We’ve been hearing for some months now that a group of Canterbury builders was seeking to get together to form a buying group and now we know that it’s called the Combined Building Supplies Co-operative (CBS Co-op).

A new builders' co-operative will give smaller firms the same materials buying power as big corporates but it remains to be seen if savings will be passed on to new home buyers.

New Zealand’s first building supplies co-operative has just been launched, in what some are hailing as a game changer for the industry.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford has joined crowds of around 100 guests in Christchurch this evening for the launch of The Combined Building Supplies Co-operative (CBS Co-op), which includes small and medium sized building businesses across Canterbury.

Construction "cowboys" who did shoddy repairs for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) will have to pay for their mistakes, Gerry Brownlee says.

The Earthquake Recovery Minister announced on Wednesday all EQC underfloor repairs carried out without a building consent would be audited and builders found to be at fault would face sanctions.

"We're coming after them," Brownlee said.

He would not say how many homes would be affected but community leaders and foundation experts said thousands of repairs would need to be checked.

Government guidelines for fixing quake-damaged homes have been changed, meaning some cracked or tilted foundations will no longer be fixed.

The Department of Building and Housing released its guidelines for rebuilding quake-damaged homes within two months of the September 2010 earthquake but revised them in November last year.

Steve Brooks became New Zealand's youngest real estate agent when he started selling houses at 15 while still at Christchurch Boys' High School.

Brooks, now 25, bought his first property at 16 for $89,000 and sold it for $145,000 six months later.

At 18, he started his first business, Brooks Homes Ltd.

He then started My Refund, the South Island's first tax-refund company, and watched it grow from zero to 80 staff in 12 months.

He added a few businesses to his list, including My Body, My Bar, My Will and My Accountant.

He started Rebuild Me in 2012 to cater for homeowners who have opted out of Earthquake Commission work.

The company was formed "to fill a need" and was growing quickly, he said.

Fletcher EQR has lost its original pin-up construction company to opt-out repair work.

Carl Taylor Homes managing director Carl Taylor said working for Fletcher hubs was damaging the firm's reputation.

The company completed the first repair of the Fletcher-led Canterbury Home Repair Programme in November 2010, which was made into a media event, including an announcement by Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee.

Taylor said his company was the largest contractor working for Fletcher before giving up on the hubs five months ago.

As posted on Against the Current: http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/smoke-and-mirrors.html

The strange tale of Fletcher Building's '1000 new jobs' for Christchurch.

The Press has proved to be somewhat of a schizophrenic newspaper when it comes to earthquake-related issues.

It has done some  good solid reporting on the myriad of problems confronting Christchurch but, unfortunately, the newspaper also often feels it is obliged to be  a  cheerleader for all things Christchurch, regardless  of the facts.

Changes to the Earthquake Commission's opt-out process that may force claimants to pay for repairs up front have been labelled "ridiculous".

The Press reported yesterday that changes to the EQC policy would mean that homeowners with $10,000 to $100,000 of damage would take on more responsibility if they opted out of the commission's repair process.

Contractors would invoice homeowners instead of the EQC, and claimants may have to pay them themselves if they could not be reimbursed by the EQC in time.

Canterbury Community Earthquake Recovery Network spokeswoman Leanne Curtis said the changes made "absolutely no sense". "I don't think that that's acceptable. It's just ridiculous," she said.

Mohammad Ismail and his wife fled their Cashmere home after last week's earthquake and have since spent three nights sleeping in a car, another four in a motel and two at a friend's home.

The couple are back in a motel, but will have to check out tomorrow.

"We don't know where we will go," Ismail said.

His house sunk 30 centimetres and the exterior cladding has been ripped from one wall by the force of the quake.

Repairs in the worst-affected areas of Christchurch cannot begin while aftershocks continue to rock the city, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

Work began yesterday on the first quake-damaged house repaired under the hub system devised by the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and construction contractor Fletcher Building.

Hubs will be set up in Rolleston and Kaiapoi over the next few weeks, with 15 across the city.

Outside the first house to be repaired in Halswell, Brownlee said repairs could only begin where no land damage had been sustained.

However, it was safe to proceed with the large number of minor repairs.