Overview
Converting a commercial building to a residential building is still quite common. A lot of commercial areas have been rezoned allowing for this type of conversion to take place. Because of these zoning changes it means that buildings can now be subdivided in ways that they couldn’t previously and also the intensification of residential development is significantly higher than in the past.
Typical conversions from commercial to residential
- Rezoning a building that is in a suburban area
- Converting a warehouse. For example creating a smaller unit in the warehouse, to allow for someone to live and to work.
- Upper floors /mezzanines of apartments.
What is the process?
While each building and development project is different there are some patterns. We have outlined here a process that explains how a typical conversion could go.
Begin Project
Generally if you are thinking about converting your property it is best to discuss with a planner and an architect. They will help you to develop some preliminary plans and get your project underway.
Preliminary Report or Assessment
After you have an idea about what you want to do, you or your planner or architect will get in contact with us and in most cases we provide a preliminary report or assessment.
Outine Initial Thoughts
We will outline our initial thoughts and discuss with you and your architect what the outcome of the preliminary assessment is. We recommend that it is advisable to get some sort of input by our fire team before submitting your proposal for resource consent.
Design Developed
If you decide to proceed with the project then it will go to developed design.
Full Fire Report
Once we are at this stage we will do a full fire report for building consent.
Inspection
We can do inspections if called upon after this report is complete, but in the majority of cases, council undertakes inspections.
What is the cost?
With this type of work, costs do vary dramatically depending on the type of project and the nature of the existing building. We recommend that you get in contact for a quote so that we can give you an accurate estimate of what your costs are like.
Preliminary Site Visit and Preliminary Report
- These are typically $750 – $1,000
Fire Report
- These start at around $2,500 for a standard development build. But the cost here can vary significantly, with a larger project you could be looking at $10,000 – $15,000. So it’s best to get in touch with us to get a firm cost estimate.