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NZ gasfitting compliance software: why general trade tools are a liability
PGDB compliance for gasfitters sits at the centre of what KoruAI handles — alongside the Gas Act 2008 and Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010. You’re accountable to two frameworks at once: PGDB on the practitioner side and the Gas Act frame on the install side. This post is the 5-minute version of why general trade software falls short, where the audit risk sits now, and how KoruAI keeps the records straight without a Monday admin pile-up.
The pain
The four things NZ gasfitting compliance eats in a generic trade tool
Every PGDB-registered gasfitter recognises at least two of these from the last audit cycle. They aren’t dramatic failures — they’re the slow stand-up of admin overhead that nobody scheduled time to fix.
Gas safety certificates printed, signed, then lost
A gas safety certificate (GC) starts on a printed form in the van, gets a wet signature from the certifying gasfitter, and lands in a folder nobody owns. By the time WorkSafe NZ or the gas retailer asks for the cert behind install #3471, the only thing left is a one-line note in your diary. The paper trail exists; the proof the install was actually checked doesn’t.
Gas tightness test results scattered across inboxes
A single commercial or residential install may need a gas tightness test, a pressure test on the downstream pipework, a flue check, and a ventilation assessment. The test values land in three different inboxes, two SMS threads, and a photo roll on a phone that wasn’t backed up. PGDB and WorkSafe audits ask for the test record behind a specific install and you scroll for an afternoon.
ICP chase-down eats the week after the install
The Installation Compliance Certificate (ICP) downstream of the GC is the part of the paperwork chain that either greens or red-lights the retailer’s fitting approval. Most crews spend days chasing the ICP from the gas retailer or the network liveness check rather than chasing the next job. It’s the visible symptom of a record-keeping workflow that forgot the paperwork outlasts the install.
Generalist trade software doesn’t speak NZS 5256
Adapting an Australian, US, or UK trade management tool to NZ gasfitting compliance is a documented failure — it doesn’t know PGDB’s certifying gasfitter classes, doesn’t reference the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010, and doesn’t map to NZS 5256 or AS/NZS 5601.1 install detail. You end up maintaining a parallel spreadsheet to keep the regulatory wording straight between jobs.
The regulator split
Two regulators, two hats — PGDB licenses the person, the Gas Act frame governs the install
A PGDB-registered gasfitter is accountable to two frameworks simultaneously. The line between them shapes which paperwork survives a complaint and which disappears — get it wrong and you “comply” with one and breach the other.
PGDB — the person
The Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board licenses the individual gasfitter under the Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drainlayer Act 2006 administered by PGDB. Gasfitting sits inside the same Board as plumbing and drainlayers, with its own certifying and registered classes.
- Who PGDB licenses — registered gasfitters, with certifying gasfitter classes authorised to sign off restricted gas work, registered under the same Act as plumbers and drainlayers (PGDB covers all three registered classes).
- What PGDB regulates — licensing and registration, supervision obligations, operative competency requirements, complaints and disciplinary processes for individual gasfitters.
- What PGDB does NOT do — the technical install rules. PGDB licenses the person; the Gas Act 2008, the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010, and the NZS 5256 / AS/NZS 5601.1 frame govern the install you’re signing off.
Gas Act 2008 + Gas Regs 2010 — the install
The install itself is governed by the Gas Act 2008 and the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010, with the install-side detail referencing NZS 5256 and AS/NZS 5601.1.
- The Gas Act 2008 — the parent statute that sets the regime for safe supply and use of gas in NZ. Compliance is enforced by WorkSafe NZ for commercial and industrial gas work, with audit interest extending to residential clearances and consumer-side work.
- The Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 — the operational rules: who may do what gas work, what records must be filed, what a gas safety certificate must contain, and how often gas installations must be checked.
- NZS 5256 + AS/NZS 5601.1 — the install-side standard for gas installations in NZ. NZS 5256 is the primary NZ standard; AS/NZS 5601.1 is the joint standard governing general gas installation detail. Compliance is demonstrated by the test records you keep, not just by your judgement on the day.
- Gas safety certificates, ICPs, and retention — the GC, the pressure and gas tightness test records, the downstream ICP chase, and the retention obligation that runs well beyond the install. WorkSafe NZ increasingly asks for the install-side test records, not just the dated cert sitting in a folder.
Licence classes
Licence classes — A, B, and C, and what each one signs off
PGDB registers gasfitters across three certifying classes — A, B, and C — each with its own scope and its own supervisory frame. The split between supervising and certifying is the same in every class: a registered (non-certifying) gasfitter may do gas work under the supervision of a certifying gasfitter in the same scope, but only the certifying gasfitter can sign off restricted work and issue the gas safety certificate. For the current scope terms and any hour-of-experience thresholds, check PGDB directly.
Class A — the broadest certifying scope
- Covers gasfitting work across the wide commercial, industrial, and residential scopes that Class B and Class C cover, plus heavier commercial install detail — the class most large commercial gasfitters register into.
- A Class A certifying gasfitter can sign off restricted gasfitting work across the full registered scope, including supervision of registered (non-certifying) gasfitters undertaking the same breadth of work.
- Hour-of-experience thresholds and class boundary definitions are refreshed in PGDB Board notices — read the current Board guidance before relying on a specific number.
Class B — the everyday residential + light commercial certifying scope
- Covers the standard residential and light-commercial gas work most run-of-trades gasfitting businesses perform — the work scope the gas retailer and WorkSafe NZ most often see in a routine install audit.
- A Class B certifying gasfitter signs off restricted gasfitting work within the Class B scope and supervises registered (non-certifying) gasfitters on the same work, with the supervision attestation naming both the supervising and certifying practitioner.
- The exact Class B scope is set out in PGDB notices and the Board’s current practising-licence guidance — treat the scope at a class level, not at a clause number.
Class C — narrow specialist scope (NG fuelling, gas turbines, etc.)
- Covers narrower specialist gas work such as natural gas fuelling systems and gas-turbine installations — outside the Class A and Class B envelope, registered separately by PGDB.
- A Class C certifying gasfitter signs off restricted gasfitting work in the narrow Class C scope and supervises registered (non-certifying) gasfitters on the same work; the supervision attestation names both.
- Whether a given install sits inside Class C depends on the Board’s current scope notice; check with the practising-licence team at PGDB before assuming C applies.
What’s at stake now
The paperwork risks that move the needle in 2026
Treated at a high level so the framing is durable across legislative rewording — for clause-level specifics, read your PGDB renewal pack and the current Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 directly. We reference WorkSafe NZ only to position the regulator on its own — WorkSafe enforces the Gas Act frame and PGDB governs the individual practitioner; both can audit the same install from different angles.
PGDB complaints and disciplinary exposure
PGDB complaints follow paperwork failures that look sloppy only after the fact. The risk isn’t the install — it’s the records proving the install was checked, signed, and supervised consistent with the Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drainlayer Act 2006 and your certifying gasfitter class. Mis-attributed supervision is the failure auditors reach for first.
Gas safety certificates mis-issued and contested
A GC is the document the client, the gas retailer, and WorkSafe NZ all reference when something downstream goes wrong. A cert signed without the supporting test records attached is a cert WorkSafe NZ may treat as never issued. The install was correct; the paperwork wasn’t, and the cert loses its evidential weight at the moment it’s needed most.
WorkSafe NZ inquiry exposure on commercial gas work
WorkSafe NZ has audit interest in commercial gas installations, particularly in hospitality and industrial settings. When an incident happens, the chain of custody asked for is: cert → test records → supervision note → source job note. Each step missing or reconstructed is a step investigators can’t verify, and re-investigation time becomes the visible cost.
ICP backlog and downstream gatekeeping
The ICP downstream of the GC is the gate the gas retailer uses to approve connection or sign off. A backlog of ICPs unfiled becomes a backlog of jobs whose last step is administratively open — and a queue of fittings the retailer can refuse to energise until the cert chain is rebuilt. The lost margin lives in the chase, not the install.
From PGDB frame to 5–25 person crews
Same record-keeping pattern, two adjacent trade cohorts
The record-keeping pattern KoruAI is built around adapts across the NZ trades — works for a PGDB-licensed gasfitter the same way it works for a PGDB-licensed plumber (they sit inside the same Board), and it scales when your crew adds a second van. We've published the PGDB plumbing perspective and the 5–25-person crew perspective alongside this post; the same workflow fits a gasfitter-led operation once you swap in your GC, gas tightness log, and supervision templates.
The workflow
Capture once, generate the GC + gas tightness log + supervision note in one pass
The same workflow that drafts a job summary becomes the workflow that drafts a compliance record. The certifying gasfitter writes one note — KoruAI drafts against the right PGDB class, the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 wording, and the NZS 5256 standard; you approve, the record is filed with provenance. No re-keying, no reconstructing the bundle the night before a PGDB investigation.
Capture the job note in one place
A gasfitter writes the brief note after the install — same place, every job. Photos of the work, the gas tightness test value, the flue clearance, and a paragraph on what was done. Captured once, on the device already in the van.
KoruAI drafts the GC, the test log, and the supervision attestation
KoruAI reads the note and drafts the matching compliance record: the gas safety certificate, the gas tightness / pressure / flue test log, and the supervision attestation against your certifying class. Drafted against your templates, mapped to PGDB’s class structure and the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 wording.
The certifying gasfitter approves the draft
The draft lands in your dashboard with the source job note and the test values attached. The certifying gasfitter reads, edits if anything’s off, and approves. One approval per record, not one approval per keystroke — and the approver is the person PGDB asks about when the cert is later contested.
Filed with the test record and source note attached
Every approved GC, test log, and supervision attestation is stored with its draft history, the source job note, and the revision timestamps. When WorkSafe NZ or PGDB asks for the bundle behind install #3471, you produce it in seconds — the same record the inspector will read.
Why KoruAI
Built for the PGDB + Gas Safety frame, not adapted from a generic form
NZ-based
A team that has worked with NZ trade businesses understands the PGDB frame, the Gas Act 2008, and the audit posture WorkSafe NZ brings on commercial work. Built in Christchurch, supported in business hours NZST.
Built for the PGDB + Gas Safety frame
Maps directly to the working obligations — gas safety certificate, gas tightness test record, supervision attestation, NZS 5256 / AS/NZS 5601.1 detail, ICP chase, retention. Drafted against your templates, not adapted from a generic trade form.
Reach a real person
You can email the team behind the build at hello@koruaitrades.com. Replies come from a real person, usually the same day. No support-ticket queue, no chatbot intermediary.
Common questions
FAQ for PGDB-registered gasfitters
Related guides
Continue across the three NZ trades
EWRB frame
NZ Registered Electricians Compliance Guide
EWRB-licensed electricians: how ESC, CoC, and ESR 2010 records hold up under a WorkSafe NZ inquiry — and where the EWRB registration class shapes the certifying signature.
Read guidePGDB frame
NZ Plumbing, Gasfitting & Drainlayers Compliance Guide
PGDB-licensed plumbers, gasfitters, and drainlayers: Building Code G1–G13 records, CoC bundles, and the cross-class supervision attestation on a plumber / gasfitter / drainlayer same-crew job.
Read guidePublic register
PGDB Licence Number Lookup
Cross-check a PGDB gasfitting (or plumber / drainlayer) licence against the public register before you engage — the same lookup your client or the retailer will run downstream.
Read guideNext step
See what the rollout looks like for your gasfitting business
The diagnostic, the 30-day sprint, and the ongoing managed plan all ship the same record-keeping workflow — applied to your PGDB class, your GC + gas tightness templates, your supervision shape. Browse the pricing page when you're ready to compare, or grab the AI-readiness checklist first.