If you own your own building, you know that there are heaps of different things that go into keeping a building safe and sound. From the integrity of the building materials to the maintenance of your building’s interior, building compliance is key in ensuring your installation stays robust and secure for years to come.
However, you can’t ensure your building is safe all on your own. There could be many minor or unseen issues in your building that are compromising your safety. This is where trained and experienced building inspectors come to the rescue. With their help, you can ensure that your structure follows all of New Zealand’s regulations.
So, how important are building inspections, and what goes on during them?
New Zealand’s building code compliance is set in place for a reason. These regulations were created to ensure that buildings are safe and sturdy so that everyone in and around the structure is as free from harm as possible. Of course, if anything were to go wrong in a building of any size, people could get hurt, and the building could get damaged.
Inspectors are trained to make sure a building follows building compliance correctly. Once the inspection is done and any issues are resolved, you can have peace of mind.
A few reasons why scheduled building inspections are absolutely essential are:
To Make Sure Your Structure Is Safe. Ultimately, as mentioned, the main goal of an inspection is to determine whether or not your facility is safe. Without a proper checkup, you could be unwittingly putting yourself and anyone in your building in danger.
In addition to that, inspections are also crucial if you’re looking to buy a building. It's recommended that you always have a structure inspected before you purchase or move into it so you don’t put yourself into a hazardous situation.
To Find Any Issues You Haven’t Noticed. Unless you have experience in construction or understand a lot about building compliance, chances are you won’t notice minor problems when they first appear. Unfortunately, small problems can quickly turn into more significant problems, which can then be costly to fix or even turn into major hazards.
Often, the best way to deal with a problem is to prevent it before it happens. A certified building inspector can save you heaps of money and help you avoid horrible accidents.
For Legal Documentation. Along with ensuring stability and safety, official building inspections are also required for certain kinds of documents. For example, a building warrant of fitness, which is often shortened to BWOF, is an annual document that proves that a building’s compliance schedule has been followed and all specified systems have been maintained correctly.
Displaying a valid BWOF in your building is required to prove that you follow building compliance regulations and presenting an expired or falsified BWOF can lead to severe penalties.
In general, your building inspector will go throughout your structure and inspect it to make sure everything is up to code. This will include checking your compliance schedule, checking on your specified systems, inspecting your building’s structure itself, reviewing your fire safety procedures and more.
Many will focus on a building’s specified systems. A specified system is any safety or essential system in a structure that requires a compliance schedule. These can include lifts, sprinkler systems, emergency lighting systems and so on.
If any of these specified systems break down or malfunction, they could cause serious harm or trauma towards anyone trying to use them. Therefore, ensuring that all of your building’s specified systems are maintained correctly is absolutely essential for proper building compliance.
In addition to finding issues in your structure, building inspectors can also be a massive help if you do happen to run into problems. A qualified inspector can offer their insight and help you resolve any issues you have. For example, if your fire safety procedures are lacking, your knowledgeable inspector can work with you to fix the problem.
If you’d like to ensure that your building follows regulations, or if you need to renew documentation like your building warrant of fitness, come speak to us at Compliance Consultants. We are experts at building compliance, and we are happy to offer you services to help you out.
We understand that every New Zealand building is unique, and we are prepared to work with you to achieve the best results possible. If you would like to speak to our friendly and qualified team about your situation, you can reach us by visiting our site’s contact page. Or, if you would prefer to call us directly, you can also reach us at 0800 325 435 to get in touch.
Guarantee your building follows building compliance regulations correctly with assistance from our outstanding inspectors at Compliance Consultants.