You can't beat a good neighbour, so Lindsay Cook had no problem giving approval when the guy next door asked for permission to build a big, brand new garage.
That garage would link onto a shared wall. He felt good about it, but that feeling didn't last.
Because, as the builders got to work in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, their digging caused subsidence. Lindsay said: "They dug deep under the existing foundation, and it gave way."
This was in May 2023. Prior to that, Lindsay hadn't experienced any problems with his garage, despite it being 70 years old. But the builder's actions meant they had to put in makeshift bracing to ensure the shared wall didn't fall down.
Worried about the consequences, Lindsay paid for the garage to be assessed by engineers. They looked at previous building reports, did a thorough on-site inspection and took into account the sandy soil of Miramar. They clarified the building had been level on the last inspection in 2021, but that the shared wall had now moved, causing a rotation of the front.
It meant rain would no longer flow to the gutters and it was now at a greater risk during an earthquake. The report didn't mince its words when addressing the cause of the problem: "Any experienced/competent builder knows that excavations in sand ... are unlikely to hold up vertically for any reasonable length of time."
Lindsay then paid for quotes for repair, saying they ranged from "$110,000 to $180,000".
As a retiree, he relies on his pension and a fixed income from this rental. So paying for repairs himself was out of the question. "It's impossible. I'm 71, I don't have a $100,000 sitting around under the bed," he said.
As a good landlord, he'd also reduced the rent for his tenant as they couldn't access the garage, so was a further $4000 out of pocket for that.
His first stop was his landlord insurance, but it said his policy didn't cover damage caused by building work, so it suggested he go to the builder's insurer, QBE Insurance. QBE sent an assessor and came up with an offer for repairs. Lindsay couldn't believe what he saw — the offer was for just $7700.
"I got a quote for more than that for the just the demolition, let alone to rebuild it," he said. It also offered him just $80 towards his loss of rent.
QBE said it would reconsider. Meanwhile, Lindsay approached the Insurance Ombudsman. It said QBE wasn't a member and he should try one of the finance ombudsmen. So he did, but he was turned away because he wasn't the direct customer. Lindsay then came to Fair Go. This was after months of trying to get somewhere himself.
We got in touch with QBE and, coincidence or not, it made contact with Lindsay in the next few days saying it would send him a new offer along with the results of a building report they had done, but that this would need to be in confidence.
All along, Lindsay had been transparent about all of his dealings and wanted QBE to be transparent too. He stood his ground. "The story needs to be told. Here we are trying to deal with a large corporate. We're not trying to get a brand new garage, we just want what we had at the beginning of the process."
QBE relented and made a new offer. It allowed Lindsay to share the main details of its report and to confirm an offer had been made, just not the amount. The report confirmed the builders did cause damage to the roof, the framing and the door, while still partly blaming pre-existing damage.
Fair Go contacted QBE again for comment and it replied to say: "This was a complex claim and we're grateful for the collaboration of all parties to enable us to reach a resolution."
As for Lindsay, he's happy — Fair Go don't know the final offer, but let's just say he's already making plans for his garage rebuild to start.
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