How to Choose a Renovation Company in Auckland: 20 Questions

How to Choose a Renovation Company in Auckland: 20 Questions to Ask

Swati TiwaryMay 4, 20260

Last updated: 26 October 2026

Quick answer: Check the builders on the LBP public register, get the disclosure statement and dated written contract the Building Act requires from $30,000 including GST, confirm insurance and call past clients before you choose an Auckland renovation company.

Choosing a renovation company in Auckland isn’t about finding the friendliest sales rep or the cheapest quote. It’s about verification. After more than 1,000 Auckland renovations since 2017, we’ve taken plenty of calls from homeowners partway through fixing someone else’s unfinished job. The pattern behind those calls is nearly always the same: nobody checked the licence, nobody read the contract properly, and the cheapest quote turned out to be the most expensive decision they made. Almost everything below can be checked in an afternoon, from your couch, for free.

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What to Look For in a Renovation Company: The Short List

Searching for a bathroom renovation company near you, or a builder for the whole house? The checks are the same, and most of them come straight from the consumer protection checklist the Building Act makes a contractor hand you before you sign. Here they are in one place, with where to verify each one.

Check	Where to verify it	What should worry you
Licences for structural or weathertightness work	The LBP public register: current licence, class, and any discipline in the last three years	No names or licence numbers, or a licence class that does not match the work
Disclosure statement and checklist	Must reach you before you sign when the job is $30,000 or more including GST, or whenever you ask	Being told you will get the paperwork later
Written, dated contract	Required from $30,000 including GST; the regulations list what it must contain	A one-page quote with a total at the bottom
Insurance	The disclosure statement lists each policy, the amount of cover and any exclusions	Reluctance to show a current certificate
Plumber and electrician	Plumbers on the PGDB register; electricians are not LBPs and sit on their own register	“Our guy does the plumbing,” with no name
Company history	Companies Office records, which the prescribed checklist tells you to look up	A company formed last month with a long list of “completed” projects
Guarantee or warranty	In writing, with the period and exclusions stated	Promises made only out loud
Payment schedule	Payments tied to completed stages, written into the contract	A large deposit before any work starts
Past work	Completed homes like yours, and past clients you can phone	Stock photos and no addresses

Comparing bathroom renovation companies? Add one more line to that list: who applies the waterproofing membrane, and what paperwork you get for it at handover. A company that answers every row without a pause has usually done this many times before.

What Separates Good Renovation Companies in Auckland From the Rest

Anyone with a ute and a website can call themselves a renovation company. There’s no legal definition of the term. What the law does define is who can touch the structure and weathertightness of your home, what a contract must contain, and what warranties you’re owed — and the good companies are fluent in all three.

The rest of the difference comes down to systems. A renovation in an occupied Grey Lynn villa or a 1970s brick-and-tile in Manurewa typically involves 8 to 10 different trades, sequenced so the waterproofer isn’t waiting on the plumber who’s waiting on the sparky. One Auckland renovation company might run that sequence through a dedicated project manager with a written schedule. Another might run it through the owner’s phone. Both will quote you. Only one will finish on time.

Here’s the uncomfortable part. You can’t tell which is which from the website, the showroom, or the first meeting. Sales is a skill. Building is a different one.

💡 Quick tip: Treat every claim a renovation company makes as checkable, then check it. Licence numbers, insurance certificates, past clients, guarantee documents — a good company hands these over within a day. Hesitation is data.

Check Their Licensing First — LBP Verification Step by Step

Restricted building work (RBW) is building work that needs a building consent and affects a home’s primary structure, weathertightness or certain fire safety design, and the Building Act says it must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP). On a renovation that usually means removing walls, framing, foundations, roofing and cladding, as set out by MBIE’s LBP scheme. The scheme also notes that RBW is not limited to consented work in every case: a consent-exempt small stand-alone dwelling still needs an LBP for its RBW.

How to Search the LBP Register

Verifying takes about three minutes, and it’s the single highest-value check you’ll do:

Ask the company for the names and licence numbers of the LBPs who’ll work on your job.
Search each name on the LBP public register and confirm the licence is current.
Check the licence class matches the work. There are seven: Design, Site, Carpentry, Roofing, External Plastering, Brick and Blocklaying, and Foundations, and an LBP must not carry out or supervise RBW outside their class.
Check the register entry for any discipline in the last three years.
On site, ask to see their licence ID. Every current LBP is issued one, with a QR code you can scan.

Two things trip people up. Registered architects and chartered professional engineers (CPEng) are treated as licensed for design and site work, so they sit on their own registers rather than the LBP one. And electrical workers are not LBPs at all; the register itself points you to the Electrical Workers Registration Board for them.
A company that gets cagey about licence numbers has just answered your most important question for free.

When LBP Work Is Legally Required

Not everything needs an LBP. Painting, tiling, kitchen cabinetry and most cosmetic work doesn’t. But the moment your renovation touches a load-bearing wall in your Mt Eden bungalow, alters the roofline, or changes the cladding on a 1990s monolithic home in Albany, you’re likely in restricted building work territory. Your council will want the licence details of the LBPs involved in your RBW before it issues a code compliance certificate (CCC). If the rules aren’t followed, the LBP scheme warns the council may not approve the consent, may delay the CCC or issue a notice to fix, and fines can reach $50,000. The same applies to the drawings: our guide to architects, architectural designers and LBP designers explains who can design that work.

Important note: Whether a particular job is restricted building work, or needs consent at all, is a question for a licensed designer, an LBP or Auckland Council. This guide explains what to check; it doesn’t decide that for your home.

How to Choose a Bathroom Renovation Company: The Extra Checks

A bathroom packs three regulated trades into a few square metres, so the questions above need three more. If you’re asking what to look for in a bathroom remodelling company in Auckland, this is the part most homeowners skip.

Who Does the Plumbing

Under the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006, nobody may do sanitary plumbing unless they’re authorised under the Act (section 8), which in practice means a registered person with a current practising licence, or someone working within one of the Act’s exemptions. A renovation company should be able to tell you the name of the plumber on your job, and you can check that name on the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board register. “Our plumber” is not an answer.

Who Does the Electrical Work

Electricians are licensed under a separate scheme from builders, which is why the LBP register sends you elsewhere to look them up. Ask who the electrician is, check them on the Electrical Workers Registration Board register, and ask which certificates you’ll receive when the work is finished.

Why Bathrooms Need Certified Waterproofers

Waterproofing is where corner-cutting hides longest. A failed membrane behind tiles can leak quietly for years before the damage shows, and by then you’re re-doing the whole room plus the framing behind it. There is no LBP licence class for waterproofing, so the register won’t help here. Ask who applies the membrane, what product system they use, and whether the applicator is certified by the membrane manufacturer. A producer statement for the waterproofing should be part of your handover documents, not a favour you have to chase.

What You Should Get at Handover

The handover pack isn’t a courtesy. The Building (Residential Consumer Rights and Remedies) Regulations 2014 (regulation 9) list what a building contractor must give you on completion: a copy of every current insurance policy it holds for the work, copies of the guarantees and warranties on the materials and services (including whether they transfer and how to claim), and the maintenance information you need where the Building Code’s durability requirements or a warranty depend on it. That is how we run a bathroom renovation where one team holds every trade certificate: the plumber, electrician and waterproofer answer to one project manager, and the paperwork comes back to you in one pack.

💡 Quick tip: Ask each bathroom company to show you a sample handover pack from a finished job, with the client details removed. If they have to go away and assemble one, you have learned something.

Important note: Sanitary plumbing, drainlaying and gasfitting are regulated trades. Use a tradesperson authorised by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board, and a registered electrical worker for electrical work.

The Contract: Your Single Biggest Protection

Written Contracts Are Mandatory Over $30,000

If your renovation will cost $30,000 or more including GST, the Building Act requires a written, dated contract, and your contractor must give you a disclosure statement and the consumer protection checklist before you sign, per Building Performance (MBIE). The $30,000 figure is set in regulation 4 of the consumer rights regulations. Under sections 362D and 362F of the Building Act 2004, skipping either step is an infringement offence with a fine of up to $2,000, and per MBIE’s consumer protection rules, you can ask for both documents on any job, whatever its size.

Given that a full house renovation in Auckland typically runs $80,000–$160,000, almost every renovation worth doing sits well past that threshold. If you’re still scoping numbers, our free renovation cost calculators will give you a realistic starting range before quotes come in.

What the Disclosure Statement Tells You

The disclosure statement is the useful one, because its form is fixed by Schedule 1 of the regulations and the contractor can’t change it. It must show the company’s full legal name, whether it’s an individual, partnership or limited company and when it was formed, and a key contact person: the project manager or site foreperson who’ll run your job, with their role, qualifications and LBP number if they have one. Then it lists every insurance policy the contractor has or intends to get for the work, with the type, the amount of cover and the exclusions, and every guarantee or warranty it offers, with the period and the limits. Read it against the quote. If the quote promises a guarantee the disclosure statement doesn’t mention, ask why. Knowingly giving false or misleading information in it can bring a fine of up to $50,000 for an individual and $150,000 for a company, according to MBIE.

What the Written Contract Must Contain

Regulation 6 sets the minimum content for any contract of $30,000 or more. Tick these off before you sign:

both parties’ names, physical and postal addresses, address for service, phone and email, and the site address
the date both parties signed
a description of the work, the materials and products to be used (if known), who will carry out and supervise the work, and which party obtains the building consent and any other approvals
expected start and completion dates, and how delays will be dealt with
the price, or the method for calculating it
the number of payments, the amount of each, when each is due, and how invoices are issued, paid and receipted
how variations are negotiated and agreed, and how notices are given
how defects will be fixed, including a reference to the implied warranties
a dispute resolution process, and your acknowledgement that you received the disclosure statement and checklist

If a contract over the threshold leaves some of these out, or there’s no written contract at all, the regulations deem default terms into it. That’s a safety net, not a plan. Note the consent line too: MBIE says the homeowner is responsible for obtaining any required consents even when the builder makes the application, so the contract should say plainly who does the work of getting them.

Fixed-Price vs Estimate vs Charge-Up

Three pricing structures, three very different risk profiles. A fixed-price contract locks the number before work begins, so the company carries the pricing risk. An estimate is a forecast with no ceiling; you carry the risk. A charge-up (cost-plus) arrangement bills time and materials as they go, which is fine for genuinely unknowable remedial work and dangerous as the default for a planned renovation. The government’s own checklist is blunt about it: where possible a fixed price is preferable, get detailed quotes rather than estimates, and think carefully before paying more than the value of the work done and materials supplied. It’s how we build a fixed price from your measurements, so you’ll know the price, the timeline and exactly what’s included before any work starts.

“A fixed price is only as good as the scope behind it. If a company can price your whole renovation without measuring your home or asking what’s behind the walls, they haven’t priced it — they’ve guessed it. The variations arrive later, and that’s where budgets die.”

— Dorothy Li, Head of Design, Superior Renovations

What a Vague Quote Tells You

Put two quotes side by side. One runs to twelve pages: itemised scope, named products, PC sums flagged, exclusions listed. The other is one page with a total at the bottom. The one-pager isn’t simpler. It’s a blank cheque you haven’t noticed you’re signing. Every item missing from the scope is a future variation, priced after you’ve committed and your bargaining power is gone. It’s the story we hear most often from homeowners burned on a previous job.

💡 Quick tip: Ask each company how variations are handled before you sign. The right answer is written variation orders, costed and approved by you before any extra work starts. “We’ll sort it as we go” is the wrong answer.

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Warranties, Defects, Retentions and Insurance: What Protects You After You Sign

A good company is the first protection. The law is the second. Know what it gives you before you need it.

The Implied Warranties in Every Residential Building Contract

Section 362I of the Building Act writes a set of warranties into every residential building contract, written or oral, whatever the price. In plain terms:

the work is done in a proper and competent manner, to the plans and specifications in the contract and to the building consent
the products are suitable for their purpose and, unless the contract says otherwise, new
the work complies with the Building Act, the regulations and every other law that applies
it’s done with reasonable care and skill, and finished by the contract date or, if none is given, within a reasonable time
if you’re living in the home when the work ends, it’s suitable to occupy
where the contract states the result you want and you rely on the contractor’s skill to get it, the work is reasonably fit for that result

A clause that tries to take away your right to sue for a breach has no effect (section 362K), except for a breach you already knew about. According to MBIE’s guidance on implied warranties, they apply for up to 10 years, and you activate them by taking the dispute to court and proving loss.

The 12-Month Defect Repair Period

Within 12 months of completion you can give the contractor written notice of a defect, and it must fix it within a reasonable time (section 362Q). That includes work done by its subcontractors. The law presumes the conditions for that duty are met unless the contractor proves otherwise, so you don’t have to prove whose fault the defect is to start the clock. Diary the date your renovation is completed and do a slow walk-around at eleven months, while the period is still open.

Retentions Don’t Work the Way Most Homeowners Think

The retention money rules in the Construction Contracts Act 2002 (subpart 2A) apply only to commercial construction contracts, which the Act defines as contracts where none of the parties is a residential occupier. A homeowner renovating the house they live in is a residential occupier, so the statutory retention trust doesn’t cover your contract. Your protection comes from the other end: a payment schedule that trails the work, and the defect repair period above.

Insurance: Who Covers What

MBIE’s guidance on insurance for building projects says that when work is done to an existing home, such as a renovation or extension, the building contract will typically require the homeowner to arrange contract works insurance. Each contractor should also hold public liability cover. Tell your own insurer about the renovation before work starts, and check the disclosure statement for each policy’s amount and exclusions. Our own FAQ answer on renovation company insurance sets a minimum of $5 million public liability and $1 million professional indemnity, and those are the amounts we hold.

If the Company Stops Trading

RNZ reported on 01 May 2026 that 768 construction firms had been liquidated in the past year, according to Centrix data reported by RNZ: more than any other industry, though only 0.9 per cent of registered construction companies. Implied warranties are only as useful as the company that owes them. That’s why progress payments should always trail completed work, never lead it, and why an independent guarantee is worth asking about at quote stage.

💡 Quick tip: Keep a folder from day one: the disclosure statement, the checklist, the signed contract, every variation, and the handover pack. MBIE notes the warranties can still apply within the 10-year timeframe, and the paper trail is what lets you use them.

Important note: This is general information about the law, not legal advice. For a contract dispute or a question about your rights under a specific contract, talk to a property lawyer. The checklist itself recommends legal advice before you sign.

Proof of Work: Portfolios, Reviews and References That Can’t Be Faked

Reading Google Reviews Properly

Star ratings are the start, not the finish. Read the one and two-star reviews first and watch how the company responds. Defensiveness under criticism on a public page tells you exactly how a dispute will go on your job. Then look at volume and recency: 15 reviews spread over eight years paints a different picture than a steady stream. Check that reviews mention specifics (suburbs, project types, project managers by name), because vague praise is easy to manufacture and detail isn’t. Our 190+ Google reviews are public for precisely that reason, and we’d encourage you to read our critical ones too.

Asking for Projects in Suburbs Like Yours

A renovation in a 1910s Ponsonby villa is a different animal from one in a 2015 Flat Bush townhouse. Scrim walls, native timber framing, no insulation and heritage overlays, versus modern framing and a body corporate. Ask for completed projects in your suburb or in homes of your era, then ask to speak with those homeowners directly. Photos can be sourced from anywhere; a phone call with the homeowner whose kitchen and laundry you’re looking at can’t be. Video interviews with past clients are the next best thing: harder to fake than a testimonial paragraph, and you can judge the tone for yourself.

What to Ask a Past Client

The prescribed checklist tells you to get references for other work the contractor has done. A reference call only helps if you ask questions a happy customer won’t answer automatically:

Was the final price the contract price? If not, what were the variations, and were they agreed in writing first?
Who was your key contact during the build, and did that person change?
Did the defect list at handover actually get closed, and how fast?
Did anything come up in the first 12 months, and how was it handled?
What paperwork did you get at the end?

Listen for hesitation more than for praise. A client who says “it went over, but they told us why before it did” is giving you a better reference than one who says “they were lovely”.

“When a homeowner asks me for references, I take it as a good sign — it means they’re serious. The clients I worry about are the ones who choose on price alone. Ask to see a project we finished two years ago, not two months ago. How a renovation looks after two Auckland winters is the real review.”

— Cici Zuo, Sales Manager, Superior Renovations

The 20 Questions to Ask Before You Sign

This is the checklist we first published in 2018, rebuilt for how Auckland renovations run now. Don’t just ask the questions. Listen for the quality of the answers. Print it, take it to every consultation, and score each company out of 20.

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Track Record and Credentials (Questions 1–5)

Question	What a good answer sounds like
1. How many years have you renovated Auckland homes, and how many projects have you completed?	A specific number, backed by case studies you can view, not “heaps of experience”.
2. Are your builders Licensed Building Practitioners, and can I have their licence numbers?	Numbers offered without hesitation. Verify them yourself on the LBP public register.
3. What insurance do you hold, and what are your cover limits?	Public liability of at least $5 million and professional indemnity of at least $1 million, with current certificates on request.
4. Have you renovated homes like mine — same era, same construction type?	Specifics about villas, 1970s brick-and-tile, or monolithic-clad homes — not a generic yes.
5. Can I speak with two or three past clients directly?	An easy yes with contact details within days. References that take weeks to appear are being hand-picked.

Money and Contract (Questions 6–10)

Question	What a good answer sounds like
6. Is your quote fixed-price, and what exactly does it include and exclude?	A line-item scope with PC sums and exclusions clearly flagged in writing.
7. How and when is the final price determined?	Price locked in a written contract before work starts, not “we’ll firm it up once the walls are open”.
8. How do progress payments work?	A payment schedule tied to completed stages, written into the contract. Never large upfront sums.
9. How do you handle variations during the build?	Written variation orders, costed and signed off by you before any extra work begins.
10. Can I see your standard contract and disclosure statement before committing?	Both offered freely. They’re legally required before you sign for work of $30,000 or more including GST, and on request for anything smaller.

Process and People (Questions 11–15)

Question	What a good answer sounds like
11. Who project-manages my renovation day to day, and will I meet them before signing?	A named person you can meet, who should appear as the key contact in the disclosure statement. Not “one of our team”.
12. How many trades will be on my job, and who coordinates them?	A full renovation involves 8–10 trades. Coordination should be entirely theirs, not yours.
13. How long will my renovation take, and what happens if it runs over?	A written construction schedule before work starts, and a straight answer about how delays are managed.
14. How and when can I access my home during the build?	Clear site rules, regular scheduled walk-throughs, and updates you don’t have to chase.
15. Who handles consent and deals with Auckland Council?	The contract names who obtains consents, as the regulations require. A good company manages drawings, applications, inspections and the code compliance certificate, in-house or through named partners.

Protection and After-Care (Questions 16–20)

Question	What a good answer sounds like
16. What guarantee do you offer, and does it survive if your company fails?	A named, written guarantee: an independent scheme like Master Build or Halo, or documented workmanship and trade warranties.
17. What does your workmanship warranty cover, and for how long?	A defined period (e.g., 12 months) on top of the implied warranties every homeowner gets under the Building Act 2004.
18. What brands and materials will you use, and are substitutions allowed?	Named brands in the quote (GIB, Laminex, specific tapware) with substitutions only on your written approval.
19. What’s your inspection and defect process at handover?	A documented quality assurance process and a final walk-through producing a written defect list that actually gets actioned.
20. What happens after handover if something goes wrong?	A maintenance period, a named contact, and the insurance, warranty and maintenance documents the regulations require, handed over in writing.

💡 Quick tip: On guarantees, compare what’s behind the paper. The Master Build 10-Year Guarantee caps total claims at $1 million or the contract value, whichever is less, while the NZCB Halo 10-Year Guarantee covers workmanship and materials for the first two years and serious structural issues for up to ten. Both have to be arranged before work starts. Neither is automatic.

Red Flags That Should End the Conversation

Some warning signs deserve a second look. These don’t:

A large deposit before any work starts. A small commitment payment for design or ordering is normal. The government’s checklist warns against paying more than the work done and materials supplied, and a big upfront sum is exactly that.

“We don’t need a contract for this.” From $30,000 including GST, the contractor commits an infringement offence by entering an unwritten contract. Walk.

Pressure to skip consent. Building work that needed consent and didn’t get it leaves nothing on the council file to show it was signed off. MBIE’s LBP scheme warns that missing your obligations can affect your insurance or finances and cause problems when you sell.

A quote dramatically below the others. Say three quotes land around $120,000 and one comes in at $80,000. The cheap one hasn’t found efficiencies. It’s missing scope, and you’ll buy that scope back at variation prices. Consumer NZ’s guide to choosing tradies shows how full, labour-only and managed labour-only contracts move responsibility between you and the builder, so check which one you’re actually being offered.

Only stock photos and no addresses. A portfolio that can’t be tied to real Auckland projects, suburbs or clients isn’t a portfolio. It’s a mood board.

No physical presence. A company you can visit, with an office, a showroom and staff, has something to lose. We’re at 16B Link Drive, Wairau Valley, open Monday to Saturday, and you’re welcome to turn up and kick the tyres before you commit to anything.

Choosing Your Auckland Renovation Company: Evidence, Not Promises

Every renovation company in Auckland will tell you they’re reliable. The good ones can prove it: current LBP licences you’ve verified yourself, a disclosure statement that matches the quote, a fixed-price contract with every item regulation 6 asks for, insurance certificates, a written guarantee, and past clients who’ll take your call. Run the 20 questions, check the register, read the contract, and the right company tends to identify itself. If you’d like to see how a design-and-build company answers all 20, we’re happy to be tested against our own checklist.

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What should I look for in a renovation company?

Five things: current LBP licences for any restricted building work (verify them on the public register), public liability insurance of at least $5 million, a written fixed-price contract with a detailed scope, a written guarantee or workmanship warranty, and completed Auckland projects with clients you can actually phone. Ask for the disclosure statement before you sign; it must name the key contact person and list every insurance policy and warranty. Sales polish proves nothing. Documents do.

What should I look for in a bathroom renovation company in Auckland?

Everything you would check for any renovation company, plus the three regulated trades a bathroom packs into one room. Ask for the name of the plumber and check them on the PGDB register, ask who the electrician is (electricians are not LBPs and sit on their own register), and ask who applies the waterproofing membrane and what product system they use. Then ask what you get at handover: insurance, warranties and maintenance information.

How do I check a builder's LBP licence in NZ?

Search their name or licence number on the free LBP public register, which you reach from lbp.govt.nz. It shows whether the licence is current, the licence class (Design, Site, Carpentry, Roofing, External Plastering, Brick and Blocklaying or Foundations), the licence history, and whether they have been disciplined in the last three years. Every current LBP is also issued a licence ID with a QR code you can scan on site.

Do I need a written contract for my renovation?

Yes, if the work will cost $30,000 or more including GST. The Building Act requires a written, dated contract at that price, and the contractor must give you a disclosure statement and the consumer protection checklist before you sign. Skipping either is an infringement offence. Below $30,000 you can still ask for both documents, and a written contract is still the sensible choice.

How many quotes should I get for a renovation?

Three is the practical number: enough to see the market range without drowning in consultations. Make sure each company quotes the same written scope, otherwise you are comparing different projects, not different prices. The government checklist says to get detailed quotes rather than estimates. Be wary of one that lands well below the rest: it usually signals missing scope that comes back later as variations.

Is a design-and-build company better than managing trades myself?

It depends on your time and experience. Managing trades yourself can save on margin, but you take on sequencing every trade, Building Code responsibility, consent management and site health and safety, which is close to a part-time job for months. A design-and-build company carries all of that under one contract, so one party is answerable for the implied warranties and the 12-month defect repair period.

What guarantees should a renovation company offer?

At minimum, a written workmanship warranty (12 months is typical) plus the manufacturer and trade warranties for plumbing, electrical and waterproofing. The stronger protection is an independent 10-year scheme such as the Master Build 10-Year Guarantee or the NZCB Halo guarantee. Master Build includes deposit and non-completion cover. Both must be arranged before work starts, so raise them at quote stage, not handover.

How much does it cost to renovate a house in Auckland?

The average full home renovation in Auckland runs between $80,000 and $160,000 depending on size, scope and product choices. A standard single-level home starts from around $140,000 for a full scope; two-level homes start from around $180,000. Individual rooms cost less: a mid-range bathroom runs $25,000 to $35,000 and a mid-range kitchen $26,000 to $35,000 + GST. A fixed-price quote after an in-home assessment is the only reliable number.

What is the most expensive part of a house renovation?

Kitchens and bathrooms cost the most per square metre because they concentrate plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, cabinetry and tiling into small spaces. Structural changes are the other big-ticket item: removing load-bearing walls, foundation work and anything needing engineering and consent. Auckland trade labour runs about $120 to $150 an hour, which is why scope changes mid-build are so expensive: you pay trades to come back and redo the sequence.

How do I avoid budget blowouts on a renovation?

Sign a fixed-price contract, which moves the pricing risk to the company. Finalise your design and product selections before work starts, because mid-build changes cause most overruns. Insist on written, costed variations that you approve before extra work begins. Keep plumbing where it is if you can, and hold a contingency of your own for genuine surprises like rot or old wiring behind the walls.

What is the 12-month defect repair period?

Under section 362Q of the Building Act, you can give your building contractor notice of a defect within 12 months of the work being completed, and the contractor must fix it within a reasonable time. It covers work done by its subcontractors too. It sits alongside the implied warranties, which MBIE says can apply for up to 10 years.

What happens if my renovation company goes under mid-project?

Without protection, you join the unsecured creditors, so your deposit and any prepaid work are at risk, and the implied warranties are only as useful as the company that owes them. An independent guarantee helps: Master Build includes loss of deposit cover (up to $50,000 or 10% of the contract value, whichever is less) and non-completion cover. It is also why progress payments should trail completed work, never lead it.

Related guides

Further Resources

Featured projects and Client stories to see specifications on some of the projects.
Real client stories from Auckland

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