By Bruce Duggan, Senior Technical Specialist, Occupational Regulation, MBIE

Remote inspections are when building inspection activities are conducted remotely using digital tools and technologies. Instead of visiting the site in-person inspectors may, at their discretion, use live video streaming or review photographic evidence to assess the building work from their office, with the builder following their instructions on-site. The use of remote inspections increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and has also been utilised when factors such as extreme weather have caused road closures, when heavy traffic can disrupt appointment times, or when the building site is in a remote location.

Remote inspections have been gaining further acceptance, with building consent authorities (BCAs) using them to save inspectors time on the road and reduce travel costs, provide business continuity, and to ensure a timelier service to applicants.

Roles and responsibilities for inspections

The Building Act outlines the responsibilities of different parties involved in the building process under this Act, which includes:

• The owner has overall responsibility for ensuring the building work complies with the building consent and must ensure that they or their nominated representative enable inspections to be completed as required by the BCA.
• The designer is responsible for ensuring that the plans and specifications or advice they give on compliance are sufficient, if followed on-site, to result in the building work complying with the building code.
• The builder is responsible for ensuring that the building work is carried out in accordance with the approved plans and specifications.
• The BCA is responsible for checking that an application for a building consent complies with the building code, and that the building work has been carried out in accordance with that consent.

Benefits of the remote inspection process

Remote inspections benefit everybody involved in the inspection process.

Building consent authorities will be able to increase the number of inspections they carry out by eliminating the travel time. This will also create cost savings in vehicle and travel expenses, minimise exposure to safety hazards on-site, help upskill of inspectors, improve record management through high-quality digital records which are geographically stamped, and make it easier to share of resources with other BCAs.

Builders will get more-timely inspections that are undertaken at a time that suits them, rather than relying on the inspector’s availability. They will also see cost savings in not having subbies being paid while waiting for an inspection, a shorter build process through reducing down-time waiting for an inspection, a better understanding of the building code requirements through gaining an in-depth understanding of what’s required for the inspection, and, of course, safety — fewer people on-site reduces the likelihood of accidents.

The wider building industry benefits through a collaborative approach which assists in building trust and reduced environmental impact through reduced travel-related carbon emissions. Remote inspections also provide for business continuity and resilience for the whole building and construction industry.

Using new tools, and considerations for BCAs

The industry has developed a variety of tools to undertake remote inspections which support the user to capture the information and evidence the inspector needs to check that the building work complies with the consent.

There are a number of considerations BCAs need to keep in mind with its remote inspection approach, including the building complexity and inspection types. They may use their data on inspection failures to determine which inspections and building types it would consider for the early stages of adopting RI. It may be that builders that are known to have a higher inspection pass rates would be preferred as early adopters for the BCA's approach.

Another consideration is the skillset of both the inspector and the builder. The inspector will need to be proficient in the remote inspection tool the BCA adopts, particularly for the livestream inspections. Similarly, the builder will need to be competent in using the chosen software and technology and have a good understanding of inspector’s expectations. BCAs could use existing relationships to identify suitable builders for early remote inspection adoption.

More information about remote inspections can be found at building.govt.nz. Talk to your local council to find out if they are looking to remote inspection for the future if they are not already using this technology.

Further guidance from MBIE

MBIE has just released a guidance document for BCAs on the adopting and growing the uptake of remote inspections. Although this guidance is aimed at the BCAs, it is also particularly relevant to licensed building practitioners and other tradespeople who participate in the inspection process. You can see the guidance document at building.govt.nz.

Learning how to use the particular tools the BCA adopt for remote inspections is also a relevant on-the-job learning activity for skills maintenance.

Quiz

1. What is remote inspection?

a. The inspector does the inspection from their car while parked outside the site
b. The builder gives the inspector some random photos of what they’ve done on the job
c. The inspection is conducted remotely using digital tools and technologies, instead of the inspector visiting the site in person

2. What is the builder’s responsibility under the Building Act?

a. To complete the building as cheaply as possible for the client
b. To ensure that the building work is carried out in accordance with the approved plans and specifications
c. To finish the work as quickly as possible so they can get paid and get to the next job

3. Is there any real benefit in making these changes?

a. Yes, there are many benefits to building consent authorities, builders, and the wider industry in adopting remote inspections
b. No, it’s just something else I have to learn