Sparky

Our sparky's name is Chris Dow from Dow Electrics. I chose him purely on price as he was at least 3k cheaper than the other quotes. Here is a link to his profile: http://www.tradeexperts.co.nz/cms/index.php?page=directory-view-listing&lid=8006

Well I think I got lucky because Chris Dow is a young and eager Electrician with a lot of really good, modern ideas. For example, we have an area for a proposed chimney, and Chris suggested putting a powerbox behind the wall so that we can have a hidden multi-plug and cables area for a Mac-Daddy stereo system etc.

Chris also suggested wall lights in the lounge areas and main bedrooms for a modern look. He has also 'reduced' the amount of lights that Lighting Plus suggested in our lighting plan - as he said we didnt need that many - especially along the soffits outside of the house. Chris's new lighting plan has saved us about $1k :-)

Chris has also added wall plugs for our wall-hung TV's, sensors around the house, and really modern bathroom ventilation system in all the bathrooms. Chris said he the heater/fan/lights that you buy in lighting shops are 'out of date', and I agree.

All our electrics include an alarm system, speakers in the ceilings, phone/internet outlets AND advice - all for a total of $24277.35. Pretty good? Compared to my other quotes it is!

P.S. Chris started working on our house a couple of weeks ago and was told off by our builder as he had to drill through a couple of the weatherboards - and the builder said "You wouldnt need to do that if you were here last week before we put the weatherboards up!"

The WP 2000 Treatment Station

Hello again :-)
My husband just got off the phone to the suppliers of our Treatment Station. The owner went to check our site to see if his system was allowed to be used in our area - because according to the Council we are only allowed to use the Devon System - or something similar.
The Devon system is 7k more than the treatment system our Drainlayer recommends - so we were hoping to get away with using a cheaper model.
I'm not sure if I told you, but in the Tuscany area we have to provide our own sewerage system. An extra cost that we always intended to pay for, but I dont really mind because I'm a greenie, and I like the fact that our waste will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
Anyway, the supplier of the cheaper Treatment station is sure that we will be able to use his system, so he is going to ask the Council to sign his system off. Fingers crossed! (Again)

Continued...

We paid for our internal linings and were told before we paid for them that there would be a 10 working day delay until they were delivered because thats how Carter Holts works. (Carter Holts told us they only need 2 working days but I wasnt going to bother questioning that statement further). Then I received an email saying that they were going to send someone out to measure the house to find out how much gib we need, and they'd be sending him out next Monday (which was Nov 22nd), a whole week after we'd paid. Then the internal linings would be delivered 10 days after that. I sent the following email below (which was a tame version of how I felt):

No, that’s not going to work. Our bank is still not happy about paying for items before they are delivered. Your builder needs to make this a priority. Considering the amount of times we have had to wait it is not surprising that BNZ are hesitant to allow us to draw-down on our pre-approved mortgage.

This is what BNZ have noted:
1/ In Dec 09 Plans were paid for – we did not receive our working plans till late March 2010 - 4 month long wait
2/ Frames (Stage 1) was paid for in April – Work did not start until August – 4 month long wait
3/ Stop placed on Account by MBC because Foundations had not been signed off -1 month long wait. Scaffold hireage still had to be paid for that month.

Our Bank Manager is visiting the site on the 29th Nov and will expect to see a delivery of our internal linings.

And this is the reply that I received:

Steve will be calling shortly to discuss this.
This is not accurate !
You have a kitset contract Monika, we are not doing a full build. You pay for materials, then it is ordered once we have cleared funds in our accoutn and then you receive it. There are time frames required from confirmed order to our supplier, to delivery to your site. Stage payments ar all set out in your contract.

You paid a plan deposit on December 9th It takes at least 3 weeks for scheme plans to be drawn up for you to approve, then the full working drawings are done, engineering for the raft floor is done, engineering for the truss design is done by Carters, this all takes time. Full working drawings plus all the engineering can take up to 6 weeks.
Then you have Christmas and New Year when no one is working right in the middle of all this! So you got your full working drawings with all the engineering towards the end of March. So from Mid January when engineers and draughting people come back to work there is 5- 6 weeks which on a house your size is normal. Not 4 months.
Frames paid for in April and work delayed because of the wettest Winter in history for the last 80 years!!! Monika we do not control the weather. We had to pay for those frames too to order them so the money came in and went straight out again. There was no benefit to us or “advantage” we achieved from this.
I will let Steve answer you about the compaction on the site. Because of the soil conditions we had to re engineer. The Geotech was a subdivision report and was insufficient to give us any specific information that this may occur. If we had requested a geotech report specific to your site the cost would be another approx $1800 plus gst.
Internal linings was paid yesterday Fund DC-ed so we requested a gib take off from your builder today. He said he will do it Monday. Then We can order the gib, time frames is approx 7 – 10 days delivery.
OR I can just give him the gib we do as standard and it will be more work for him then you will get the gib sooner.
Let me know ?

Please give me your bank managers phone details and I am more than happy to explain your contract to him and how a kitset works. He should be very familiar with this.
We cannot send out tens of thousands of dollars worth of material that is not even paid for! Surely you understand this.

Your bank manager will probably not see the gib on site if we only get the take off from Dennis on Monday. More than likely it will be delivered about Dec 1st.

Monika as I have explained any variations or upgrades to the contract price need to be paid in advance, They do not form part of the contract, and we could send out a granite top or upgrades etc, only to find that you do not hav the fiancea above what your mortgage all was for to pay for this.! Again surely you understand this. A kitset is not like a full build where we are in control of teh job and can sotp work or take back unpaid for materials

I would REALLY appreciate comments about my experiences by any of my readers please. Sometimes it's good to get a point of view from someone 'outside' of the situation.

The REAL reason why I have not been updating my blog lately

Well a lot has happened but unfortunately a lot of what has happened is not around the physical 'progress' of our house.

May I just mention that our Builders Nick Nenville and Terry are FANTASTIC - and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

However, I am having issues with our Building Company.

But I dont want to face a defamation case by spilling all the details, but I will tell you the facts.

So here's a summary of what has happened so far:

1/ It took Latitude Homes a longer amount of time than I expected (4 months) to produce our working drawings. We didnt complain, just waited paitently with our fingers crossed.

2/ The 4 months that we had to wait for a Resource Consent were due to an Engineering Issue that Latitude Homes had not sorted out correctly. Unfortunately I was mis-informed by Latitude Homes who kept blaming the Council, but then I rung the Council myself to find out what the hold up was, and I was told that Latitude Homes had not provided the relevant information. So back and forth I went, until my husband got annoyed and demanded some action. Then he received a text from Latitude Homes saying "you worry too much". My husband replied "you'd worry too if you'd paid out over 100k 4 months ago and nothing was happening!"

3/ Latitude Homes insist that everything is 'PREPAID' before the job is done, and BEFORE the goods are delivered. Our bank Manager had a HUGE problem with this as they wanted to pay for the frames etc ON DELIVERY - not weeks and sometimes months before - because the Building company may go under, and then the bank will lose their asset!
My husband also questioned Latitude Homes about this, because he's in the Construction Industry, and he has set up accounts with suppliers that allow him to order goods and pay on the 20th of the following months. By then the client has received their goods, and paid him - so he can pay the suppliers. Makes sense right?

4/ Our builder visited Latitude Homes to prompt some action (because the job delay was affecting him as well) and Latitude Homes bad-mouthed us to him - for no reason! Our builder told us that he wont repeat everything they said to him, but he did tell us that they said we were unreasonable (amongst other things). I find this VERY unprofessional and without merit.

5/ I wanted to change our kitchen, and drew up a Kitchen Gallery plan as opposed to a U-shaped plan. My new kitchen plan has almost HALF the amount of cupboards yet is going to cost 8k more. When I inquired about this and asked for a breakdown I received an ANGRY email with capital letters and no explanation. So I have left it and will accept paying 21k for a kitchen that the Kitchen Studio told me that they could supply and install for 13k.

6/ We had a one month long stop placed on our house by the Manukau Building Consultants because Latitude Homes Contractor for our Foundations had failed to provide a producer statement regarding the slab. This set us back $1k because the scaffolding went up on the day the stop was placed on our house (and we still had to pay for it), and it mucked up our builders schedule as he had to stop work until the problem was fixed.

7/ We were told to pay for our kitchen on the 2nd of Nov, but it wont be ready until next year due to the Christmas Closedown. This is not Latitude Homes fault, but I still dont want to pay months before. Other kitchen companies usually take a deposit, and final payment upon installation. So typical that in our case there terms are different, and in my opinion - work against the customer.

8/ We are STILL waiting for our retaining wall that we paid for in April - but unfortunately Latitude Homes Contractor is always too busy, or in hospital with a sick relative.
The Contractor really needs to make our house a priority, as he also needs to properly batter our section - as the neighbours surveyor found that he has encroached onto their section, and they have nicely mentioned this to us twice :-(

BUSY BUSY!

OMG I cant believe I have neglected my blog when SO much has happened.

To update you over what has happened over the last couple of weeks, we were held up AGAIN and we had to wait for another 2-3 weeks (no fault of our own) for the Council to give us their approval. Unfortunately the Council were not satisfied with the excavators report - so we begged and begged Latitude Homes to provide the Council with the information that they require so that we could continue work, and they finally pulled through for us.

Then the slab went down (even though the weather was 6 degrees and REALLY windy - so a big ups to the Tradesmen)

But then for some reason the frames took a while to arrive. So after a few angry phonecalls (to our Building Company) and a visit from our Builder to Latitude Homes, the frames for our house were delivered and our builder was able to get to work. Would you believe that he had the first floor up on the same day! It was amazing! I went to work, and decided to do a drive-by on my way home and WOW! There was a house taking shape right on my section that had been sitting bare for months!

Our builder has 2 guys working with him - another builder and a labourer. He said 3 sets of hands are better than 2 because then people are continuously working even though one has to stop for a break or to answer phone-calls etc.

I am VERY happy at the moment.

FINALLY STARTING!!

This is a happy post because we have FINALLY started. 2 days after being issued our resource consent the foundation guys have been out and laid our floor. And it looks AWESOME!

So the moral of this Resource Consent story is: Get an Architect.
Because we bought plans designed for a flat section and tried to make them work on a sloped section that we were flattening, the Council wanted to make sure that the new flat section we had created was stable enough to support a house forever.
This delay has been quite expensive and it would have been more cheaper and less stressful to hire an Architect to design a house suitable for our section.

P.S. The resource consent has cost us an extra 1.5k because we had to pay $750 to get a geo-tech report done, etc etc. Not to mention the 4 month long wait for the Resource Consent, and the fact that we were waiting for the Engineer to provide the Council with the information they needed to give us the go-ahead.

HELP!

I made a plea on the 11th June for advice on how to hurry our Resource Consent along as the Council will not release it until the Engineer from Latitude Homes gives them the information they require, and these are the responses I received:

Good Morning, I am building a house through Manukau City Council (MCC) and my house has been stuck at the Resource Consent Stage for 6 weeks!
Our Building Consent has already been issued - and that was a separate 4 week wait - so I wasnt expecting a further 6 weeks (and counting) wait for another type of Council Consent.

We require a Resouce Consent because we are levelling out our section and moving quite a bit of earth to do so.

We are going through Latitude Homes to build our house and they are arranging the consent for us.

Latitude Homes (the building company) says they have sent the information that the MCC needs (a Geo-Tech Report & Engineering Report) and the Council just needs to sign it off.

I have been ringing the MCC every second day but always get the same answer - that they have not received all the information that they require and are still waiting.

Then when I ring Latitude Homes I get the same answer - they have been providing the Council with the required information but then the Council asks for something else.

The main issue sounds like an Engineering Issue which I assumed would have been made acceptable before Latitude Homes submitted our House Plans (that they designed).

What would you do to speed up the process? Any tips will be much appreciated.


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Ask the council for a list of what they want, then check with Latitude as to whether they've all been supplied.
Then physically take the proof to the council and don't leave until you've got some satisfactory answers(this might take a day or two, but if you're there in person councils tend to move a bit faster).
Good luck!

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stevee6 (144 ) 10:01 am, Fri 11 Jun #2
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Unfortunately, councils can and do take their own sweet time over everything. We recently built in Horowhenua DC area and it was just a nightmare. They seem to actively employ only people who repeatedly fail any form of commonsense test. It took 9 months to build a standard home. I thought HDC was the worst in the country, but sound like they're all the same. All you can really do is wait...

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bmwnz (113 ) 10:04 am, Fri 11 Jun #3
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By law councils have to process the consent within a set period, three weeks I think. However they can request additional information, and the set period starts again from receipt of that info. So whenever they cannot meet the statutory deadline, they request petty additional information as a stalling tactic. Truth is it will take them as long as it takes them

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lalbagh (44 ) 10:24 am, Fri 11 Jun #4
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I would've thought that when you first contact the council involved, they would have a list if everything that is required to build.
Is this not the case?

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net_oz (102 ) 10:44 am, Fri 11 Jun #5
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Thank you so much for the helpful advice. MCC is meant to be the fastest council in Auckland at the moment, and I was wondering if the one particular person who is handling my case is being unreasonable?

Just getting worried because this delay is proving very expensive.

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monika32 (30 ) 12:11 pm, Fri 11 Jun #6
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We built our own house recently ( rural, and that adds a whole lot of extras to it ) and our consents with Manukau City Council took 23 days from start to fininsh. Sounds like your building company is slack.

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rod525 (367 ) 12:39 pm, Fri 11 Jun #7
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rod525 wrote:

We built our own house recently ( rural, and that adds a whole lot of extras to it ) and our consents with Manukau City Council took 23 days from start to fininsh. Sounds like your building company is slack.


Yes, our Building Consent came through very quickly, but it is the Resource Consent that is taking forever. But thanks for your feedback.

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monika32 (30 ) 12:50 pm, Fri 11 Jun #8
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stevee6 wrote:

Ask the council for a list of what they want, then check with Latitude as to whether they've all been supplied.
Then physically take the proof to the council and don't leave until you've got some satisfactory answers(this might take a day or two, but if you're there in person councils tend to move a bit faster).
Good luck!

Good advice. Call the Council and ask them what information they still need to process your RC. When you get it, arrange a meeting and have them sign off that they've received everything. Chances are though they might charge you for their time to attend a meeting. Just as a matter of interest, why is your building company not getting this arranged if you are paying them to do so? Suggest you speak to them again and tell them that you will deal with MCC and any costs that are incurred will be for their account. Put this in writing too.

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haventrader (113 ) 1:00 pm, Fri 11 Jun #9
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monika32 wrote:

Thank you so much for the helpful advice. MCC is meant to be the fastest council in Auckland at the moment, and I was wondering if the one particular person who is handling my case is being unreasonable?

Just getting worried because this delay is proving very expensive.


wait until super city red tape starts

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bopbargains (450 ) 1:40 pm, Fri 11 Jun #10
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What I found helpful, is.. don't make an appointment with a planner at the council.. go there, and ask to see the duty planner, who is not necessarily the one handling your file - you'll usually be able to see someone quite quickly, and they'll arrive with your file, so you can say, this is what's happening, I need a list of what you're needing, and I'll get back to you once I have that information.. You could phone in advance for a list.

Once you have the info from the building company, go see the duty planner again.. ask if anything else is needed, and when you might hear from them..

Here, when I went through the Resource Consent process, I handled everything myself, including applying for the consent, once I had the technical information needed - by being there in person it made it that the process was simplified, without relying on others to communicate when they get around to it. I went with an approachable 'this is the information I have, is it all you need, when might I hear back about the Consent, I'm looking forward to that.. thanks for your help, I really appreciate it'

Using simplicity - the most straight-forward way to get something done, also takes a lot of the stress out of the whole process.

Good luck.. and enjoy having your new home built..

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juliewn (1985 ) 3:30 pm, Fri 11 Jun #11
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ps.. because you're doing the work yourself, there's less likely to be any charge from the Council for writing or the building company to write.. etc..etc.. and you'll speed up the process..

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juliewn (1985 ) 3:32 pm, Fri 11 Jun #12
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monika32 wrote:


Yes, our Building Consent came through very quickly, but it is the Resource Consent that is taking forever. But thanks for your feedback.

Yes, I read what you wrote. And yes, our building AND resource consents came through in 23 days as I said - consents. And as said above, do it all yourself at the council as we did - smooth sailing.

Edited by rod525 at 4:04 pm, Fri 11 Jun

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rod525 (367 ) 4:03 pm, Fri 11 Jun #13
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Welcome to the building industry, that's typical. I work at an Architectural draughting firm and we are going to contact the MP's about it as its gone beyond a joke. I suggest you write to your local MP or Rodney Hyde, the more voices speak up = higher chance of action (you'd think anyway)

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sooby (726 ) 11:32 pm, Fri 11 Jun #14
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From the end of August, Councils will be charged (via reduction in costs) for not processing resource consents within the 20 day statutory time frame. However, it sounds like your building company isn't providing the information that is required. Tell them to sort their stuff out.

By the way, you will be being charged for every time you call (as per you would with an Architect, Lawyer etc). So I would try and reduce this.

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hamtostie (422 ) 11:53 pm, Fri 11 Jun #15
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So glad to know we are not "special" in the eyes of the council. We have a fairly sloping section and need to have retaining done so we end up with a flat building platform. All the necessary engineering has been done and the retaining plan submitted to the council on 31 MARCH. We finally received notification yesterday that it has been approved. There were a few issues with ours for which no one wanted to take responsibility. We have stormwater drains running east to west along the southern boundary of the section. Retaining on the western boundary had been designed to bridge the pipes and the new depth of soil above the pipes would not be more than the allowed amount (downward pressure on the pipes). As luck would have it - the day I took the matter into my own hands (email to Mayor and Councillors) the approval came through. They wasted $4000 of our money in rent. Nero fiddles while Rome burns....

Edited by hilt_dwane at 8:46 am, Sat 12 Jun

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hilt_dwane (232 ) 8:45 am, Sat 12 Jun #16
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Well the problem is this. Because hardly anybody is building anything at the moment - there is not a lot of work ( for all those people that usually work at the councils - that deal with building permits and things like that.) Now if they where employed in the REAL WORLD - or lets say by a Private company - half of them would be out of a Job / laid off, or made redundant ... because there is just not enougth work to go around . So in reality ......... if you put in for a building permit on a Monday - you should have the consent on a Wednesday at the moment !. So at the moment everything is taking a long long time - basically its all ( GOOOOOOO SLOWWWWWW ) so it gives them an excuse to keep there jobs . Thats all . Hey its human nature to save there own arse ( when its on the line ) Its called job creation !.... lets face it - the council still employs just as many paper pushers as they did in the hey days of the building boom in reality they should be able to give you a building permit within a week ! or your rates bill should be going down like a rocket - because they only need to employ 1/2 as many paper pushers at the moment . Maybe you should write a letter to the Mayor and ask him about this