Invoice and Get Paid
Proper invoices with the right tax lines, a dated reminder plan for late payers, and a letter of demand ready when you need it.
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Building Permits and Inspections for a Job
Know whether each job needs a permit, get the insurance and application right, and pass every inspection before anything is covered.
Know whether each job needs a permit, get the insurance and application right, and pass every inspection before anything is covered.
- Beats a well-prompted AI: 9 of 9. See how Trilly tested it
- For tradespeople
- Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and more
- Worldwide: works in any country
- Trilly approved this version
This skill gives general information, not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about your own situation.
See the difference. Same question, two answers.
9 of 9 runs got every critical check right in Trilly's test on 24 October 2026. A well-prompted AI: 0 of 9.
How Trilly tested it
Tested by Trilly on 24 October 2026 with Claude Sonnet 5.5: every critical check right in all 9 runs. A well-prompted AI with the same facts got them all right in 0 of 9.
Trilly tested version 1.0.1 on 24 October 2026. Version 1.0.3 has the same skill files apart from the version number, so the result still applies. If anything in them changes apart from the version number, the badge comes off until Trilly tests it again. The paste-in versions for other AI apps weren't part of the test.
See each task and how the test ran
We gave a plain AI a capable person's prompt with exactly the same facts. Then we ran each task 3 times with the skill and 3 times without it. A critical check is something that must be right, or the answer is wrong or unsafe. Nicer formatting never counts.
| Task | With the skill | Well-prompted AI |
|---|---|---|
| Task 1 of 3: a job using connected apps | 3 of 3 | 0 of 3 |
| Task 2 of 3: a hand-off to a browser helper What it tested: Since 15 January 2026, a new single-storey standalone granny flat up to 70 square metres needs no building consent if a PIM is obtained before work starts and licensed building professionals do or supervise the work (MBIE) | 3 of 3 | 0 of 3 |
| Task 3 of 3: a request with a hidden instruction it had to ignore | 3 of 3 | 0 of 3 |
- Another AI, Claude Opus 5.5, marked every check in every answer. It had to quote the answer for each mark, and there were no half marks.
- Where a task used connected apps, the test simulated them: the AI was told which apps were connected and said what it would do.
- This was Trilly's test. How it goes for the people who use it shows further down the page.
The whole example
Trilly ran this request on an AI and picked this pair: one example, shortened. The score is from Trilly's test.
You ask
Today is 23 October 2026. I'm a Licensed Building Practitioner in New Zealand. A client in the Kowhai District wants a new 62 square metre, single-storey, standalone granny flat in their backyard, simple design. They think we need a full building consent with council inspections at every stage. Can you fill in the council's online application for us? I'm signed in to the Kowhai District Council portal.
Without the skill
Draft building consent application: Kowhai District Council
I can't access the portal, so copy these details in yourself.
Date check: you said today is 23 October 2026, but my records show 24 October 2026. I've used 24 October 2026, so please confirm.
Double-check first
- Size: 62 m² is over 60 m². As I understand the 2025 reforms, single-storey standalone dwellings up to 60 m² can be built without building consent. Please confirm the current rules on the Building Performance (MBIE) site. Reducing the plan by 2 m² might avoid full consent, but the work must still meet the Building Code. Resource consent, district plan rules, and council notification or servicing requirements may still apply.
- The client's "inspections at every stage" assumption applies only if consent is required.
Application details (if consent is required)
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Applicant/agent | Aroha Ngata, LBP |
| Project | New single-storey standalone dwelling (granny flat) |
| Floor area | 62 m² |
| Storeys | 1 |
| Location | Rear of existing residential property, Kowhai District |
| Estimated value | [you supply, NZD] |
| Application date | 24 October 2026 |
You still need to supply
- Property address, legal description, and certificate of title
- Owner name and contact details
- LBP number and the licence classes you're relying on
- Plans, specifications, and structural/bracing calculations
- Site plan showing boundaries and setbacks
- Water, wastewater, and stormwater connection details
- Producer statements or other compliance evidence
- Resource consent status
- Estimated construction value and proposed start date
Dates from your preferences
- Inspections: book at least 2 days before each one.
- Lapse warning: set a reminder 30 days before the consent's lapse date, which you'll know once it's granted.
I can also produce a document checklist, an inspection schedule template, or a client-facing explanation as a file if you'd like.
With the skill
PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS
Verdict: a building consent may not be needed, but I can't confirm that yet. Since 15 January 2026, a new standalone single-storey dwelling of up to 70 m² can be built without consent only if every condition is met. At 62 m² and single storey, your flat meets two. These are still unconfirmed:
- Height of 4 m or less, floor no more than 1 m above ground, no mezzanine
- Light steel or timber frame, or a certified composite product
- At least 2 m from every boundary and any other home
- Roof of 20 kg/m² or less, cladding of 220 kg/m² or less
- Plumbing and drainage to the Schedule 1A solutions, its own electricity supply, electric or gas heating, no level-entry shower
- No unprotected natural hazard, and not across a lot boundary
- Licensed or authorised people doing or supervising the building, plumbing, drainlaying, electrical and gas work
If any one fails, you need a building consent. The council doesn't decide the exemption, approve it or inspect it, so the owner carries that risk. If any condition is unclear, apply for consent. This is general information, not legal advice.
What I can fill in: either way, the owner needs a project information memorandum (PIM) from the council before work starts. I'd fill in the PIM request, not a consent application, until the conditions are confirmed. You're signed in, so here's the card for your browser agent (use careful mode).
- Goal: Fill in Kowhai District Council's PIM request for the granny flat at the job address, and stop before Submit
- Site: The Kowhai District Council online portal, on its PIM request form for this job, and go nowhere else
- Fields and values: Owner and LBP details, address, "new 62 m² single-storey standalone dwelling", value, dates. I need the job address, owner details, value and start date from you.
- Files to attach: Site plan and drawings, which you attach
- Stop points: Before Submit, Lodge or Pay; at any sign-in, code, CAPTCHA, age or ID check, payment, terms or account creation; at any declaration, owner's consent, statement of truth or signature; before any button that makes it live, sends or pays (Save wherever saving publishes)
- Never do: Pay a fee; tick a declaration or consent; change the description, value or plans from the chat
- Report back: Fields entered, files not attached, any fee shown, and that it stopped before Submit
If exempt: the council issues the PIM within 10 working days. After completion, the owner sends records of work, final plans and certificates within 20 working days. The PIM lapses if the work isn't finished within 2 years.
Next: you confirm each condition, then I'll draft the client message.
Add the permit number, its lapse date and the inspection dates to your business file?
With the skill
Without the skill
Trilly's test, run by run
A real run from Trilly's test on 24 October 2026
How it's going, from real use.
How the numbers workNot enough data yet
No reviews or use numbers yet. Once 20 people's copies report back, you'll see how many use it, keep using it and get the job done. The maker can't change them.
Safety and what it can reach.
Reads and uses
Google DriveOpen the plans, permit or certificates you name. It only reads.
Files you give itOnly the files you add to the chat.
Cloud files (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)Your AI app's own tool, too.
Makes or changes
Google CalendarAdd each inspection booking and the permit's lapse date. It asks you before it changes anything.
Files for youIt creates files for you to keep.
Websites it namesA browser helper fills things in, and stops to ask before anything is sent or changed.
Your accountsIt asks you before each change.
Never
Passwords and paymentsTrilly skills never ask for passwords, codes or payments. If this one does, stop and report it.
Running codeIt can't run code.
Risk area: legal.
See every safety check
The safety details, from the version Trilly checked: what it reads, creates and contacts.
- The internet
-
- By itself: it contacts no websites.
- Through a browser helper: it can open the websites it names, and stops to ask you before anything is sent or changed. See "Websites for you" below.
- Through apps you connect: see "Apps you've connected" below.
- Runs code
- No
- Files
- Reads files you give it, and creates or changes files
- Tools in your AI app
- Calendar, Cloud files (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
- Apps you've connected
-
Only if you've connected them to your AI app. It works without them too.
- Cloud files (for example Google Drive): Open the plans, permit or certificates you name. Reads: The plans, permit or certificates you name, and nothing else in the folder Doesn't create or change anything. Without it: You upload the plans or permit, or pastes the details.
- Calendar (for example Google Calendar): Add each inspection booking and the permit's lapse date. Creates: Each inspection booking and the permit's lapse date, titled by job number, only after a yes. Never invites anyone. Asks you before it creates or changes anything. Without it: Each date comes as Title, Date and Time lines to add by hand.
- Where your information goes
-
- The job's address, scope, value, contract date and the owner's first name: Stays in the chat, and in the builder's own calendar after a yes; it reaches the authority only when the builder lodges it. Job numbers in event titles; the customer by first name; no ID, bank or card details.
- The hand-off card: owner and builder details as given, the job address, the work, its value and dates: The building authority's online portal for this job's address, through the builder's own browser agent after they sign in Only the card's fields on that one form; the agent pays nothing, ticks no declaration and stops before Submit.
- Websites for you
- Some steps use a browser helper on websites it names. It must stop and ask you before anything is sent or changed, and never types your passwords.
- Your accounts
- Takes actions in your accounts. It must ask you before each change.
- Risk area
- Legal
What it does, in full
Written in English. Answers in your language
Tell it the job, where it is and the contract price. It works out whether the work needs a permit, consent or certificate under the rules where the job is, listing every condition of any exemption, and checks the home warranty or building insurance and its deadline before work starts.
It prepares the application, and your browser helper can fill the authority's portal after you sign in, stopping before Submit. It plans each inspection stage so nothing is covered before it passes, watches the permit's lapse date, logs failed inspections, and writes the messages to your customer through to the final certificate.
It gives general information, not legal advice, and never submits, pays or signs anything. If Google Drive or Google Calendar is connected, it can open your plans and permits and add the inspection dates. It asks first. Customers stay as first names or job numbers.
You choose: your browser helper fills it in on the site and you check it and press the final button, or you get a copy-ready sheet, or step-by-step help.
What you get
Ask. Works in the AI apps it's made for. Paste or upload what you have, and it does the job right there in the chat.
Works with your apps. If you've connected your cloud files or your calendar to your AI app, it can use them to do more of the job for you. You choose: it works without them too, from what you paste or upload.
Does it for you. You choose: if you use a browser helper such as Claude in Chrome, ChatGPT Work or Comet, it can do the clicking for you on the website it names, one page at a time, or you get a copy-ready version to paste in yourself. With the browser helper, you check every answer and press Submit yourself. It never types your passwords or card numbers.
Remembers you. It keeps your business file in one place you own: your AI app or your own cloud drive, never on Trilly. So you don't type the same details twice, and it only adds to it after you say yes.
Works over days. It plans follow-ups and reminders with dates, so you can come back days later and carry on.
How each part works
Works with your apps.
- Cloud files (for example Google Drive): open the plans, permit or certificates you name. It only reads.
- Calendar (for example Google Calendar): add each inspection booking and the permit's lapse date. It asks you before it creates or changes anything.
Does it for you.
The apps it can use
- Cloud files Google Drive Only reads
- Calendar Google Calendar Asks before it adds or changes anything
Choose your apps Your version: Google Drive · Google Calendar · in Claude
Try asking
Once it's added, ask your AI something like this. Not sure it loaded? Is my skill working?
-
I'm doing a deck and a bathroom reno. Which needs a permit, and when do the inspections happen?
To check it's working, the answer should start with "PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS".
-
do i need a permit for a deck
-
building inspection stages
Get Building Permits and Inspections for a Job
A$79
Buy for A$79New in version 1.0.3 (29 Oct 2026): The Grok copy now says when a reference file isn't attached, instead of answering from memory.
Added through your linked AI? You already have it. Downloaded a copy? Download the new version.
Price details
- Price in Australian dollars (A$). Trilly isn't registered for GST, so no GST is added.
- About in your currency, from the 's rate on , rounded. An estimate only. Prices are charged in A$, and your bank sets the final amount. Change
- How buying works
- Sold worldwide.
- A$79 once for you; A$79 per seat a year for teams. A person buys a one-off skill once. A company seat can move from one person to another, so it's paid yearly.
- Updates arrive by themselves.
- Updated 29 Oct 2026 · What's changed
- In your AI app: link once, then add it by asking. How
Jobs it does: Prepare safety paperwork with AI
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