The latest bad news out of Christchurch is set to add to the misery of people enduring years of heartache as they battle their way out of the earthquake related disasters besetting the city.
Late last week, a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment report into the Building Code compliance of earthquake repairs to Canterbury homes made for some bleak reading.
The report follows an independent survey of 101 homes randomly selected from more than 2700 addresses provided by EQC, Housing New Zealand, Southern Response and IAG. The survey also included a small sample of houses where homeowners had opted out of an insurer led home repair programme.
The organisations were asked for addresses of homes with completed structural repairs exempt from a building consent under Schedule 1 (repairs and maintenance) of the Building Act.
Exempt repair work is considered to have a greater risk of non compliance as it is not subject to a council inspection and because, unlike cosmetic repairs, defects in structural repairs may be hidden from view and harder for homeowners to identify.
Ninety of the 101 homes met that criteria and of those, 32 had structural repair work carried out that was non compliant with the Building Code.
An additional 23 homes were assessed as having minor repair defects. A key finding from the independent survey is 30 of the 32 homes with non compliant repairs involved floor levelling using the ''jack and pack'' repair method.
The technique involves lifting parts of the floor and inserting material between piles and framing to make it level.
EQC and its project manager, Fletcher EQR, will recheck and where necessary fix unconsented repairs on 3600 properties at an estimated cost of $500,000. EQC has pledged to fix faulty repairs at no cost to homeowners and it will apologise to homeowners for the inconvenience and delay.
The report does not identify the builders responsible for shoddy repairs but said nine licensed building practitioners have been involved with the non compliant work. A further two builders appear to have falsely claimed licensed building practitioner status, a more serious offence.
The report has been labelled a snow job because the survey only looked at a sample of houses drawn from a pool of about 2300 unconsented repairs.
Most of 68,000 Canterbury homes have quake repairs and will not be checked, critics say. The ministry's survey also fails to cover consent work and cosmetic repairs that were carried out by unqualified people.
In a speech to the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) Building Nations Symposium, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee made no mention of the ministry report. Instead, he focused on progress being made within the inner city boundaries.
For Mr Brownlee, the progress of Christchurch is being measured in many ways, but his measures do not include the extra work now being required because of faulty repair work carried out already.
Although there should be some celebration of the progress being made, it seems a case of one step forward and two or more backwards for some people who may again be forced out of their homes while further repairs are made.
It may not only be the floors which need fixing. If unqualified builders carried out work on walls and roofs, will that work be checked and repaired if necessary?
Industry leaders are already warning the quality of the rebuild may be compromised as insurance cash settlements increase. Concern is growing that in 10 or 15 years cracks will start to show in poorer quality work being done to replace or repair homes.
Without question, all of the work should have been inspected before being passed and monies paid to the builders and contractors.
The Government is spending an unprecedented amount of money in Christchurch by necessity. The $40 billion rebuild is continuing. Mr Brownlee needs to show leadership in ensuring residents do not suffer any more than necessary after four years of anxiety.
