Producer statements

A producer statement is a professional opinion based on sound judgment and specialist expertise. It is not a product warranty or guarantee of compliance.

The producer statement system is intended to provide Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) with reasonable grounds for the issue of a Building Consent or a Code Compliance Certificate, without having to duplicate design or construction checking undertaken by others.

While producer statements are well-established and widely used, they have no particular status under the Building Act 2004. They are used as one source of information which the council may rely upon to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to conclude that building work complies with the Building Code.

In considering whether to accept a producer statement, a council will normally assess the credentials of the author to ensure that person has the appropriate experience and competence in their particular field of expertise.

Producer statements are typically used for specialist work, such as engineering, or where there is a proprietary product which is installed by appointed contractors. Aspects of this work will be outside the council’s in-house expertise and a producer statement can assist the council when they are determining whether the building work complies with the Building Code. Councils will use their judgement and internal processes when considering producer statements and how much weight to give them.

There are currently four types of producer statements, in use. They are known as:

• PS 1 – Design
• PS 2 – Design Review
• PS 3 – Construction (often used by the installers of proprietary systems)
• PS 4 – Construction Review.

The council should be clear about when they expect to receive producer statements during the building consent process. You will need to ensure the contractor’s engagement includes the need to provide the producer statement at the completion of the work.

Information needed in a producer statement

It's important that producer statements for Design (PS1) or Design Review (PS2) detail the specific clause(s) of the Building Code that the design complies with, and how it complies with the Building Code (for example, Acceptable Solution or Verification Method, MBIE guidance and/or specific engineered design).

Guidelines: Using producer statements [PDF 56 KB] on the Engineering New Zealand website has information on what to include in a producer statement.

How certificates of work and producer statements work together

For residential work, licensed building practitioners (LBPs) must produce a certificate of work (CoW) for engineering design of the primary structure (including foundations). It is good practice to attach relevant producer statements to the CoW, and specifically reference them and other relevant reports (for example, geotechnical reports and/or design features reports) in the CoW reference column.

On-site monitoring by an engineer and LBP requirements

If agreement has been reached that a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) will oversee construction monitoring (and provide a producer statement) any restricted building work undertaken during this supervision is still required to be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP). The LBP must also provide a record of work for the restricted building work they undertake or supervise. 

Councils may make it a condition of the building consent that a CPEng monitors elements of the construction work and reviews construction, completing a PS4. The CPEng is often the best person to undertake the construction monitoring because they understand and can verify any relevant design assumptions.

Appropriate engineering involvement is encouraged in the entire building process from concept through to detailed design, design review and construction monitoring. The degree of involvement in all aspects will vary depending on the complexity of the building work.