Jessica Pullen is a town planner and founder of LG Consulting — a Christchurch-based planning firm that helps developers, homeowners, and businesses get through the council approval process.
In this episode we get into what's really going on behind the scenes of building and development in New Zealand right now. Why the granny flat law isn't what you think it is, what happens when the rules change while your consent is sitting with council, and why Jessica walked out of her job at council mid-career to start her own firm — two weeks before the first COVID lockdown.
We cover:
— The granny flat trap (and the $29,000 fee nobody talks about)
— Why getting a planner early saves you thousands
— How council's fear of liability is slowing everything down
— What good development actually looks like
— Why Christchurch is the fastest growing city in NZ right now
— The mindset that got Jessica through starting a business in a lockdown
🌐 LG Consulting — https://lgconsulting.co.nz/
Red Nine Studios - https://www.redninestudios.com/
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Highlights — best moments from the episode
0:36 What does LG Consulting actually do?
1:42 12 years in the industry — how it's changed
2:28 Is it getting easier to build in NZ? Not quite.
2:40 The granny flat law — what they didn't tell you
4:26 Development contributions: $8k to $29k per unit
6:11 What people get wrong before they come to us
7:31 The #1 mistake — getting a planner in too late
9:12 Covenants, consent notices & the fine print on your title
10:12 Council's fear of liability — and why it's gone too far
11:14 \"I'm writing a 30-page document to prove innocence\"
12:51 What a typical client looks like
13:30 Christchurch — fastest growing city in NZ
15:00 How high can you build in the city right now?
17:27 Shoeboxes vs quality — what good development looks like
19:42 What goes wrong mid-development (flood zones, rule changes)
22:07 Liquefaction, TC3 land and displacement flooding
24:00 Passive surveillance — council's wildest planning requirement
24:42 \"We insert common sense into an industry where it no longer exists\"
25:27 Why Jessica quit council and went out on her own
26:35 Starting a business two weeks before COVID lockdown
27:36 \"The universe tests your decisions for authenticity\"
29:57 The Instagram highlight reel vs the reality of business
31:36 Freedom as a core value — why the job will never win
32:23 Where to find LG Consulting
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