Renovating - PILES

Hi all

Hoping someone can provide some advice. We live in a 1900s villa in Auckland. We are renovating and have had our plans done by an architectural designer and they have been handed in for building consent. I have had a couple of builders round for quotes and based on the plans there are a large number of additional piles to be added and redone. Both builders have scratched there heads as there is little space under the house to get under and redo the piles. The only way they can see they can do the piles is to rip up all the floor! This has caused the price of our renovation to go through the roof - about double our budget and double what we were advised by the architect. The architect seemed to think it would be a simple process?

Is there any other way to repile when there is little space than having to rip out the floor? We probably will not be able to proceed with the renovation given this additional cost. Needless to say i am very disappointed with the architect for providing a poor estimate of costs (literally half of what it is going to cost) as we would not have proceeded down this track at all.

Any advice on repilling would be appreciated.

Cheers

[davtam]

Can they lift the house? I know of a case where this was done, in order to re pile

I'm not sure...the house has two extensions added to it a long time ago. Worth exploring. Do you know if this is this also quite a costly option?

[Bulldog]

I helped a client get consent for his re-piling, a contractor we worked with previously lifted the house, did the piling, lowered the house. He did a great job, got some positive feedback from our client. His name is Brian Day of Day Construction, I think 0275977556 is the contact no. Failing that, contact a house removal company like Craig Walker in Kumeu.

Thank you will give them a call. Do you know roughly how much it costs?

[Bulldog]

Don't know but the lifting alone was $4,500 but they re-connected services so family lived there during construction so was a bit easier than moving.

[Nice]

Lifting the house is going to cost way more than removing the floor. Is the floor a desirable feature of the interior that you wish to retain, or is it always going to be carpeted over ? If to be covered, taking off the floor boards and replacing with ply is a cheaper option perhaps; if removed carefully, the old flooring is probably worth more than the ply anyway. You don't have to remove the whole floor, just the flooring surface, providing the joists etc are all OK. If they are not, then they need replacing anyway, and should always be done before the rest of the renovation.

failing all that, talk to a repiling specialist rather than just to a builder.

[Gladdynook]

how little room is there? my father used to dig trenches to get under houses when carrying out plumbing work. Could that be an option?

[jimO]

get the architect to do it after all its a simple process

[Meehole]

We used to do repiling in Auckland prior to Feb and now in ChCh it is quite common to do the repiling work from above as there is very little clearance down here under the houses compared to what there is in Auckland.

It's not that much more expensive to take up the floors, especially as it's only in certain places. Wish we were there to help you.

You don't need to lift it and a builder is fine for the foundation upwards, get a specialist repiler in that has experience is doing work that entails lifting the floor up.

Having said that, I personally would NEVER get an architect to draw up foundation plans, they're good with the pretty pictures but short on practicality.

[Vai-man]

get the architect to do it after all its a simple process

I concur!

It is a simple process but time consuming

What sort of flooring is it? That will affect the price, eg ripping up chipboard, replaceing it and getting the carpet refitted vs polished t&g floors.