Building services fees and charges

All fees and charges include GST unless otherwise stated

Building consents

Whanganui District Council sets its building consent fees as actual and reasonable costs for the service. These are set by the council pursuant to s219 of the Building Act 2004 and s150 of the Local Government Act 2002.

There are three types of fees, two of which relate to the types of building projects being undertaken:

  • Fixed fees – these are for simple projects where the costs can be easily identified before the application is made.
  • Estimated fees – these are based on anticipated costs for that particular building project. The final charge is dependent on the actual hours of staff time involved in processing the application.
  • Territorial Authority fees – for services included in Territorial Authority functions.

Fixed fees

The fees for these types of consents are fixed. Additional travel time may be charged for rural consents. Fixed fees are paid at the time of issue of the building consent application. These fees include a charge from our software provider for processing every consent (currently $85).

Project

Base fee

Stormwater separation (plus stormwater connection if applicable)

$430

Valve vented cylinders (hot water)

$385

Inbuilt solid fuel heaters (2 inspections)

$540

Free-standing solid fuel heaters

$440

Demolition / removal

$430

Swimming pools – plastic, "para", blow-up, fibreglass, in-ground (other pools that require construction work, eg: concrete, concrete block, etc – refer to 2A minimum)

$430

Spa pools

$385

Temporary marquee

$385

Schedule 1 Part 1 Clause 2 exemption 

$230 (minor)

$355 (complex)

Estimated building consent fees

Building consent applications do not require a deposit and are charged fully when a building consent is granted. Fees are charged on actual and reasonable timeframes incurred by the Building Consent Authority (BCA) in receiving, processing, issuing, inspecting, certifying and managing the building consent process. This fee is currently made up of three parts:

  • Administration fee – this part of the fee covers administration costs in receiving and vetting an application, data entry of application details, and scanning/digital storage charges. It also covers the cost of processing each building consent, building consent amendment and Project Information Memorandum (PIM) through our software provider’s system (currently $85).
  • Processing fee – this part of the fee covers officer time in compliance assessments of plans/specifications, data entry into electronic storage portals, correspondence with applicants (requests for further information [RFI] etc.), building consent granting (including notification to other parties where required i.e. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] and the Registrar General of Land (LINZ) and costs incurred in generating payment invoices.
  • Consent issue fee – this part of the fee covers estimated inspection requirements including the number of inspections and also the time allocated for each inspection depending on the projects complexity  (failed inspections will incur extra costs for re-inspection and will be on-charged before the issue of the CCC). This fee also includes the officer time spent on compiling any associated levies applicable to the project, i.e. BRANZ, MBIE and WDC Accreditation levy.

The estimated administration fee and processing fee are payable at the conclusion of the application assessment process. At consent issue time the applicant will be required to pay the full balance of the costs that are deemed actual and reasonable by Council.

Additional charges may be made in respect to a consent that incurs further costs such as extra inspections.

Council officer hourly rates

Council officer

Hourly rate

Building manager

$230

Team leader

$210

Building control officer

$195

Administration services (technical)

$150

Technical / professional council officers

$190

Inspection

$190

Auxiliary costs

Project

Description

Base fee

Administration charges

  • Residential
  • Commercial

$240

(now includes software licence fee of $85)

CCC issue

  • Residential
  • Commercial
  • $75
  • $160

Scanning / digital storage

Included in building consent fees administration

$37

Accreditation levy

Payable for all non-fixed fee projects

  • Residential
  • Commercial

 

  • $1.30 per $1000 (max $530)
  • $1.30 per $1000 (max $800)

 

MBIE levy

Building work valued over $65,000 incl GST

$1.75 per $1000

BRANZ levy

Building work valued over $20,000 incl GST

$1.00 per $1000

Non-fixed fee building consents

Non-fixed fee building consents are charged at cost based on officer time involved and the hourly rates provided above, plus the auxiliary costs also listed above. 

Non-fixed fee building consents

Territorial authority fees

Description

Fee

Certificate of Acceptance

$370 + original consent cost + staff time

Certificate for Public Use

$370 + staff time

Notice to Fix fee

$130

Building Act infringement fee

$130

Extension of time BC / CCC

$85

Safe and sanitary – third-party report

$345

Building Act notifications (LINZ)

$185 (LINZ charge) + staff time

Pool barrier inspection / re-inspection

$85

Extension of time (seismic work – general)

$250

Extension of time (seismic work – heritage)

$250

Exemption to undertake seismic work

$250

Earthquake-prone buildings issue of notice

$0

Vehicle crossing permit  $90

Compliance

Description

Fee

New compliance schedule

$170 + $20 per feature

Alteration to compliance schedule

$170

BWoF site audit / re-inspection

$230

BWoF complete and on time

$170

BWoF incomplete and/or late

$190

Infrastructure bonds

Application for all building and/or resource consents in relation to demolition, removal and relocation of buildings and the construction of new buildings within the city’s urban zone.

Description

Base fee

Non-refundable administration and inspection fee

$210

Refundable infrastructure bond

$1600