Building officials

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Building officials of developed countries are generally referred to as administering building control systems that are mostly defined in statute. According to World Organisation of Building Officials, there were two distinct levels of building officials: (1) the professionally-qualified building controls administrators, who are technically and/or professionally competent in examining design documents for compliance with the Building Codes defined in statute; and (2) the technician-level building-work inspectors, who simply administer the various processes.

[edit] New Zealand

All developed countries except New Zealand have both types of officials administering building control systems. New Zealand is the only country to have only technician-level, essentially un-trained Territorial authority building inspectors. In this regard, building control systems in New Zealand have not been effectively managed, and have led to a poor quality of housing stock. Examples of poor quality are the reported cases of failed weather tightness, whereby the government of the day set up a mediation service Weathertight Homes Resolution Service to resolve cases of houses that failed even though they were approved by building inspectors.