How we build
Most people have never done this before, and most builders explain it badly. This is the whole path, in order, including the council parts that nobody enjoys and everybody needs to understand.
No cost and no obligation. We walk the site or the room, talk through what you are trying to achieve, and give you an honest read on whether it is straightforward or complicated. If we think the job is better suited to someone else, we will say so on the day rather than send you a quote you were never going to accept.
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UsYou end up with
An honest range and a clear next step
If you already have an architect or designer, we run a constructability review over the drawings and flag anything that will cost more than it needs to. If you do not, we bring in a designer we trust. On renovations this stage includes paid investigation work: opening up, checking framing, wiring and any unconsented history. That cost is credited against the build.
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SharedYou end up with
A scope document you can actually price against
Residential building work over $30,000 including GST legally requires a written contract and prescribed disclosure information, and we use one on everything regardless of size. You get the price, the programme, the payment schedule and the exclusions. Variations after this point are priced and signed before the work happens, never invoiced after.
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SharedYou end up with
Signed contract, disclosure documents, programme
We lodge with Auckland Council or Waikato District Council depending on where you are. The statutory clock is 20 working days, but it stops every time council raises a request for further information, so real timeframes run longer. We answer the requests, not you. Some minor work sits under Schedule 1 of the Building Act and needs no consent at all, and we will tell you early if that is you.
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UsYou end up with
Approved building consent
Site safety set up, existing surfaces and planting protected, services located before anything is dug. On live-in renovations this is where we build the temporary walls and dust containment, and agree with you which rooms stay yours for which weeks.
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UsFoundation design follows the ground, not a template. On the Takanini peat, on coastal sand, or on a sloping Rosehill section, that means site-specific engineering. Council inspects before the pour, and nothing goes in the ground until that inspection passes.
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SharedYou end up with
Passed pre-pour inspection
This is the stage that feels fastest and matters most. Framing, roof structure, roofing, building wrap, windows and cladding. Restricted building work here must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner, and a Record of Work is issued for it. Council inspects at pre-wrap and pre-line.
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UsYou end up with
Record of Work for restricted building work
Plumbing and electrical rough-in, insulation to current standards, mechanical ventilation, then pre-line inspection before anything is covered. This is the last honest chance to change your mind about a power point, and the cheapest moment you will ever have to fix insulation.
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SharedYou end up with
Passed pre-line inspection
Cabinetry in, benchtops templated to the cabinetry as built, waterproofing applied and documented, tiling, tapware, painting and final fit-off. Waterproofing has cure times we will not shortcut, and they sit in the programme rather than being squeezed.
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UsCouncil carries out the final inspection. We walk the job with you and write the snag list together, then we close every item on it before handover rather than after. You get the manuals, the warranties, the waterproofing documentation and the Record of Work in one file.
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Handover file, closed snag list
The CCC is council's formal statement that the completed work complies with the building consent. It is not the same thing as practical completion, and a build is not finished without it. We apply and follow it through. Council has 20 working days to decide once everything is in front of them.
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CouncilYou end up with
Code Compliance Certificate issued
The Building Act implies warranties into every residential building contract for ten years, and for the first twelve months after completion the burden sits with the builder to show a notified defect is not theirs. In practice: if something has moved, stuck or failed in that first year, ring us and we will come and look at it.
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UsStage one is free and takes about an hour. You will know a lot more about your project at the end of it than you do now.
Book a free site visit