Flood-damaged building inspections what to expect

Retired building inspectors are among those Auckland Council has recruited to help it do quick initial inspections of buildings damaged by floods.

The recently retired inspectors have joined a team of more than 130 specially trained Auckland Council staff, contracted engineers, and those with the relevant expertise from Tauranga and Hamilton city councils and Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand and urban search and rescue teams are also helping, using drones to survey streams to check for blockages that can’t be seen from the ground.

Speaking to the Herald, Auckland Council’s general manager of building consents Ian McCormick said inspections began on Sunday morning in the most-affected parts of the city.

As of Sunday night, 40 properties had been red stickered, 151 yellow stickered and 366 white stickered.

Red stickers deem a property unsafe to enter, yellow stickers restrict entry by only allowing people to enter a certain part of the building or by allowing them to go in temporarily to remove things, and white stickers mean there isn’t significant damage.

Owners of white stickered buildings may still want to get their own checks done.

McCormick clarified the stickers are legal instructions, not just advice.

He said those who want to query initial classifications or get help removing things from their buildings, can contact the council for help.

“It’s not a question of, ‘Oh well, I’m never going to be able to get into my building’. We just want to make sure that when you do, you’re doing it safely,” he said.

“Prohibiting someone from entering their own building is a really big step. It has to be really bad for us to do that. We don’t want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily.”

McCormick explained the initial rapid building assessments take about 20 minutes.

Most of the time they can be completed from outside the building, without inspectors coming inside.

McCormick noted a key consideration is figuring out whether the building poses risks to adjacent areas.

He suggested building owners take photos of damage straight away and contact their insurers.

From there, they can organise their own builders or engineers to help fix their properties.

Auckland Council will have to re-check a building that has had work done on it to reclassify it.

“This is the first time I’ve seen anything that’s right across the Auckland region,” McCormick said, noting how widespread the damage was.