What are you covered for?
What part of the build is covered?
Building a new home or making a significant alteration is probably the biggest investment you’ll ever make, and if anything goes wrong it could be the most costly too. Build with complete peace of mind with a Halo 10-Year Residential Guarantee.
Floors
[examples of structural elements]
- Concrete foundations, foundation walls and floor systems
- Piles and bracing elements, bearers, joists, subfloor framing
- Inter-story flooring
- Structural retaining and block walls
Walls
[examples of structural elements]
- Structural framing e.g. beams, lintels
- Bracing elements and fixings e.g. Ridged air barriers which provide bracing
- Structural steel portals, beams and columns
Roof
[examples of structural elements]
- Trusses, rafters, purlins, tile battens and bracing members
- Ceiling diaphragms
- Sheathing material such as ply
Decks
Decking connected to the primary structure and includes
- Piles and bracing elements, bearers, joists, stringers, subfloor framing
- Decking material
- Balusters, handrails, posts
- Pergola or other structure over, if carrying a roof
What are you covered for?
Cover During Workmanship and Materials Defect Guarantee Period
We will cover You for a Workmanship and Materials Defect in the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable), discovered and notified by You to Us during the Workmanship and Materials Defect Guarantee Period, that arises due to the Builder’s unlawful failure.
Special Conditions Applicable to Cover for Workmanship and Materials Defect means:
Building work or materials that have either failed or are not in compliance with the New Zealand Building Code and the New Zealand Standards applicable at the time of the Practical Completion Date whereby the item is not fit for its intended use and does not fall within the tolerances as set out in the Guide to Acceptable Tolerances applicable at the Practical Completion Date.
Special Conditions Applicable to Cover for Workmanship and Materials Defect
We will not provide cover for a Workmanship and Materials Defect unless:
- the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable) have reached Practical Completion; and
- the Builder has been notified and has failed to rectify the Workmanship and Materials Defect within a reasonable timeframe, and/or
- the Builder has withheld consent to resolve the dispute by using a disputes resolution service or other legally binding process, or
- the Builder fails to comply with the decision of the disputes resolution service or other legally binding process
If a claim relates to materials used in the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable), You must first make a claim under any warranty or guarantee given by the manufacturer or supplier of those materials.
Workmanship and Materials Defect Guarantee Period – The period commencing from the Practical Completion Date and ending 2-Years after that date.
Structural Defects Including Weathertightness
This Guarantee covers Structural Defects which are defined as any defect with your dwelling that constitutes a breach of the New Zealand Building Code as it was at the time of Practical Completion.
For the avoidance of doubt, to the extent that the defect breaches the New Zealand Building Code this may include without limitation:
- The foundation systems and footings; and/or
- Beams, girders, lintels, and columns; and/or
- Load bearing walls and partitions; and/or
- Roof framing and floor systems; and/or
- Decks and decking as defined
For the purposes of this cover a Structural Defect also includes a defect (whether or not of the type defined immediately above) that allows water to penetrate into the Residential Dwelling from the exterior, and results in damage to the Residential Dwelling. However this weathertightness extension does not apply if the Residential Dwelling scores 13 or more on the risk matrix table E2/AS1 Table 2: Building envelope risk scores (which is a measure of weathertightness risk) published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
Special Conditions Applicable to Cover for Structural Defect
We will not provide cover for a Structural Defect unless:
- a Code Compliance Certificate has been issued for the Works where required by the Building Act 2004, and
- the Builder has been notified and has failed to rectify the Structural Defect within a reasonable time frame, and/or
- the Builder has withheld consent to resolve the dispute by using a disputes resolution service or other legally binding process, or
- the Builder fails to comply with the decision of the disputes resolution service or other legally binding process
If a claim relates to materials used in the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable), You must first make a claim under any warranty or guarantee given by the manufacturer or supplier of those materials.
Structural Defect Guarantee Period – The period commencing from the Practical Completion Date and ending 10-Years after that date.
Builder’s Unlawful Failure
For the purpose of a Workmanship and Materials Defect or Structural Defect claim under this Guarantee, the Builder’s unlawful failure is where the Builder has failed to:
- supply materials that are in good order, suitable and fit for purpose for which they will be used, and new, unless stated otherwise in the Building Contract;
- carry out the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable) in a proper and competent manner and with reasonable care and skill, in accordance with the plans and specifications forming part of the Building Contract and the relevant Building Consent;
- carry out the Works or the Sub-Works (as applicable) it has contracted to build in accordance with and in compliance with all relevant laws, and legal requirements including, inter alia the Building Act 2004 and the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and their regulations.
Practical Completion
The expression “Practical Completion” is defined in Section 7 of this Guarantee, as is “Practical Completion Date”. This Guarantee contemplates that You and the Builder will agree on when that date has occurred, and that you will sign and return to Us the Completion Certificate which we will send you, so that there is certainty about when the Workmanship and Materials Defect Guarantee Period and the Structural Defect Guarantee Period commence. You are obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that We receive the completed and signed Completion Certificate promptly after Practical Completion. We may, but are not obliged to, send you prompts or reminders so that this obligation is not inadvertently overlooked.
However there will be occasions where, despite you taking all reasonable steps, it is not possible for You to reach agreement with the Builder as to when Practical Completion occurred, if at all. In those circumstances, for the sake of achieving certainty, this Guarantee provides for a default arrangement for determining as best We can, when that date occurred. One of the factors this default arrangement relies upon is the date by which You and the Builder agreed that the Works would be completed, or if there was no such agreement, then the estimated completion date which the Building Act 2004 requires You and the Builder to insert into the Building Contract (assuming it is not a commercial construction contract). In this Section we refer to these alternative dates as the “Contractual Completion Date”.
Therefore, if We do not receive a fully compliant Completion Certificate from You within four months after the Contractual Completion Date (whether that is Your fault or not), We will (in our sole and unfettered discretion) decide when the Practical Completion Date was and will notify you accordingly. In making that decision We will endeavor to select a date that is as accurate as possible, taking into account all relevant information that is reasonably available to us, That information may include, but without any obligation on Our part:
- consultations with You, the Builder, and any third parties We may deem appropriate,
- the evidence on the Council property file,
- evidence of when you took possession of the Works, and
- our experience in these matters.
On notification to You of the selected date, it will become the Practical Completion Date by default.
Cover for Additional Expenses
If We accept a claim, We will provide cover for certain additional expenses that arise as a direct result of the Structural Defect or Workmanship and Materials Defect (whichever is applicable). This cover for additional expenses is for the Builder’s liability in relation to:
Additional Costs
Such additional costs and expenses that are necessarily incurred solely in order to comply with building legislation or local authority requirements, provided that We will not cover costs that would have been incurred irrespective of the Builder’s default.
Alternative Accommodation Costs
All reasonable additional costs and expenses for a period not exceeding 26 weeks in respect of removal, storage and alternative accommodation whilst the Residential Dwelling is uninhabitable as a consequence of a claim under this guarantee.
Fees
Such Architects, Surveyors, Consulting Engineers’ and other fees as are necessarily and reasonably incurred, by You in relation to the complete or partial rebuilding or rectifying the Structural Defect or Workmanship and Materials Defect (whichever is applicable), but does not include legal costs or fees incurred by You in preparing a claim.
Removal of Debris
Costs and expenses reasonably incurred by You with Our written consent for:
- removal of debris
- dismantling or demolishing
- shoring up
- temporary protection of the Residential Dwelling.
Any compensation provided by Us for additional expenses is capped at a maximum aggregate total of $20,000 for any one claim under the Guarantee.