Builders lose LBP licenses after ‘renting’ out supervision

2 August 2018

Builders lose LBP licenses after ‘renting’ out supervision

Two Auckland builders who were supervising other carpenters have had their licences cancelled and suspended for incompetence and negligence, after not overseeing structural building work.

The Building Practitioners Board (the Board) has handed down sanctions to Licenced Building Practitioners (LBP) Ashok Maharaj and Rizvan Saheb, ordering them each to pay $3,000.

The Board has cancelled Mr Saheb’s LBP licence and he is not able to reapply for licensing for 12 months, after allowing other carpenters to work on restricted building work under his licence, while not actually providing sufficient supervision.

Mr Maharaj has had his LBP licence suspended for six months for failing to ensure roof trusses were installed correctly and for not effectively supervising subsequent defect repair.

“Supervising is not about ‘renting’ out your LBP number. It is an activity that needs to be taken seriously as supervision needs to ensure those undertaking the work have adequate support to do so correctly,” says Paul Hobbs, Registrar, Builder Practitioner Licensing.

He says a lack of supervision or relying on the building consent authority to catch issues and defects is not an acceptable method of ensuring that building work is completed competently.

“The Board has issued fairly detailed decisions on supervision over the last year. MBIE has produced a Supervision Practice Note to capture these learnings and provide LBPs with a resource regarding supervision.

“We continue to send a clear message – if an LBP is unfamiliar with supervising or if they want to make sure they are doing their role as required, check out the supervision practice note here.”

You can find past complaint decisions or a guide to making a complaint about an LBP is available on the LBP website.

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