for others in this situation is to take a step back and be very careful. “There’s no harm in assessing what needs to be done, but the minute you suspect there may be deeper weathertightness issues at play, then you should be advising the homeowner to get expert advice before you proceed.”
Addressing construction product risk The government’s current building law reform programme contains proposals that, if implemented, will go some way to
