Construction workers have removed the house half-obliterated by a vandal who fired up a 20-tonne digger in the middle of the night and smashed the newly built home to pieces.
Builders showed up to work last Friday to find timber, roofing and other debris strewn across the Flat Bush site as a nearly finished house had been destroyed by a digger left on site.
While mystery still surrounds the identity of the vandal, or vandals, builders have pushed on with demolition work, with pictures on Wednesday showing the house has now been razed.
Speaking to Stuff the morning after the destruction, the building companys owner, Baljit Dheil, said the house would have to be completely broken down to be rebuilt from scratch.
READ MORE:* Mystery digger vandal: Emergency stop button prevented more houses being destroyed in Auckland’s Flat Bush* Chaos on building site as vandal destroys house with 20-tonne digger* Buyers pay $3m to $5.7m for luxury parkside apartments in central Christchurch
It is not known whether any structural damage has been done to adjoining houses but at the time Dheil said the demolition would have to be done by hand to avoid damage to neighbouring buildings.
Dheil estimated the rebuild costs would be upwards of $200,000 and said even the concrete foundations had been damaged and would need to be repoured.
A vandal has demolished a house on a building site in Flat Bush overnight after commandeering a 20-tonne digger that was on site.
We cant digest it at the moment, it is a whole house gone, she said.
The house was ready to settle in a months time, now it will take us at least two or three months to rebuild.
We have to demolish everything and start from scratch.
Concrete foundations recently poured for other homes nearby had also been ripped up, which one worker called petty.
The damage is estimated to be between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of damage.
Mystery also surrounds how the vandal managed to start the digger.
It is believed the vandal started the digger between 1.15am and 1.30am, before the early-morning destruction spree was brought to a halt about 3.15am.
A worker who spoke to Stuff on Saturday explained an emergency button in the digger was likely activated, which would have brought it to a halt, preventing the rogue driver from doing more damage.
Insurance lawyer Tim Gunn told Stuff construction companies typically had cover for unforeseen events, such as earthquakes, floods, fire and accidental damage that occurs in the construction context.
It is unclear whether any structural damage had been done to neighbouring houses.
However, when an unknown person or someone with little money is involved in the damage, it is unlikely an insurer will want to cover it.
There will be some difficulty in the insurer accepting liability for the actions of a rogue third party, he said.
The kitchens and finishings had recently gone in, and all that was left to do was some flooring and painting, Dheil said.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact police on 105 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.