Legislation, Regulations and Standards for Drainlaying
Three layers of law
Drainlaying in New Zealand is governed by overlapping instruments. The Building Act 2004 makes drainage work "building work", requires building consent unless an exemption in Schedule 1 applies, and imposes the Building Code, whose relevant clauses are G13 (foul water), G14 (industrial liquid waste), G15 (solid waste) and E1 (surface water). Compliance is shown through Acceptable Solutions (G13/AS1, G13/AS2 for on-site wastewater, G14/AS1, E1/AS1), Verification Methods, or a genuinely alternative solution.
The Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006 controls who may work: registration and licensing through the Board, the certifying class of licence, supervision of trainees and limited certificate holders, competency and discipline. Only a building consent authority (normally the territorial authority) grants consent, carries out inspections and issues the Code Compliance Certificate. The drainlayer builds to the consented documents, calls the inspections, issues Records of Work for work not requiring consent, and supplies producer statements where contracted.
Standards are the technical currency: AS/NZS 3500.2 (sanitary plumbing and drainage), AS/NZS 3500.3 (stormwater), NZS 4404 (subdivision infrastructure), AS/NZS 1547 (on-site wastewater). They are not Acts of Parliament - they gain force through the Acceptable Solutions, consent conditions and contracts. Local trade waste bylaws and the Water Services Act 2021 sit alongside.
Traps examiners like
Confusing clause numbers (E1 is surface water, not foul water). Believing a licence automatically carries certification rights. Treating a standard as mandatory in every situation. Forgetting who signs what: a producer statement is not a Code Compliance Certificate.
Rule of thumb: before starting any job, state in one sentence the consent status of the work, the compliance document you are building to, and who will inspect it.