AT LAST, SOME GOOD NEWS!

There won’t be many of us who missed the recent announcement about consent no longer being required for new minor dwellings up to 30m2 in size — consent exemptions for low risk work / new building.

The chatter everywhere was about sleep-outs, outdoor fires, carports, and the like, and of course my thinking went straight to — a 30m2 shed!

I am sure many of you will recall a time when you could build your own house, shed, garage, etc. and it was no big deal. However times change — probably for the better. Structures need to be safe and sound, of course, so rules are there for a reason — basically to keep us safe and sound and not cause issues for anyone else.

This new building consent also caught my ear because we have a couple of builds in this issue of the magazine. I wonder if Bob’s eco-shed build (page 70) will now get a couple of siblings to make it up to the newly permitted 30m2.

I have been around the construction of a few 10m2 sleep-out buildings. They were great for a small office or bedroom in the garden but, to my shame, were never designed to be sheds. I suppose some of them may have been turned into one by now, though.

Ours had power, of course, but that was about it — no kitchen or bathroom. It would have been great to have those but it wasn’t permitted. With this new exemption to the Building Act to allow larger dwellings it is unclear to me whether you will be allowed to have a water and waste supply fitted, but heck you’d think that would need to be part of the scheme; you at least need a sink to clean your fish.

I believe the finer details of this exemption are still to be finalized and we are still some months away from when it will actually kick in. One thing is for sure, though: the construction will still have to conform to code, so some very good advice and sign-off by a licensed building practitioner will be required for any of this construction.

There may be an opportunity here for many a tradesperson sheddie who has quit working full time to be some sort of consultant for non-professional builders. A nice new career tangent too, if yours has suddenly been taken away from you by this darned bug.

For more info, see building.govt.nz.