Building consents can now be tracked through online portal
Kāpiti Coast District Council has made applying for and tracking a building consent quicker and more efficient.
Council’s building inspections team leader Michelle Salmon said an integration of Simpli, an online application portal, with an internal processing system will provide customers with a one stop shop for every facet of the consenting process.
“Until recently, customers have only been able to use Simpli to lodge their building consent applications with us.
“By adding extra features and integrating the two systems we hope to eliminate many of the more manual and time consuming processes currently used.
“From start to finish, customers will be able to submit, manage and track their building consent from the very first piece of information they enter into the portal through to the code of compliance certificate being issued at the end.
“The system is two-way, meaning council has the ability to notify the applicant if further information is required via the portal and customers can also send a message to our consent officers, as well as upload and download documents, and make payments via Simpli.
“The portal provides access to all of the building consent documentation required to complete the application process.
“This eliminates the need to ring, email, or visit our service centres to collect or lodge application forms, supply large files manually, or get in touch with one of our team to do something that is now available online,” Salmon said.
“As well as being more efficient, customers have full visibility on how their application is tracking in real time.
“Simpli is a portal used by most of the councils within in our region.
“This means we have implemented a tried and trusted system which will also provide a single account for those who work in the building industry across multiple districts.
“This improvement is part of our ongoing commitment to make it easier for customers to get the right information to us first time, in what can be a complex regulatory environment.”
Those wishing to apply for a building consent can do so via council’s website at Building — Kāpiti Coast District Council (kapiticoast.govt.nz). People who have already lodged a building consents application with council do not need to reapply.