PROCESS
INITIAL CONSULTATION
Meet with us to discuss your design ideas from the number of bedrooms and bathrooms to the layout of rooms and types of building materials. Some clients may have firm ideas on all of the above while others may be less informative and open to discussion and feedback. We are more than happy to work in with you and your communication methods to get the desired results. After this initial meeting and taking your initial brief, we will provide a proposal outlining the stages and fees for our services.
PRE-DESIGN & SITE FEASIBILITY
This is where we gather information on the site where your particular project is based. This may include but is not limited to searching your property title, arranging and or looking over your site survey, your existing plans and any structures on your site, arranging and assessing your soil/geotechnical report, obtaining your land zoning and the council planning requirements. We may also contact other consultants on your behalf such as town planners, structural engineers, geotechnical engineers and surveyors to gain a full understanding of the requirements for your particular project.
CONCEPT DESIGN & DEVELOPED DESIGN
Once we have gathered your site information we can start to design your building. We take all your design requirements and put together floor plans and elevations. This part often has significant consultation time to ensure we develop a design that meets your expectations. It can take a number of weeks to several months depending on the scale and complexity of the building. At this stage, we will show you the design on the computer so that you can look at the full building in 3D.
DESIGN APPROVAL
PRICING PLANS AND P.I.M DOCUMENTATION
When you are happy with the overall design we will take the plans and add more detail. We will sit down with you to discuss the finer details such as interior finishes and material selection. At this stage, we can also provide 3D renders of the completed design. This can help you visualize the building and is often used where people might be marketing the building for sale.
Once the design has been confirmed it is a good time to get some initial pricing from a quantity surveyor or builders. We will add some additional information to the plans that show the construction of the building to enable you to get more accurate pricing. Sometimes it can also be a good time to submit the plans to the council to get a P.I.M (Project Information Memorandum). This is a council planning check to ensure the building meets all the council planning rules and provides information about your property that may help during the consenting process.
BUILDING CONSENT DOCUMENTATION
This stage involves adding more detailed information to the plans and working with other consultants such as engineers and truss manufacturers to obtain the required documents needed for consent. With the incorporation of this information from all other consultants, we produce documents meeting all current NZ building codes and regulations. We will provide a complete set of building plans including details, calculations, specifications and all relevant product information to form the submission to the council.
BUILDING CONSENT SUBMISSION
Once we have all the information necessary for your project we collate and submit it to council. This includes filling out the council forms and uploading the full consent to the council’s consenting system. At this point, the initial consent deposit is required to be paid to the council. The council will do an initial check of completeness before starting the 20 working day clock. (The council is required to complete their processing within 20 working days. Note the clock can stop and start during this time when additional information is required).
LIASION WITH COUNCIL
BUILDING CONSENT ISSUED
ONGOING SUPPORT
We are the first point of call for all the council communication. We will work alongside the other consultants to ensure this process is as seamless as possible by providing any additional information in a timely manner. (Often we can have our information back to the council to continue their processing the next day).
When the council has granted approval of the building consent (and where required resource consent) the set of plans and documents can then be given to a builder to start construction. Note, often it will not be until this stage that a builder will go to contract with a set building price.
We are available during the construction phase to answer any questions the client, builder or tradespeople have while on site. Sometimes there may be changes required during the building stage that requires us to provide additional information to the builder, council inspector and/or amendments to the council.