Guide
The five things that go wrong between practical completion and CCC
The house is finished. The owners want to move in. The bank wants a certificate. And the job sits there for six weeks for reasons that were all avoidable months earlier.
A Code Compliance Certificate is the council's confirmation that the work was built in accordance with the building consent. Until it issues, settlements stall, retentions stay held, and on a development the drawdown doesn't happen.
Here is where it actually gets stuck.
1. The application goes in late — or never
Under the Building Act 2004 the owner applies for the CCC once the consented work is complete. In practice the builder is the one who knows the job is finished and has the paperwork, so if nobody takes ownership of it, weeks pass.
There is a backstop, and it is not a friendly one. If no application has been made within two years of the consent being granted, the council has to make a decision anyway — on whatever it has in front of it. That is not a decision you want made on an incomplete file.
Fix: agree in writing, at the start of the job, who is lodging the CCC application and when. It takes one line in the contract and removes an entire category of delay.
2. Producer statements aren't there
Engineers, designers and specialist trades supply the statements and certificates the council needs. They are quick to get while the person is still engaged on the job. They are slow once the job is finished, they have moved on, and someone has left the firm.
Fix: collect each one the moment that trade completes, not at the end. File it against the job the day it arrives. This is the same discipline that makes the handover pack painless, and it pays twice.
Engineers and specialist trades shut down over Christmas, and so do a lot of council staff. A statement you could get in ten minutes in October is a fortnight's chase in late January. If a job is finishing anywhere near the break, chase every outstanding statement in November.
3. Inspections that were never closed out
A failed or partially-passed inspection with outstanding items does not go away because the work got done. If the record still shows items open, the file isn't complete.
The same goes for an inspection that was simply missed — if something got covered up without the required inspection, that is a much bigger conversation, sometimes involving opening work back up.
Fix: keep a live list of every inspection, its result, and whether its items are closed. Check it at lock-up, not at completion. An open item found at lock-up is a phone call; the same item found at CCC stage is a delay with everybody watching.
4. What was built doesn't match what was consented
Things change on site. A window moves. A wall goes somewhere slightly different. A product gets substituted because the specified one is eight weeks away.
Some of that is a minor variation the council can record; some of it needs a formal amendment to the consent. Either way it has to be dealt with as it happens. Discovering at CCC stage that the as-built doesn't match the approved plans is one of the most expensive ways to find out.
Fix: every substitution and every dimensional change gets recorded the day it is decided, with a note on whether it is a minor variation or needs an amendment. If you are not sure, ring the BCA and ask. They would far rather have that call during the build.
5. The 20 working day clock keeps stopping
Once the council has a complete application, it has 20 working days to decide whether to issue or refuse the CCC.
The word doing the work in that sentence is complete. If the council comes back with a request for further information, the clock is suspended until you answer. Three small RFIs answered slowly can turn a 20 working day process into three months, and none of that shows as council delay — it shows as your job not being finished.
Fix: lodge complete. Then treat any RFI as the most urgent thing on your desk that day, because every day you sit on it is a day added to the end.
A pre-CCC check, two weeks out
Two weeks before you expect to apply, run this. It takes twenty minutes and it is the cheapest twenty minutes on the job.
- Every inspection on the consent: carried out, passed, items closed?
- Every producer statement and design certificate: in hand, signed, correct address and lot?
- Every change from the consented plans: recorded as a minor variation or an amendment?
- As-builts updated, particularly drainage?
- Specified systems and compliance schedule, if any?
- Who is lodging, and on what date?
- Does the owner know what the realistic date is? Tell them before the bank does.
Most of the anger around a late CCC is not about the delay. It is about the owner finding out from their lawyer, a week before settlement, that it isn't coming. A call three weeks earlier saying "here is where it is up to" turns the same delay into a non-event.
The consent file, kept as you go
Silicon Hub keeps consents, inspections, producer statements and the CCC checklist against the job as it runs, so the pre-CCC check is a screen you look at rather than a search through three years of email.
See how it worksMore guides
- What goes in a handover packThe full list, and the four things most packs miss.
- Progress claims explainedAnd the three mistakes that delay payment.
- Defects liability periodsWhat you actually owe after handover.
General information for New Zealand residential builders and developers, not legal advice. The Building Act 2004 governs, and your Building Consent Authority's own requirements and timeframes are the ones that apply to your job.