Guest post by Sustainable Engineering | The New Zealand building industry is walking blindly once again. As we transition to higher thermal performance targets, the way we’ve always built simply doesn't work anymore. If you treat a highly insulated, airtight build like a standard code-minimum house from ten years ago, you are taking on massive structural and financial risk.

Practical lessons from replacing a deck — how visual costing, and activity-based costing make for more reliable estimates.

The relationship between architects and roofing contractors doesn't have to be adversarial — but too often, the conditions we create make it that way. At this month's RANZ Conference, architect Dave Strachan spoke candidly to a room of roofers about what good collaboration actually looks like. Reading back through his insights, there's as much in it for us as there is for them.

Window & Glass Association's Technical Manager, Rob Campion, compares AS 2047 and TS 4211. The differences, while subtle, are exactly the kind of thing that can create a consent problem or a weather-tightness failure if they're not well understood and incorrect selections are made.

A look at how mineral silicate systems behave, how these systems differ from acrylic systems, and the key differences and uses of mineral silicate paint vs mineral silicate stain.

For those of us involved in the residential building sector, life is happening. In times like this is it easy to start second guessing your strategy.

During the design and construction phases of a project there are stages at which attention can be given to evaluating and addressing any potential overheating.

It is a common misconception to think that only the main contractor or company needs to meet compliance obligations when a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) is working as a subcontractor. This misunderstanding can result in significant legal and professional risks.

Since 25 October 2022, the Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP) code of ethics has established clear and consistent standards for professional conduct in the building industry.

A random sample of H1 reports from consented projects highlights common mistakes when calculating H1, questions the accuracy of free services, and shows where thermal modelling would be more advantageous.