KEY POINTS:
The days of transforming that cheap do-up into the dream Kiwi home could be numbered thanks to the hefty costs of red tape and bureaucracy, says one homeowner.
Handyman Carl Dillner, 35, is replacing the carport at his Hillcrest, North Shore, property, because it is "unsafe and is starting to fall down the hill". He estimates the final replacement bill will be a whopping $20,000.
Dillner quickly realised when dealing with his local council "that before you've even put a peg in the ground you've spent a hell of a lot of cash".
He questions why, after hiring qualified designers and architects, he needed to fork out more money to the North Shore City Council so they could "entirely recalculate" something that had been paid for. "All you need is someone [at council] to check that the regulations have been stuck to."
Before being allowed to pull down the existing carport, Dillner recalls having to seek permission from the council's parks division because the carport was near a public walkway. That was step one of many more to come.
It's a decade since Dillner first entered the building industry, and he says "the hoops" were "totally" different back then. "It was a lot cheaper and the criteria was a lot less. Things seem to have gone overboard."
