Craig Brown Consulting

Craig Brown Consulting (CBC Wastewater) is based on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf and a part of the Auckland Region, New Zealand. CBC can be contracted to do design work for domestic onsite wastewater systems in the Auckland Region. Typical work includes:

• Scoping reports
• Wastewater design reports (for obtaining council consent for onsite wastewater systems)
• Greywater design reports (for obtaining consent for greywater recycling systems)
• Soil type assessment to TP58
• Variations to existing consents

CBC believes in working with clients to achieve their aims, which includes providing clients with the information they need to make decisions, not choosing a system for them without consultation. CBC charges a set fee that includes everything up to the issuing of consent, so there are no disbursements, additional charges for dealing with council queries or other nasty surprises.

Philosophy

CBC designs water and wastewater systems which best suit the client and the site, rather than specifying a package solution to each situation. With this approach there are a number of areas which require fine judgement and consultation:

• Installation cost vs operation and maintenance costs
• Ease of gaining consent vs most desired system
• Proven technology vs exciting innovations

Fixed Fees
By offering a service with fixed fees, clients that wish to try to gain consent for systems which are less easily consented can feel more free to do so.  Clients, should they wish to, take a risk in terms of possible delays and increased consent processing fees (paid to council) but don’t have to worry about increased fees from their consultant (CBC) and in return CBC takes a risk in terms of additional hours of work and occasionally fees for peer review for complex or unusual designs.

The benefit is the potential to gain consent for systems that are better suited to the environment and client. There is a benefit for CBC in that more interesting work comes in to our office and CBC becomes a consultancy of choice. Where ease of consent is a motivator, CBC is of course happy to help clients take the path of least resistance, but we don’t want to add additional barriers for clients that want to achieve something different, because if you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.

Arhaus have worked with Craig Brown on a number of projects regarding water treatment and greywater systems. We value Craig’s passion and independent, un-biased solutions based on what is best for the site and the client’s needs. His reports are extremely thorough, good value for money and Craig takes ownership in dealing with council to make sure information is processed as smoothly as possible.

Dan Heyworth, Founder of Arhaus Sustainable Design & Build

System Information and User Experiences

This site includes some basic information about different systems that are available. This information is provided for educational purposes, not to be used for decision making or consent applications and no warranty is provided for its accuracy nor completeness. Wastewater system design must consider a number of variables which are site specific and situation specific. We would love to have the opportunity to quote to do your design.

Visitors to this site are encouraged to contribute their own experiences with onsite wastewater systems. We welcome corrections, opinions, experiences, additional information etc.

Links

Arhaus Sustainable Design and Build
Arhaus is an architectural design and build company with a focus on efficiency and sustainability. They operate mainly in the Greater Auckland area and are guided by a philosophy of transparency in all they do, particularly with regard to fees and money. CBC is a preferred supplier of wastewater design for Arhaus.

New Zealand Land Treatment Collective
The New Zealand Land Treatment Collective (the ‘NZLTC’) was established in 1989 to support the extension of research into the treatment of wastes and waste products by land application, providing its members with the most recent information on land treatment technology, research and information. The NZLTC website has access to past newsletters.

Lanfax Laboratories
Organisers of the On-Site conference in Australia and source of much information about the content of laundry products (especially useful with regard to greywater reuse).

Country Life Radio Broadcast
Thanks to Marion for sending me this Radio NZ/Country Life radio clip, about a septic tank cleaning business. It has some really good information.

Smarter Homes Website
The Smarter Homes website has a lot of good information about on-site wastewater and greywater.

On-Site Effluent Treatment (OSET) trials by EBOP
Environment Bay of Plenty (EBOP) has run a series of trials of on-site wastewater systems. Although not methodologically perfect, they do give some independent data on performance. Click on the individual system names to go through to individual test results.

Update: the scheme has now become a national testing programme and further results will not be made public, only given to funding councils and hopefully wastewater system designers working with those councils.

List of systems available in New Zealand and contact details
Comprehensive list compiled by Ian Gunn 18 January 2010.

___________________