Thanks for the replies! My wife suggested we talk to a local real estate agent, so i think that is a good idea... just that Im not sure how helpful they are likely to be if we arent selling yet :) As for saving for our dream house, I dont disagree, however if doing this up nicely over the next ~5 years or so while we live here nets us some extra in the eventual sale, then that of course will help us as well. Interesting thing happened today actually. I got a knock on the door and one of the older neighbours asked if he could take some lemons from the tree. I of course said yes. Anyway he was telling me he had lived in the street for 40 years. I asked him if the house had always looked like this, and he said no that ~30 years ago the old old owner did a massive renovation and pulled off the timber and put up the bricks and gutted the inside of the house. Interesting stuff!

I would clean up first. Especially the stuff growing in the paving. Then get gardening with pot plants and start experimenting with different plants and the positions. See what you like and if you can keep it alive! Our house has the sun setting over the back fence and we've done a few inexpensive things to reduce that issue (most expensive were outdoor blinds around the verandah) but for most of the year we just don't want to be out there. It is hard work to keep the plants going in summer, there is a lot of sand due to the difficulty in keeping lawn alive and it is just bloody hot. So, that's why I'm saying clean up, start gardening small and see how you go before committing to structures that might not address the real issues you have with the yard. Just my 2 cents! :)

I'm new to any sort of building project, but I'm curious as to how long one would normally expect to wait for a supposedly well respected steel garage franchise dealer to erect a fairly standard 12x12m garage? My contract was signed December last year and mostly paid for up front. I feel I have been patient in accepting that nothing of a physical nature was going to appear over last summer taking into account council permits had to be obtained and some earth works needed to be completed (Totalspan have been tasked with handling the entire project using their supplied sub-contractors etc) then I accepted that over the winter months weather caused further delays in getting site works done etc, and finally a couple of weeks ago the concrete slab was poured. But now all has gone quiet again and I'm not getting any communication back from Totalspan. Some metal framing appeared right after the concrete went down and nothing since. I'm finding the whole experience really frustrating and disheartening to say the least! I'm left wondering if I'll be waiting yet another year before anything further happens...if at all!! Note I was originally given a time frame of around 3 months to completion.... Just wondering if my scenario is unique or if this is in fact the norm in the industry??

Hi, I would like to convert our existing garage and carport space to a second dwelling (2 bedroom+ toilet+kitchen). I am not sure if it can be called a granny flat. We use our garage only for storage and believe if we convert it to rental space, it will benefit us in many ways. And ofcourse, I want to do it with proper consents, but we have a small budget for it. I have checked with Auckland council and our house is situated in a mixed Housing Suburban Zone, so there are no restrictions for building this. I need to get a bank loan to do this conversion. We bought the property this year, so the CV hasn't changed much. All banks wants me to draw a plan for this conversion and have it evaluated it by them. If their evaluated value supports the loan+20% equity, then I will get the loan to proceed. The cost of drawing the plan seems to be around 10K (based on my initial research) and this is a huge amount to take a risk. I am really new to this world of construction/renovation. And any kind of guidance, advice or recommendations will help me heaps. Thanks