Restricted building work, and the register check almost nobody does.
After the weathertightness failures of the 1990s and 2000s, New Zealand decided that the parts of a house that keep it standing and keep water out should only be designed, built or supervised by people assessed as competent to do it. That category is restricted building work, and those people are Licensed Building Practitioners. If your renovation touches structure or the outside of the building, this page is the one that matters.
Photography commissioned — plate reserved · July 2026
What it covers
Primary structure, and keeping water out.
Those two ideas are the whole definition, and between them they cover most of what people call a “proper renovation”.
Restricted building work broadly covers the design, construction, alteration, demolition or removal of the primary structure or the external moisture-management system of a house or a small-to-medium apartment building. Auckland Council describes it as the work that keeps homes safe and stable, and puts weathertightness plainly: a building that is weathertight avoids dampness inside and the damage that follows.
So, in practice
- Removing or altering a load-bearing or bracing wall. Bracing counts.
- Beams, lintels, posts and their connections and foundations.
- Cutting a new window or door opening in an exterior wall.
- Recladding, and the wall underlay, flashings and drainage cavity behind it.
- Roof structure, and roof cladding work that goes beyond comparable replacement.
- Decks and balconies over habitable space, where the waterproofing is the roof of a room below.
- Additions and extensions generally, because they do all of the above at once.
What generally is not restricted building work
- Painting and decorating on its own — that is the paint side of the job. Though if the preparation uncovers rot or failed flashings, the repair can be.
- Kitchen and bathroom fitout that does not touch structure or the external envelope.
- Plumbing, gasfitting, drainlaying and electrical work — regulated, and often requiring an authorised person, but under their own Acts rather than as restricted building work.
Note the pattern: “not restricted building work” never means “unregulated”. It means a different rulebook applies. The job-by-job read.
The check
How to verify a practitioner in five minutes.
Do this before the deposit, not after the dispute. It is free, it is public, and it is the highest-value five minutes in the whole project.
- 01
Get the practitioner number, not just the name
Names are common and companies are not licensed — individuals are. Ask for the LBP number of the person who will actually carry out or supervise the restricted building work on your job, which is not always the person quoting you.
- 02
Search the public register
Search by name, practitioner number or company at the LBP advanced search. You can also filter by licence class and area of practice.
- 03
Tick “include practitioners that are not currently licensed”
This is the box that matters. A default search shows currently licensed people, so someone whose licence has lapsed, been suspended or been cancelled simply does not appear. Ticking it is how you find out that the licence you were told about is no longer live.
- 04
Check the class against your job
A carpentry licence and a roofing licence are different licences. Confirm the class and area of practice actually covers the restricted work on your project, and that a Design licence covers the complexity of the building.
- 05
Check the disciplinary history
The register exists partly so you can see recent complaints and disciplinary decisions. Read them rather than counting them — a single technical finding years ago is not the same thing as a pattern.
- 06
Collect the paperwork as the job runs
A Certificate of Design Work with the consent application, and a Record of Work from each LBP at completion. Council also asks to be notified of the LBPs on the job. Council’s LBP notification page. File all of it with your consent documents — it is part of the property’s history now.
The trades behind it
The people the licence classes describe.
This site holds real pay data for thirteen building trades, published by the Tertiary Education Commission. It is what practitioners are paid, not what a business charges — and the difference between those two numbers is the thing most renovation budgets get wrong. Auckland trade rates, and what sits between wage and charge-out.
Worth being blunt about one thing: an LBP licence is a competence assessment, not a quality guarantee and not a promise about price. It tells you the person has been assessed as competent for a class of work and is accountable through a disciplinary process. It does not tell you whether they turn up, communicate, or finish. References and a look at recent work still do the rest.
Questions people actually ask
What is restricted building work?
Building work that is critical to a home being structurally sound and weathertight. Broadly it covers the design, construction, alteration, demolition or removal of the primary structure and the external moisture-management system of a house or small-to-medium apartment building. Auckland Council puts it plainly: this is the work that keeps homes safe and stable. Only Licensed Building Practitioners may design, carry out or supervise it.
What are the LBP licence classes?
Seven: design, site, carpentry, bricklaying and blocklaying, external plastering, foundations and roofing. Design and site each have areas of practice numbered 1, 2 and 3, covering progressively more complex buildings. Registered architects and Chartered Professional Engineers are also able to do restricted design work. A licence is not general: a licensed roofer is not licensed to lay bricks. MBIE on licence classes.
How do I check whether a builder is actually licensed?
Search the public register at the LBP register. You can search by name, practitioner number or company, and filter by licence class and area of practice. The useful part most people miss: there is a checkbox to include practitioners who are not currently licensed. Tick it. Someone whose licence has lapsed or been cancelled will not appear in a default search, and that is precisely the person you want to find before you sign.
What paperwork should the LBP give me?
Two documents. A Certificate of Design Work from whoever did the restricted design work, which goes in with the building consent application. And a Record of Work — a memorandum from each LBP describing the restricted building work they carried out or supervised, which goes to Council and to you at the end. Keep both. They are part of what proves the work was lawfully done. Auckland Council on restricted building work.
Can I do restricted building work on my own house?
There is an owner-builder exemption, and it is narrower than the phrase suggests. It is aimed at someone doing the work themselves on their own home to live in, not at a person managing a renovation or building to sell, and it comes with a declaration and consequences at resale — a buyer can see that the restricted work was owner-built rather than done by an LBP. Start at Council’s exemptions pages and read the conditions before you assume it fits you.
Why does this site not publish the LBP register?
Because the register is published for a purpose and its own terms say so: it is there for you to find and verify practitioners and see their recent disciplinary history, and not for other uses. Copying it onto a commercial site would be a compilation of contactable people republished outside the purpose it was made available for. So this site links to it and tells you the one search option most people miss.
Which jobs are restricted?
Fourteen common Auckland jobs, with the restricted-building-work read on each.
Exemptions that need an LBP
Several Schedule 1 exemptions only apply if an LBP does or supervises the work.
What your zone contemplates
The other rulebook — and the reason a structurally perfect design can still be refused.
Who this site is. Renovate Auckland is an independent Auckland reference site published by Amit Sharma. It is not Auckland Council, it is not MBIE, and it is not your consent authority. The trade partner who would carry out work is still being confirmed, so this site claims no licence number, no guarantee and no trade-association membership. Send a brief and you get a straight answer about who would do the work.