Relocated & converted building

Case study features

Relocating and renovating for affordability of existing building
Enabling multigenerational family living - grandmother there for grandchildren
Ability to move onto a narrow site with access issues
Maintaining own autonomy while having sharing options

Dwelling and property description

One-bedroom 48 square metre dwelling at the end of a flat c.900 square metre section (see aerial photo - main house is marked ‘125’). The dwelling is a converted old dental clinic - original building brought and transported to the site by Britton House Moving. The property is long but the dwelling has boundary room and enough space for a separate garden and small shed.

The dwelling is about 25 metres from the main house. It is fenced off with a gate from the main section for privacy and dogs. It has its own bathroom and bedroom and living area (incorporating lounge and kitchen). There is a small deck and a garden big enough to grow some food. A washing machine is shared in the main house, as are power, rates, water, and internet costs.

Residential history

Retired, Judy Dickie lives in the dwelling on her daughter Meg and son-in-law Andrew’s property. They have three children living at home.

She has lived there for 12 years. The dwelling was completed for her, with her son-in-law doing most of the building work.

After a separation Judy struggled to afford her own place. She originally rented a different additional dwelling in the village (which a neighbour of the Drivers had spotted). Her daughter Meg had bought a property with a largely undeveloped back garden and they built an extension to the main house.

Judy: “Meg said she was planning to have an orchard down at the bottom. And I said, well, I'll have fresh fruit available for you if you need it!”

Motivation

Financial, family and lifestyle.

Renting, Judy had come to love the community of the village, and closeness to her growing family, and in Paekākāriki to nature.

She has been able to be there for her grandchildren as they’ve grown, sharing in childcare. Now they are older they also support her. In recent years Judy has had health issues which has made this arrangement desirable.

Judy also has her own community of friends in the village.

Building

The family looked for a building to renovate to move onto site. They found an old school dental clinic in Napier. It was in bad condition but built of heart rimu in the 1950s.

It was for sale and moved by Britton House Moving who have house yards. You can see examples for sale here.

The driveway was not of sufficient width to simply drive the dwelling onsite. A special house moving truck with hydraulics enabled the dwelling to be lifted over the roof of the main house and into the back garden.

Piles were driven in and a platform created for the house to sit on. This required contracting an engineer

Judy: “So they kind of winched it onto the platform and miraculously it absolutely fitted - absolutely dead right. And Andrew, he did confess, I did notice a little grin on his face!”

Andrew Driver is a furniture maker and builder so was able to be principal designer and renovator on the project after completing his own main house extension. Andrew was able to work on it three days a week while Judy looked after their youngest child Sol.

The entire interior needed to be converted.

The completed platform before the building’s arrival.

Budget

Total cost: $70,000 (2013)

Andrew Driver did most of the renovation work (he estimates the total cost would have been $120-130,000 if he’d been fully paid).

This included architect, engineer, development fee, resource consent, and building consent.

House and delivery: $11,000

Andrew says the building was essentially free - the cost largely being the transportation.

Consenting and design: $8-10,000

Getting plans drawn up was about $3,000 of this.

KCDC Development Impact Fee: $12,500

Usually $24,000. But because it was classed as a family flat, they paid 50%.

Practical detail

Noting Andrew was also project managing. Andrew: “I think the process for people who aren't used to doing it probably seems really difficult, but I found the whole thing quite straightforward, actually.”

Because of Resource Consent they had to get all their neighbours sign-off. Normally you don’t need this signoff if the building is within the boundaries (with a two metre distance between boundary and building). In this case doing the resource consent meant they could go closer to the boundary.

A building like this doesn't need building consent - but drainage and plumbing does.

They were able to use their existing septic tank (with council this comes down to the number of toilets - in this case still only two). They did add an extra soak pit.

Andrew took four months off work and worked three days a week. Judy paid him $100 per day so they could afford it.

Andrew has estimated it saved them 40% what it would usually cost, but says it is only worth it if you know what you’re doing.

Moving a relocated building also required resource consent at this time.

An architect or draughtsperson is needed to have drawings to put through council.

The piles were driven by a contractor, and weren’t that difficult according to Andrew.

Andrew would recommend using a contractor if it suits the site...it's fast, cheapish and is to engineers specs.

Don't try to save money on the foundation.

Andrew built the subfloor to code on the driven piles.

Boundaries: Andrew strongly recommends spending a few thousand dollars to get your property surveyed. He’s aware of a number of properties in the village where the boundaries have not been where the fences are leading to additional buildings not meeting consent distance requirements from the boundary.

“That's probably not somewhere to save money.”

Rates: as a family dwelling they don’t have to pay rates on it. They get a rebate. This involves sending a form to KCDC once a year to declare they don't rent it and is for family only.

Fees and administration proved a significant percentage of the cost.

The project was funded by Judy Dickie - but Andrew notes that that cost to her versus her continuing to pay rent didn’t make financial sense. As a retired person her savings would have been used up by renting within a few years.

Benefits

Judy: community, nature closeness to family, sharing

“I enjoy living here very much. I live separately from the family, yet we are together.”

“I have my own garden as well which I get a great deal of pleasure out of.”

“I actually feel safe and secure. You know, it's wonderful to have family nearby who I know I can rely on if something happens they will be here in an instant. And they do care. Look after me. I put that into brackets because you know, I don't need looking after, but sometimes I do!”

“I've always been a bit of a nature girl…. And I have the birds and everything here in my garden and looking out on the greenery and birds. It's wonderful. And I wake up in the morning and I've got the sun in the morning.”

“It's also being in this community…. this is a very supportive community and it's really special… there's plenty of us in this village that are in my age group. I joined the Paekakariki Mermaids. We swim every morning and we also meet socially too. “

“I did also love looking after (grandson) Sol. I loved taking him down to kindy and being there with him, just being that close with him. He's 14 now. And he helps me. I mean, he cleans the windows. And the same with Louis. He's built an amazing raised garden for me. And Leon comes down. I've always got to have batteries because he needs batteries for his game thing. And I quite like that, you know, they can say, oh, well, Omi will have whatever it is we want. She's bound to have it, even a toilet roll every now and again.”

Judy’s daughter Meg: affordability, closeness to her and her sons, childcare and helping each other out

“I value it hugely that mum's here with us and a part of the whānau and a part of daily life with the kids and with us…. I’ve realised that two of our sons have no memory of not having ‘Omi’ in the backyard. It's been their entire life.”

“I always think it's the little moments that Omi's there for. It's the quick moment after school when they come home and she's there for afternoon tea. Or when they were little, it was playing out in the backyard….”

“And I guess - when I think about it now - how things have changed over time and our kids have grown… My eldest, Louis, is 17.5 and you can see the tables sort of start to turn where he's helping out more, or the boys are helping take the shopping down.”

“It’s not only just me having mum about - which is something I love - but also thinking about what that means for the boys and what their experience is and hopefully how they'll look after me one day!”

“Mum's worked hard her entire life. She's a nurse. She's given so much. And after my Oma, her mother, passed... I remember looking at rental properties and back then, which was 12 years ago, like it was going to be about $250 a week or something, just for kind of quite a scungy little place. And I remember thinking, this is just bizarre.

This is not how it needs to be. and thinking there must be another way that you can actually create more sustainability over time.”

“That Mum can ensure she has a sense of security over her future.”

“I think probably the biggest surprise is that it happened so easily and it made so much sense over time.”

“And now, more recently, mum's had some health struggles and has been on a journey of treatment, which has had a huge impact on how she lives her life every day…”

“So often I think I'm grateful that mum is here and we're able to give her the support she needs. And you realise how precious life is, right? “

“I didn't work full time when the kids were little, but it was just these little moments. Honestly, all parents will know this... in order to be able to work, even if it's three days a week, it's the little moments in between - like getting to kindy and being picked up.”

“Knowing that mum was here during those times when the kids were smaller was just so valuable. I actually think it would have been the difference to whether I could have worked or not. We never had the kids in long daycare - we all valued the kids being able to be at home and having their Omi around.”

“And I always thought, oh gosh, what's going to happen when they're teenagers? How's mum going to tolerate that? But there's been delightful surprises where mum actually quite enjoys it when the teenagers are hanging out!”