Full Show Podcast: 08 February 2026

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from News Talk said by Squeaky.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Door or Squeaky Floor.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Get the right advice from Peter Wolfcamp, the Resident Builder
on News Talk Sead Bay.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
The house sizzor who even when it's.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Dark, even when the grass is overgrown in the yard,
even when a dog.

Speaker 5 (00:37):
Is too old to bar, and when you're sitting at
the table trying not to stop.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Scissor home even when we are bad ball, even when
you're therellon house a whole, even when those ghost even

(01:10):
when you got around from the wad you love your most.

Speaker 5 (01:14):
Scream doors, broken paints, feeling from the wood, locals whisper
when they're going to leave in the neighbor.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
The house is in a home even when wilbery and love,
even when.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
You're there, Lowe, it's a.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Alrighty, oh well, good morning, Welcome along to the Resident
Builder on Sunday. You're here with me, Peter wolf Camp,
the Resident Builder, and this is your opportunity to talk
all things building and construction. I hope you've had a
good week. I hope you've had a great white tonguey weekend,
long weekend. And if you chose to sort of make

(02:30):
use of that extra day off, perhaps to tackle some
tasks around the house. Maybe it was a bit of painting,
Maybe it's a little bit of maintenance. Maybe it's a
part of a longer term project that you might have
been working on. Whatever you've been up to, I hope
it's been successful for you. I hope it's been productive.
And well, I was going to say, stress free. Is

(02:53):
it working around the house ever? Stress free?

Speaker 6 (02:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I was chatting with someone yesterday. Oh, we were talking about,
you know, having lists of jobs to do around the house.
Both of us were talking about this while doing a
job somewhere else, so not on our own houses. As
it happens, it was one of those jobs that you
don't get paid for either. So we're both chatting away.
The irony of it has just fallen on me now

(03:18):
that here we are both doing something for somebody else
while talking about things that we were supposed to do
at home as well, probably at the same time. Anyway,
it was very nice to chat away and do a
little bit of work for somebody else yesterday as well. Right,
what's on your mind? What would you like to talk
about this morning? It might be the rules and regulations,
because they're changing pretty much on a weekly basis, including

(03:44):
a story that emerged a couple of weeks ago that
we haven't sort of shone the light on at all
around the government removing the requirement for warranties basically or
some protection from consumers. I'll see if I can think
the story out a little bit later on, But if
you remember that story from a couple of weeks ago,
it's had actually Mike Thornton, who was Eagle as a

(04:07):
lawyer of solicitor and barrister who's been on the show
a couple of times. He has made a couple of
comments about it on LinkedIn and so on, and we'll
probably get them on the show to talk about it.
But this was an interesting sort of we're going to
make all these changes around who can build and how
you can build, and you can build without you know,

(04:29):
necessarily requiring a building concent et cetera, et cetera. And
by the way, we're going to change the rules on
protections for buildings as well. So there's a bit more
to it than that, but we can have a look
at that if you caught if that particular story caught
your eye, if you like me, had to deal with
the task you've never really had to deal with in

(04:50):
the past. So I had an encounter with a wasp
nest this week. There's a bit of a story to it.
We'll get to that, but you know, I discovered that
there's wasp powder. I didn't know there was such a
thing anyway. I also discovered that experts do things well,
and people like myself who have a go at things

(05:10):
that I might be expert in some things, but I'm
not expert in wasp control, ended up getting stung in
the face. So anyway, we can talk about that. I
eight hundred eighty ten eighty nine to nine two is
the text number. If you've got a question that you'd
like to text through, you can do that. She talking
about the text. We've got one of our painting experts

(05:31):
available today as well, so just after seven twenty. If
you've got any specific painting questions, text them through. We
can deal with that after about seven twenty. As always
on the show, redclinb Pass will join us from eight
point thirty this morning, but that's a wee while away.
So right now your job is to call eight hundred
eighty ten eighty. My job is to answer, well, actually,

(05:53):
no lock's job is to answer the phone. I'm going
to have a chat to you and we can see
if we can get something sorted out, whether it's rules, regulations, products,
new ideas, new tools that are out there. Speaking about tools,
I will mention this a couple of times in not
next week, but the following week. There's a tool bizarre happening,

(06:16):
second hand tools, and it's happening in my part of town.
So again my apologies for those people are not in Auckland.
This could be worth the trip, I feel anyway. We'll
talk about that. It's a little local initiative, a way
to sort of move on pre loved tools and pre
used tools, secondhand tools, and I think even some new

(06:38):
gear that might be down there. But we'll talk about
that and a couple of other little community initiatives that
are out there as well. Repair cafe that I'm aware of,
so if you've got something that's broke, you might be
able to take it in. Again, that's an Auckland thing
and someone might be able to fix it. So there's
a lot's happening. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the
number to call. If you've got a question of a

(07:00):
building nature, give us a call right now. Eight hundred
eighty ten eighty nine two niney two is the text
or zbzb z b ZB and if you would like
to email me, you are more than welcome. It's Pete
at newstalksib dot co dot Nz. So Pete, Pete at
newstalksb dot Co dot Nz fifteen minutes after six, now's

(07:20):
a good time to call eight hundred eighty ten.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Eighty for helping you get those DIY projects done. Right
the resident fielder with Peter WOLFCAF call eight hundred eight
eighty youth Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Indeed the lines are open. The number to call eight
hundred eighty ten eighty text that just came in a
moment ago morning. Pete, can you tell us how the
site coverage works on the new Granny flat rule? Look,
I I well, I can tell you that there will
be rules. What the rules are in your town and

(07:53):
your street will depend on what the existing rules are.
So in general terms, for a long time, For example,
in a in a typical urban area that allowed for
one house per site, that house could take up to
let's say thirty five percent of the site. So let's

(08:18):
keep it really simple. If it was a thousand square
meter site, like a good old quarter acre, you could
have a three hundred and fifty square meter footprint. You
were then allowed to have a certain amount that was
impermeable for driveways and the like, and typically you'd get
to about fifty percent site coverage, and then that would
would top out. More recent rules allow for up to

(08:39):
fifty percent site coverage, and then with the impermeable areas,
it'll nudget towards sev seventy percent, So you end up
with these small pockets of permeable space. And I guess
you know, if I think, if you're looking at anything
around the five six, seven hundred square meters, it's going

(09:00):
to be hard to imagine being able to find space
on there that's two meters away from your existing building,
two meters away from your boundaries that would allow you
to put anything near seventy square meters on there. Even
just in terms of distance from boundary and distance from
existing building, that little parcel it might be less will

(09:22):
probably be less than seventy. If that then pushes you
over your maximum permitted impermeable surfaces, that might be a
reason that your project gets basically declined when you go
because remember these projects, the granny flat ones, if you
want to do one, you still need to go and
tell council what you intend to do, and council may

(09:46):
reject your application based on local town planning rules. So
it's not carte blanche to do whatever you want in
your own backyard. So that's not an answer, but it
is an answer because it will depend on where you
are and what the current and existing planning regulations are.
Hope that helps. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty

(10:07):
is the number to call, almost twenty minutes after six,
and a very good morning to you, Shane.

Speaker 6 (10:12):
Yes it's the Winding Peak. Yes, fine morning. Indeed, Yes,
we've got some renovations going on in the kitchen and
of the builders stripped back the existing jiven behind that
there's some tongue ingrooved panels and there's absolutely no lining combats,

(10:37):
you know, there's no insulation in that behind the walls.
We're just wondering what could I put in there? What's
the requirements to put in for just to keep the
lining around between the GiB and the outer.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
War excusing sorry, the really well, the interesting thing is
that doing the work that you're doing in the kitchen
typically doesn't require a building consent. You're not making any changes,
et cetera, et cetera. Adding insulation to an existing exterior
wall does actually trigger a requirement for a building consent.

(11:14):
I see, so, as it happens, you're in the perfect
situation to add insulation, which is not a bad thing.
But by doing so, technically you're doing non compliant building
work because there is a requirement to get a building
consent for that work. I've got issues with that in

(11:36):
the sense that while I completely understand why there is
still a requirement to get a building consent for this work,
because if you do it incorrectly, you can inadvertently be
drawing moisture into the building or trapping moisture, etc.

Speaker 6 (11:50):
Etc.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
There's pretty good guidance now on straightforward approaches to going
this is how you do it to ensure that you're
not causing a sort of unforeseen problem down the track.
Here's some guidance, here's some methodologies for it. Go ahead
and do it. If you're engaging with a licensed building practitioner,
they should be able to do that work to the

(12:12):
building code without necessarily having to go and go and
get a consent. But the rules are what they are
at the moment. I wish they'd changed, but they haven't.
So that's where we're at. If you wanted to add
some insulation to that space and you wanted to sort
of cover your bases, I guess you could go to
council and go, look, this is what I'm doing. Could

(12:35):
I apply for an exemption from a building consent and
just have that diarized right somewhere so the counsel are
aware of what you're doing, just in case there's some
issue later on, at which time, if you construct the
so when you pull that lining off, what do you see.
There's there's some timber stud work and then what you're

(12:55):
cladding on the exterior, it's weather board batherboards. Is there
any building paper between the studs and the weatherboards?

Speaker 7 (13:03):
No?

Speaker 2 (13:06):
And again that's fairly typical, right, Like we're talking tens
of thousands of houses which are exactly like that, and
yours is one of them. So my typical methodology. And
there's some really good guidance on the brand's website if
you want to take a look at that is, once
you've opened up all of those spaces. Take some building
wraps and building paper, cut it wider than the opening

(13:28):
that's there created by the studs and the nogs. Push
that against the back of the weatherboards, staple it to
the sides and to the nogs and studs on either side,
and then put some insulation in there. My own preference
would be to use something it's not going to hold moisture,
just in case moisture is present. So something like green

(13:48):
stuff is a good one because it's polyester.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Pop that in.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Pop your lining in. I'd maybe get the builder to
fix all of your linings off as if it was
a GS one so a JIB standard one brace, because
there will be some bracing provided by that match lining
which you're going to remove by Are you going to
strip all of that lining off and go right back
to the studs?

Speaker 6 (14:14):
I think they are yes. In some areas they have
taken off the tongue and grooved panels.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
So once once the build has got it back to
a flat surface, it might need some extra nogging and
bits and pieces. Do the insulation, fix the plaster board
to it. If you're doing kitchens. Not a bad idea
to use something like aqualine just gives you a bit
of extra protection and then fix that off as if
it was a GS one brace. And I think you've
kind of covered all your bases that way. Putting the

(14:45):
insulation is a good thing, but I can't tell you
to do it without also telling you that technically there
is a requirement to get a building consent for that.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
And then how long would it take for propellents a
piece of string? How long would it take for the council.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
To process something like that? I I don't know, you know,
I suppose what I'm looking at is you would need
to in order to do a building consent, you need
to go to a designer who's going to draw that
up or at least provide some evidence of you know,

(15:19):
it's limited, right, So all I think all you really
need to provide to counsel if you did want to
get a building consent, is sort of evidence of methodology.

Speaker 8 (15:29):
Right.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
So this is what I've got, This is what I'm
going to do. Where it is in the house is
kind of irrelevant. But once it lands on the council desk,
you know who's to say that some bushy tailed, young
processing officer decides that it doesn't require further investigation and
they come back to you with an RFI and bloody,

(15:50):
bloody blah. So look, this is the classic example of
why I really did hope that at some stage with
Schedule one of the Building Act, that this would have
been one of those things that got added to the
exemptions to Schedule one of the Building Act with the
provision that it could be done by a licensed building

(16:11):
practitioner to ensure that there's not unforeseen consequences. Look, to
be fair, it's depending on where you are in the country.
Every council should have a help desk. I'd be on
the phone of the council. They all provide the service.
As my understanding, have a chat, go this is what
I intend to do. You know, is there a straightforward

(16:33):
path for me to stay on the right side of
compliance by informing you and maybe getting a dispensation, you know,
and then in order to grant that dispensation. They might say, well, look,
what's your methodology. Well, actually, here's the brand's guide for
retrofitting insulation into an existing exterior wall. I'm going to
do what it says. I'm going to take some photographs

(16:55):
of it. I'll keep it on record. That should be enough, right,
but we're dealing with biocracy.

Speaker 9 (17:01):
Who knows.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Sorry, it's not as straightforward perhaps as the answer that
you might have expected.

Speaker 6 (17:07):
Oh that's clear now, that gives me a good idea.
There's a I guess we've got a time frame of
by the end of the week when the cabinets go in.
So yeah, I hold talk to the building.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
It well, yeah, have a chat with your builder to
see what his take on it or he take and
go from there. But you know, if you're planning on
putting cabinets in by the end of the week, I
think your chances of getting a building consent out of
council in a week is mate. If it happens, please
bring me back next week and tell me that you
did it.

Speaker 6 (17:43):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
I I.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Really do think that that retrofitting insulation into existing exterior
walls should be and shared you one of the Building Act, right,
and shared you one of the Building Actor. Is that
part of the act that allows for work building work
to be done in accordance with the code without necessarily
requiring a consent. But it's not And so those are

(18:14):
the rules as they stand right now. Knogging is that
the same as dwangs yes, it's a regional thing. So
in the North Island we refer to sort of horizontal
pieces of timber cut and nailed in between studs as nog's.
In the South Island they referred to as dwangs. Somewhere
along the line the other day I saw something. I

(18:37):
was reading some stuff about building requirements in the UK,
and I think it's a English Scottish distinction. Someone might
be able to put me right on this, But the
article that I was reading was talking about nogs and
dwangs and the fact that in the South in Scotland

(18:58):
they would refer to these horizontal pieces of timber as dwangs,
and in the north of the UK and England refer
to them as knoggs. Think about South Island, think about
immigrants one hundred and fifty years ago, lots of Scots
in the South Island did that language. That it's one

(19:20):
of our very few genuine regional dialect type things. But yes,
noggs in the North Island, dang's in the South Island. Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty the number to call Graham,
good morning, good morning.

Speaker 10 (19:35):
My question relates to deck. So I go to a
lot of houses and I've been to a couple recently
pinous radiota decks and treated of course, and they have
the grooves up and I don't know if that even
touch on that later, but there've been had no TLC
and they're now in a state of needing total replacement

(19:56):
that the boards are rotting and there's verous things going wrong.
Now with my own deck, which is also pine and treated,
the grooves are down and it seems to a fair
fairly well. But I'm now coming up five to six
years in the house that I'm at with this large
wooden deck, and I've done it once. I've sprayed it
and used the you know, the worthly bird attachment on

(20:18):
the karacha water malatha, which is not as harsh as
as a normal water blasting.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
It's interesting, but yep.

Speaker 10 (20:24):
Anyway, that the mold has come back again, and this
time I'm just opting to spray it with spray and
walk away and leave it for a few months and
see how it goes. But my question is doesn't make
a difference with grooves up and down, but more of
the treatment are the chemicals in the wood. If you
don't stay in your deck, is that eventually going to

(20:45):
wash right out with heavy rain, and you know, does
it make the timber susceptible to rotting and need and replacing.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
See, it's a far more in depth question than of
the peers at the beginning. So you know, you go, okay,
So you buy a piece of software, piece of Pinus radiata, which,
if it's been use for exterior use, has a certain
type of treatment to it, a tantalized treatment which could

(21:16):
potentially leach out over time. And as that treatment leaches out,
the decay and the timber will accelerate because there is
less treatment in it. And if by applying like a seiler,
does that slow down the rate of decline or evaporation,

(21:38):
if that's such a thing for the treatment. It's kind
of essentially what you're saying, isn't that that's the hypothesis
to your Because naturally.

Speaker 10 (21:49):
Stained decks look really nice and help preserve the timbervement.
This is a fearly substantial size. So as you know,
once you start, yes, the rest of your life you
have to keep reapplying codes all the time.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Look, I think that the decks that I've seen that
last longest are the ones that are you know, treated
there maintained for a start in terms of regular washing,
making sure that you don't get a build up of
moss and mildew and those sorts of things. And then
typically they've got some sort of treatment on them, whether
that's penetrating oil stain or a film forming stain or

(22:26):
whatever that I think stops moisture being absorbed into the
fibers and also stops the growth or slows down the
growth of any mold and mildew. But it's it is
actually a very interesting question as to whether or not
timber decays because the timber preservative used at the time

(22:47):
of manufacture decline, you know, it's effectiveness declines.

Speaker 10 (22:53):
Yeah, I've always said that basically, you know, pinus radio
or without without treat chemical treatment. You know, it's not
the most.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Studio Yeah, but I mean, look in terms of actual
material for construction, it'd be very I mean, the only
sort of untreated pine that I can think of is
sort of roughs on boards that you can buy for boxing, right,
pretty much everything else that you can buy, whether it's
fence palings, you know, even framing timber, which isn't designed

(23:24):
to get wet, still has a low level of treatment.
But that's more for insects and so on, rather than
resistance to moisture. The other thing. Lots and lots of
discussion about, you know, whether or not you have grips
down grip up right in terms of the grooves on
the board, so not.

Speaker 8 (23:42):
Not all.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
The decking timber has yeah, lots of talk about the
capillary action. So the theory being, if you've got some
grooved boards, you lay them with the groove down because
it means that at the intersection between the joist and
the decking board, you don't have a surface area that's
basically constantly wet, right, So if you've got boards with

(24:07):
grooves on them and you lay them groove down, you
will always have sort of space for drying. So instead
of having two flat surfaces touching each other, the joist
on the underside of the decking board, you've got that,
but the contact area is roughly half because you've got
those voids caused by the grooves. One of the interesting

(24:27):
things that I've seen overseas but I haven't seen it
here is the addition of like a decking tape or
a jost tape that people watch it on American videos,
and that sort of thing they run over the top
of their joist before they fix the decking down, and
it seems quite common practice, but it's not here yet.

(24:49):
If anyone's done it, or anyone's had experience of working
with it overseas, I'd be interested to see whether or
not there's some genuine efficacy in doing that.

Speaker 10 (24:59):
It could be just a coincidence that the two decks
that have recently been to the grooves up, and I
guess you coulday that you've basically doubled the surface area
and out of water to sit in them, and doubled
the surface area for that bolder and to start sort
of getting a grip onto the wood.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, I mean I pulled up a deck. I built
a deck in I think it was about nineteen ninety one, right,
And in twenty twenty I was back at the same
house and we removed the decking. It had come to
end of life, and that's not unexpected. It was almost
thirty years, right, and the tops of the joists showed

(25:41):
some decay a little bit, but nothing that was worthy
of sort of replacing them. They'd basically gone a little
bit black and discolored and all the rest of it.
It might have been a little bit soft and one
or two millimeters, So we simply just pulled all of
the old decking off, cleaned up the tops of it,
applied a bit of protum or some of the timber preservative,

(26:04):
and then just laid new actually hardwood decking over the
top of it.

Speaker 6 (26:08):
Absolutely fine, So they're clear clear, Yeah, there is.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
I think the metal X does a clear timber preservative
as well. Absolutely. Hey, nice chatting. Thank you all the
this take care. That gives me a little bit of
homework to do around timber decay and timber treatments and

(26:33):
the eventual evaporation. That's the best word that I can
think of. Right now, I've got some contacts at Brands.
I might bring one of the boffins there. Oh wait,
one hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call
six thirty six at news Talks. There be will come
back and talk to Amanda in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
God was, but maybe called Pete first p Walfa, the
resident builder News Talks.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
There'd be getting a couple of texts on the whole
nogs d Wang's regional dialect type thing. There were always dwangs,
even in the North Island Pete, but I'm a generation
before you, probably more a generational thing than a local
one from Bob. Thanks very much for that. Bob. Well,
I'm getting close to forty years in this game, so

(27:20):
it's always been Noggs. But yeah, my understanding it was
always a regional thing. Noggs have always been a South
Island thing going way back in time, and Dwang's was
always Noggs have always been a South Island thing. From Earl,
I'm not so sure that's interesting though, Hey, Pete is

(27:41):
batch and crib and other regional oddity. So if you're
in Auckland or in the North Island and you happen
to have another house that's you know, by the beach
or by the lake or something like that, then it'll
be a batch. If you're at I don't know, christ
Church and you're nipping out to Diamond Harbor or something
like that, then chances are it's a crib there. To

(28:02):
be fair, this could I feel like talking to one
of the overnight guys. This would be a great topic
for Overnight talkback. Regional language differences and do we have
sort of genuine regional differences in New Zealand. But hey,
look I'm not doing overnight talkback anymore. Haven't done it
for a few years, but it was a lot of
fun when I did. It is six forty oh and
I'm sorry I've misled you. I was getting all excited

(28:25):
about having one of the razine painting experts on. That's
going to be next week, but later on today I
am going to take some time after the eight o'clock
News to catch up with Andrew Eagles. Andrew is the
chief executive basically for the New Zealand Green Building Council
and the New Zealand Green Building Council are celebrating twenty

(28:45):
years since they were formed in New Zealand. Over those
that time, I did my first sort of course formal
learning with them to become a home Star practitioner. I
did that course when home Star was at version one.
Home Stars now been revived. It's a sort of document

(29:07):
in terms of building performance and assessment. It's up to
version five. It's on my list of things to do.
But yeah, I did version one. I think it's like
twelve thirteen years ago. But the Green Building Council celebrates
twenty years and we're going to take some time to
chat with Andrew Eagles after the news at eight o'clock

(29:28):
this morning, So looking forward to that. Oh eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty is that number to call Amanda?

Speaker 6 (29:33):
Good morning, Good morning, Pete.

Speaker 11 (29:35):
How are you.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Increasing so doing? Okay? Thank you in yourself very.

Speaker 7 (29:39):
Well, jusfull morning and the Hawk's Bay beautiful. Oh, I know,
water restrictions. I've got a trouble of questions for you.
I mentioned a kinder or a home, and I am
at I'm in a back dwelling of a front one.
So they've sub I don't know, I've subdivided it whatever.

Speaker 6 (30:00):
They called it.

Speaker 7 (30:01):
However, my water goes to the front dwelling and then
it veers off in the ninety degree angle to a
private dwelling. So I don't have a storm.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Water hall talking water for drinking water for the stormwater
stormwater right, okay, yes that.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
Is legal, is it?

Speaker 8 (30:25):
I'll tell you.

Speaker 7 (30:26):
Why I'm asking you. Every year, you know, when we
get our massive, big floods. Yes, my property, I'm elevated
by one through three basically probably about meter. Yeah, they're
a bad meter high off the concrete. But I floods

(30:46):
the pipe actually blocks at the junction going to the
private dwelling, right, and I have spoken to counsel, I've
spoken to you know, my tenancy, and they nobody wants

(31:07):
to take ownership or it. But what it does is
rubbish underneath the house and I way through it's a water.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
I mean, the flooding is obviously you know, if your
place is flooding, then your neighbors are flooding, and there's
there's bigger issues there and they are Arguably the flooding
is unlikely to be alleviated by a single you know,
one hundred milimeters stormwater connection that may or may not
function well. It all contributes, but you know there are

(31:39):
there are bigger issues at play.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
But at the same time, if you know, private stormwater
running through an adjoining property is not uncommon because in
some cases the public asset, the public stormwater line might
be located, let's say, on the other side of your
neighbor's property, and so you can get an easement for
stormwater through an adjoining property in order to reach the

(32:04):
public asset. And again, you know, while it seems straightforward,
there's a little bit of thought and consideration as to
how you design those systems and having sharp bends that
can maybe trap some material and that probably not that great.
If it was a series of forty fives, it would
allow the water to flow and so on.

Speaker 7 (32:26):
They didn't put the camera down, and it's obviously shows
you blockhage.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Okay, well, then whoever owns the asset owns, and in
this case it's ko. You go to them and go look.
The way that I would sort of pitch it is
it's in your best interest to come and sort this out, right,
So because in the end it's their asset right, they
own the property, they want to maintain it hopefully, and

(32:53):
so if you go to them and go look, just
like to help you guys out. What I've noticed is
this blocks and it causes flooding. The flooding then causes damage.
The damage is something that you're going to have to fix.
Why not, you know, could you, I'm on board, have
a look at this. Maybe there's a simple fix, and
then see if you can encourage them to come and

(33:13):
address that.

Speaker 7 (33:18):
Yeah, I was just more worried about my neighbor. He
just laid down concrete. Yeah, you know, he might get
pulled up. I don't know, but we'll let them write
that one out. My second question really quickly. At the
back of my property, I've got one of those tiny

(33:38):
little it's a single dwelling, it's not one of those apartments,
you know. And at the back I get no done.
I've got massively big because I've got another person pine
me trees. So what I wanted to do was a
two by one point eight conk freach slab so that
I could put about my barbecue down, et cetera. You know,

(34:00):
we near the cheap trees, or it won't be near
the house. There doesn't seem to be any electrical Okay,
So I've got my hate pump, which was further down,
and I've got a plumbing type I'm assuming it's a
gutterage guffering drain goes down. Would that be legal? Because

(34:20):
when I did ask my housing manager again three weeks ago,
he said, oh, I don't know. I'm going to have
to go away and look at that one up. But
there's no electrical you know, I do nothing but what
I can see. Do you know anything about whether I
could put a concert slab gown?

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Well, I mean it's in question, given that you know,
effectively you're a tenant in a government owned house. I'm
thinking that any tenant would need the permission of their landlord. Right,
So if a tenant approached a landlord and said, look,

(35:01):
I'd like to make this improvement, you would expect some
engagement with the le in which case you'd need to
go to the landlord. It sounds like you have asked,
and the person who's managing the property on behalf of
ko let's be blunt, should know that, right should not?
They don't. They shouldn't have to go off and talk
to someone else. If that's their job. They should know that.

(35:22):
And I would have thought that they would go, well, actually,
as the landlord, we've decided no, or they'd go, hey,
look it's relatively low risk if you want to put
down a three inch that concrete slab in that particular
area because you you know, it's hard for grass to
grow there and things get moldy and all the rest
of it. Then you know, you're like, it's quite possible

(35:45):
that you might be a long term tenant. What's the
downside to it.

Speaker 7 (35:49):
Well, I've been here for seven years, so it's not
like I'm you know, and I've been a good tenant,
and I've done extraly a lot of my own maintenance.
I need people do it so for me, and it's
not an internal structure that I must be interpeering with,
which would you know, obviously cause a problem. So I
just wondered, you know, whether I should just sort.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Of ultimately, given that you're a land your a tenant
in a government property, you know, I would go to
them and seek approval obviously, and then in the event
that for some unforeseen reason, someone needs to get access
to services below there. But it doesn't seem like there
are any services. Well, you know, three inches of concrete
if you don't put any mession, it's not impossible to

(36:31):
get through that and get twenty subground services.

Speaker 6 (36:35):
Right.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
It would be nice if youre property manager knew that stuff. Yeah,
I'm not going to come hey, lovely to chat with you.
Have a great day, Amanda too. The speaking of people
not doing their jobs, this Wellington wastewater thing, what an

(37:00):
appalling debarcle. What an appalling debarcle. I mean, it's hard
to imagine stuff and something up that bad. And I'm
typically not one to sort of pile into public service

(37:22):
and public assets and all the rest of it. But
you know, this kind of follows in from Hey, let's
go and check how the bolts are doing on the
power pylon and we'll take all the nuts out and
the thing falls over, and I think it does. And
my brother was over, he's involved in manufacturing in Australian.
We were having a bit of a chat about I

(37:47):
guess there's a couple of grumpy old men basically having
a chat about young people in the trades and whether
or not people it's actually not an issue with young people.
It's an issue with our industry and to some degree
our society where we're not encouraging people to go into trades,
and so when we've got big challenging projects, there's not
the skill base there anymore. And so you know, going

(38:12):
and taking all the nuts out of the bottom of
a pylon, or going and doing maintenance work on a
wastewater treatment plant and stuffing it up basically so bad
that raw sewerage flows into the harbor and continues to
and an enormously complex complex has become damaged. Somebody is

(38:34):
to blame, and I think he should roll.

Speaker 6 (38:36):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
That's my thoughts. Actually, I'll give you a more uplifting
story after the break six fifty here at New stalks edb.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
Doing other house sorting the guard and asked Pete for
a hand. The resident builder with Peter Wolfcap call Eights
togs edb a couple of.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Quick suggestions for Amanda. So rather than doing a concrete
slab in an area that's obviously doesn't get a great
deal of sunlight so grass doesn't grow all of that
sort of thing you want a serviceable area is, rather
than do something permanent like a slab of concrete, is
to use some say six hundred by six hundred pavers,
do some base course lay those down if they even

(39:16):
needed to be removed, at least they can be and
they could be recycled as well, which is awesome. I
did make some comments earlier about I think we do
have a challenge in terms of ensuring that we can
continue to make and build and manufacture and assemble and

(39:41):
produce items in this country. So I think there's some
genuine concern around kind of a de industrialization and an
end of manufacturing here, and part of that is driven
by global issues. I understand that large efficient factories overseas
can probably make the same widget at considerably less cost,

(40:03):
but there's still I think an issue in terms of
ensuring that we have a capable workforce in New Zealand
that can do the maintenance and can do the repairs
and can look after something like the Wellington wastewater treatment
plant without sending raw surage into the harbor. There's obviously
been a fault there. Someone's gone, hey, look with all

(40:24):
this judgment, it's not constructive or it's productive or productive.
I get it, and I'm not saying it for any
other reason than it's a simply appalling situation to have happened.
And obviously it wasn't supposed to happen, so somewhere along
the line somebody stuffed up. You can't have any other
explanation than that. In the same way that if you

(40:45):
send some people out to check the bolts and they
take all the nuts off and the pylon fols over,
then we've got an issue with capacity and capability in
our workforce, and that's got to be an issue that
we've got to address. Accountability, not condemnation. Well, yeah, accountability.

(41:06):
It might require somebody to step down. I think radio
we're going to take a break, we're going to talk
more after the news. And if you've got a question
of a building nature. You could call us now we'll
get things set up new sport and weather top of
the are at seven o'clock. Then we're back with more
of your.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Calls, whether you're painting the ceiling, fixing the Feds, or
wondering how to fix that hole in the wall. Give
Peter wolf Caper call on eighty the resident Builder on
News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Your News Talks. He'd be welcome back to the show.
My name's Pete wolf Camp, the resident Builder, and this
is an opportunity to talk all things building and construction.
So if you've got a project that's underway and you'd
like to talk about it. Maybe it's some maintenance, maybe
it's some repairs, maybe it's a new build and extension
and alteration to your property, let us know and we'll
see if we can chat about whatever challenges, dilemmas, problems

(42:03):
that you might have and some possible solutions as well.
And it's a fairly it's a fairly broad it's a
colorful palette that we have to play with. So already
on the show, we've had some questions about insulations, some
questions about decking, some questions about sort of temporary groundcover,
let's say, do you do a concrete slab, do you

(42:23):
use some pavers? And I've just prior to the news,
I've been watching the story in Wellington, which is not
necessarily a building one, but it does involve a sector
where we make things and we expect them to work,
and then sometimes they don't. And in this case it's
that's failed in a spectacular way and we've ended up well, actually,
the poor people of Wellington have ended up with raw

(42:45):
sewage on their beaches right next to the main center.
Someone said, oh, look, it's not going into the harbor,
it's going into cook straight well only just to be fair,
you know some of the shots that were on TV
in the news last couple of days. I'm in Wellington,
you know, a couple of times a year. Yeah, if

(43:07):
I happen to have a bit of time before I
go to the airport, I'll often just park up at
that beach nearby, go for a bit of a wander
along the beach. It's beautiful. There's sometimes there's people surfing,
sometimes there's people just enjoying the beach, wandering or having
a paddle in the water and that sort of thing.
And of course, now you can't for the foreseeable future
that will be out of bounds because you can't put

(43:30):
this any other way. Somebody stuffed up, right, that's not
what was supposed to happen during the maintenance. And then
people are going, oh, you've been really judgmental. Well, yeah,
these things shouldn't happen, and yes, there'll be an investigation,
and my prediction is probably completely predictable. Somebody made a mistake,
and I'm not saying that, you know, as humans, we
don't make mistakes, but there should be accountability and whether

(43:53):
if you consider that judgment, well, yeah, fair enough. The
reality is accountability does involve judgment, and in this instance,
somebody's made a mistake and I think somebody should be
responsible for it as ba as a extacies. Hey, look,
as someone who's been personally prosecuted for some fifty thousand
dollars for a few buckets of contaminated water on my

(44:15):
own property, I find it very hard to accept the
continual failure by public services across the country without any
prosecution of individuals. Fair point. I wonder whether it was
more than just a few buckets of contaminated water for
fifty grand interesting, Actually, just we were talking about sort

(44:35):
of permeable surfaces, site coverage and this sort of thing.
Good Morning Peak talking about permeable surfaces being increasingly covered
with impermeable surfaces, granny flats, et cetera. Where does all
the rain water go? Surely this will lead to more
flooding regards from Theresa, it will if it's not managed.
So I think what we're finding is that increasingly as

(44:57):
the intensity increases, the requirement at resource consent stage, at
building consent stage to then manage the storm water run
off increases as well. So it's not just a simple
case of connecting all of your downpipes to drainage in
the ground and pumping it out to the or letting
it flow out to the council stormwater. Often there'll be mitigation,

(45:20):
whether that's detention tanks, retention tanks, funnelly get into permeable areas,
et cetera, et cetera. That's becoming more and more common. So,
you know, good on Council, they've recognized you can't just
keep pushing all this stuff into the stawwater that's going
to be inundated with more and more supply, more and
more water being directed to it from impermeable spaces, so

(45:45):
there is mitigation in place for that, and good on
them in the using water tanks for example, partly as
rainwater harvesting, partly as stormwater detention, makes a lot of sense.
Certainly the ones that I've installed in the last couple
of years, it's exactly what we've been doing. It's been great.

(46:05):
So you can do a bit rainwater harvesting. And it
also helps you control stormwater overflow that not everything from
your property hits the public line at the same time
by reducing the outflow, so you capture it and then
you reduce it, you send it out slowly over a
period of time. Is a really simple measure. Oh, eight
hundred eighty ten eighty is that number to call? Eleven

(46:27):
minutes after seven Dennis, good morning.

Speaker 11 (46:30):
Yes, I just want to find out the rules and
regulations about building a shed right on the boundary.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Sure, do you want to build one? Or is someone
built one on your.

Speaker 11 (46:42):
Boundary it's still neighbors built one, or it's nearly finished
a right on the boundary. It's I can give you
some measurements if you want they Sure it's four and
a half meters long. Yep, it's two point one seven
zero high and from a house it's a two point

(47:07):
nine long from the house to this sense. Yeah, sure,
said right up against the boundary, which is a fence.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Yes, well, it's quite clear that it can't be there
unless they have a building consent.

Speaker 11 (47:26):
Right, Well, he hasn't got one, then it.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Shouldn't be there. It's as simple as that.

Speaker 11 (47:31):
I've been to the council.

Speaker 6 (47:33):
Yep.

Speaker 11 (47:33):
I'm waiting for them to come back to me.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
They will say it's a civil matter because they didn't
issue a building consent for it. Their typical responses, it's
up to you. But everything that I understand, even with
all of the new rules, and even with David Seymour
trumpeting just a couple of months ago that hey, we've
changed the rules around garden sheds. So the guideline was

(47:58):
always that something like a garden shed, whether it's you know,
two or three square meters or six or seven square meters,
it needed to be the height of the building away
from the boundary.

Speaker 6 (48:12):
And then.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
That's got to be one of the most common non
compliant things around, right. No one, hardly anyone puts their sheds,
storage units, et cetera, et cetera, that far away from
the boundary. So they've accepted that. They've said, Okay, the
new rule is it can be a meter from the boundary,
but it can't be closer than a meter. So if

(48:37):
your neighbor has constructed something and and you know where
the boundary is, and you know that it's within one meter,
that's non compliant. Whether or not counsel would enforce anything,
I really don't know what your rights are. You could
exercise those through the Property Act, but it's going to

(48:59):
be a little bit challenging.

Speaker 11 (49:00):
Yeah, I wouldn't be moaning about that a shrine phan
of my lounge and that's what I see.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah, and you know that's sort of things just inconsiderate, right,
that's dead right, And.

Speaker 11 (49:15):
You know, if I have spoken to him about it,
every one to know.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
We need to go to council.

Speaker 11 (49:26):
Just say that A round it through you and just
see where I struggle with that.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
I think that the only sort of question that I'd
have is are you sure that the fence is the boundary?

Speaker 6 (49:38):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Okay, if you're confident that the fence actually is the boundary,
and on that basis, you're saying the fence is the
boundary this building is within a meter of the fence,
which is the boundary. I absolutely believe that it shouldn't
be there. It's quite clear, even with the recent changes
that if you build within one meter of the boundary

(50:00):
it requires a building consent. If they don't have a
building consent, then it's basically a non compliant building.

Speaker 11 (50:07):
The house that on the other side of the section
where the shad is a year old. The house is
a year old. So that's how I know it's all
on the boundary.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeah, that's right. And you know, new boundaries typically are
in the right place. You know, it's not uncommon with
older houses to have fences that aren't anywhere near the boundary.
But look, I think.

Speaker 11 (50:30):
So, I was going to wait till the city council
gets back to me and to see what he says.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
When did you go to the council to ask them advice?

Speaker 11 (50:39):
About three days ago?

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Okay, Well, hopefully they'll get back to you, you know,
Monday or so. And I mean, this is the sort
of thing that council should come out and investigate and say, hey,
look here's the rules. You've put it in the wrong place.
You've got to move it. Is it a when you
say they've built something, is it like a kit set
or does it feel like it's sort of fully formed?

(51:01):
And have they done a concrete slab anything like that.

Speaker 11 (51:04):
It's got a concrete slab. It wasn't a kid said,
it has just been built.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
You know, it's framed up and yeah, yeah, I guess
off the back of this. One of my concerns has
always been that, you know, if people are building, and
people often do they build, well, we know that the
rules are a meter from the boundary, but if it's
less than that, you know, how do you get in
there to maintain it. We've talked a little bit about
storm water. Often people will pitch those roofs so that

(51:33):
the water sheds towards the neighbor. If they don't put
a bit of spouting on there. Even if they do
and they just put a downpipe and that directs the
water onto the ground, then that water is coming to
your place right now.

Speaker 11 (51:46):
The roof has slanted after their house.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
But again I wonder whether they're doing anything to capture
the storm water off there.

Speaker 11 (51:55):
Yeah, well, it's as I said, it's not finished it.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Yeah, sure, sure, It's all I wanted to know.

Speaker 11 (52:02):
I mean, I'll just wait for the council and to
see where I go from there.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Absolutely, but you know I can understand your frustration.

Speaker 11 (52:11):
Yes, I didn't have to look at it twenty four
hours a day.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Whatever you are, that's really unconsiderate a And you know
the chances are the neighbor or say, oh, you can
plant some trees and all the rest of them. Okay,
well you've give me some money for some trees, then
good luck to all the best take care of by
by then. And look, I broadly I think that the

(52:34):
granny flat thing is not a bad idea, But are
we going to get more of these sorts of issues
that people will I just I can't help but have
the snagging doubt about the introduction of the granny flat
legislation to feel that some people will take it as
there are no rules anymore, because you don't need a

(52:55):
building consent. Basically there's no rules. And that is absolutely
not the case. Oh, eight hundred eighty eighty. If you've
got a question, someone's just text through. But I'm not
sure that I completely understand what you're saying. Andy, Pete,
one to ten is allowed onto the boundary. Ten to

(53:16):
thirty is one meter. The granny flat is two meters.
That's on the NB website. Okay, so hang on, here
you go. If it is less than ten square meters,
then it can be on the boundary. If it's between
ten and thirty square meters, then you need to be
one meter away. Granny flats are two meters. Yes, you're right,

(53:42):
thank you, Andy. So if it's under ten square meters,
you can put it on the boundary. So that would
be the issue, Dennis. If it's four meters long and
it's two point four roughly deep, then it could be
on the boundary. I'll go and have a look at
the MB website as well. Thanks for that, Andy, much appreciated.

(54:04):
Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
It is nineteen or eighteen minutes, heyt give it a second.
There we go. It is nineteen minutes after seven. Back
in a moment.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Squeaky door or squeaky floor Get the right advice from
Peter Wolfcare, the resident builder. On news Talk SAB.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Today, we're checking in to see how jaframe is used
with these relocatable and modular homes, and we're joined by
Kevin Taylor, who's the business manager at leisure Coom Homes
based in Holtapu and Cambridge. Now leisure Coom specializes in
turn key, modular and relocatable homes, delivering high quality, factory
built homes throughout Auckland, Northland, the Bay of Plenty right

(54:45):
across the North Island. Kevin, great to have you with.

Speaker 6 (54:47):
Us, thanks, Peter.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Good to be here right. So how long has jframe
been part of the leisure Coom system and what initiated
the change?

Speaker 12 (54:59):
Good question, Peter, leisure Coom decided to move from the
traditional SGA to Jframe about sixty seven years go for
all our new home builds, which was very much driven
to continue to deliver superior built home batch for our
longevity and maintenance free in utilizing the strong product.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
So what stood out for you and the team at
leisure con when you first started using j Frank What changed?

Speaker 12 (55:28):
The real standout was the accuracy and the timbersizing that
we found dimensionally true and straight due to it being
a manufactured product. This really saved us substantial time in
straightening our homes and ready for pre liners. You'd understand
to get through the inspections. Well, a part that we

(55:49):
saw then was they stayed true and straight, so our
homes stay at a really high quality without that movement
over the seasonal on climate changes.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
Our final part was.

Speaker 12 (56:01):
The reliable and with straight and durable products that again
aligns with our quality and per who toicoa frame and
trust who make and manufacture our frames do a great
job in delivering us a good product because of.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Course, you know, we're all used to a bit of movement,
but most of us don't put our houses on a
barge and move it around. So you're transporting the houses,
so they've got to be particularly rigid.

Speaker 6 (56:27):
Yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 12 (56:28):
We're probably the building company who tests the strength of
our house the most, and again the strength of Jayframe
is what really comes into play. We know as a
business we can be really confident whether we're transporting the
homes anywhere in the North Island, putting them on a barge,
or we do two story modular homes, so we crane

(56:50):
them into position as well and end product great condition,
really happy clients.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
So any tips for builders listening today that might be
new to Jframe.

Speaker 12 (57:01):
Yeah, I thought a bit about this question and it's
pretty simple really. If you want to build a great product,
Jay Frame is one of the key products to achieve
that true and accurate built home.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
You know it's faultless.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Really, hey, now, leisure Com, what's different about your modular
and relocatable homes?

Speaker 12 (57:22):
I had a whole page to go here, mate, so
I had to shorten it up a little bit. But
look a couple of key points. Leisure COM's quality finishes
before the build leaves our factory at how tapoo fully
complete code of compliance. You know, this can include toll showers,
whatever the client wants. And another real standout is our

(57:42):
on site management team that allows us to take the
build through to fu turnkey contracts for clients, which is
a real plus, and they know that the total build
is being managed from start to finish in a timely manner.
You know, when you reflect back something that I sort
of reflected on myself that we're really proud of, and

(58:03):
Rob the director says a lot is our referral rate
that we get from past clients, and I just think
it's a real testament to the twenty five years of
leisure Common business one.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Now, we know it's been tough, but what do you
reckon twenty twenty six looks like for leisure.

Speaker 12 (58:17):
Com as I just said, first and foremost, we're celebrating
twenty five years in business this year, which is pretty
exciting and shows a pretty good strength of our brand.
We're always looking to progress in our industry where the
builds are first home buyers, beach homes, multi level, and
we were trying to be at the forefront. I guess

(58:38):
in a reflection, we're just prepared for another challenging year,
but excited about more people choosing to have a home
built in a controlled environment like ours to avoid the
modern weather patterns, costly delays and see some real growth
back in our industry for an exciting year.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Absolutely. Hey, what's the best way for listeners to get
a hold of you?

Speaker 12 (59:00):
Either check out our website dub dub dub dot leisurecom,
dot co, dot m Z, or give us a call
for a chat with any any of the team here
seven eight two three, five nine five one and will
help guide anyone through the process right from the start. Mate.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Awesome to talk with you, Kevin, Thanks very much, and
folks to learn more about DU can check out JNL
dot co dot nz.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
You're news helping you get those DIY projects done right.
The resident builder with Beata wolfscaff call, oh, eight hundred
eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
You've talk zb keen to get cracking, keen to get
cracking at a seven thirty just on the garden sheds.
Because we had that long conversation with Dennis about a
neighbor who is building what they can see as a
four meter long structure pretty much right on the boundary
or adjacent the boundary. So the new rule changes as

(59:51):
announced by the government and came into place at the
end of twenty twenty five. A single you can build
a single story detached building between ten and thirty square
meters in floor area one meter away from the boundary,
or any other building without a building consent. You can
build a single story detached building under ten square meters

(01:00:15):
up to the boundary, or another building without a building consent.
So depending on the depth of the building that the
neighbor in this particular instance is building, it might actually
be compliant, as in if it's less than ten square meters.
And the interesting thing with the ten square meters is
it's measured inside the building line or inside the actual framing,

(01:00:36):
so it's ten square meters of usable space. So you
add let's say, you know, one hundred millimeters around the
perimeter for your framing. That's not included in the way
that they calculate these things. I can't figure that out either,
to be fair, if that confuses you. But ten square
meters up on the boundary, it's legal. Oh eight hundred

(01:00:57):
eighty ten eighty the number to call Dan, Good morning, Hi,
morning money. How can I help?

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Yes, Oh, yes, we have a question.

Speaker 13 (01:01:07):
Is like, actually, we have a problem this week from
Tuesday is our water supply to our house is being
cut out. And it turned out it's like an electrical
contractor working in our driveway and dug a dug the
power trench and for the neighbors like a new renovation
house connection. And when they when they is dug the trenches,

(01:01:29):
they didn't tell us. And also apparently they when they
dug the trench because the trench power trench is very
close to the water supply and near the top topic box.
So yeah, so so basically they've broken that the pipe
water pipes connection on the top of box. And and
I just I just because we don't get any like

(01:01:51):
a notification or anything like anything, and so I just
want to make check with you. It's like say from
a beauty point of view. It's like saying, is that
is that legal? Like say, you know, like you know
they I understand they want to connect power, but but
it's illegal. They they jump in your driveway and and

(01:02:12):
then that that would be nice and leave up the
power part of the concrete and c and then like
then they broke it or water supply and then they
then they just have to connect to the Unison like a.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Network's definitely inside your boundary.

Speaker 13 (01:02:27):
It's it's individual driveway. We've got a fence like on
both sides. Yes, that's definitely a clear mark. It's like
individual driveway. I have spoken. I have spoken to the
Sorry I know, I have spoken to Unison. Yes, Unison
definitely they fed back to me. They will like investigate
the one. And I also try to fire a message
to the to the electric company because they're not working

(01:02:50):
for me, they're working from my neighbors. But but I
have no feedback at all. So I just right now,
we we've been we've been in this very hot citizen
because I when the situation keptened and I contacted the
city council. They send the water team here. They fixed there.
Whether that we can see apparent like a you know,
a larm breckage. They fixed that one, but after that,

(01:03:13):
we don't have enough water supply. I have to call
council in the last three days, like I said, maybe
two or three times. So the preliminary conclusion is like
when the initial bridgage happened, there may be some solid
stone or debrise mixed it into the you know, like
the water supply pipe. So maybe it's stuck somewhere in

(01:03:35):
the in our water supply line. So that's why we
don't have enough flow or low pressure for the house.
And it really makes us miserable right now in the house,
if someone flash toilet, we can't take a shower, take
a tape for cooking, we can't take a watch missing.
It's kind of like a really, I just want to
know that's you know, who should I know?

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Who do you go to? I wonder whether you know,
if if the building work that's going on next door
is being done, you know, by a private individual or
by a development company or something. I would probably go
to the project manager of the development and say, hey, look,
this is my problem, and your contractors working on your

(01:04:16):
behalf have damaged my water pipe. And while it's been fixed,
I've still got issues and so you know, I'm basically
I'm going to hold you responsibility your contractors working on
your behalf and hopefully they can then put some pressure
on the contractors to come back and fix it. You know,

(01:04:38):
I think you've got to be really clear as to
where the boundary where. Like if we're was undertaken on
your property without your permission, then effectively that's trespas if
for example, it's on the crossing in a public area
outside your property, then it's not.

Speaker 13 (01:04:57):
Yeah, that's not definitely not trespass because then yes, the
part of the dug a dwy country, so I think
you know he's inside of the mail box, is you know,
just like to say maybe that's that's why when the
contractor started there could be a partulic transplant, but not
really because even the console came here, like they say,

(01:05:18):
the initial brickage you said, like it is it is
in the house side of the tobby box, which is
literally like I can't need to say, oh, that's not
our problem because that's you know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
And that's that's the typical guidance. So from where your
toby is or where the valve is, even if that's
slightly outside of your boundary on public land, anything from
the toby to your property is your responsibility. But if
somebody else has damaged that, then you've got to sheet
that responsibility back to them. So I think you know

(01:05:52):
it's going to be really hard to get people. This
is always the issue.

Speaker 4 (01:05:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
People make mistakes. We all make mistakes. The important thing
is putting it right, and part of that is accepting
that you've made a mistake. So if they won't accept it,
I think you need put pressure on the project manager
of the development to resolve that. So that that's where
I would focus my attention and be just a complete

(01:06:16):
nut of pain in the backside to the project manager
until they sort it out. So good luck with that.
I can understand the frustration, and if there's a blockage
then you know they need to send someone to fix it,
is the idea, But focus on the project manager. Good
luck with that, Dan. It is seven thirty seven here
at Newstalk, said be Sherry, good morning to you.

Speaker 7 (01:06:37):
We've got a lot of calls.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
Good how are you, Sherry? Hello? Hello, yes, hello, greeting Shelley.
Sorry my apologies.

Speaker 7 (01:06:48):
That's okay, all good, but I'm not I'm just willing
because we've got a walking shower and it's all tiled.
The bathroom for is all tiled, yes, and the showers
all chiled. Now we've just noticed there's sort of two
of the walls a tile wright then there's a glass
panel and they need.

Speaker 9 (01:07:06):
To walk straight in.

Speaker 7 (01:07:07):
But around each of the where the shower goes into
the wall where the walls walls are, some of the
tiles appear to have cracks in them, and we're not
too sure what to do about that. We do have
whether something you know, where we can replace them, and
we do have some spare tiles that would match. Yeah,

(01:07:28):
what what do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Sometimes, you know, a tile will develop like a very
fine hairline crack, and it's there could be any number
of explanations for that, but they do that. They don't dislodge,
they don't they're not displaced like one side isn't higher
than the other or anything like that. It's just a
very fine crack in the tile. And arguably it's just cosmetic, right,

(01:07:54):
It's it's not going to impact on the waterproofing or
the integrity of the waterproofing or anything like that. It's
just a crack in the tile. If you do want
to go ahead and replace that tile and you happen
to have some leftover ones, that's fine, but there is
always a risk that when you remove that tile, you
could potentially damage the waterproofing membrane behind it. So depending

(01:08:18):
on where the tile is, like if it's you know,
up high, and it's away from the splash area, then
you'd go, Okay, there's reasonable risk. If it's right down
the bottom it's an area that gets saturated, you might
take a sort of risk averse position and just go
maybe I'm not going to touch that. I'm just going
to leave it right. But yeah, you can replace them,

(01:08:38):
but just be very cautious around not damaging the waterproofing.

Speaker 7 (01:08:43):
Okay, And the professional person would know how to do that,
how to do it. Just just sort of thinking of
resale later on, because I think it's gone slightly and
I just sort of think, gosh, what would somebody start buying,
what would they think?

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
And look, it's one of those things too where potentially
there's the cracking has occurred because the tile is sort
of delaminated or dislodged from the adhesive, in which case
getting it off as easier because that's what caused the
cracking in the first place. But look, you know, suitably
experienced professional tyler could come along and sort that out,
particularly if you've kept a couple of tiles, which I

(01:09:19):
think is always a great idea. And so yeah, you know,
keep a box of the or half a box that's
left over at the end of the job. Keep it
somewhere in the house or in the shed, and then
if something like this happens, you've got the replacement one.

Speaker 7 (01:09:34):
Oh that's love it. Oh, thank you so much much.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
Okay, all of this, take care and John, greetings to you.

Speaker 8 (01:09:43):
Hey, John, taking my call on for another bathroom and
tall question for you, please sure aout. Fifteen years ago
we refurbished our bathroom and created a walk and shower.
It was all done correctly, water proofing, tile underlay, et cetera,

(01:10:05):
and good subfloor. We're now planning on selling the house.
But I made the mistake and I should shoot myself
for it. But we didn't get a building consent for
it at all, and I've got no photos, no proof
of it. In the process of having about to have

(01:10:27):
a meeting next week or a pre CoA YEP meeting,
and I'll pay the three hundred dollars with the council,
is that the correct avenue to go down the council
give me a CoA for it, even though there's nothing visible,

(01:10:51):
because otherwise we have to well, we've got to declear
it to any prospective bier because we're going to put
the house on the market.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Yes, I think that that's your best pathway to of
tidying up the paperwork. Basically, so the work was done,
it did need a building consent, didn't get one. You've
now got to provide evidence that it's compliant with the
building code. Right, So if you unfortunately what you're saying
is you don't have any photographs and all the rest

(01:11:23):
of it. But if you've still got some records of
you know, what waterproofing system was done, maybe who did
the work, was the person who did the work licensed
and so on, if you can put all of that
together and essentially create a narrative or a you know,
say to council, this is what I've done. The other
thing is that if you can prove that it's it

(01:11:45):
hasn't failed, then that's important as well.

Speaker 8 (01:11:48):
So you know, if you can say, yeah, there's no
leakage at all whatsoever, But.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
As long as you can prove the The other thing
is sometimes, you know, dealing with counsel is kind of
a specialist task. So what you might find is that
your presentation to counsel is not going to convince them,
in which case you probably are going to end up
engaging a professional like a registered building surveyor to put

(01:12:16):
the case to counsel on your behalf. And I'm doing
exactly that on a project at the moment where someone
I know has got a shower. It didn't get a
building consent, it did need one. We've got someone engaged
who's a former building inspector who works in the space.
They've come, they've inspected it, they've put together evidence, they're

(01:12:37):
going to put a proposal to counsel in order to
get a CoA. So yeah, you're on the right path. Okay,
then alrighty, good luck. Let us know how you get on,
because I do like to know how these things wrap
up in the end. So let us know. Oh, eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty is that number to call.
Will come back and talk to Paul in a moment,
remember after the break at eight o'clock. Actually, we'll probably

(01:13:00):
take us a little while to have a bit of
a chat with Andrew Eagles from the Green Building Council
about twenty years of the New Zealand Green Building Council.
That'll be up after the eight o'clock news.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
Back in a moment, God was but maybe called Pete
Bird Vida Wolfcab the Resident Builder news Talk.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Sa'd be a couple of people who responded to Danny's
or Dan's issue in terms of contractor working doing electrical supply,
cutting through or damaging the water main. Now the water
pressure is very low, is there a possibility that there's
some sort of sediment that's got into the line hasn't
been flushed out properly. Yeah, that happens. Owen, regular texter

(01:13:39):
and very experienced plumber said hey, look, you know, go
back to basics too. Just make sure that the valve
is fully open. Thank you very much for that. I mean, look,
it happens people sort of turn it on but don't
open it completely, So that could be a simple check
as well. Phil, Good morning, Hey morning, peat a good e.

Speaker 14 (01:13:57):
Got a property where we have a pung of fence
on our side and to the neighbors going up to
the neighbor's side. It's about a meter and a half
two meters. There's a bit of slippage of soil coming through,
and I'm just wondering, is it correct that the high
side is responsible for the retaining.

Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
No, I've never taken that approach. I've always taken the
approach of one on which side of the boundary is it,
and then the other one is who benefits. So typically
people put retaining walls into benefit themselves. Right, So if
your property is higher and you want it to be level,
you build a retaining wall that allows you to level

(01:14:35):
out your section, then it's your retaining wall. You're responsible
for it because you get the benefit for it, and
it's on your boundary. And the reverse supplies as well.
If I know I'm on a sloping site and I've
got a neighbor who's slightly higher, but i want to
create a flat area, I'll put a retaining wall in.
It'll be on my side of the boundary, and that

(01:14:55):
allows me to excavate down and lower my level. To
you for practicality, then it's my responsibility.

Speaker 6 (01:15:02):
Yeah, okay, okay, good thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
That's kind of how I've always approached it.

Speaker 6 (01:15:07):
Yep, Okay, good luck.

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
It's eleven minutes away from seven o'clock. And Paul, a
very hang on hand. What's happening here? I'm all over
the place, Paul, greetings, greeting.

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
It's been a while since we've chatted feet, and what
has found your advice to be very sound, normally sort
of not not quite as naughty as I've been on
that occasion. Do you take naughty boy calls?

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Oh mate, I've been there, so yeah, Kindred spirit, yes.

Speaker 11 (01:15:41):
Go for it, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
I've got a two two well a property but on
two separate titles. And I went ahead when they announced
a steady square met a building thing where you could
build a separate dwelling and whatnot. And and the first

(01:16:05):
thing I did is a a surveyor and the survey
the property before I started putting one point eight met
a fence fences up around the property to demarcate the
boundaries and whatnot, and and made sure I wasn't building
fences on neighbors property causing other issues. And also had

(01:16:27):
the survey survey the concept of two of these square
meeta dwellings, and and he did that which which I've
got he's registered to they you know, quite respected around
town and anyway, a lot of bit trigger happy, and

(01:16:52):
I think and I got told that the thirty square
MEAs will. Initially there was no kitchen allowed in the
in the dwelling, and I went had a meeting with
a council and they said, you have just make sure
that when you do the drawing to put the council,
don't put a kitchen in the drawing. And oh yeah, yeah,

(01:17:17):
you know. So anyway, I went built the thing, put
the kitchen in as you'd expect for being a naughty boy.
And and now I'm in a situation where I've got
two thirty square meter dwellings situated on piles, built by

(01:17:39):
a licensed building practitioner. Plumbing was done by a registered
local registered plumber, as was the electrical work. But as
for talking to council, that was the last conversation that
I had was a meeting with them, and they said, well,

(01:18:01):
you can clearly put two thirty square meter dwellings there,
don't put a kitchen in warrants.

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
I'm a little bit surprised that the advice from the
council official, knowing that that your intention was to create
a habitable, self contained flat and then they're kind of
telling you to be a bit tricky and he look,
we know you're going to do it, just don't tell
us you're going to do it. And then, I mean

(01:18:29):
it's deceptive, isn't it, in the sense that you've gone
ahead and done something that they've kind of with a
nudge at a way. Yeah, and now they're probably not
happy with you.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
Well, they're surely unhappy. They Well the lady, the lady
who's the head plainer there, said, she said, well, why
don't we to have a meeting sometime. Well, let's have
a meeting about the susteenth of June when everything set down, Yeah,

(01:19:02):
which I thought was quite And that was back in
December when she said that meeting day.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
Can I just ask a quick question. I'm a little
bit curious as to why the survey didn't inform you,
you know, if you were surveying it and going, I'm
going to do two thirty square meter structures when my
understanding is the guidance is very clear, so it's just
one that you're allowed to do. Or was this a
blank piece of end because each each each title has

(01:19:31):
its own one on it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
Yes, Okay, so there's two separate titles. Sure, it just
happens to be a duplex with two totally separate titles.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
And each of those titles now has one additional thirty
square meter structure on it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
Yes it does. Yes, Okay, like I've got a fair
bit of time given fifteenth of June. You know, they're
obviously not stressing out about it, because it'd be wond
on Monday morning, you know. So I've been called the
principal's office, really and anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
I've only got a minute to go. I'm just so,
is your intention with these thirty square meter buildings to
have each of them as a habitable space, So it'll
have a kitchen in it, it'll have shower and toilet
it self contained.

Speaker 3 (01:20:30):
And toilet and whatnot. And that was allowed under the
rules according to them.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
Well no it wasn't. That's only now become the rules.
So that's the thing. So you could build you could
build up to thirty square meters as a sleepout, but
it specifically excluded having any sanitary fittings.

Speaker 3 (01:20:50):
Well, their understanding or her understanding the Pead planet there
was that you could have a shower and a toilet
and a wash basin in the thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
Square meters if you've got a building consent for it.

Speaker 3 (01:21:07):
No, I needed a building concent and result consent once
I had a kitchen to it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
And that runs completely counter to everything that I've understood
about the building, you know, the Building Act and the
building requirements for standalone dwellings and so on up until now.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
Maybe I'm lucky to have.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
If so, get them to sign it straight away and
all your problems are solved. But I don't know that
that's going to be the situation. The whole point of
the grani Felt legislation is to free up the opportunity
for people to build a compliant building, hopefully compliant without
necessarily requiring a consent. But it's only now become law.

(01:21:56):
Prior to becoming law, it was a well I.

Speaker 3 (01:21:59):
Jumped again on the law thing.

Speaker 7 (01:22:01):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
It's like saying, officer, I'm on the motorway. Apparently it's
going to age to one hundred and ten at some time,
and I'm doing one hundred and nine right now. Please
don't give me a ticket.

Speaker 6 (01:22:12):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:22:12):
Yeah, I'm getting a house.

Speaker 2 (01:22:14):
Please don't leave it too long till we talk again,
because I'd be very, very interested to see how this
washes up. Thank you very much for that, righty oh,
after the break, we're going to take some time to
chat with Andrew Eagles from the New Zealand Green Building Council.
They're celebrating twenty years and there's there's a number of

(01:22:36):
milestones that we want to recognize, so looking forward to that.
After new Sporting, we're the top of the are at
eight o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:22:45):
Doing other house sorting the garden. Last Pete for a
hand the resident builder with Peter Wolfcap call oh eight
eight eighty News Talks, that'd.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
Be your news talk said, be welcome back to the show.
Remember at around eight thirty this morning, we will have
Root Climb pasted as always joining us. So we're into
the garden with Ridge from eight point thirty. But right
now I wanted to take a little bit of time
today on the show to have a chat with Andrew Eagles.
Andrew is the chief executive of the New Zealand Green

(01:23:14):
Building Council. And Andrew to explain what the New Zealand
Green Building Council is and what they do. My own
engagement with them extends back to I should look it up.
It was like twelve thirteen years ago where I went
along to do the Home Star Home Assessors or Home

(01:23:34):
Practitioners course version one of Home Star. So twenty years
is a remarkable achievement. And let's have a bit of
a chat with Andrew this morning. A very good morning, Kioto, welcome.

Speaker 9 (01:23:48):
Now great to speak with you, geek and you.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
So let's go back twenty years. What led to the
arrival let's say the Green Building Council in New Zealand,
given that there are around the world green building councils
as well.

Speaker 9 (01:24:03):
Yes, well, there were some really insight for visionary leaders
from the construction and property sector who wanted to set
out a mechanism to drive up quality and health and
reduce impacts. And I understand they met over a few
drinks and a number of times in Wellington. It was

(01:24:27):
Peter Doowell, Graham from Finlay, Dean Croucher and a number
of others and they all got quite passionate about it.
And then one of them said, well, you know, if
we want to do this, we're going to have to
have to get cracking and raise the money and form
an entity. And they did look overseas to models to

(01:24:50):
set up a full purpose organization with the view to
drive up healthier, more efficient buildings to help New Zealand
along the way, and that's led to this amazing movement
and we're so grateful to people like you and them
and our founding thirty one members. We now have seven

(01:25:13):
hundreds and all of them have helped us become an accepted, trusted,
significant part of the construction and building sector.

Speaker 14 (01:25:23):
And you know, all of those.

Speaker 9 (01:25:26):
Chairs and boards put in voluntary time over that twenty
years to oversee the organization and grow it and that's
meant and the key thing they wanted when they started
was certifications to ensure buildings owners and tenants could rely

(01:25:47):
that this building was a really good one for investments,
for quality for tenants. And now thanks to using the
certifications to lend out money to developers and builders, corporation,
tenants and families are trusting the certification to get quality.
And we've hit a few billion dollars worth of projects

(01:26:08):
certified to either green Star or Homestar or existing building tools.
Five point five million square meters of commercial building now
the sixteen thousand homes, so you know we're celebrating this
week and childer to you for all of your support
over time, Pete. We want to thank everyone who's been

(01:26:30):
involved in either look to further that for their own
purposes or they've put time or if it in to.

Speaker 6 (01:26:38):
Support this.

Speaker 2 (01:26:40):
Because I think going back, and like I said, my
sort of engagement, let's say, was I don't know when
version one of the Homestyle program came out and there
was an opportunity to go along and sort of get
engaged in it, to be introduced to the concept of
building science. And while it's it's a phrase that we
use quite a lot today, but if you go back

(01:27:03):
twenty years ago, there were not that many people using
the phrase, because I know it was there, but it
didn't seem to be front of mind. Whereas I think
one of the things about the Green Building Council and
similar organizations is let's apply some actual science. Let's measure
what we do, because then we can say this building,

(01:27:26):
let's be blunt, this building is better than that one
because it does X, Y and Z. You know, it
doesn't overheat, or it does keep the heat in, or
it allows for shading and all of these sorts of things.
So it's an objective standard of being able to say
this is the reason that this is a good building
and it's got our home star level whatever it's going

(01:27:47):
to be. Well, it used to be one through ten,
wasn't it. Now it's just five through ten, six through ten,
six through ten. Okay.

Speaker 9 (01:27:55):
I think that's right, and there's some real advantages to
that approach. So we know, and we're getting increasingly concerns
from people and new build homes that their new built
homes are overheating. But as you say, if you apply
the science at the design stage, you can check if

(01:28:16):
that home is going to be comfortable and warm and
not hit high temperatures.

Speaker 10 (01:28:21):
You know, we've got people talking.

Speaker 9 (01:28:23):
About over thirty degrees at night when their kids are
trying to sleep, and sure one man fifty degrees at midday.
Now it doesn't actually need to be like that. If
we apply the science as you say, then you can
check through that design stage and you know you're going
to have more comforts. You're going to be warmer in

(01:28:44):
the winter and comfortable, not cold, and then in summer
you're going to be cooled because you haven't overplazed and
you haven't got too much internal heat game. So there
is an increasing awareness of this. And another example would
be the commercial building sector where We've calculated that forty

(01:29:06):
percent of buildings over ten million dollars are applying that
science and getting better buildings, lower running costs, and a
lot of them are really interested in good equality, comfort,
well being of their staff and tenets inside those buildings.
So again, as you say, it's that way to get
that robustness and uncertainty of quality.

Speaker 2 (01:29:30):
And I guess my focus obviously is in the residential market,
and I'm cognisant or conscious of the fact that there's
the green Star program for commercial buildings. But you know,
if you're getting the commercial developers and so on to
get on board with green Star, you know they're not
always just doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Right,

(01:29:50):
it makes sense to them to build better buildings which
arguably they could possibly lease for more or they have
longer term leases because it's a good building for your
business to operate in.

Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
Exactly.

Speaker 9 (01:30:05):
Yep, you touched on overseas, and we have learned from
other green building councils around the world, but the evidence
is really clear that buildings verified as green do deliver
better places, better rental yields, and a price premium, and
that's being rewarded here in New Zealand as well. So

(01:30:27):
JLL did a great report turning Green to Gold, which
found a three to nine percent uplift for prices and
a three to seven percent uplift for rental income. And
I think that will come in residential as well. And
I do get really excited about residential because that's the

(01:30:48):
thing that can deliver for lots of Kiwi families right
have a healthier place and less.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
Run Where are we at with the numbers in terms
of so actually for our listeners, so if you're interested
in having your house rated for home Start, typically you'd
need to what's the process? How does that work? So
I'm you know, as it happens, I will be building
later on, and so at the design stage, I'd come

(01:31:16):
to the Green Building Council to one of your team
and go, this is what I propose, and then it's
reviewed in order to figure out where I'm going to
sit on the rating scheme exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:31:26):
Okay.

Speaker 9 (01:31:27):
So there's a list of home Start designers on our website,
and in fact, lots of responsible builders have people in
their teams who have that training that you undertook. Yes,
and that means that you can say to the builder Hey,
i'd like a Home Star certificate, and then that gets
checked at the design stage to check it's on track,

(01:31:50):
and then at the built stage is a check just
to ensure that it's met the standard in that process
in terms of the certification fees is you know, two
to five hundred dollars that kind of element. But it
means that you get that certainty and a lot of

(01:32:10):
builders now have that in house and they can deliver
it for you if you want. And of course what
it means is less moisture in the home. You've got
good ventilation, you're going to be more comfortable, good air quality.
And also now you can access significantly lower mortgage costs.

(01:32:32):
So over the course of the mortgage you could save
sixty to one hundred thousand dollars through A and Z
through reduced mortgage interest costs and also love running costs.
And this is really exciting, Pete. We've found that developers
can now get lower interest costs for building to home staffs.

(01:32:54):
That's completely different. If there's people building out there and
they need a loan for building their homes, they're the developer.
Then the loan they can get from the bank for
building those homes you know, they might need it when
they get the land, and then they wait a couple
of years before they sell, they can gain significant benefits.

(01:33:15):
We've got one builder in christ Chich he's saving after
his costs. He's saving thirty thousand dollars per home for
building to home Star. So it's a really exciting moment
because finance is greening. You're seeing finance run rewards home Star.

Speaker 2 (01:33:32):
Because I think sometimes the perception is that it's going
to cost me more to go to build the home
Star standards or to build green and I think that
maybe in the early stages, and we're talking ten to
fifteen years ago, when the technology and the understanding was
in its infancy, that might have been true. I think
today we can build better because there's more people in

(01:33:57):
that space, there's more knowledge without necessarily incurring costs. Do
you think that many people are thinking about the long
term cost of running their building, but the upfront investment
of building better is worth it because you get the
payoff for the rest of the life of the building.

Speaker 9 (01:34:14):
That's exactly one of the challenges peak.

Speaker 6 (01:34:18):
Yeah, so it is.

Speaker 9 (01:34:20):
We see on average that it's between zero point five
and one point five additional costs so generally under ten
thousand dollars for that additional that that might mean you
need to put in ventilation or slightly improved in slashing standards,

(01:34:41):
or just some mine improvements. But the great thing about
the infometrics research and the clients we've seen and quantity
surveys checking, is that they've found that that gets paid
off in about three years. So you know you're going
to hold your house for ten, twenty thirty years, and

(01:35:01):
all that time you'll be winning because you have lower
interest costs, a more comfortable home, and you can access
lower interest mortgage costs, and so that payoff comes out
at about three years and then you've got all that
upside for the rest of the house. But I think
most importantly you just get a place which is going

(01:35:23):
to have less mold than a home. We're seeing issues
of builders building and they've got moisture in the cavity
above the ceiling in the loft area because it's just
getting the moisture can't get out, and so if you
want to ensure you haven't got that risk of needing
to come back and make amends, then it's really good

(01:35:46):
to get this right and apply the building science that
we know brands and other supports.

Speaker 10 (01:35:51):
And we know works.

Speaker 2 (01:35:52):
Yeah, absolutely, we need to take a short break. Andrew
Eagles is my guest from the New Zealand Green Building
Council celebrating twenty years and I think that's worth that's
worth celebrating. We're back in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:36:04):
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Speaker 2 (01:36:14):
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it myself? Does send Joining me on the show this
morning is Andrew Eagles from the New Zealand Green Building

(01:37:22):
Council celebrating twenty years and there's a lot to celebrate.
So what Andrew, what are the numbers look like in
terms of how many houses out there in New Zealand
have a home Star rating? And that you know, if
somebody ever asked, they could go, here's my house. It's
rated and I'm a home Star five or six or
a seven or an eight. Bearing in mind that when

(01:37:44):
I did the course, and I mentioned this to you,
and I think you were a little bit sort of
slightly she did someone really say that? But when I
did the course, which I think is like twelve thirteen
years ago, the person undertaking the course said, look, I
don't know that we are ever going to see a
ten star house in New Zealand, whether that was the
technology or the inclination or the desire whatever. The great

(01:38:07):
newsers I've been to one. So there's not just one.
There's a number of ten star rated homes around New Zealand.
But in general terms, how many homestar rated houses are
there out there now?

Speaker 9 (01:38:20):
So we've got twenty two thousand homes on our books
and about six thousand of those are still processing. Through
sixteen thousand homes have been completed around our New Zealand.
And yeah, as you say, there's lots that six homes start,
and we would recommend people start at homes start, but

(01:38:44):
you're right. You know, a long time ago people said,
well ten homes star world leading it absolute best you
can do. But we've got ten home stars around the
country to celebrate and go and look at. And people
have just been overjoyed in those homes about the quality
and the comfort that they've got in them. It is possible,

(01:39:07):
and I think that over time it's been really exciting
to see those numbers come through and lots of things
have actually transformed in the market generally as a result
through your support and others lots of things have become normalized.
We're seeing more site waste management plans, we're seeing more

(01:39:28):
emphasis on the insulation standards have improved and we kept those, Yes,
and that's because of people stepping up and wanting to
try to do better, which is great.

Speaker 2 (01:39:40):
But it's also doing better because there's objective, rational science
behind this. Right, We're not just talking sort of ideas
that are well intentioned but not backed up by evidence.
And I think that's the really exciting thing about more
and more discussion about building science. Here is some evidence.
If you do this, you'll get this result. If you don't,

(01:40:02):
you'll get a house that's thirty five degrees at night.

Speaker 7 (01:40:05):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
So let's apply the science and let's build better buildings.

Speaker 9 (01:40:10):
Yes, exactly, that's right. I mean this is led by
global science on how homes work, thermal efficiency and how
you deal with heat building up in the home. And
also importantly, we are seeing.

Speaker 10 (01:40:25):
New build homes with.

Speaker 9 (01:40:27):
As you say, overheating. The Minister for Building Construction said
new build homes causing kiwis to be cooked in their
own homes. But we're also seeing moisture issues even in
homes that are six six months or twelve months, So
let's step up. The building codes not adequate enough for

(01:40:48):
you and your family. If you want to reduce that
mold build up, and if you want to be comfortable,
use just that independent check and then you can be
sure and you can access that low interest morgitray.

Speaker 2 (01:41:01):
And that's one of those things people will often say, Okay,
so if I can't rely on the new Zone building
code to deliver me an adequate house, a good house, right,
where do I go? And one of those places is
look at home Star. Adopt some of those principles and
you will end up with a better house because you know,
you talk to people today and you go, do you
realize that there's no requirement for heating in the building code?

(01:41:23):
Really didn't know that?

Speaker 11 (01:41:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:41:28):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:41:28):
It's staggering. Andrew, there is a tremendous amount to celebrate
at the Green Building Council. I think the numbers speak
for themselves. If you know, you're talking about twenty thousand houses, now,
that's remarkable in that time and the rate of increase,
I think is exponential, which is also really exciting. I
have to say, just on a sort of personal, private

(01:41:49):
and professional note, running some houses through Home Star when
we did the block gosh ten years ago. You know,
I'm still really pleased that we did it, and those
houses stand out for me as an exemplar of really
good building science and building again in the future, certainly
i'd be looking at Home Star. So again, thank you

(01:42:10):
for all of the work that you do and all
of your team, but particularly you. I think you've been
outstanding in your role. So my thanks to you.

Speaker 9 (01:42:19):
Oh Pete, thanks so much. And just to note that
anyone out there who wants to make a start you're
a builder or you're a designer. We do have a
residential energy modeling course coming up throughout New Zealand. We're
coming to Hamilton, Wellington, Queenstown, christ Church, Twonger. You know,
sixty dollars to come along and learn how an introduction

(01:42:41):
to this the building science which Pete talks so eloquently
and with such a beautiful voice, better than myself. So
come along to three hour session and understand this is
the future, it's what people want, it's what banks want,
ye and we're going to be driving forward to better out,
more energy efficient, better for our energy grid and better

(01:43:03):
for our families. And so I'll check out into energy modeling.
The Green Building Council.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
Yeah, courses around the country and I'm hoping to get
to some myself. Andrew again, my thanks to you and congratulations,
Thank you, Take care all the best. Andrew Eagles from
the New Zealand Green Building Council. If you're interested in
sort of an introduction to energy modeling, which is going
to become more and more commonplace, go to the Green
Building Council website. Check out where these free or these

(01:43:30):
seminars are going to be. It's an introduction to it.
So like I can't do the Auckland one, I might
end up in Hamilton going to that one there. It's
really exciting and for you know people that you and
I if you're a builder trades person, basically get on
board with this because it is where the future is hidden.
Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number

(01:43:52):
to call. Actually, just indulge me just a moment, because
I get text like this all the time from Fiona.
God bless you, but Peter, what's the point of a
homestar home? It stops working the minute you open the doors.
On the sunny days in the little ones leave the
doors open as they run and out, and we don't
like a home with the windows white, and don't we
all like a home with the windows wide open in summer.

(01:44:14):
It's got to be one of the biggest misnomers around
sort of, you know, trying to make our houses a
bit more air tight, a bit more energy efficient. Is
this notion that you can't open the doors and windows.
Of course you can when it's a benefit to the house.
But when you close your doors and windows, you want
them to work properly. That's the issue. So thanks, Fianna.
I get what you're saying, but you know, let's not

(01:44:36):
pretend that you can't open doors and windows on the
energy efficient house. Right Yoh, that's my rant over. Let's
talk to Rid. Let's get into the garden. Maybe I
can ask him about me. Wasps oh eight hundred eighty
ten eighty good. Squeaky door or squeaky floor?

Speaker 1 (01:44:51):
Get the right advice from Peter wolfcaf The Resident Builder
on Newstalks EDB. For more from The Resident Builder with
Peter Wolfcam listen live to News Talks B on Sunday
mornings from Sex or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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