Frequently asked questions

Most structural work needs a building consent from your local council, including new builds, additions, decks over a certain height, retaining walls and re-piling. Some minor work is exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act, like a small low deck or a garden shed under 30 square metres, but the rules have conditions. We check what your specific job needs early on and handle the consent process for you, so you don't get caught out with unconsented work.

A Licensed Building Practitioner, or LBP, is a builder assessed and registered as competent to carry out or supervise restricted building work. Restricted building work is the structural and weathertightness work on a home that has to be done or supervised by an LBP by law. Using an LBP means the critical parts of your build are done by someone held to a national standard, and it's required for your consent and code compliance certificate.

For a standard single-storey home, the build itself usually runs around six to nine months from the slab going down to handover, depending on the size, the design complexity and the weather. On top of that you need to allow time up front for design, consent and material ordering, which can add several months. We give you a realistic programme at the start and keep you updated, because delays in consent or materials are the usual cause of a build running long.

A fixed-price contract gives you one agreed price for the whole job, which makes budgeting easy but means the scope needs to be locked in tight up front. Cost-plus means you pay the actual cost of labour and materials plus a margin, which suits jobs where the scope is unclear or likely to change, but the final figure is less certain. We talk through which suits your project and put it in a written contract either way, so everyone knows where they stand.

Changes happen, and that's fine, but they need to go through a variation. A variation is a written record of the change, what it costs and any effect on the timeline, signed off by both of us before we do the work. This keeps the budget honest and avoids arguments later about what was agreed. Some changes may also need the consent updating with council, and we'll tell you if that's the case before going ahead.

Yes. Through the build, council inspectors check key stages like foundations, framing, pre-line and the final, to confirm the work meets the consent and the Building Code. We book these inspections at the right points, make sure the work is ready, and meet the inspector on site. Once the final inspection passes and the paperwork is in, the council issues the Code Compliance Certificate that confirms the build is signed off.

A renovation changes how a home is laid out or used, like opening up a kitchen, adding a room or redoing a bathroom. A recladding job replaces the exterior cladding, often to fix weathertightness problems on homes built during the leaky building era. Recladding is specialist weathertightness work and almost always needs a consent and LBP involvement. They can overlap, but they're different jobs with different risks, so we scope them carefully.

Weather and supply delays are part of building in New Zealand, so we plan for them rather than pretend they won't happen. We order key materials early to get ahead of long lead times, and we sequence the work so wet-weather jobs don't hold up everything else. If a genuine delay hits, we tell you straight away, explain the cause and give you an updated timeline. Honest communication beats a surprise every time.