Building as a Mental Health Hazard

I recently saw an article on how to survive a  renovation on interest.co.nz, and it drew something of a bitter laugh. I've made several attempts to do building work here in Dunedin, and dealing with the New Zealand building industry has offered the distinct option of losing my mind from frustration, fatigue and stress.

Over the course of:

One desired refurbishment -

• A first quote to add about 10m2 and a garage to a house that was nearly double what I paid for the house 7 years before by a company that failed a couple of months later, owing $750k to their subbies (a bullet dodged - for me, if not the sub-contractors).
• Another building company recommended to me that expressed interest and looked and then simply vanished for 2 months by which time I was talking to someone else.
• A third who wouldn't use the fixtures and fittings I had made, stockpiled or organised: I strongly suspect becasue they wouldn't get the retail markup from wholesale. I did supply chain for years. I know the lurks.
• A fourth I got in to do a deck as a trial and the work was rough enough for me to redo some of the cosmetic work myself.

One attempted build -

• A young architectural practice who it became very apparent wanted a client to fund them to build their vision, rather than what I was asking for.
• A second architect who was disorganised at a biblical level, kept trying to upsell me on pointless complexities and hugely expensive building automation I absolutely did not want or need, and seemed alarmingly less aware of materials than I was.
• A firm importing factory made houses from overseas that simply vanished over COVID - after the design and specification work was complete.
• I finally found an architect I trusted and we speak the same design language - and she's not from New Zealand so she's full of fresh ideas. And colour: not everything has to be depressive's black, coma-inducing beige, or rainy-day grey.

But here's the thing: I just don't think I've got the stamina to do it any more.