Southland's water
Invercargill: an in-house business unit, so no handover is planned.
Gore: the district council delivers water now. Southern Waters, owned by the Gore, Waitaki, Central Otago and Clutha councils, is due to take over on 1 July 2027.
Neither council's site could be read when we checked, so we have no pipe rules to quote. Ask your council where its pipe ends and yours begins.
Bigger jobs: contracts and defects
For residential building work of $30,000 or more including GST, the contractor must give you prescribed disclosure information and a checklist before the contract, and the contract must be written and dated. Below that figure, you can still ask for both.
Every residential building contract, written or spoken and whatever its value, carries implied warranties. The work must be done in a proper and competent way, with reasonable care and skill, and in line with the law and any consent.
You can notify defects within 12 months of completion, and the contractor must fix them within a reasonable time. At the end of any residential job, they must also give you completion information in writing, including insurance policies for the work and any guarantees or warranties.
Who can do gas work
Only a licensed or authorised person may do gasfitting. A homeowner can work on portable appliances with the bottle attached, such as a barbecue or patio heater, though PGDB strongly recommends using a gasfitter.
Once connected, every gas job needs a Gas Safety Certificate. Keep it with your house papers, because you may need it when you sell.
Hot water consent
Repairing a water heater with comparable products needs no building consent. Nor does replacing it with one that has a controlled heat source or hooks into one. Both exemptions apply only when an authorised person does the job.
If something goes wrong
Complaints about a plumber, gasfitter or drainlayer go to PGDB through its online complaint form. Photos, invoices, quotes, compliance documents and remedial reports all help.
Better still, check the licence before work starts: search the register by the person's full name and look for the tick that shows it's current.
What we would do in Southland
On any job near the $30,000 mark, such as a bathroom refit, ask for the disclosure statement and checklist even if you're just under it, and get the contract in writing. Keep every certificate, quote and invoice in one folder, because they're the evidence PGDB asks for if you ever need to complain.
Tell us the job, and a Southland tradie who specialises in it can take it. Your contact details go to that one tradie only.