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

Three- and four-bay pole sheds in Swannanoa, North Canterbury

Swannanoa is small farms and lifestyle blocks with room for a three- or four-bay pole shed. Phil comes out, walks the block with you and quotes, and the team builds it.

Get a quote in Swannanoa 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
A three-bay garage clad in charcoal steel with three roller doors and a side door, with pines behind
Three roller-door bays in charcoal steel, with a side door on the end wall.

Swannanoa at a glance

Council
Waimakariri District Council
Zone
Lifestyle blocks, plus some larger lots
Wind and snow
About 54 m up, still the lightest snow loads
Ground
Flood rules over parts of the area
Get a quote in Swannanoa

What we build in Swannanoa

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 Swannanoa

  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.

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.

Swannanoa blocks and the Rural Lifestyle rules

New subdivisions at Swannanoa and Mandeville North keep adding lifestyle blocks, and every new block needs somewhere for the mower, the trailer and the gear.

The land around the village is Rural Lifestyle Zone, broken up by a few Large Lot Residential pockets. Here a shed needs a 10 m road setback but only 3 m to the side and back fences. One building tops out at 550 m², and all the buildings together can take 20% of the site. Hard surfaces other than buildings, such as a concrete apron or a driveway, have their own 20% cap. Miss a standard and resource consent comes before building starts.

Parts of Swannanoa sit in the council’s Non-Urban Flood Assessment Overlay. That leaves an implement shed, or a garage nobody lives in, untouched. It does reach a fitted-out shed used as living space, or one hooked up to a septic tank and a potable supply: that shed’s floor is set by a council certificate, which lasts three years. At about 54 m above sea level, the village carries zone 4’s lightest snow load.

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

Planning a shed in Swannanoa

  1. Measure for the apron as well as the bays: concrete in front of the shed counts toward the 20% limit on hard surfaces.
  2. With only 3 m needed from side boundaries, a long shed can run near the fence line and leave the paddock open.
  3. In some rural areas the council lets a shed that sits more than 10 m from every boundary go without a stormwater system; ask Phil whether your block is one of them.

Questions about building in Swannanoa

Does a Swannanoa pole shed need building consent?

Not at 30 m² or under, provided it satisfies Schedule 1, including keeping a metre clear of boundaries and dwellings; that holds in any zone. Beyond that size, it turns on how your block is zoned, and Phil works that out with you at the quote before anything is ordered.

Nearby: Ohoka, Oxford, Rangiora, Loburn. All towns

Get a quote for your shed in Swannanoa

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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