Where the facts come from, and what we leave out

The four rules we write by

1. Every rule links its source and shows the date we last checked it.Not "according to MBIE" with no link — the actual document, and the date.
2. We say "check with your council" only after giving the actual rule, never instead of it. Sending someone to the council without telling them what to ask is not help.
3. Prices are always someone's published price on a stated date,quoted in their words, never our estimate and never an "average" we have assembled.
4. If we cannot read it at the source, we do not publish it.Not with a hedge, not with "reportedly". It simply does not go on the page.

What "last checked" means

It means a person opened that document on that date and confirmed the page still says what we say it says. It does not mean the rule has not changed since — it means we have not looked since. Today every source on this site was last checked on 15 September 2026. When a date starts looking old, treat it as old.

What we have deliberately left out

This is the unusual part, and the part we would most like other sites to copy. Several figures circulate widely in New Zealand tiny home content. We have seen them quoted, they may well be right, and they are not on this site — because building.govt.nz, mbie.govt.nz, beehive.govt.nz, legislation.govt.nz and the council websites all refuse automated requests, so nobody here has read them at the source.

If you have read one of those official pages yourself and can point us at the wording, tell us and we will add it with your source and the date.

What we removed from the old version of this site

This site previously listed twelve tiny home builders with years trading, team sizes, starting prices and credentials such as "Master Builders" and "LBP-registered", plus six case studies with named owners and project totals. None of those businesses or projects existed; they were placeholder content that was never replaced.

All of it is gone. Those URLs now return 410 Gone rather than redirecting, deliberately: a redirect would keep those invented business names circulating in search results, and a 410 tells search engines to drop them altogether. The invented price bands, region cost multipliers and unsourced council claims went with them.

How we handle listings of real businesses

Where we name a real business — currently two builders whose prices we quote on the cost page — we publish only public facts from their own pages: their name, where they say they work, what they list, and the prices they publish in their own wording. We record the page we read and the date we read it, and we link to it.

We never add a rating, a review, a ranking, a licence number or a claim that a business is vetted, recommended, trusted or a partner of ours. These businesses have no relationship with this site. If yours is listed and you would like it changed or removed, tell us and we will do it — no argument, no form to fill in twice.

Corrections

Tell us and we will fix it. If a correction changes the substance of what a page said, we update the checked date and say what changed. If you bought the guide and a rule in it has moved, we will reissue it.

We are not a council, a lawyer or a design professional, and nothing on this site is advice about your particular site. Where the stakes are high, get it in writing from your council before you spend money.