What are the major delays that can stop renovations in their tracks?
Red tape and changes to consents, says builder Wade Haldane from Renovation Works.
Haldane’s company carries out large-scale renovations in Auckland of people who often have budgets of $500,000.
Consistent issues come up around architects or designers making assumptions about what is happening in the structure of a house only for a builder to find out there’s something different going on, he says.
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That can be major or minor - if it’s minor there needs to be a minor variation on the building consent which still involves getting an engineer or designer to amend the plan and then getting a council inspector in for an inspection.
Another issue is when an inspector comes out only to find the owner has made a change themselves.
When an inspection fails there’s automatically a one-week delay (at least) in gathering the necessary paperwork, says Haldane.
And if the change is significant the consent has to be amended and a whole new set of consent documents prepared.
“If a builder has to go through an amendment process, or recommend the client go through an amendment process, he loses a month in the project.”
Unforeseen issues can also stop a renovation in its tracks, such as opening up a wall to find there has been water damage that needs to be properly assessed.
That can mean getting a weather tightness engineer involved and irate clients.
Haldane’s advice to people thinking about renovating is to get a builder on board right at the start.
“Don’t charge on down the path of getting plans drawn and getting building consents and then going through the stereotypical process of getting three quotes because they will invariably end up with problems because of that.
“My learning in the industry is partner up with the builder and the designer and work as a team to get through all the necessary costings and design work and budgeting and timelines.
“Work together rather than going down the path of trading builders off against each other, which ends up being not particularly constructive.”
Haldane works contingency costs into budgets and financial advisor Deborah Carlyon also advises people to budget for the unexpected.
Be as prepared as you can before you start, she says.
“It can cost more through unforeseen circumstances. You know, you discover a wall is rotten, you’ve got to replace things you didn’t realise if it’s an old house, or you start off and then discover you have to rewire it.
“All of those things will make a much better house for you in the end, but there may be things you didn’t budget for and you have to be really careful that instead of just going to the bank to borrow more you say maybe I should put a less expensive kitchen in if I’ve discovered I have to rewire the house.
“You can have some trade-offs. But you have to be quite disciplined about it so you don’t end up in a financial pickle at the end of it.”
It’s a good idea, for example, to get an electrician in before you start to assess the likelihood of the property needing to be rewired, she says.
Don’t start anything until you have your consents in place, and make sure your contractors are all organised, or that you have a good project manager, so when you do start everything is lined up.
“All the different electricians and plumbers and all those people have to be organised and someone has to make sure they all know when to come and that people don’t turn up and stand around because the other thing hasn’t happened yet.
“Also, you have to choose everything and make sure you know which tiles you want and you’ve chosen everything at the beginning - it’s better to have everything organised at the start so you can get on with it.”
