These are the rules we hold ourselves to. They exist because most of what gets published about outdoor building work in New Zealand is either advertising or copied from other advertising.
Numbers
Every cost figure is a range, tied to a region and a scope, and reflects recent quoting rather than a national average. Technical figures — gradients, treatment levels, pile depths, drainage falls, wind zones — are checked against published industry and government material rather than repeated from other articles. Where a number is genuinely uncertain we say so, and where a range is wide the article explains what moves it.
Sources
Technical references point at primary material: MBIE building guidance, BRANZ research, regional and city council material, WorkSafe, NIWA and the standards bodies. We do not cite marketing pages, lead-generation directories or aggregators.
Rules and consents
Consent and boundary questions are described in general terms only. We do not invent clause numbers, fee schedules or council-specific thresholds, and we do not tell any reader that their particular job does or does not need consent — that is a determination for the council that holds the district plan.
Corrections
Articles are revised when something in them turns out to be wrong or out of date, and the correction goes into the text rather than a footnote. Nothing here is written to a deadline that would justify publishing something we are not confident in.
Independence
No article is sponsored and no placement is for sale. Where an article mentions a category of specialist, that reflects who does that class of work, and there is no arrangement behind it.