Waipunarangi - reminding us that what we give to others will generally come back to us
Within the Matariki star cluster, the Waipunarangi star is a reminder that what you give to others will generally come back to you. Waipunarangi symbolises the relationship water has to our life cycle, how it is evaporated from the rivers, oceans and lakes to fall again as the rain which we drink and which nourishes the land.
This is the same relationship that builders have with homeowners. The builder brings the house out of the ground, transforming building materials into shelter for the homeowner and family. Sometimes the building relationship is affected by weather which makes building difficult or even impossible. Delays in getting a building project started or finished are endemic. The opportunity for disputes is high. The worst disputes occur when the parties have stopped communicating, become defensive and in some cases, abusive of each other.
Fair Way Resolution provides a dispute resolution service to the building and construction industry.
It is essential for the builder and homeowner to work together to achieve the result they both want - a house that they can both be proud of. For the homeowner, the house may be the culmination of all their planning, hopes and dreams, and for the builder it is a piece of their workmanship, and part of their business. Although all building projects have a contract as their foundation, it is not unusual for parties to agree variations some of which may not even be recorded in writing. Builders are under enormous pressure with the building boom and many just have too much work on the go at any one time. They are affected by labour shortages and supply of materials.
The one very difficult issue we see in the Fair Way service is when the parties’ relationship has got so bad that each side does not want to engage with the other. We see very stressed builders not wanting to complete a job because of the abuse they have had from a homeowner. Often, when we point this out to the homeowner, they in turn realise how stressed they are, sometimes managing the financial difficulty of paying rent and a bank loan, or sometimes a very large bank loan as they have not sold the house they are living in. Each side of the dispute has lost sight of the connected nature of their relationship and the need to work in harmony together to achieve the result.
It costs nothing to be kind and respectful. Our mediators tell stories of builders and homeowners acknowledging each other’s difficulties and deciding to act with kindness to each other. These cases are the ones which usually get great results. That’s why it is so important to remember Waipunarangi, the star that reminds us that what we give to others will generally come back to us.