Everybody is told a new building settles, and almost nobody is told what that actually causes. It is a real thing with a small, specific list of consequences, and knowing which faults it explains stops people either worrying about normal movement or accepting a genuine defect as inevitable.
What settling actually is
A new structure carries new loads and its materials continue to shrink and cure for a period after completion, so there is slight movement in the first years.
It is small, and it happens everywhere in the building rather than in one place.
What it causes is doors that begin to bind, hairline cracks at junctions between different materials, and occasionally a window that becomes stiff. That is the whole list, and anything else being blamed on settling is probably something else.
Doors that bind in the first year
A door fitted into a frame that has since moved very slightly will catch, usually at one corner, and it is the commonest consequence people actually notice.
It is an adjustment rather than a replacement: easing the hinge, adjusting the keeps, occasionally taking a little off the leaf.
So it is worth raising with the builder within the defect period rather than living with it, because it is a legitimate item and a five-minute job. Left long enough people force the door, which turns an adjustment into hardware damage.
What is not settling
Water coming in at a window is not settling — it is an unsealed gap, a blocked drainage slot or sealant applied over dust.
Condensation on the inside of glass is not settling; it is warm damp air on cold glass and the room needs ventilating.
And a window that never worked properly from day one was fitted out of square rather than moved since. All three get attributed to settling and none of them is, which matters because all three are somebody's responsibility to put right.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
