An insurance commentator says some homeowners may have to wait for months, or even years, to have their homes properly assessed as almost 2000 scheduled building inspections are cancelled by Auckland Council.
The council confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that hundreds of building inspections booked for Thursday and Friday were cancelled, before cancelling inspections through to February 7 later that afternoon. More than 940 inspections planned for Tuesday and Wednesday had already been cancelled.
Building consents general manager Ian McCormick said in an email the council recognised how disruptive the cancellations would be for the building industry.
"However, it is important that we continue to prioritise the identification of unsafe buildings to safeguard the public and enable the recovery process."
More than 540 properties have been yellow-stickered and 138 red-stickered in the region, and insurer IAG said it had already received more than 13,600 insurance claims.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson called the storm New Zealand’s biggest non-earthquake event in terms of insurance.
Massey University senior lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance, Michael Naylor, said insurance companies can quickly look at whether there is a relevant insurance claim or not, but getting a full building assessment on what needs to be done and how much it might cost to repair takes "a long while".
He said there were cases in Westport, which was subjected to severe flooding in July 2021 and February 2022, where homeowners hadn't had properties "properly" assessed 18 months later.
"The lesson from Christchurch is yes, you can lodge a claim fast, and the insurance company will respond fast. But to actually get a sense on the ground, and to get a proper building estimate, could take two-to-three years."
Auckland Council has been urgently assessing thousands of homes damaged as a result of Auckland’s record-breaking storm.
McCormick said 1350 buildings had been assessed for storm damage by the Council’s building inspectors in two days, and there were still thousands of flood-affected buildings that needed to be inspected.
“Some of the damage we are seeing is heartbreaking, there are hundreds of displaced families due to unsafe or insanitary houses out there."
McCormick said inspectors had been conducting rapid building assessments across Auckland, and there was only a small team of inspectors available for "urgent or essential" work.
The council said people who have had inspections cancelled would need to rebook.
Flood of demand
Retailers are already seeing an uptick in demand from Aucklanders trying to clean up.
Chris Peak, Mitre 10's chief merchandise officer, said Aucklanders were looking for things like submersible pumps, wet vacs, flood dams, and drain coil before demand shifted to mops, cleaning products and dehumidifiers.
“We expect building materials like plasterboard and plywood will also see increases as people move to repairing their homes and businesses.”
Derek Powell, head of operations at Bunnings, said its Glenfield store was closed, but at its other Auckland outlets flexi-bins and garden waste bags, dehumidifiers, wet and dry vacuums, submersible pumps and generators were sought after following the flooding.
Both retailers said they were working with suppliers to make sure they had what Aucklanders needed in stock.
High demand in the construction sector isn’t good news for inflation, Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said.
He said construction inflation had been running at 17% annually, and with a pipeline full of projects, inflation pressure would remain.
Construction experts are also warning projects in the region will be delayed by months as civil contractors work to clear slips and flatten land to prevent further damage.
Auckland University of Technology profession of construction management, John Tookey, said delays were inevitable but how long the delays would be depended on further flooding and damage from more bad weather.
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