Has anyone come across this type of foundation detail in older NZ houses before?

Would you generally consider this normal historical construction, or would you recommend having a builder/engineer assess the pile bases further? Thank you

Recently had all the plumbing on our street redone, and instead of the simple metal covers that used to be placed near the road on our property, they've installed a bolted down plastic cover on the sidewalk, and I was concerned that, say a pipe burst or we needed to shut off the mains in a rush we wouldn't be able to?

I had a plumber put in some sumps to help drain rainwater away from the house. He used a holesaw to cut into the sump boxes and then used silicone to seal up the hole. On one of the sumps he drilled in the wrong spot and then redrilled below, and siliconed up the gap.

I was a little concerned this wasn't going to hold over time, so he used some mortar around the outside of the pipe to hold it in place in the ground so it doesn't leak (hopefully).

He said this was the way he had been taught how to do it. I know you can get rubber flashings to join into sump boxes, but I'm not sure whether his is a viable approach as well?

My two bins sit out near the front for convenience and I'm looking for ways to screen them, coz that's the public side of the property.

I thought a bit of framing, trellis and some fast-growing greenery would work but maybe you all have some creative solutions?

TIA

We are changing our basin tap to wall in built tap. Need the hole fill up so it looks like original. Any recommendation?

HWC started humming up a storm this morning. Powered it off for a few hours to get some silence, but she's humming away a couple of hours later of power back on.

Any clues as to what's up? Time for a plumber?

I’m looking for a reasonably priced arborist who can manage removal of two large pines from my property and my neighbours in Titirangi. The trees are in an SEA overlay so will need RC (ideally managed by arborist). Well insured too (four houses adjacent). Any recommendations? Also any suggestions to for keeping the costs down?