Building consent fees and levies

Large dams and building consents
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Overview

There are a number of items associated with any existing, or proposed dam building project that requires input from your regional council and/or the Building Control Authority responsible for administering the Building Act 2004 (the Act). These items may include the following:

  • Project Information Memorandum application (PIM).
  • processing of building consents
  • inspection process
  • code compliance certificates (CCC)
  • compliance schedule and warrant of fitness (if containing specified systems).

Cost recovery for Building Act functions by Waikato Regional Council’s is based on the principle of ‘user pays’. This means that for your dam project, all costs associated with this project. This includes all costs involved in assessing and processing your application, whether your application is granted or refused.

Deposits

All building consent applications will require a deposit at the time the application is lodged with the Waikato Regional Council (see table 1) unless agreed otherwise.

Consent costs (e.g. building consents, PIMs, and code compliance certificate applications)

As noted above, costs incurred by council in processing applications will be recovered on a full cost recovery basis. Therefore, due to the scale, complexity and specialist design features associated with each dam project, the costs associated with processing individual building consents will vary greatly.

Some of the items that will or may contribute to the costs of your application may include:

  • administrative costs (includes the officer’s time per hour (see table 2), plus any direct costs including disbursements
  • development contributions (where applicable, these will be identified on your PIM from your local council)
  • regulatory fees and charges such as Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) levy and Building Research Association NZ (BRANZ) levy. The BRANZ levy is $1 per $1,000 for any building work with an estimated value of $20,000 or over. The MBIE levy is $1.75 (including GST) for any building work that is over the $65,000 threshold (including GST). Where the consent is staged, the payable levy is assessed on the total project value.
  • processing costs associated with engaging specialist consultants on a cost recovery basis
  • interim invoices seeking progress payments of costs incurred may apply where an application/inspection process takes more than one month
  • additional costs where applicable, including items such as travel, copying/scanning documentation.

Inspection costs

When your building consent is issued, the Waikato Regional Council will determine the number of inspections required based on the planned work.

Consultants acting for the Waikato Regional Council will undertake the inspections with their direct costs being charged to the consent holder on an ‘actual and reasonable costs’ basis.

Dam Safety Scheme costs

Cost recovery by Waikato Regional Council regarding Dam Safety Scheme (DSS) functions, is based on the principle of ‘user pays’. This includes all costs in assessing and processing your DSS applications and forms, whether your application is approved or refused. This includes the officer’s time per hour, please see Table 2 below for further information. 

Please note: For parties outside the Waikato region who are accessing forms and information available from Waikato Regional Council, please refer to your relevant regional authority as costs vary between councils.

Other fees and charges

Where additional charges and fees are required, these will be on the basis of recorded time spent on the application and other costs such as travel and general administration where applicable. 

Costs and charges

All fees and charges are reviewed annually and are available on this website.

Table 1: Deposits on applications (incl GST)
Cost of dam construction project PIM deposit Building consent deposit Certificate of acceptance Amendment to Compliance schedule
Dam – above $100,000 value $1000 $4000 $4000 $1000
Dam – $20,000 to $100,000 value $750 $2000 $2000  
Dam – $0 to 20,000 value $500 $1000 $1000  

 

Table 2: Charges for council staff services
Work type Charge rate/hour
Resource Use Directorate managers $185
Building Act Officer $160

Method of fee and levy payments for consents, inspections and code compliance certificates?

Apart from deposits, all payment requests to council will be invoiced to the applicant. Details for Direct Credit will be included on individual invoices.

Large Dam - Building consent - Indicative costs

The indicative building consent costs, including GST, shown below are based on past building consent applications from June 2008 to May 2020, that have Code Compliance Certificates issued.

These consent costs, including GST, are the percentage % cost of the project value listed on the application forms, as submitted by the applicants, and include all costs incurred by Waikato Regional Council in processing these applications. For example, including MBIE fees and levies, technical engineering consultants (BCA Compliance Reviews) and WRC internal costs. 

 

Project Value $ incl.GST

Consent Cost as % of Project Value
0 - 50K 16.2 - 38.2%
50K-100K 7.8% - 14.5%
100K-200K 4.0% - 11.8%
200K-500K 1.7% - 9.3%
500K-1.0M 1.1% - 5.4%
1.0M-2.5M 0.3% - 2.0%
2.5M-5.0M 1.2% - 2.7%
> 5.0M

0.2% - 0.4%

Deposits

Waikato Regional Council is no longer accepting cash or cheque payments.  Deposits should be paid by internet banking / direct credit (details below).

Internet banking / direct credit payment

If paying by internet banking / direct credit please use the following details and please remember to complete the Payer particulars and reference sections as this will help us identify your payment.