An Auckland man says he couldn’t sleep for nights on end after a construction digger arrived in front of his suburban home and started ripping up the footpath each night. 

Matt Tolich said residents living near a new $500 million Fletcher Living housing project in Ellerslie received a pamphlet in their mailboxes shortly before January 12. 

“It was just like: ‘Hey, we’re starting these works from 9.30pm until 4.30am for the next nine weeks’,” he said. 

“We weren’t sure what kind of works they would be – and then on day one, it’s just like this massive digger out the front of the house, literally ripping up concrete.” 

Tolich said the night-time scraping, chugging and clanging was “crazy” loud. 

“There’s no way you can sleep through it,” he said. 

Fletcher Living apologised for the disturbance caused by the main water pipe upgrade along Marua Rd that would service its The Hill project. 

It said the work had now finished ahead of schedule, but blamed Auckland Transport for work being carried out in the middle of the night. 

“We understand that this water main upgrade has been disruptive for some residents, and we apologise,” a spokeswoman said. 

“Unfortunately, this work was required to be undertaken during these hours by the local authority (AT), we believe, due to their requirement to minimise impacts on traffic flows.” 

Fletcher Living has unveiled the masterplan for its latest residential project, 'The Hill,' a premium development poised to transform part of the iconic Ellerslie Racecourse. Photo / Carson Bluck 

In response, AT said it required works to be carried out in accordance with the Auckland Unitary Plan. 

Fletcher’s plan “stipulated that they would conduct their work with ‘minimum disruption and noise as possible’.” 

The digging work required specific traffic management which would cause severe disruption, especially during peak travel times, the spokesman said. 

“A balance needs to be struck between the impacts on the local residents and the needs of thousands of people who use these roads every day.” 

Tolich said locals had been having a “massive beef” with The Hill project being built on former Ellerslie Racecourse land after it won planning approval through a Government fast track panel. 

When he posted on Facebook about the digger, he said he was swamped with messages from those living closer to the development calling it a “nightmare”, saying no one was listening to their concerns. 

Other residents had told him they had dealt with disruption for months and claimed they were getting no response from Fletcher Living. 

“I’m just like, can you really do road works on a residential road from 9.30pm to 4am for nine weeks?” Tolich said. 

Residents say they can't understand why a scraping, noisy digger was operating in the middle of the night rather than the day. Photo / Supplied 

When he asked the crew to keep the noise down, he claimed he was brushed off. 

They simply said, “Nah”, he claimed, with one worker saying: “Nothing you can do, mate”. 

Fletcher Living apologised for the response, saying it “falls short of the standard of respect and professionalism we expect from our contractors” and that it would speak with the contractor involved. 

The company said it had sent residents a letter on January 8, four days before works began, but acknowledged “more could have been done to effectively liaise with residents before the start date, and for that we apologise”. 

However, the work had been completed earlier than expected, finishing on January 31. 

Auckland Council has been approached for comment. 

The night works are the latest grievance from residents living near The Hill, where about 400 homes and a retirement village are planned on 6.2ha of former racecourse land Fletcher Living bought in 2021. 

The development won fast-track consent in 2023 under the last Government. 

A complaints register maintained by Fletcher Living as a condition of its planning permit — and later obtained by a resident under official information laws — reportedly recorded close to 90 complaints between 2023 and mid-2025. 

They covered noise, dust and property damage. 

When asked by the Herald for an updated total, Fletcher Living didn’t hand it over, saying the register was required to be provided to council. 

“We are required to acknowledge receipt of any complaints within 24 hours and respond to all correspondence within 10 days,” a spokeswoman said. 

Steve Evans, Fletcher Living chief executive, with a display model of The Hill, a $500m new housing estate at Ellerslie. Photo / Carson Bluck 

“We provide a copy of the complaint register to council on request.” 

One resident previously told the Star-Times his complaints had disappeared into “black holes”. 

Another said dust from the site had blown inside his home and coated his kitchen cutlery. 

In July 2025, Auckland Council reportedly issued Fletcher Living an abatement notice for failing on “repeated occasions” to report the outcomes of complaints to residents within the required 10 working days. 

The Star-Times reported council and Fletcher Living met soon after. Council said it had reiterated its “expectations” on Fletcher Living to follow a “robust complaint process”. 

Council later said it was confident Fletcher was handling complaints appropriately but was “continuing to monitor the development closely”.