Full Show Podcast: 20 April 2025

talk all things building and construction. So if you've got a project that's underway, and well, I was going to say over the Easter break, so you know, if you're in paid employment and you get holiday pay. I say that because I'm not in that position. But if you are, and you've managed to take the right days off, suddenly you've been able to stretch out a couple of days

leave into a significant number of days leave. Given that this coming Friday is of course Anzac Day, Easter Monday is also a public holiday, and with that in mind, you may have decided, rather than heading for the hills, to actually get a project done at home. And if that's the case, and you'd like to talk about it, whether you're you know, you could be wallpapering, you could be painting, you could be trying to finish a project

outside in preparation for the weather. Well, if you didn't quite get that finished, then certainly the weather got a bit of a testing or whatever you tried to do got a bit of testing out. I say that because that was exactly the situation that I happened to be

in this week where I made the confession. If we're talking biblical, I made the confession last week that after the show on Sunday, I was going to go home, spend a bit of time chanting and catching up with the family, and then I was going to fire up

the sand and I didn't feel great about that. I'm not actually a huge fan of making too much noise on a Sunday, but in this particular instance, I had a program and I needed to do the sanding of the filler on Sunday in order to do some spot priming, in order to do another code of priming on the Monday, in order to get a first coat of paint done on Monday afternoon, in order to get a top coat done on Tuesday, because I knew the weather was packing

on Wednesday, and surprisingly the weather was wonderfully compliant. I also had another little job, which was a war proofing job that I need to get done as well, but it's a separate story. So anyway, went home Sunday did

the sanding, deeply relieved. But the fact that both of my neighbors opted to mow their lawns at exactly the same time, so I don't think anyone was upset by the fact that I was using a little cordless random orbital sander to stand about six hundred and seventy screw holes down on the decking anyway, got that done, got the primer done, got the top coat done, got the

razine paint onto the deck and job done. And it standed up or stood up remarkably well when the wind and the rain and the thunderstorms and the lightning, not that it got hit by lightning arrived over the last couple of days. So if you've got a project and it's going well, we can talk about it. If you've got a project that's kind of stuttering and halting and maybe not going as smoothly as you hope, we can

talk about that as well. Or if it's just the wheels have fallen off and the whole thing's crashing to earth like a lead balloon, talk about that as well. So if you've got a project that you would like to talk about, or a challenge that you might have with regard to building, let's talk all things building, construction,

the rules, the regulations, the people involved. And i'll tell you what this bit of a special thing coming up a bit later on the show, over some time ago, and I'll try and sort of put this in context.

of contractors coming in to do work. And in discussion with her main contractor, they put forward the idea that they would go out and seek or get contract works insurance, which might have an excess of say five thousand dollars, and in the event that she was that they needed

to claim on that, she would agree to pay the access. Anyway, it got us into an interesting discussion around insurance and what types of insurance you need for building work and renovations and alterations, and when do you need to talk to your insurer. And it's taken me a little while, but I managed to find an expert on this and we're going to have that conversation just after eight o'clock

this morning. So it's very specific. It's very specifically about building types of insurances, about public liability, about contract works insurance, about who needs to get insurance about overlaps and insurance that sort of thing very much in a building context, but it should only be seen as general advice. All insurers are different and all situations are going to be different,

so hopefully it'll bring you some good ideas. Certainly, I've enjoyed the conversations I've had so far, and we'll be talking a little bit about insurance after the eighty clock news. It as always, is fired up and ready to go from eight point thirty this morning, and this morning, because it is Easter, there will be no commercial breaks, so we've got plenty of time to sort of stretch our legs, really get into the nitty gritty of your conversations, your questions,

your challenges, your conundrums. So bring it on. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Like I say, it is East Sunday. It's commercial free for New Zealand broadcasters, whether that's TV or radio, and so we've got lots of time to take your calls this morning. You can text, of course, that is nine two nine two or ZBZB from your mobile phone. If you'd like to send me an email, you're more than welcome to do that as well. It is Pete at NEWSTALKZB dot

co dot nz. But as we come up to thirteen minutes after six, the lines are open the number to call eight hundred eighty ten eighty. We won't be dashing to commercial breaks during the show. That's not how it works on Easter Sunday. I say Good Friday because I happened to come in here and do this time slot on Good Friday morning as well, which was a bit

of a delight, a bit of surprise. I knew that I was doing it, but it was still nice to be invited to come in and do Good Friday Morning here at news Talk se'd B. But now it's sort of regular transmission has resumed. We're back into talking building construction tools now. We had actually just a bit of an update as well. Last week on the program, we spoke with a woman who had some of her late

husband's tools, and they were older tools. She had been specifically instructed by him prior to his departure that if she was just dumping them down at the local op shop, he would come back and haunt her. So she was looking for somewhere for those tools to go where they could be respected, I guess, and where they could be used, and we've had a number of people who were helpful

in that situation. I happened to make it off the cuff from about finding an old tool at home that I've had for a number of years and that I used the other day. And this is the thing with old tools. Sometimes they're nice to look at, but sometimes they're actually really really lovely to use. And I did exactly that when I was rushing around not yesterday but last Saturday to get a job done, and did make it off the cuff remark about, oh, well, you know, I had a look online to see exactly what the

proper name for this tool is and the brand. So it's a Carter's rebate plane, number seventy eight. And then I found a website that had not just Carter seventy eight rebate planes for sale as antiques or as vintage tools, but a whole number of other ones. And I thought, oh, that's a very beautiful French chair maker's plane with a curved surface on it so that you can plane through curves, obviously, and I said, oh, that would be nice to have. That doesn't mean that I'm in the hunt for lots

and lots of tools. We got a number of email during the week, people offering to sell me their tools. Tempted as I am. I need to show some restraint around continuing to purchase more and more tools. Whether or not I'm successful with that restraint remains to be seen, but we'll see how we go. I have been quite restrained over lent, so I'm doing okay. It is sixteen minutes after six. The lines are open, lovely to hear

from you. It is an ad free day, so you give me a call because that'll make the whole day go a lot faster. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is that number to call. It is sixteen and a half minutes after six people wolf camp with you. Lines are open, texts are working, emails up and running. Talk to you soon.

and construction. That, of course is Chris Penk. He was on the show a couple of weeks ago just talking about a couple of very specific things, one around the possibility that we will be able to build up to sixty square meters without necessarily requiring a building consent, and the other thing around sort of tightening up some rules for how would you put it, basically disciplining bad performers in the building sector. So if you're an LBP and you do work that is below par, they're going to

speed up or enhance the disciplinary process at the moment. Typically, what happens is it takes quite a long time for these things to be investigated because the disciplinary board, my impression is that they take it obviously quite seriously. They do a suitable investigation of the claims that are made against an LBP, then they go through the investigation process, the interview process, and then they announce a decision after that.

But it does take a little bit of time. And while it's not a criticism of the board, there is that notion that justice delayed is justice denied. So if you happen to be in a dispute with your LBP about the nature of their work, and it takes twelve months to resolve that through that system, that's not necessarily getting things done quickly. And in that twelve months, that particular LBP could be off doing a whole bunch of shoddy work with a whole lot of other clients, and

that's not helpful. The whole point of the as I say it, of the disciplinary board is to allow anyone who's about to contract an LBP to be able to see what their record is. Now, when you go online and have a look for LBPS, you'll see a little bit of information, not a great deal, to be fair, and certainly there's no reference in the LBP scheme to you know how good they are or what their experience is.

What does come up on the LBP register is have they had their license laps or have they been subject to a disciplinary hearing. You can also just do a quick search for LBP Disciplinary Board findings and find all of the hearings. And I happened to go down that particular rabbit hole there some time ago, and it was actually quite fascinating to see the nature of the disputes, the way in which it was resolved, and what the

outcomes were. And they were all quite detailed forms. You know, this type of work was undertaken, it was found to be below standard for these reasons, and here is the outcome. Now, if you happen to be an LBP and your subject to one of those investigations, that will actually stay on your record for a period of time and it will be there in the public for a period of time as well. So should that be faster? Yeah, it probably should,

I think to be blood. So it'd be interesting to see whether that does speed things up and whether that changes things as well your news talks. He'd be right. Let's can we take a call Isaiah? Isaiah? Hello, producer, he's chatting away. Oh eight hundred and eighty teen eighty is that number to call if you've got a question. Let's can we take a call? Yep? Okay, cool Ohen, good morning to you.

And I've got a thing which is as much a question as a as an offer, but it might it might be something to tell me. I need to call back later on, but in case it was something that appealed to you or someone else who was listening, I've got to put a sporum tree here. I don't know the exact one. I can give more of a description of the leaves if people can figure out what it was.

But it grew to it. It has grown to a height of about, you know, more or less, sort of six meters five or six meters tall, but had grown in a curved shape because it grew from under a deck, curved out around, and I put a rub strip along there so that it wouldn't have them a deck too much. As it grew up, and the wind blew in that, and it's recently seems to have passed away. All the

leaves have died anyway because of drought conditions. And I realized it was going on water coming down instead of they're considered sort of all slope above us and instead and watering its roots from below the below the deck. And before we realized what had happened and able the leaves had died and everything because it simply wasn't getting its normal watering, natural watering. Now what I wondered is for the pittosporum, I think tenurefolium. It's growing in this

beautiful curve out under the deck. It's about a more or less about one hundred diameter, it might be a little bit more of it less, and a curve over about a one point two meters length. And it's always reminded me a bit of what the people used to do for boat builders. They would grow trees and stress and you know, like tigs, straps or whatever to them and state them down to get in the grade of the curve they wanted for building certain parts of boats.

And I thought, well, this I could either cut it off, shorter water it it was getting water now numb, and to see if it grows back or not. But I was in the mind of to cut it down and give it to somebody who might want to use it for some sort of a project or crafty sort of thing, it seemed like a waste to shift.

select them. I just wonder whether in terms of what you've got, because it's a pito and they're not the quality of the timber is not particularly great, and I've cut down a whole heap of them, I'm not sure that using it for furniture making or anything like that is it's going to be that desirable, you know, if you had a Yeah, again, I don't know that it'd be a great timber to carve with either. Yeah, you know, firewood maybe, but furniture possible answer, Oh absolutely, Yeah, we're not.

It's going to say beating around the bush. That'll be a terrible pun to throw in there. But I've done it. Now I've done it, it's out in the open.

meters for about fifteen to twenty thousand. But one of the cabin builders said that the cabins on wheels were brought built in accordance with the vehicle code and are not compliance with the building code, and that got me a little bit concerned. What exactly does that mean?

So you know, we watch programs from the States where tiny home living and someone's got this magnificent field in Iowa and they rot, they decide for the simple life, and they pick up this massive trailer and they back it in there and they build it or it's already got a house built on it, and there they are with their five children, living in twenty square meters and they're going, we love this. And I'm looking at those programs going and that just seems like a respect for disaster.

But anyway, out of that sort of imagery, to some degree, we've got this idea of the tiny homesmooth. There's also a really practical point of view, which is housing affordability has driven us to look for new solutions in terms of housing. Lots of people have come to recognize that, in fact, I don't need all of the space, right, Do I really need four bedrooms if it's just me? Do I need three and a half bathrooms if it's just me? Et cetera, et cetera. So the idea of

having compact living makes a lot of sense. However, you know, then you run into Okay, if it's a habitable space, ie it's designed to live in, then it needs to comply with the building code, And the building code isn't particularly good at describing small properties, and so suddenly what was affordable becomes less affordable because you have to comply

with the code. And I think some people have looked to tiny homes and transportable homes as a way of going Actually, it's not a how it's a house on a trailer, which makes it a vehicle. Therefore I don't

need to get a code of compliance for it. And then we got into this thing where trailers and wheels on it and all the rest of it, and whoever you've been talking to, and I've had similar discussions with people in this space have made the same comment that okay, let's say you opt to kind of circumvent the building regulations by getting a structure which is on wheels, and then if anyone asks you, did you get a building code for that, you go, no, I don't need one

because it's on wheels, it's transportable. The next question they should ask is when are you going to take it in for a war on a fitness? And you go, well, hang on, I've added a deck, and I've planted around it, and I've ripped up the driveway. I can't take this in for a war on a fitness. Then you go, okay, So now you've got a vehicle that should have a war on a fitness which you can't get one. You're

now breaking another set of rules. So that's kind of a sorry, a slightly long winded way of saying this

is where we're at. And I think the other challenge that we have for the tiny home movement in general is you still need some land to put it on, and you know no one wants to sell you a sixty or seventy square meter plot of land or it's very rare, right, So you end up having to either have a less arrangement or just an informal arrangement with someone who happens to have a larger property that can accommodate that. And again, I've got people that I know

who are in exactly that situation. They've got a friend who's got some land, They've built a property, they've moved it on to there, and the friend has said, you can stay here for the rest of your life. Now, maybe that'll happen, maybe it won't, because all of our lives change and circumstances change. So that's another challenge, for

want of a better term, the tiny home movement. I think what the government is looking at doing is going, okay, if we want to provide some solutions to housing affordability, do we Because, to be absolutely blunt, my perspective is government can't control the building can sense authorities. Because the building can central authorities end up taking responsibility for the buildings. They risk averse and so they add lots of compliance

to minimize their risk. Perfectly logical, perfectly understandable, and it's all driven by joined in several liability. So government's looking for what's a solution. Let's make low risk buildings, single story, relatively compact, but having to comply with needs to comply with the building code and it needs to comply with planning legislation. Now, once you get into that, you run into all of these compliance hurdles that people don't expect when you first look at it. So that's part of

the challenge. Then you go, Okay, if someone's building something and it has to be to the building code, but they don't have a building consent for it, how can they prove that it's building code compliant? And so organizations like the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveys and a number of others are saying, look, from our point of view, because we work in the space all of the time, we're not convinced they probably use stronger language than that.

We're not convinced that LBPS, certainly di wires could build a building and make it code compliant without having a set of plans and without having some oversight, So that that unpacks a whole other set of problems.

about or wasn't informed about. And so I could, with the best will in the world and the best well, hopefully a reasonable amount of knowledge, I could build a building. But do I know that it's code compliant? And how do I know? And what assurance can I offer to a client that this building meets the requirements of the

New Zealand Building Code. So that's another problem. My short answer to all of this is and I wonder whether this is something that the government might need to look at, right, And I'm certainly happy to put it to Chris penk Is the types of buildings that they're discussing at the moment, that you could build up to sixty square meters, which is not an insignificant building right without necessarily getting a building consent and without going well, you have to go

to council to inform council, but council won't be the

people checking the compliance. I wonder whether that those types of buildings, the short pathway would be to say, registered and approved manufacturers off site manufacturing, they can do them and that's your quick pathway to compliance because typically those sorts of organizations have quality control, they've got standardized designs, they've got sort of a methodology for building, which allows them to replicate what they're doing over and over again.

You know, if you go to some of these factories and there's a unit moving out the door every day, chances are they know what they're doing. Right. The thought of somebody backing down your driveway with a trailer load of four two on the you know, a trailer loaded up with four two and they start cutting frames maybe a little bit less so so that I'm wondering whether if they were looking for a short and sweet answer,

that'd be the way to go. That existing or new manufacturers who can prove their methodology, who can prove that they've got a pathway to compliance, who could be audited right, and who are replicating things, maybe they're the ones that you go you can supply them because I've been in those factories, right, and I've seen the level of detail and the planning and the methodology and all the rest

of it. You know, if you're pumping out literally hundreds of small dwellings a year, then you've got your processes in place. If again, I'll use myself as an example, if someone rang and said, or if I decided I wanted to do in a backyard, right, I'm going to build a sixty square meter dwelling and I'm going to do it. Would I do it without a set of plans?

I probably wouldn't. I think I'd probably end up going to a designer and getting a plan, because then it helps with pricing and with getting quotes and that sort of thing. It's really hard to go to a window manufacturer and say, here's my window schedule. If you don't have a set of plans, you can do it. You can build it and then get them to come out and measure it and so on. But there's an efficiency

to having a set of plans. But you can see how you know, and again, I guess, all this is the thing, you know, And this is where I have some sympathy government. They're all in a position where they're looking for quick, simple fixes. There aren't any, right, They're just really not there. These things get really complicated really quickly. So but sorry to lecture you on these sorts of things.

It's something I'm really interested, and you know, I love having these conversations with people about it, and I actually think the idea of loosening up regulation to allow granny flats has the potential to be I don't know if it'll move the dial a lot, but it's I'm an optimist and I get a sense that it's a step in the right direction. And I tell you what. Another conversation I had this week was with some people involved

in proper management and rentals. The whole thing around will you be able to rent one out to someone who's not a family member. That hasn't even been discussed, because again we have to understand what the history is behind granny flats and so literally it does what it says on the tin right. The idea behind them, as I understand it, is that you had a plot of land,

you had the family home. Over time, perhaps you know the people that built the home decided that well, actually we don't need all the space the kids have moved out, and in fact maybe the kids would like to come back in with their young family. We'd like to stay close. How about we move into a little dwelling in the backyard. Right, that's as I understand it, that's the theory behind it.

In which case it's family, right, it's not rent. Now as soon as it becomes someone who's not family and they're occupying it and potentially they're paying the owner of the original property some money and rent, then the building needs to comply with Healthy home standards for a start. Absolutely, buildings that are built to the Building Code don't necessarily comply with the Healthy Home standard. I want the hell

exactly well. And without going into this a lot, the simple thing about that is in the New Zealand Building Code right now you can build a brand new house and you don't have to put in heating all right, So New Zealand houses to comply with the Building Code

do not need heating. The one thing that's very important with the Healthy Home standard is you must provide a fixed form of heating and a living space that allows you to get that to eighteen degrees and you have to prove that it can do that, which is the heating standard. So you build a brand new sixty square meter dwelling in your backyard, you decide to rent it out, and the first thing that happens is someone does a healthy homes assessment goes, no heating, can't rent it. Look

I I you know I wouldn't. I can see the challenges in being a legislator. So but and you know even what you're talking about in your instance right where you could potentially do some work on your property to expand it. But an alternative is to go, why don't I get an off site manufactured minor dwelling added to space in the backyard, And then I'll connect the two. So the first thing that jumps to mind is the building needs to be the height of the building away

from your existing house. So you can't put it a meter away from your house and have a little awning that gives you some shelter. If the building's going to be two point four plus the foundation, so three probably three point two meters, it's got to be three point two meters away from your existing building. Why because that's the rules around minor dwellings, right, So they have to be the height of the building away from the boundary or proximity to an existing dwelling.

to look at. And I just you know, especially in the nicer areas, lovely granny fat and lovely manicured garden is the way to go.

allowing developers to find a section down the end of a right of way, twenty minute walk from a bus stop and pull off an old house and wack on six townhouses. I think that's not good development, right, That doesn't make sense. So I think that's what you're saying. But I'm saying that if we do it well, I think it's great. I've loved talking with you. Happy Easter to you. Thank you very much, and hopefully we'll talk again. You take care, see then bye way your news talks CDB.

We're talking all things building construction, and I as I do, apologize for the kind of lecture or exegesis on tiny holmes, but I find it it's a fascinating discussion at the moment, and from my point of view, I think it's what's that phrase, The devil is always in the detail?

six forty four? Here a new sort seed B. Well, thanks for holding and good morning.

You'll have a U channel that the door slides down in at the top of that, some great big, hefty L brackets that are bolted into the framing, and then the axle of the roller door sits on top of that. So often they can be you could get one made to exactly the right size, or it might be cheaper to have one buy one that's around the same size, and then you just have to adjust the fittings for it as well. But certainly roller doors are common. They're still common, so they're out there.

So I got some guys in that I know, and they priced up replacement roller doors, no trouble at all to an existing opening, so and they weren't terribly expensive, but they were only small, single ones. So if yours is taller or wider, it will get expensive. Can I ask you a question you can not to answer this? The wool shed that you're living in. Is that you're own dwelling or do you rent it from someone?

on that, do you own it? Who's Because every now and then you see these stories where counsel decide that they don't like the fact that someone's living in an old building, and so they'll issue them with a notice to fix and then if they don't fix it, they'll come and forcibly evict people and those sorts of things.

So I was just intrigued when you said you lived in a woolshed, because, with the greatest respect to the woolshed, I'm sure it's not Healthy Homes compliant, nor would it be anywhere close to the building code.

I don't think I've seen one go into a new build for quite a while, but they're still around without a doubt. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call.

isn't question is an existential one. It's a largely theoretical one. Trying to have this debate during the worst recession in thirty years and coming off the back of sky high inflation. It's just bad timing. People want their government talking about mortgage rates, not race. One day, the time might come, the moment might be right and we can afford to confront this issue, which given the number of submission, clearly has a fair whack of us rather excess.

out his deep pockets to research and litigate. Regards from Owen. I don't know that that's completely true of politicians, but I'm happy to put that question forward. And Andrea texts, how come a minor dwelling has to be its height away from the boundary. However a developer can put in multiple story buildings right up onto the boundary. It's because

the developer has gone and got planning permission and building consent. Right, So all of this talk around mind and dwellings not necessarily requiring building consent, then potter in a series of safeguards around that. And as I understand it, or my interpretation of it, is, if you allow someone to build a building without a building consent, and then you're reliant on their skill ability technical knowledge to ensure that it

doesn't fall over. So a really simple safety method is to ensure that if it does fall over, it's not going to fall on anything anybody else's property, Hence moving it the height of the building away from the boundary. If it falls over, it's still going to be on your property. That's where I think that legislation comes from. All that planning regulation comes from Steve. Good morning to you.

rebuild it in the same location. I think you would have an argument to say it's basically repairs and maintenance. If you knock it down completely all in one go and rebuild it, technically you should have a building consent because of its proximity to the boundary A right. Yeah, And I hope people don't get the impression that somehow I think that, you know, getting a building consent is not worthwhile. I actually think that, And this is part of this discussion. It was about the tiny homes, it's

about non buildings that don't necessarily need consent. Is that you know, you might find that if you have some plans drawn and submitted to counsel and then they go on to the property record, that you could consider the cost of that an investment in the value of your property because you're able to say to a prospective purchaser in the future, here's an assurance that this building work is compliant because I got a building code and I got a final inspection and I got a CCC for

it at the end of it. So I think we do need to I think we do need to recognize there is a real value in having a building consent and a building code. But it is an investment, right, or it's a cost if you're looking at it negatively. It's an investment if you're trying to be a little bit positive about it. But I think for what you want to build, I admire the fact that you're prepared to be reasonable about it, knock it down before it

falls down. But I think that from a technical point of view, it does require a building consent.

rationale behind it. You know, if they are administering all of the contracts and they're responsible for the timing and so on, then I guess as a way of being reimbursed for that time, they could charge a margin. Now I think your argument is that, hang on, I'm already paying them to run the job. Why do I then need to add a margin? But for example, if they're responsible for paying the person, they are responsible for paying them even if you don't get paid, right, So if

you decide not to pay your main contractor. But the roofer has a contract with your builder to do the roofing. Your builders on the hook for the work. Right, So that's a way of covering their risk.

know people who do. But then I'm very strong on this in the sense that I think if you, as the owner of the property, decide that you're going to do more of the project management, and I turn up one day as the builder and you haven't got the materials or you've got the wrong materials, I'm going to charge you for my time regardless, and you're going to go. But hang on, you you can't do any work. I can't do any work because you're not organized. So if you want to take on that risk, have a go.

But you know it's it's a significant risk. No right, looks it's just in the it's whatever you contract with. There are no rules, right, as best I understand it. So it's whatever you contract And so.

Take care buddy, okay, maybe called pop Right, Yes, it's an unusual kind of day, it's a special day, it's East Sunday, and it's also an ad free day, So the way we run the program is slightly different, So my apologies for the occasional heck up there Radio eight hundred and eighty ten eighty, Good morning, welcome along to the show. My name is Pete wolf Camp, the Resident Builder, and this is a program all about building and construction.

And I feel slightly embarrassed by the length of my explanation around the tiny home things and all of the myriad complexity that comes along with it. But yeah, I think it's I guess we've got to talk about it because that complexity exists. Right, So the idea I think the government arguably heading in the right direction. Lots of

criticism from the industry are within the sector. Different parts of the sector going, allowing buildings up to sixty square meters, I think is what they're talking about, to be built without a building consent has the potential for some level of disaster, right, that's part of the sector. Another part of the sector might go, hey, it's about time that you know, people should be able to build relatively simple

structures up to that size. I guess, you know, we tend to think of sixty square meters as small, and it ain't for number of years we lived in our fifty square meter to bedroom brick and tile unit. Now fifty square meters was kind of enough space for us for a period of time, and so the thought of building that without a building consent, there's some challenges, so that we've been talking a little bit about that on

the program as well. One hundred and eighty ten eighty Did you get the if you're in Auckland, did you get the weather alerts yesterday in the afternoon, Because I certainly did, got one and then got another one straight after. A little bit of criticism for civil defense and for the met Service of not being aware of the potential for the heavy rain that parts of Auckland experience overnight

Friday come Sunday morning. That led to some flooding and some cars being submerged and roadways blocked and buildings inundated with water. Again, we might talk about that too around you know what can we do? Can you as a homeowner do anything. The other thing that I find absolutely fascinating at the moment, particularly in Auckland, is the buyout scheme.

So local government and national government, state government are actively buying out properties and we're talking in Auckland anyway, I think it's around seven hundred dwellings that are going to be purchased, Like I when I first like i'd heard about it, but you don't dig into the detail, and so I did the other day and it's all available online. You can see you can't see which individual houses, but

a rough idea of breakdown per suburb. So, for example, Milford on the north Shore, one hundred and forty one dwellings are going to be purchased by counsel and government in this buyout scheme, a billion dollar buyout scheme. And I guess they're looking at that going that we can't stop the flooding. We know what the weather's going to do. Even part of that rain event on Friday night, said day morning was part of what I'd call what the statistics would say is a one in one hundred year

flood event. And while I've got a few gray hairs and that sort of thing, I reckon I've been through about six or seven one and one hundred year flood event so far. So obviously heavy rainfall is going to be part of our future. So what do we do to mitigate that as well? Lots to talk about oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Someone sets through and said, I think the government's talking seventy square meters, not sixty. I think you might be right.

It's not like it's not in legislation right now. Feedback that I've had all conversations that I've had partly with government and government departments, is that some of let's say the coalition partners, wanted to go up to hundred twenty square meters without necessarily requiring a building consent. I think they'll probably settle on about seventy, might be sixty. We'll soon find out when it actually becomes legislation. Let's get

into the calls. Lovely to have you company this Easter Sunday, Kathy, good morning, Hi, good morning.

Often they'll put like a basically like a foam tape around the inside of that rebate and set the double glazing unit into it, right, and then put the double glazing unit in. Then another bead, another strip of foam around the outside, and then the timber bead that holds the double glazing unit in place, because we don't typically

putty double glazed units into place. Now, that foam is obviously porous, and what I went to have a look at some time ago was where the painter had painted onto the foam, but because the foam acts like a sponge, it had sucked the paint in and you could see it, right, and then there's kind of no way to get rid of that because it's sucked into the foam which is acting like a sponge, and then it bled through onto

the glass. I wonder whether in your situation, ideally you would have masked the foam and only painted onto the timber.

Others you can't. And when you do try and paint them, it looks like the paint is actually being pushed away. It tends to break up and separate, and so it won't dry effectively on there and may.

Then maybe they could come back, take the double glazing out, peel the silicon out, redo the silicon, put it back in again. But I think that'll be at your expense.

is what happens a lot. So there's the foam and then the timber bead that holds in the double glazing in it, and if you like, typically, if it's a standard single glazed puttied window, what you always should do is paint onto the glass with the double glazing. That's no longer true. You don't want to be trying to paint that flexible foam on the outside.

not Easter Sunday. I either day of Easter. Calling it Easter Sunday reduces it to the same status as an Easter said Day or Easter Monday Easterday. Okay, I've always called it Easter Sunday, but I hear what you're saying. Oh, one hundred and eighty ten eighties, and I'm going to call Steven good morning.

So that's that's a primary part of the concern. The other part, the second part is we're the tightness, but you've already got a window there, right, So there's a detail for how that's flashed, whether it's a facing and a scriber or whatever the cladding is. So whoever does the work just copies what's already there and extends it down and that will deal with weather tightness around the

exterior of the joinery. So if it's an existing opening and you're converting from a window to a door without expanding the size of the lintel, you can do that under Schedule one of the Building Act.

You'll need to accommodate that. And then the other consideration is where the tightness, so how it's flashed and detailed on the exterior. But yeah, should answers you need a building consent?

paint decking. I should always stain it. Okay, what I perhaps neglected to say is it's tongue and groove timber, right, So it's a it's a villa with a villa style veranda on it where the decking boards which were li soop treatment which is rubbish and failed, and so I've had to prop the verandah pull up all of the decking because I didn't want to just cud all the

rotten bits out and have an ugly join. So I've just pulled up all of the decking replaced it all with new H three point two treated tongue in groove, so one fifty or X one twenty five tongue and groove, which I have painted because that's what you do. You don't stay in those sorts of decks. So that's why I'm painting it, just to be clear. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call Maria. Good morning, Oh, good morning, Peter.

the internal gutter. Is that like in the middle of the building, or is what you're describing one of those concealed spouting facier type systems where you've got a metal facia that runs around the perimeter of the building and then the spouting is tucked in behind that.

square meters and two down pipes. That's not anywhere. And this is a nineteen sixties building, right, so it's unrealistic to think that the water is going to run the better part of twenty five meters to find a little lady mill down pipe on the other side. So I'm going to have to sort something out there as well. And I if what's happening with yours is that in does it leak all of the time or only in heavy rain?

And the roofing person that looked at it said, the water's gone right and from the guttering under the roof and just come down.

Wo'd tuck the spouting the actual gutter part on the inside, and then from the outside it's a clean, slick appearance. Right now, Some of those systems worked okay. The majority of them might have worked okay for a period of time, but what I know about almost all of them is that eventually they'll leak right, partly because they're laid with very little fall. Also, the back upstand is less than the front upstand, so when they get overwhelmed, they tend

to overflow over the back. And then, because they're often with a five A cement safit, the water overflows over the back of the internal spouting lands on the safe and the safite is often put in place before the clatting, so it's over and above and behind the clatding and it just funnels the water straight into the building. That's

typically what happens. So the other day when I was down at the Home and Garden show, I got talking to some guys from Continuous Group who are do spouting, but they also have a system where they'll come pull that off, install a new facia, extend the roofing out with a flashing if required, and do external facia. I know that Custom Spouting and Facia also have a proprietary system that they've developed. So those two companies in particular are very familiar with the problem and they've come up

with a solution, which is great. I think trying to repair it is really difficult, time consuming and probably won't give you a good result. So if it was me, and if you could find the money, I would just get someone in to rip it all off, redo a more conventional facire with an outboard spouting or guttering and do that in the first instance. If you need to

upgrade the number of downpipes, that would be wise. But of course if you're going to increase the number of downpipes, you're going to have to change your store water connections to accommodate that, which might mean what would mean getting a drain layer in, excavating, adding new pipes, those sorts of things. Maybe that's too much work. But certainly ripping off the existing facia and the concealed gutter, that's what I would do.

didn't think it was unreasonable. I think it was. I could look it up for me emails, but you know, it was like in the ten fifteen thousand dollar bracket, which I thought was quite reasonable. And this was a big building and quite high up.

do spouting. That's a lot of work. Whereas, because the problem is quite common, these those two particular companies and there might be others, have come up with essentially their own they've developed a system that allows them to tackle that. And because they've got a system, it's efficient, and efficiency generally helps keep costs down.

straight back to the building. So if you can get some prices, get it done and sleep well at night. I mean she yeah, I know it's frustrating.

all the very best. In fact, yesterday morning, just by the bye, we caught up with some friends for coffee in the morning and he happens to be a property manager, like for rental properties, and so very flippantly off the cuff when we were having coffee, I said, you know, you must lie awake at night on a night like we've just had with thunderstorms and rain and wind and lightning and all the rest of it, just waiting for the phone to ring. And he went, hey, look, fingers

crossed right now, I haven't had a single call. And at about four o'clock in the afternoon, same gentleman rings me and goes, hey, just wondering if you could come and give me a hand. You got some time, and we went round to a property that thankfully wasn't far

from my place. Two windows that had blown out in the storm, and so I had to put a bit of ply on the roof and cut some ply sheets rescue one sash from the roof, and one remarkably timber sash had blown out of the window, slid down the roof, fallen into the garden and was still intact. I mean it had ripped where the hinges were, but the glass

was still intact. So how that happened, I have no idea. Anyway, that was my little job in the afternoon, So I probably shouldn't have mentioned what I mentioned when we first sat down for coffee, right heo seven thirty three. Remember we've got red climb pasted at eight point thirty and after the break talk about insurance. So some months ago and every and then we talk about insurance on the

program in terms of renovations. You know, if you're a homeowner and you're going to do some work, when do you need to inform your insurance company? What types can you extend your existing policy? Do you need to take out a specific policy for your for the work that you're doing. What happens when the project is finished? Et cetera, et cetera. So we're going to have a discussion with a representative from NZIDI who's one of their specialists in

this area after eight o'clock. So are really looking forward to that as well. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty then number to call in Fact News Talk.

still call it Easter Sunday. So I'm going to stick with Easter Sunday at this point in time until I see any reason to change, and to be fair, even if I did have reason to change, it probably wouldn't so Easter Sunday, it is for me. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty the number to call Andrew, good morning, good morning, greetings. I'm very well in yourself, I'm okay, good.

changes direction, the posters replaced basically a boundary pig. So's being five for twenty five years. But now he's making noises and saying, oh, you've illegally removed boundary illegally moved boundary pigs. And if you go to sell on a thing with the council making the problem for what's the story.

you and I as mere mortals can't remove them. I guess the formal process would be that you have it removed by a surveyor. You then put a post in, and the surveyor comes back and puts a boundary marker on top of the post or on top of the fence. And I've seen that often they're a little like aluminum disc probably about three centimeters in diameter, which will often be placed on a fence to denote the boundary. But I do believe that removing a boundary peg is actually an offence.

surveyor and say, look, this is what's happened. Can you formalize the position of the boundary by undertaking a survey and then putting in a boundary marker at the appropriate place to indicate where the boundary is, given that the boundary peg has been removed, Okay, that that and you know, get some quotes on that, because typically these things start in the hundreds of dollars. But that I think that would satisfy everyone.

country have actual boundary pigs and markers in place. It's not uncommon to find that they've been removed or been buried or built over or whatever, So it's not an unusual circumstance to be in. But the sheer fact that there was one there and now it's not means that you could you know, you need to address that, and I would do it by having a boundary marker installed.

You're going to have to get it surveyed, You're going to have to get it drawn up, You're going to have to get it. What it is these days is

that counsels have kind of changed their attitude. And I've probably told this story a number of times, but just by way of explanation, I think for a long time, for a long time, there were safe and sanitary reports, right, And this was the sort of thing that somebody either did some work and then went to sell it and someone said, oh, but that doesn't look like it's on the plan. I've added a bathroom, I've extended the kid's bedroom, that sort of thing, and so counsel would come along

and they'd do a safe and sanitary inspection. Is it safe? Is it going to fall down? Is it sanitary? I does the poo go in the right direction? Right? That was basically it to be blunt, except people were taking advantage of that. So people who knew better, who knew that you needed to get a building consent or should have known, were going, Look, I'm not going to bother with a building consent. I'm just going to build it and then I'm going to ask them to come along

give me one of those safe and sanitaries. And so I think Council of tweak to that, and so the burden of proof is back on the owner the property, and the level of compliance is equivalent now to a building consent. So if you think I'm not going to get a building consent, I'll just go and get one of those coas, you're misguided that Council's expectation is that

you need to prove compliance. Typically that you're going to have to engage a building survey who has a suitable level of qualification to come and they might find that in fact, the building is not compliant and that you're going to have to do extensive remedial work to bring it up to the current building code. So hey, by all means, take the risk, but don't expect it to be an easy process anymore to get a CoA. As my opinion, oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is

that number to call Dave? Good morning to you.

built according to the New Zealand Building Code. But they are a non habitable building, right, So the requirements for a garage are less than the requirements for a habitable space. So okay, again, doesn't require installation, doesn't require interior linings, The bracing elements will be slightly different potentially, you know,

lots of things will be different. So I guess the first people to ask would be the company that you're thinking about purchasing one from, and I guess they should be able to provide you with a really straightforward sort of explanation that goes, hey, this is the building. This is how it complies in terms of, you know, is it going to stay up, is it going to be reasonably weather tight and so on. But it doesn't necessarily need to be of the standard of a habitable space because it's not one.

necessarily built in having a building consent. I think a quick way to compliance would be to allow existing manufacturers who can prove their quality assurance that they would be the providers of these sorts of buildings right and in the same way that if this company is importing structure, it needs to comply. It needs to comply with things

like the Consumer Guarantees Act. So you know if you put it up and you bolt it together with the right number of bolts and the right number of fixings and the right amount of bracing, that it will stay up and perform as it should. So there's multiple parts of legislation. There's obviously the Building Act, but there's also things like the Consumer Guarantees Act.

back a couple of years. The maximum size for a dwelling like a habitable space as in a sleepout no plumbing, was ten square meters. That's moved to thirty square meters. Now, all of the talk from the government at the moment is that's going to shift to seventy square meters, saying

that it overlaps with other local planning regulations. So even though you could build a garage without necessarily requiring a building consent, you have to come apply with the planning rules, and that typically is that the building needs to be the height of the building away from the boundary. Okay, now you might want to build a meter from the boundary. That's then going to trigger a requirement for a building consent.

Building consent would mean that you would need to provide evidence from the supplier that the building is going to comply with the building code. So that would be an interesting way of approaching it with the suppliers to go. My intention is that I'm going to get a building consent for this. Can I submit your plans as part of my building consent and will the building be compliant? Be interesting to see what their answer is.

and me, I'm a Catholic, changed it to Catholicism. That's what I know. They used East Sunday, different terminology between the two churches. But of course it's the same day. It depends on which side of the fence one is on. Thank you, Kiriama.

doing aluminium jewry. If you use uPVC joinery, you don't need to use a wands bar in some instances, certainly not with the stark windows. So there's a couple of alternatives, but in general you can do that work under Schedule one of the Act.

It's a good temporary solution. I wouldn't disagree with you. I mean it's it's it's allowing the water to get out before it gets in basically, so that that's not a bad idea. In fact, tell you what was really interesting?

over a relatively short period. I think over a two hour period. Now, that's going to overwhelm most conventional spouting. And what often happens with spouting is if you look at it through a cross section, the front lip is

higher than the back. So if the spouting is overwhelmed and wants to flood, typically the water floods over the back and in some cases can drain ou because if you do, depending on what type of clips and what type of spouting, you've always got a little bit of a gap between the back of the spouting and the faciboard.

This is for conventional sort of spouting. And the discussion I was having was that I think the council in Rotor UH are insisting that you put a twelve mill packer behind the spouting to give a drainage gap, which is interesting. I sort of never really thought about it. When you do think about it.

to get overwhelmed. Or maybe there's a blockage in the storm wat line that's backed up through the downpipe and therefore the water can't get away that In those instances, rather than having to force its way through a relatively narrow gap, you provide a twelve mil gap like you do for fixings against exis cladding. If you're doing a boundary joist or something like that, or ribbon plate, you need to pank it off the wall. Do exactly the same thing with the spouting, and it'll allow the water

just to drain straight out there. Interesting. Oh, one hundred and eighty ten eighty. Let's get back to the calls, Trevor, A very good morning to you.

Most of the time, if you didn't have a tall upstand on the front of the spouting, you'd see the profile of the roof from ground level. I think that's what it's about.

where the other ones are. But certainly going on the fence lines which I assume we're under the boundaries. None of them were within Koui and the other. And my son who was doing alterations on a place in Balmoral in case that was the house was built in nineteen oh eight, it would have been surveyed a long time ago,

miles out and he went to do the alteration. So for this guy who's put got his boundary peg and if he was to get the satellite one, and he said it was you know, I don't know when it was survey at that place, but if he had to get the satellite one, he may find that the fence is actually not in the right spot. Anyway, I know, which which one do you go to? Do you go old the oddllite one or do you go to the or do you go to the satellite survey.

So for all of the time up to quite recently, as long as we've been selling land and surveying it, we've typically had individual surveyors updating individual plans right with their local authority, Whereas as I understand it, today surveyors are able to upload their data into a combined system and it's that cadastral survey right, So the accuracy of all of the surveys is increasing because each individual survey result gets added to a big picture. But it only

happens when a survey is undertaken. So like I know of properties where they are sold subject to parcel, so fee simple subject to parcel, which is a way of saying we don't actually know how much land we're selling you or you're buying.

So I guess you know, if one of those particular properties was to undertake a building, you know, some extensions and needed to determine heightened to relation to boundary, how heightened relation to boundary, they would probably have to then go and get a survey done and then it would determine the boundary. But right now I know for a

fact the boundary is just not determined. So but I think over time, as obviously we moved to a didal platform for all of the surveys, the amount of data will increase dramatically and the accuracy will increase dramatically, whether or not I when you say satellite, I don't know that I'd work off a satellite image, because that might.

what's contract works insurance? When do you need to talk to your insurer. We've got an expert who can answer some of those questions. General advice around insurance coming up after the break. Now, when do I need to stop talking, because we're going to do that at some stage. We've got a new sport and weather for you coming up shortly. But we will take another calls too, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.

is eight minutes, six minutes. Part me after eight to take a couple of quick calls, and then we're going to have a chat with Meg Warner, whose executive manager, broker and specialist claims is from NZI and it's an opportunity based on some earlier conversations we've had on this show about renovations, alterations and insurance. Who gets what types of insurances are on off? Who do you have to talk to and that sort of thing. So hopefully we'll cast a little bit of light in a general sense

onto some of those insurance questions. But before we get to Meg, we're just going to quick chat with you. John. Hey, how are you doing.

for pointing that out. But in this instance it's not. And unless he's got grounds to say that there is some Well, if because a car crashed into the side of it, the building's unsafe, then yes, you could say no one should go into the until it's made safe. But that's the only base crashed.

way forward. Again, in some ways, I admire the civic responsibility shown by the person, but also if that's not what they're asked to look at, then they shouldn't comment on it. It's as simple as that. Appreciate the call John and Crystal, Hello.

permission for it. Even if you don't need a building consent for it, you won't get planning permission. The other thing is, while it might seem like you've got the space, you need to maintain a certain distance between them, so that might be an issue. It might be driveways. You know, It's like, I like the idea of where they're heading, but I think the complexity is there, and there's a lot still that needs to be resolved or discussed.

Over the years that we've done the show, insurance we've often talked about, and so it's a great pleasure to connect with Meg Warner from Enzie the other day to talk about specific insurance. We're going to do that in just a moment. A couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago, on the program, we had a call and someone was talking about insurance. They had a contractor who was coming to do some work at their house.

It seemed a kind of unusual arrangement where he was saying, look, I'll take out an insurance policy, but you agree to pay the excess rather confusing, and it got me thinking about all of us. If we're thinking about renovations, if we think about alterations, what type of insurance do we need? And I figured that we should talk to an expert. So it is great to have Meg from Enzie here to talk about some really base terms around renovations and insurance. Meek, thanks very much for joining us.

sometimes they won't. So when they don't, if you're arranging it and you can have this conversation with your builder, you'd contact your insurance company and you'd let them know what you're doing, how long it's going to take, how much you're spending, and then they will ask any additional questions that they have there and put something in place that will protect you if something happens.

the insurance. That's one option, or I don't, but I make sure that my contractor does yes, okay, And the proof is really easy to see because I do hear stories where people say I asked for some proof and they were you know, they said they'd get it to me, but I never saw it. And we do hear stories of builders who take out insurance but in fact they never did or claim to take it out.

loss as well. And if there's a fire caused by a blowtorch that they're using, your contact work policy will pick that up all right.

what happens at the end of a project. So let's say you've added twenty or thirty square meters to your house or maybe even more, or you've added a retaining wall, you've done some landscaping, maybe a pool. Do you talk to your insurer about that?

now and then. Sure, So what you want to do is you want to make sure that you know when the policy is going to expire, and if it looks like it's going to run over, make sure that you get an extension, okay, and then when it's done, If it's done by that date, the only thing you need to do is contact your insurer and just to update them with the increase some insured and let them know the new floor area or the new you know, the pool or whatever it is that you've added.

replacing the roof? Do I need specific insurance for this? I think that's probably a good example of the sort of work that if you're going to go and do it, you need to ideally contact your insurer. Go this is what I'm going to do. If I need to make a claim. I there's a delay and we have to tarp it and the wind blows and the tart blows off and the rain comes and at my ceiling collapses, then you know, is that covered under my existing policy?

Can you extend my existing policy to include that, or do I need to take out a specific policy for a short period of time to allow for that. I think it always seems to be talked to your insurer. Is the right answer? Oh eight hundred eighty is the number to call. Hell go good morning, Hi, How are you very well in yourself?

I'm standing by the big Metro manholes are crack forming along the concrete and also a lot of the electricity man holds has footge sticks downhouses here and won by the core of bag long cracks on the on the path by it.

controlled manner. That's the short answer to it. So every now and then, if you see cracking, it's one of those things that's unfortunate, but it happens. It might not be structural, it might be you know, essentially purely cosmetic. But if it's cracking and then it's displacement so it becomes a trip hazard, then.

water on the property. It was that In fact, there had been a fairly significant leak from the main to the toby to the boundary and there was water just bubbling out of the garden, pouring down the footpath and into the drain it. It was a decent old link, so leak rather so on the phone to water Care because I'm in Auckland, reported it. They sent a crew out very promptly, had it fax, had the water restored

within the day. So I kind of go And then actually the other night, driving home back to my place, looking forward to a shower, to be fair, drove past a bunch of guys working just up the street from me digging a great big hole looking for a water leak in I think the water main in our street's about one hundred and ten years old, and so we had to be a little bit patient and wait until about no thing was about seven o'clock at night before

the water came back on. But it did come back on, and I was looking at those guys working up there, thinking, you know, they're not going to get home till quite late. And then with the stormy weather that we've had around well, specifically in Auckland, but I know Northland, Corimandel, and so

on and near us again transformer blew up. Power was off for a while, you know, But there's crews out there doing the work in miserable conditions, often on public holidays, and I thought, you know, I don't know that they get a lot of criticism, but I don't know that they often get the sort of pad on the back and the congratulations and the appreciation that they deserve, because it's pretty miserable a day on Friday and parts of Saturday, and there's lots of people out there working, and I

just sort of think, look good on you. We do appreciate or I do appreciate the work that you do, and certainly, you know, you've got to be a bit patient in these situations. But at least someone's out there fixing it. So good on you. I wait one hundred eighty ten eighty for your gardening questions. We're going to change gear. We're going to head into the garden. I can ask Rid about the tomato seeds that he sent me,

which is kind of cool. I should probably ask him when I should get those into the ground and what I'm going to end up with. I'm pretty sure that if he sent me tomato seeds I'll end up with tomatoes, but hey, we'll find out a bit more about that we're through it. If you've got a gardening question, I'll tell you what the one upside to all of the recent heavy rain, and that the garden, the lawn, which has been at my place anyway just absolutely miserable for

most of the summer, has burst back into life. So that's on my list for this week as well well. Radio gardening questions galore. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call back.