Death of a DIY Sunday as painting proves too noisy

By AINSLEY THOMSON

Lisa and Tim Nickel were painting the outside of their partly built Greenhithe home on Sunday afternoon when their work was cut short.

A security guard walked on to their property and handed them a North Shore City Council notice ordering them to stop making excessive noise for 72 hours.

To their dismay, they were told someone had complained.

The couple, who were being helped by Mrs Nickel's father, were handpainting. They had no Machinery going and no radio on.

But the guard said they had breached section 327 of the Resource Management Act and North Shore City Council bylaws because they were deemed to be working on a construction site. There can be no working on a site on Sundays.

The Greenhithe subdivision where their house is being built is new and sparsely populated.

Mr Nickel said there were no houses on either side of them, and their closest neighbour was four sections away.

North Shore City Council communications adviser Blair Harkness said the council bylaws prohibited noise on a construction site on Sundays.

He said people could make noise in private homes on Sundays, as long as it was not excessive. For example, they could paint their own house, mow their lawn or sweep the drive.

He said he could not comment on the Nickels' case because he did not know all the facts.

Mrs Nickel said the only noise they were making was from conversations and possibly the creak of the scaffolding.

Earlier in the day, Mr Nickel had briefly used a battery-powered drill, which he said would not have been heard outside the house.

Mr Nickel is a builder, and aware of the law.

"So I wasn't making any noise," he said. "I was just doing small things around the house."

The couple thought someone was playing a practical joke on them, especially when the security guard asked them to stir the paint quietly.

Mr Nickel said the security man told them he could fine them if he was called back.

The Nickels, who are both 30, had decided to paint on Sunday so they could move their young family into the house sooner.

They had organised Mrs Nickel's parents to come down from Warkworth so her father could help with the painting and her mother look after their 21-month-old twin boys.

"We are just a young family trying to get ahead," Mrs Nickel said. "You would think people would pat you on the back instead of making it harder."

The Nickels said the situation had amused them, but it was also petty and unnecessary.