A Wellington plumber says he's been forced to charge up to 30% more if clients live on streets with cycle ways with no parking or bad access.
By Charlotte Cook for RNZ
Some tradies said they think twice about accepting a job on the troublesome streets because it was so inconvenient and added much more to the job.
Wellington plumber Dan had worked in the region a long time, so the narrow, curving streets were no surprise. But he said it was getting harder as parking options changed in the city.
He said a recent property in Karori had no off-street parking, no driveway, and a cycle lane to navigate.
"The job just took at least another, 25-30 percent longer, and ultimately the homeowner ends up having to pay for that."
He said they had to block the cycle lane to unload a digger because there was no other option.
"Then we had to whip our vehicles around the corner... and that included the truck and the digger trailer."
It was worse when they had to bring materials, too, he said.
"Carting in and out, bringing drainage metal in by wheelbarrow for about 150 metres around the corner. It was just a real hassle."
He said all that extra inconvenience and time costs money.
"I have an open book with my clients anyway, and I just sort of will explain it to them.
"I say, look, man, this is just going to slow us down heaps and ultimately, you're going to have to pay for this.
"They're aware of it, obviously it upsets them a bit, but it definitely makes it a lot more expensive."
Aro St couple Sue Tait and Brennan Wood know the feeling.
They needed to do a massive renovation on their house, but tradies would only agree to the work on one condition.
"Parking," Tait said.
"We paid an exorbitant fee for two parks just up in the Philosophy Building, 50 bucks a week, but even that was a tad inconvenient, right?"
The parks she rented were still about 100 metres away, meaning the tradies would block the footpath to unload and then head up to park.
Tait said the road redevelopment had not taken into account the different kinds of people and businesses who use the road
"It's not that I'm anti-cyclist at all. It's that they have been given a priority completely ignoring the mixed community that we live in."
She said there needed to be spaces better designed within these cycle lane redevelopments that include spaces for parents with young children to park or unload, tradies and delivery and service vehicles.
Fellow Aro Valley resident Brent Efford recently had his property re-roofed. He also didn't have any off street parking and was worried about how it might impact the job.
"Scaffolders had to come and the roofing people themselves, of course, had to drop off materials and that sort of thing.
"And in circumstances like that, you make informal arrangements around the place. But it's quite difficult."
He was able to temporarily block the footpath and loan some space at a neighbours driveway for them to park.
Efford had spent years as a sustainable transport advocate and was sympathetic to cyclists but felt as though their needs had been overrepresented in some areas like Aro St.
A Wellington builder said the parking and access situation across the city had worsened.
"It's made some of us reflect on how sweet we had it for a while, but yeah, and you can't help but be a little bit frustrated."
He said aside from parking a few things run through his head before accepting a job.
"It can also be. How steep is the access to the houses? If you have a choice between jobs, you're not going to choose a hard one over an easier one, that's for sure."
The builder said it's not the customers' fault, but all the added time and frustration of getting materials and tools in and out of the property add up.
"I'm not against cycle lanes by any means. I feel like maybe in some cases they've tipped the scales a little bit too far in favour of cyclists and hey, good for the cyclists, I'm happy for them.
"But you know, when you take away access for everyone else apart from the cyclist, it's just a pain in the ass for everyone else, really, isn't it?"
Carrie Largerstedt had a business called Curate Home and as a professional home organizer, she's all over the city.
She would spend up to four hours at someone's house helping them declutter before taking it all to charity shops.
If the house had no off street parking, or was in an area where there was limited space, Largerstedt said it could be a nightmare. Some notable mentions being Aro St, Molesworth and Tinakori Rd.
"I have to park further away and carry heavy boxes anywhere between like two and ten boxes... like walking two blocks or I have to pull my car up and basically park on the sidewalk with my hazard lights on in a really inconvenient place.
"It's sort of like imagine moving house you would either have to just carry boxes down the block or you would just have to take up space."
She didn't like doing it, knowing it's unsafe but she said there wasn't another choice.
Largerstedt didn't increase her prices for this and absorbed it but said it would be an impossible situation to manage every day.
"If I had to work in that sort of inconvenience every day, I don't think I'd be doing it."
She said there was a real lack of good planning around how to make city streets more accessible for cyclists and pedestrians while remaining usable for tradies and the service people who need to look after the community.
The Wellington City Council said it had undertaken extensive consultation with relevant groups when it came to making changes to parking or road layouts.
"It's generally agreed that, in most large cities, it is not guaranteed that tradies, residents or anyone else will have convenient parking."
SHARE ME