Open up your home with engineered, consented structural alterations

Yes, if the wall is load-bearing — almost always. Building consent is required for any structural change to your home under the Building Act 2004. Removing a non-load-bearing internal partition wall is one of the few exceptions under Schedule 1, but you can’t always tell which is which from looking at it. We do a free site assessment to confirm, then handle the consent application if it’s needed.

A typical single load-bearing wall removal — including the engineer’s design, building consent, a structural beam (LVL or steel), reinforced supports, and full ceiling and floor making-good — sits between $18,000 and $45,000 in 2026. The main price drivers are the span length, beam material, foundation reinforcement needed underneath, and the extent of finishes you want restored. Bigger open-plan reconfigurations with multiple load-bearing walls removed run $45,000 to $120,000+.

From first call to finished work, plan on three to six months for a typical wall-removal project. That breaks down as roughly four weeks for design and engineering, six to ten weeks for building consent (Auckland Council’s working day clock), and three to six weeks on site. Larger structural jobs — re-piling, second-storey additions, full structural reconfigurations — run six to twelve months. We give you a realistic timeline at the QS estimate stage.

Yes, for any load-bearing wall. Auckland Council requires a chartered structural engineer’s design (with a PS1 producer statement) lodged with the building consent application. We engage the engineer on your behalf as part of our design-and-build service, so you don’t have to coordinate that separately. The engineer’s fee is built into our QS estimate up front — no surprises.

Usually yes, for single-room or single-wall work — though it’s dusty and disruptive. For multi-room structural reconfigurations, re-piling, or anything that takes the kitchen or main bathroom offline for more than a week, most clients choose to move out. We talk through the realistic disruption at the site visit and help you decide. Where you do stay in, we seal off work zones with full plastic dust barriers.

A structural alteration changes how the existing building holds itself up — removing walls, re-piling, adding beams, cutting new openings — without necessarily increasing the floor area. A home extension adds new floor area, which almost always includes structural work as part of it. Many of our projects are both — a structural reconfiguration inside the existing footprint plus a small extension out the back.

Done well, yes — significantly upward. Opening up a chopped-up 1970s floor plan into modern open-plan living, fixing failed foundations, or properly engineering an existing problem all add measurable value at sale. Done badly, structural work without consent or a Code Compliance Certificate is a major red flag for buyers and lenders. Every project we deliver gets council CCC sign-off and the Master Build 10-Year Guarantee — so the paperwork’s clean.

LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams are engineered timber — strong, lighter to install, and cheaper. Steel beams (usually a UB or PFC section) are denser, span longer distances, and are essential for wider openings or heavy loads above. For a typical 3–4 metre internal opening, LVL almost always works. For 5 metres or more, or where a second storey loads onto the beam, steel is usually specified. The structural engineer makes the call based on the loads — not a builder’s preference.

Yes — every structural alteration we deliver is covered. The Master Build Guarantee insures against structural defects, loss of deposit, non-completion, weathertightness failure and material defects, backed by Registered Master Builders. It’s the most comprehensive residential building warranty in New Zealand. Read more about what it covers.

Yes, and we do a lot of it — Auckland’s villa and bungalow stock is full of homes that need internal reconfiguration without losing the character at the front. The work needs an engineer who understands heritage construction, careful sequencing to avoid damage to original features, and sometimes a resource consent on top of the building consent if your property is in a Special Character zone. See our heritage restoration service.

It happens on roughly half of older Auckland homes — borer-damaged framing, rotten bottom plates, asbestos in old wall linings, plumbing not where the plans say it is. We carry a contingency allowance in every fixed-price contract for exactly this. Anything found is documented with photos, priced transparently against the contingency, and discussed with you before any extra work is done. No surprise bills at the end.

Three steps. First, ring us on 09 393 5658 or book a free consultation — we’ll come to you anywhere in Auckland for a no-obligation site visit and give you a realistic ballpark on the spot. Second, if it looks like a fit, we’ll do a concept design and a QS-backed estimate so you see real numbers before committing. Third, sign the Master Builder Contract, lock the fixed price, and start the build.