The property market at the moment is in a state of some uncertainty. Many clients have approached us saying that they may take their property off the market for the time being and renovate rather than sell and purchase another property. In the somewhat uncertain times renovation may well be a viable alternative to buying a new and different house.
However there are some issues about renovations that all homeowners need to be careful about. Not only should homeowners be careful as to how they go about organising a builder having plans drawn up but they should also be sure that they have all of the correct statutory compliances in place both before they get the work started and when the work is completed.
Therefore I thought it might be useful to set out a series of suggestions to any homeowner who is looking to renovate.
So the issues that you should consider are as follows:
1 Apply to your Territorial Authority (TA) for a Project Information Memorandum (PIM). This will help you to identify issues relating to the type of renovations you want to carry out and any specific features that the TA will require you to comply with.
2 Do you need a resource consent as well as a building consent. This needs to be checked with the TA as well. Many TAs will not let you use your building consent until you have got a resource consent if you need one to carry out the renovations.
3 Have a professional set of plans drawn up as this will give the TA full details of what you intend to do, it will speed the process of getting your building consent and it will make the builder’s quotation against those plans and specifications much more accurate. Also when the builder comes to carry out the work they will have more details about how they complete the work which will ensure a far better job.
4 Always chose a builder who is recommended. Some have certification from various organisations such as a Master Builders Association. In the near future builders will need to be registered through the Department of Building and Housing as part of the new registration regime under the Building Act.
5 Where possible get at least three quotes for the work and be sure that you know what the builder’s quote is based on and what is included and what is excluded from the builder’s quote. Very often a builder will give you a letter of quotation in which they will specify the work quoted, extra work required, work excluded and estimates for work that they cannot in fact quote for until the work has started.
