In this build the floor slab finished short so framing was supported by nothing and bolted to the inside as a remedial measure.

In this renovation wiring was put through wall lining without sealing.

Here there is a crack in a plinth holding up a column for a roof.

Another shot of subsoil removal in the basement development.

All of the subsoil dug away from the house foundations in a basement development.

Holes for wiring have been drilled through structural beams.

Rubbish and people walking all over waterproofing on deck.

A site was excavated for a swimming pool within 80cms of neighbouring house.

An excavated bank was a threat to workers' safety so the site had to be shut down.

In this build the foundation slab was too small so framing was built on loose concrete outside.

Auckland's building inspection authorities are alarmed at the shoddy workmanship they're seeing on construction sites around the city.

Auckland Council is currently failing around a third of building inspections.

The problem has become so widespread that the council has appointed a person full-time to investigate complaints against licensed builders.

SUPPLIED Inspectors say some builders in Auckland are carrying out dodgy work across the city.

As the building boom gathers pace tradespeople with greatly varying levels of skill have flooded into the industry, general manager building control Ian McCormick said.

Skilled project managers are also busy, overseeing on average 25 jobs at a time, he said.

"So they'll move from site to site, often with teams of relatively inexperienced folk," he said.

Have you been the victim of a shoddy build? Email us at newstips@stuff.co.nz

"We're finding that the level of supervision that's often being provided to these people is not as good as it could be.

"Some of the stuff we're seeing is really quite disturbing," McCormick said.

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In many cases there was a lack of coordination between the sub-trades working on a site, with no-one taking overall ownership of the job, he said.

At one building site, the concrete foundation slab for the house was poured too small.

The next tradesman came along and built the framing outside the slab on loose concrete, "which is obviously problematic in terms of structural strength in that wall", McCormick said.

"The explanation was, 'I'm just here to stand the frame up, mate'.

"It's a good example of the fragmented nature of how work is done in the industry."

The council had seen four examples of this in the last month alone, manager of inspections for the north/west region, Jason Wang, said.

Inspectors were coming across a litany of non-compliant practices, such as electricians putting wiring through building wrap, breaking the weathertight seal of the house. This was "very, very" common, Wang said.

Another classic one was waterproofed decks - which had probably been checked off by council inspectors - then being walked all over by other tradies and used as a dumping ground.

What really worried them was the stuff they didn't catch, McCormick said.

"Quite often we're feeling like we're the quality control system for these sites.

"We're not there all the time, we're not the clerk of works, we're not the project manager.

"We're certainly not saying all jobs are like this," he said. "(But) the people who need help really do need help."

McCormick did not believe the problem was systemic, however.

"I think what we're seeing is a whole variety of almost like one-off issues."

The council building inspection team was working closely with industry groups such as Registered Master Builders and Certified Builders to address the issues.

The two key prongs of its strategy were providing more training, and developing quality assurance tools for use on site.

The quality tools would involve someone signing off the key milestones of the build, "so they're not just waiting for the building inspector to come along and actually tell them what they got wrong", McCormick said.

The biggest problem was reaching the workers who weren't members of any industry organisation. "It's actually quite a struggle to engage with these folk," he said.

Registered Master Builders chief executive Dave Kelly said the organisation had been working with Auckland Council to develop a quality assurance approach which offered builders an incentive to invest in their people and processes.

The industry groups could deal with their own members, but the councils were left to try and take complaints against the independents who were causing a lot of the problems.

"So it's much better if we can get on the front foot and develop something together that we both recognise, and brand as a sort of quality mark," Kelly said.

The current Licensed Building Practitioners scheme only demonstrated that builders had technical knowledge.

"To be honest that's not really a quality mark, it's a minimum entry.

"We're looking to step up something above that."

Other councils around the country had also raised quality issues, particularly Christchurch, he said.

"If we can make it work in Auckland then I think it's the sort of thing we should be looking to roll out across the country," Kelly said.

Certified Builders chief executive Grant Florence said his group applauded the actions of McCormick and his team.

Many of the issues were because the sector was trying to fill skills gaps in any way it could.

"The industry's been telling anybody who would listen that we've got a skills shortage in Auckland.

"We forecast that probably two-and-a-half years ago. That's just a function of the boom-bust cycles that the construction industry in New Zealand seems to get itself all bound up in."

However he also called for better enforcement of the Licensed Building Practitioners regime.

"That would have been a great vehicle to try and help with this, and really that hasn't had lot of effort put into it by central government," Florence said.