When investing in a rental property, it is unlikely you would purchase without getting an expert to investigate the integrity of the house.

The same due diligence should be applied for a bare section. Why would you invest in a section with the vision of relocating a house onto it without finding out first what the rules, regulations and any potential issues were?

The team at The Relocatable House Co. understand the importance of sound due diligence when it comes to property purchases.

A Site Audit Report completed by one of our qualified architectural designers may just be the ticket. This covers:

• a plan of your site, including potential places for positioning of the house and access;
• council requirements and fees for your project;
• rules regarding relocated buildings for your area; • site-specific information for your land such as boundary set-backs, services, and earthquake zones;
• requirements for geotechnical reports or required inspections;
• a concise conclusion of findings and next steps if further investigations are recommended;
• a 20-minute consultation with the architectural designer who created your Site Audit Report.

For some insight as to how the Site Audit Report could save you time and money before you buy land, consider the following cases. All of these are real-life clients and projects, but names have been changed to protect privacy.

Pete's Mistake

We were approached by Pete after he bought a piece of land and wanted to buy a house for relocation. We told him he couldn’t just put any relocatable house on his land and would need to get all the information first, so he purchased a Site Audit Report. Unfortunately for Pete, the report uncovered the following problems:

• his site was in a very high wind zone;
• his boundary set backs were larger than what he thought;
• relocating a house into his area was a discretionary activity and it required a resource consent to be approved before he could continue.

Much to his dismay, he found he couldn’t put any house on his newly acquired land and he ended up wasting money, time and resources. He had to start all over again and learned the hard way the importance of sound due diligence of land before purchasing.

The Perfect House

Stewart contacted The Relocatable House Co. before buying a property and asked about what houses were for sale. He wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible. Kim, the sales team leader, slowed him down and advised him to get a Site Audit Report so he could make informed decisions. He agreed, and Megan, one of the team’s qualified architectural designers, confirmed all the details with Stewart. As Megan went through the site plans she found the site was in an extra high wind zone and that we had the perfect house to suit his needs. It was able to fit on his site and have the correct specifications for the zone. Stewart initially discounted the house because it had brick cladding, but that was what made it work so well for him. Megan created a site plan and directly placed the potential building into that plan, demonstrating that it fulfilled everything that Stewart needed.

Megan matched him with the right house saved weeks of project time. Stewart was so pleased that he spent the extra $899 on the report, rather than dealing with council himself.

Fitting Andrew's Dream Home

Andrew found a house he loved. He owned a site and wanted to ensure the house he wanted would fit on it. Our design team investigated the site and found a way to fit the house on the land, considering council required setbacks, outside living, service connection and on-site turning requirements. Andrew was able to proceed knowing that what he wanted to do was permissible, so he went ahead and bought the house. He ended up getting all the required consents without any hassle. See https://relocatablehouses.co.n... site-audit-reports/ for more details.

At The Relocatable House Co. we pride ourselves on the fact that we are a professional services firm in the house relocation industry. As a house relocation specialist, we can help you achieve your dreams of becoming a property investor, creating equity, sub-dividing your land and creating future income. Land research, project feasibility, house relocation, project management and architectural design services are all part of our expertise, enabling us to help you save money on demolition and bring you a step closer to your goals.