SR419 A consumer survey of attitudes to exceeding minimum standards for refurbishments and retrofits (February 2020)

This report outlines a survey of consumers’ attitudes and experiences of undertaking refurbishments and retrofits and their choices to go beyond the requirements of the New Zealand Building Code (NZBC) or not. The report focuses on existing residential buildings that had recently been or were in the process of undergoing a refurbishment/retrofit.

A social survey was undertaken to collect the attitudes and experiences of consumers who had undertaken a refurbishment/retrofit. The social survey sought to learn more about consumer choices and decisions around exceeding the requirements of the NZBC. A nationwide online survey was distributed to 2,952 randomly selected individuals who had applied for an additions or alterations building consent (excluding garages) from their building consent authority. A total of 245 completed surveys were collected from around New Zealand – these represent the results presented in this report.

The survey highlighted a number of issues for the building and construction industry and New Zealand housing market. The survey results outline that consumer motivation to undertake a refurbishment/retrofit was strongly aligned with changing life stages, such as the creation and expanding of families. The vast majority of refurbishments/retrofits were undertaken by building professionals. However, these building professionals were in high demand, which created pressure within the market in terms of workflow for industry and created frustration and delays for consumers. For example, our survey found that Auckland recorded the highest amount of jobs that took at least 2 years to complete due to a lack of capability from industry.

Our survey also suggested that, within the New Zealand housing market, exceeding the minimum is predominantly the concern of individuals and families on higher incomes. Further, the decision to incorporate higher-performing building features and design into the refurbishment/retrofit was limited. For example, a large section of our sample did not plan on exceeding the minimum. However, one identified area where exceeding the minimum was widely used was for insulation. The report outlines some recommendations for targeted initiatives and future research to encourage exceeding the minimum within the residential housing refurbishment/retrofit market.

See the BRANZ Research Now for a short and accessible summary of this report