Flat Bush developers don’t expect delays despite digger vandals tearing down $675,000 home

It appears likely the seven townhouses attached to a home damaged by vandals using a digger will not need to also be demolished. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

An Auckland developer expects to deliver most of its new houses on time despite vandals breaking into its construction site and using a digger to tear down a $675,000 home.

The vandals earlier sent the bucket from the 20-tonne digger smashing into the townhouse’s roof and walls in the early hours of last Friday morning.

It now needed rebuilding at a likely cost between $200,000 to $300,000.

The vandals also used a second, smaller digger to damage concrete foundations laid for a complex of 80 apartments also being built on the site by developer DDL Homes.

The damaged home was attached to seven other townhouses, but an initial Auckland Council inspection on Monday suggested only one of those seven properties would also need repairs.

Debris left behind by the vandals. Photo / Supplied

DDL Homes, subsequently, said it expected the crime would not disrupt delivery of most other apartments and houses on its site – many of which had already been bought off-the-plans by buyers.

“At the moment, we do not expect this to delay the construction timelines of the other blocks at 397 Ormiston Rd, but we will keep you updated as more information becomes available to us,” the company said in a Facebook post.

DDL Homes was also busy contacting its buyers.

“To our buyers, we will personally contact you with a more descriptive update of the situation for your peace of mind,” it said.

“Thank you for your co-operation and understanding during this time.”

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“If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please contact us or the police on 0800 555 111.”

Police said they were yet to make a breakthrough in the case.

The damaged home will now need to be completely rebuilt. Photo / Supplied

“The investigation is ongoing and there’s no arrests or further update at this stage,” a police spokesman said today.

DDL Homes owner Baljit Dheil earlier told the Herald her team was shocked.

“We … really don’t know why someone would do that,” she said.

“Even police were saying this morning, they’ve never had a case like this where someone came in and demolished a whole brand new house.”

Among pressing concerns for Dheil was whether any of the seven townhouses attached to the demolished home had also been damaged.

The damaged home will now need to be completely rebuilt. Photo / Supplied

Should any structural damage be detected and those townhouses need to be rebuilt, then the repairs costs could stretch well past $1 million.

However, Auckland Council’s manager field surveying, Jeff Fahrensohn, said after a council inspector visited the site yesterday it appeared only one other townhouse had been damaged.

“The neighbouring unit has suffered damage to the shared inter-tenancy firewall, which will need to be repaired. No other units appear to be damaged,” he said.

“Yet, to be safe, the inspector has requested for a structural engineer to assess the damage and provide a report of a proposed remediation plan.”

Council would work with the contractors to inspect any repairs as quickly as possible to help them get back on track, he said.

“On initial inspection, it appears that a targeted repair to the unit is possible instead of a full demolition. However, this won’t be confirmed until the engineer has completed their report.”

But while that was good news for DDL Homes, the company still faced an unknown repair bill.

It appears likely the seven townhouses attached to a home damaged by vandals using a digger will not need to also be demolished. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

GPS data from the diggers showed the vandals had been on the site for hours.

They started the first smaller digger at about 1am on Friday and used it to “attack” and drive over the concrete foundations of the new 80 apartment complex, all of which had been pre-sold, Dheil said last Friday.

The damage meant the entire foundations would now have to be pulled up and relaid, Dheil said.

She didn’t know how much that would cost.

The vandals next started the 20-tonne digger at about 3.30am and tore apart the townhouse.

Due to be handed over to its buyers in about one month, everything had already gone into the home, including the kitchen and bathroom finishings. The workers were only waiting on carpet and flooring.

Now the total rebuild would cost between $200,000 and $300,000, Dheil said.