The main requirements of a Homestar home over and above a stand code compliant home are: 

1. Continuous mechanical ventilation to ensure consistently good indoor air quality. 

2. Continuous insulation, including thermal breaks in the building envelope to minimise the risk of condensation, which leads to mould. 

3. Carbon: Accounting for both embodied and operation carbon. 

4. Cool: design to avoid overheating. 

Homestar ratings are carried out by Homestar Assessors. While they are trained by the NZGBC, they are third party consultants, external to the NZGBC and so will negotiate their own fees. As with any professional service, you may wish to get several quotes and compare suppliers before engaging a Homestar Assessor to carry out your rating.

Find out more about the assessment process and fees then find assessors in your area through our Homestar Assessor directory. 

Homestar is a holistic tool that awards points across various credits to rate a home’s performance and environmental impact. There are mandatory minimum requirements focused on keeping the home, warm, dry, well-ventilated, and operating efficiently. Otherwise, the tool is flexible. The credits are open to various combinations to reach the points required to achieve the desired rating.

The home needs at least 60 points to achieve a 6 Homestar rating, which is the minimum standard that can be certified. Depending on its location across Aotearoa, a 6 Homestar rated home will be easier to keep warm and healthy, more cost effective to run, and more environmentally friendly than a home built to the Building Code. A 10 Homestar rating indicates a market-leading home.

Housing is a fundamental human need. New Zealand has high levels of substandard housing, which has resulted from poor regulation of minimum housing standards and lack of maintenance. In 2008 the  Business Council for Sustainable Development  identified that at least 1 million of the 1.6 million existing homes in New Zealand were poor performers - they are cold, damp and difficult to heat.

 

New Zealand has the second-highest rate of asthma in the world, often caused by poor quality housing. Efficient homes can also help you save money on running costs through energy and water savings.

An LED can pay for itself in a little over a year (Consumer NZ) and save $100-300 over the life time of the bulb (GenLess). 

Replacing an 18-litre-per-minute showerhead with a 6-litre-per-minute showerhead can cut your hot water bill by $293 a year, while still offering a comfortable, effective shower (Consumer NZ). 

A dripping tap can waste up to 33 litres each day (Watercare). 

It’s more cost-effective to find a Homestar Assessor and start incorporating sustainability at the beginning of a project’s design stage. Many aspects of Homestar are related to the design of the building, and your Assessor can advise you throughout the process. Reviewing the different credits available in the Homestar Technical manual early can give ideas of what to include in your plans. 

- Download latest technical manual

Find a Homestar Assessor through our Homestar Assessor directory. 

Homestar was developed for new homes and requires them to be designed and built to a standard higher than the building code. Various pieces of evidence are required during the building process. It is generally not possible to get a home rated if Homestar has not been considered at the design stage. Get in touch with a  Homestar Assessor to discuss the possibilities. 

Only Homestar certified buildings can claim Homestar certification or use Homestar certification marks, unless pre assessed under volume certification.

If a project is still in the certification process, you cannot use the Homestar certification mark, however the following phrases can be used, providing the registration process is 
complete: 
‘X building is targeting a Homestar rating’
‘X building is targeting a Homestar Design rating’
‘X building is targeting a Homestar Built rating’

Application: Plans, drawings, hoardings, brochures, websites, real estate advertising and other marketing material that relates to the specific rated home or development. The certification mark may also be applied as a sticker, decal or other materials on the 
home itself.

When written in text, Homestar is always written as one word with a capital H (never ‘Home Star’ or ‘homestar’).

Unless a project has been certified by the New Zealand Green Building Council, it is not permitted to reference compliance with the requirements of Homestar.

Projects that claim to meet the requirements of a Homestar rating tool but are not formally assessed or certified cannot use the Homestar trade mark.

A project should not claim to be “Homestar equivalent” or "Homestar assessed" or “Project designed/built to Homestar standard” where a project is not verified or certified by the New Zealand Green Building Council.

Any use of the Homestar trade marks in such circumstances is in breach of our rules and may amount to trade mark infringement and ‘greenwash’.

Homestar Innovations are a pathway for recognising initiatives that are not currently included in the Homestar certification tool.

Check out our Homestar Technical Resources to find out more. 

No. Homestar ratings are only awarded to whole dwellings. Materials and products do play an important role in the environmental impact of building, and an entire category of Homestar is dedicated to assessing the Materials used on a project. Find out more about how products and materials contribute to Homestar in our  Homestar Technical Resources . 

Check out our Homestar qualifications and upcoming courses to find out more

For multi-unit developments where the same design (typology) is used for multiple dwellings, a Homestar Assessor can use the typologies approach. In this instance only the worst-case scenario of each typology is assessed under Homestar. The rating for that typology is then applied to all dwellings of that typology. This approach reduces the Homestar fees

If you're building a new Homestar rated home, you are building to a standard above the current Building Code. All of the requirements of the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019 (HHS), and the Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms) Regulations 2016 (RTA) are fulfilled by the current Building Code, except for the efficient space heating requirements. You'll need to check the heating source complies with the rental standards by using the Heating Assessment Tool.