Drainage: Getting permission from neighbours

Things have slowed down a bit. We went with the designer recommended to us by the housemovers. He has been good value. He's drawn up the site plan and renovation to the house to insert a laundry. There has been just one hiccup that delayed getting the application in to Council - the drainage plan.

There are public drains just 3 metres from where the house will be, but they are in the neighbours nice new concrete driveway. We had to get him to sign approval on to the drainage plan but he's playing catch-me-if-you-can. So to Plan B: we had to draw up a new drainage plan showing us going to the road. This will cost a lot more. We still have to try and get the neighbour to let us in to his driveway - and we'll have to do this by showing him that this option will be better for him and his tenants. Because, if we have to go to the road, we might have to dig across his entrance which might disrupt his tenants. Also, that disc at the entrance to his driveway but in line with our fenceline better not be a marker indicating that his electrics run under our fenceline - oh dear... that will be a big problem for him if he has to dig them up and move them... you get the picture. 

Yes, the designer has been real good value - we wouldn't have thought of all these options ourselves.

So, the application for a building consent is in to Council. They claim a 20 working day turn around, excepting any queries (in which case they stop the clock). We are on track to have consent within the 10 weeks free storage of the house in the housemovers yard.

There's been a lot of rain over the last 2 weeks. Today we went out to the house to mend the roof with our Trade Me bought 2nd hand tiles. Unfortunately the hole over the bathroom is missing a baton so we had to use the corflute for sale sign from the section to catch the rain and head it off. The corflute signs were to patch up the broken window in the main bedroom.

With the garage off the section and the rubbish gone, the next fun thing is to get a digger, mark out the profiles for where the house is going to be, and clear the vegetation off; and, dig out some tree stumps and the concrete from an old shed.