The Tribunal varied the Building Commissioner's building remedy order rather than setting it aside: J-Corp was required to conduct a full home re-pipe of all Typlex piping and make good all surfaces, with an extended 18-week compliance period, and orders 2(c) (damage to contents) and 3 (leak detection unit) were deleted by consent. The Tribunal held that a builder who installs pipes with a latent manufacturing defect carries out a regulated building service that 'is unsatisfactory' under s 37(1), even absent any fault or negligence in the builder's selection or installation of the pipes — the second limb of s 37(1) directs inquiry to the present state of the completed work, not the manner of its execution. On the s 37(2)(a) jurisdictional threshold, the Tribunal construed 'value estimated' as the builder's likely out-of-pocket external costs (excluding fixed overheads, profit and GST), not the arm's-length market price a homeowner would pay a third party, estimating the work at $75,674 and thus within the $100,000 prescribed amount. The Tribunal also held it could not exercise the Building Commissioner's s 11(1)(d) referral power in its review jurisdiction, leaving open a potential procedural gap where estimated value exceeds the prescribed amount and the builder does not consent.
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