Phil Richmond Builders, Canterbury Pole Sheds home page 0800 001 297Call

Pole sheds and garages across Christchurch, Canterbury

Phil has spent more than 25 years building in Christchurch and Canterbury. In the suburbs the work is garages, big-section sheds and man caves; on the rural fringe, it’s pole sheds on blocks.

Get a quote in Christchurch Or call 0800 001 297
Pole sheds
Lifestyle, farm and garage sheds, slab and all
Fit-outs
Lined rooms, bars and man caves
Licensed
Phil is a Licensed Building Practitioner
25+ years
Building across Christchurch and Canterbury
Inside a pole shed: round timber poles, timber bearers and rafters, and steel cross-bracing behind the steel cladding
Round poles, timber rafters and steel bracing, before any lining goes in.

Christchurch at a glance

Council
Christchurch City Council
Zone
Suburban sections; rural land beyond the suburbs
Wind and snow
Plains wind and snow; outside the inland high-wind area
Ground
Post-quake land categories set the foundation; hill sites get their own design
Get a quote in Christchurch

What we build in Christchurch

From the slab to the fit-out

One builder from bare ground to a finished shed: Phil and the team pour the slab, stand the poles, clad it, then fit it out inside if you want.

  1. Timber posts braced in a boxed slab area behind a house, with steel mesh laid before the concrete pour

    The slab

    Posts braced, the slab boxed and meshed, ready for the pour.

  2. Timber posts and rafters standing on a new concrete slab, with scaffolding, on a rural block with a shelterbelt behind

    Poles and frame

    Poles stood, bearers and rafters up, bracing in.

  3. A steel-clad shed with two open bays and a window, on a gravel pad beside a post-and-rail fence

    Clad and roofed

    Roof and walls on, roller doors and windows where you want them.

  4. Inside a finished shed room: plywood-lined walls and ceiling, dark carpet and a glazed door

    Lined inside

    Ply walls and ceiling, carpet down, a door you can lock.

  5. A garage fitted out as a bar: dark timber panelling, a long timber bar top, lit spirits shelves and a dartboard alcove

    Fitted out

    A bar, a games room or a place to watch the rugby.

How a shed job runs in Christchurch

  1. Tell us about the shed

    Use the planner, call, or send the form with a few photos of the site.

  2. Phil comes out and quotes

    He walks the site with you, checks the zone and the ground, and quotes the job himself.

  3. Know what happens when

    You get a timeline for the build and staged payments that match your job, so you know what’s coming next.

  4. Slab, poles and frame

    The team boxes and pours the slab, stands the poles and puts the frame and roof up.

  5. Clad, closed in, fitted out

    Cladding, doors and windows go on, then the lining and fit-out if you want one.

A timber-framed carport sheltering a boat on its trailer, with open firewood bays alongside
Cover for the boat, with firewood bays alongside.

Christchurch ground categories and the rural fringe

After the earthquakes, Christchurch’s flat land was mapped into technical categories. TC1 land is unlikely to see future liquefaction damage, TC2 could see minor to moderate damage, and TC3 could see moderate to significant damage, so a house there needs a site-specific foundation design. Rural land carries no category, and Port Hills properties have always needed their own foundation design. Templeton township is TC1, the Radcliffe Road side of Belfast is TC2, and Spencerville village is TC3.

A detached garage gets lighter treatment than a house because no one lives in it. On middle-grade (TC2) land it can use a standard foundation, and on the weakest (TC3) land, a garage with light roof and wall cladding can still go on that standard foundation. A garage joined to the house follows the house’s foundation category, and a garage you plan to live in is a different conversation, so raise it when you call.

On the rural fringe at Marshland, Yaldhurst and west of Templeton, the land is Rural Urban Fringe, with 4 ha needed for a house, setbacks of 15 m to roads and 10 m to neighbours. Blocks above 4 ha have a coverage cap of 5% or 2,000 m², taking the lower figure. The city sits outside Canterbury’s inland high-wind area, with the plains’ snow loads.

A three-bay pole shed with round timber poles and open fronts, on a gravel pad below tussock hills
A pole shed on a hill block, the front bays left open for machinery.

Planning a shed in Christchurch

  1. Check your address on the council’s technical category map before choosing between a detached garage and one joined to the house.
  2. On a small rural block under 0.4 ha, there’s a 6 m road setback and a 3 m internal one, which opens up more of the section for a shed.
  3. On a Port Hills section, send Phil pictures of the section’s fall and how a truck gets in: hill properties always get a site-specific foundation design.

Questions about building in Christchurch

Do you build garages and sheds in the Christchurch suburbs?

Yes, across the city and its edges: Belfast, Marshland, Harewood, Yaldhurst and Templeton, and over the hill to Lyttelton. Phil comes to the section, checks the ground category and the zone, and quotes the job himself.

Nearby: Harewood, Marshland, Lyttelton, Kaiapoi. All towns

Get a quote for your shed in Christchurch

Tell Phil what the shed is for, how big, and where it’s going. He’ll ring to talk it through and set a time to look at the site.

What to send Phil

  • Photos of the site, and the way in
  • A sketch or plan, if you have one
  • Roughly how big, or what it has to fit
  • Whether there’s a slab or pad already
  • Your town
  • When you’d like it built

What happens next: Phil rings you to talk the shed through, then comes out to see the site and quote the job. Rather talk now? Call 0800 001 297.

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