Gerry Brownlee targets 'cowboy' builders after EQC foundation review

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.

The measures come after a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) review of 101 Canterbury homes repairs revealed deficient underfloor work.

Builders, speaking anonymously, said they had been forced to do work based on poor EQC assessments with tight budgets.

Some said they would have to declare bankruptcy if they were expected to pick up remedial costs. 

Registered Master Builders Canterbury branch president Alistair Miles said EQC and Fletcher EQR, as the project manager for the home repair programme, should also be held accountable.

EQC and EQR were responsible for selecting builders, giving them a scope of work and checking the repairs, he said.

EQC, "in a rush to carry out an enormous amount of repairs", had hired "cowboys coming to Christchurch looking for the goldmine", Miles said.

"They opened up the doors to anyone, including painters acting like builders."

EQR was put in charge to supervise the repairs, he said.

"You've got to ask what value EQR provided.

"It's no excuse for poor quality work but there is definitely a responsibility with EQC and EQR for not scoping the work correctly in the beginning. They've been known to reduce scopes," he said.

However, builders should not have taken on poorly assessed jobs.

"If there is not enough money, you don't do it until the money is agreed."

Miles believed some builders would declare bankruptcy to escape responsibility.

Some would not have the capacity to go back and fix poor work and the taxpayer would have to pick up the costs, he said.

Builder Carl Taylor was an EQR contractor from 2010 to late 2012.

He said builders worked under pressure and budget constraints.

"EQR had a lot of inexperienced supervisors and managers within the programme. A lot of the projects were very poorly scoped because of the emergency of the situation."

There were good builders and bad ones, Taylor said.

The good ones would have refused to take on poorly scoped jobs and would stand by their work, he said.

Brownlee said "cowboy" builders who had done shoddy work would face sanctions, including losing their licence.

"We don't want people like that to operate in the country," he said.

Builders had been paid for their work and would have to remediate any issues.

If builders went bankrupt, "we'll deal with that at the time", Brownlee said.

He rejected claims EQC and EQR were to blame for their processes.

"It's a bad workmanship issue."

The MBIE report had yet to be finalised and details would be released soon, Brownlee said.

HOMEOWNERS WANT AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF SHODDY REPAIRS

Quake-affected Samantha Lawrence says she has lost trust in EQC and wants an independent review of foundation repairs done on her rental property in 2011.

She asked EQC repeatedly to revisit the work after cracks appeared in tiles and floorboards but to no avail.

"They left a part of the house completely out of whack," Lawrence said.

"No geotech work was done and I don't think an engineer has ever been at my house."

A levelling company did the work, she said.

Lawrence was pleased foundation repairs done without a consent would be audited, but did not want the same builder to come back.

"I'm relieved but also worried about how it will be done."

Brownlee said there would be a proper inspection of all unconsented underfloor work and remedial work done at no cost to the homeowners.

"We take all this stuff seriously," he said.

"I don't like the idea that there are inappropriate and ineffective repairs."

Many of the shortcomings identified were "quite minor" and there was no need to panic.

No repair work posing a risk to homeowners or occupants had been identified, Brownlee said.

Labour's EQC spokesman Clayton Cosgrove said the handling of the foundation issue was appalling.

Authorities should have been prepared for it to surface as experts had been raising concerns over foundation repairs for years, he said.

Brownlee and EQC were "trying to cover their backsides" by delaying the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)'s survey's findings.

Cosgrove said homeowners were being left to panic without any detail about who would carry out the audit and remedial work and when it would happen.

"Earthquake victims going through more than five years of extremely difficult times will freak out," he said

Homeowners who thought "the nightmare is finally over" now faced having disruptive work done again to their house.

Brownlee, EQC and MBIE needed to reassure homeowners as soon as possible, Cosgrove said.

Canterbury Communities' Earthquake Recovery Network (CanCERN) spokeswoman Leanne Curtis said homeowners had lost confidence in EQC.

Community support groups needed to be fully briefed to be able to assist and inform homeowners as soon as possible, she said.

"We don't know why it's taking so long to get the final report."