• For advertiser information on the Homeowner's Building Guide, click here to download the HBG media kit .
• For advertiser information on our new Builders' Publication - The Business of Building, click here to download the BoB media kit
• And for advertiser information on our Building Guide Website - click here to download our ratecard...

Read what People have to say:

And what the Councils say about us! 

Customer/Reader Testimonials 

Our front of house staff believe that the building guide is useful before people even get to the building consent application stage, so they like to give them out when people first enquire about the process.

The guide is available at the council's service centres. It is available on the table in the waiting area, which is very effective as people can wait up to an hour for an appointment, so the front of house staff find that this works well. Front of house staff also give away the guide when people come and talk to them about building projects. Feedback is that it is a really informative and comprehensive guide, which is really useful to help anyone start a building project.

Katherine Speller
Senior Executive
Communications and Marketing
Auckland City Council

 The Dunedin City Council Building Control Unit believes that this publication is a valuable recourse for our customers.  We distribute them in several ways including making them available to all of our customers at our public counter; they are mailed out on request, used as teaching resource by the Otago Polytechnic Construction Department and distributed by our Building Control Officers as required.

Neil McLeod

Building Control Officer

Dunedin City Council

The Southland District Council provides a copy of the N.Z. Homeowner’s Building Guide to the property owner with every building consent issued in the district and intends to provide a copy of the newly released N.Z. Builders Guide to the responsible building contract for the application for the next 12 months as a trial. We also distribute the N.Z. Homeowner’s Building Guide to customers requesting consent application forms be forwarded to them and calling at the front counter for information or a consent application. We find N.Z. Homeowner’s Building Guide a useful guide to customers on building consent and related processes to supplement our own in house public information.

Kevin O'Connor
Manager - Building Control

Southland District Council

We are impressed with the publication and distribute it widely to anyone requesting information about building. We recently distribute hundreds of copies through our stand at the Homeshow. We have them available at our public counter. We distribute them at workshops and conferences we promote.

We include a copy in all building consent packs.

We believe the publication provides valuable information and is a good toll for people who are in the process of building or thinking about building and we are happy to continue to endorse it.

Phil Saunders
Building Control Manager

Hamilton City Council

It is a brilliant magazine and so useful with all the adverts, etc, pertaining to our specific area...we put one of the magazines in all of our Building Consent Application packs...

We put one of the magazines in all of our Building Consent Application packs and we are issuing up to 1000 consents a year, as well as having them on our counters in Dargaville and here at Kaiwaka for members of the public to be able to help themselves to an issue, and we receive very favourable feedback. Great service too.

Jane Stace

Building Administrator

Kaipara District Council

The N.Z. Homeowner's Building Guide is made available in the brochure section of our public display area on the second floor Civic Offices.  There would be 20-30 books per week uplifted by customers.

Barbara Thomas
Team Leader
Regulatory Support Team  
Christchurch City Council  

Building or altering a home can be a confusing task even for professionals, so a lay person can find it difficult to remember everything that has been discussed. This is where your Building Guide comes in real handy, It is well laid out, technically correct and follows a logical pattern as you read through the publication.

I am in the process of building a workshop/garage and I have read things in the building guide that I would have never thought about, but my wife would surely quote "I told you so" if I had left them out.

So thank you from both sides of the coin.

Marc Donaldson

Customer Services Team Leader

Whangarei DC

Central Otago District Council is a very customer focused and forward thinking organisation. We like to supply as much helpful information as possible when people are planning to build. We find the N.Z Homeowners Building Guide is very helpful in providing this type of information.

We therefore provide a copy of this publication in our information packs we give to the public on building requirements. We also have copies on all our counters at our service centres for the public to take away.

Stewart Geddes

Building Control Team Leader

Central Otago District Council

 With all Councils throughout NZ having to come to terms with their accreditation as a Building Consents Authority through Government processes it is important that they provide relevant Building Control information to the public.  The Homeowners Building Guide is one option to educate stakeholders on regulatory matters prior to any proposed project.  The Guide also provides building industry advertising that can be advantageous for both the supplier and the building owner.

 Councils distribute these booklets to applicants when their Building Consent has been issued, they are readily available at Councils front of house and at a recent National home show display held at the Palmerston North Showground’s Arena, we were able to hand out hundreds of the booklets to the general public over a three day period.  Currently I am working with a number of Companies to further distribute these booklets especially where these companies have display areas of their products.

Robbie Walker

PRINCIPAL BUILDING OFFICER

Palmerston North City Council

 We have the NZ Homeowners Building Guide on display in our Customer Service Centre. We also give it away to people when they apply for building consents as it includes a lot of relevant information for both new and existing homeowners. The Guide is set out in a way that is easy to read and understand for both our staff and customers alike.

Natalie Palmer

Communications Advisor

Tauranga City Council

 At North Shore City Council the NZ Homeowner's Building Guide is displayed and made available to all customers on our shelves in the Reception area. We also stated in our documentation for BCA Accreditation that the NZ Homeowner's Building Guide is one of the tools we use to make information available to our customers to satisfy the requirements of Regulation 7. Feedback from customers is positive and they find the Guide easy to read and understand.

Pierre van Zyl

Team Leader: Building Processing

North Shore City Council

We place a copy of the NZ Homeowner's Building Guide in the building folder that accompanies the building consent documents when they are issued. This means that everyone who is issued with a building consent receives a copy of the publication.

 In addition we have copies of the publication on display in the Customer Services One-Stop-Shop area of Council where many persons considering to apply for a building consent visit or where they have a meeting with a building consent officers to discuss their project.

The feedback we get from customers is that they find the publication very useful.

David Rolfe

GENERAL MANAGER

ENVIRONMENT AND REGULATORY SERVICES

PORIRUA CITY COUNCIL

The Hutt City Council, distribute the Building Guide to our staff who find the articles, information and advertising to be of great value. The Building Guide is also available to all customers at the front counter and on occasions we include the Guide in the Consents issue packages. The comments on the Building Guide have been positive.

Leonie Gibb

Building Consent Manager

Hutt City Council

At TCDC we have four centres; Thames, Coromandel, Whitianga and Whangamata. We display the NZ Home Owner's Building Guide at the reception areas of each office. The publication is well received and all the new potential home owners are given a copy when they come in to pick up a building pack. We like it as it saves us having to explain everything to them.

About 90% of building work in our District takes place on the east coast of the Peninsula so we have to send the Whitianga and Whangamata offices most of the Guides. Although the rest of the country is experiencing a significant decline in building work we are not, we are only down about 15% and we put much of that down to the Pre-lodgement interview process which vets the applications before we accept them. Each month we used to have to cancel/reject around 20 out of 150 now it is more like 3 out of 130. The applications we receive now are better prepared.

Richard Foster

Business Support Manager

Thames-Coromandel District Council

The NZ Homeowner's Building Guide has become a feature of our building information area.  The magazine is prominently displayed on our Building/Planning information board, with copies also available at our reception counter.   It is appreciated by staff, local builders and especially customers who come in to enquire about building consents for different things but aren't really sure how to go about it, especially for new home building projects. 

The publication always contains articles about the legislation, so the average person can get a better idea of why, as a Council, we need to do things in a certain manner.  There is also a very broad range of advertisers which is very useful. A small community such as ours doesn't always have a broad range of suppliers, so it is important for people to see what options are available."

Gail Dickson

Personal Assistant

Community and Environmental Services

Buller District Council

The N.Z. Homeowner’s Building Guide is received and utilized by our staff and customers at Kapiti Coast District Council. The Guide has a prominent distribution location at our Customer Service Counter and is one of the most sought after publications we have on display. The Guide is very informative and receives constant positive feedback from customers.

Ken Smith
Regulatory Manager

Kapiti Coast DC
Te Kaiwhakahaere Whakaritenga

This is to advise that I have found the NZ Home Building Guide a very interesting read. It has some excellent articles and contains good advice for anyone involved in the building process. Our council distributes the magazine in different ways. We have them on our display in the foyer of councils offices, also available in the interview room, and in some cases are sent out with a building consent...to home owner/builders of  new houses/additions/alterations.

The comments I have received from these people was very positive “very useful and interesting,” “ Excellent articles” “Came in very handy “ I have just checked our front display and there is only one Guide left. So people are taking them home also.

Jim Hannan,

Senior Building Control Officer,

Waitaki District Council

We use the magazine in several ways; We use it as part of Application Pack, in this we have various pieces of information, pamphlets, DBH publications Application forms etc. We send it out as part of the pack we issue with a building consent, again giving more information to the applicant. We have them at each of our service centres, on display with other building information - application forms, pamphlets, DBH publications etc

The reason behind this is to try and inform the public as much as possible about the building process and the various bodies who can help their application and building project. We find it important to have as much different information around about these processes - building and resource consents - as possible so that people have a rounded view of requirements rather than just a council view.

Les Smith

Quality Manager

Far North District Council

They are generally on offer at the Consents counter and get distributed with domestic consents when mailed out to the client/applicant. Comments made have been positive to being given this guide, especially where we deal with the "one-off" Consent applicant.

These customers are generally very appreciative of any information received, so yes we applaud your efforts as well. I have found the publication is precise and not too over-technical, which could result in confusion from Joe Average. All in all a good magazine for the purpose intended.

            Russell Paterson

           Building Control Manager
              Gore District Council

NZ Homeowner’s Building Guide incorporates valuable information on the building process. Apart from forewords from Councils, there is detailed guidance on legislative requirements under the Building Act 2004.

The step by step building process stages will be a useful tool for the common DIYers as well as developers.

Copies of the Building Guide are available for our customers through our customer centre and remote sites (libraries). Soft copy of the guide is also available on Council website.

Jose Paul

Service Delivery Advisor- Customer Centre

Customer Relationships | Organisational Performance

The Upper Hutt City Council has a regular supply of the NZ Homeowners Buidling Guide which it distributes to its customers. It is useful because it explains in clear and simple langauge supplemented by glossy colours the operations of the Building Act. It presents these facts in a well organised structure so that it is readily accessible to first time builders and to the serious developers. It has information for people interested in purchasing a home or those who own a swimming pool. It covers a wide range of information available to anyone interested in working in the built environment.

 Leo Pirini

Building Control Services Manager

Upper Hutt City Council

Copies are available on the front at the building department for customers to pick up when visiting, we also send them out as part of our information packs for building consent and anytime we are aware that the Community Development Team are putting on displays at the likes of AMP Shows or Field Days we ensure that a box of the books goes out with them.

Vanessa Beavon

Team Leader - Customer Services

Building Department

Selwyn District Council

Over a number of years the Building Consent Division of the Napier City Council have displayed in the reception area the NZ Homeowners Building Guide for the public to obtain a copy. We have also placed a copy with most of the Building Consents Issued.

Comments received have stated that the guide is very informative and explains the workings of the Building Act and Code, procedures and processes in a manner that is easy to understand.

John Brydon

Senior Building Consents Officer