“It was just a freak accident,” Jim Martin, director of Platinum Homes in Taranaki, said.
Martin said the crane was lifting roof trusses over the existing Truby King St homes when something went wrong.
“The good thing is no one was injured.”
ANDY JACKSON/Stuff
A Hiab truck tipped over on to a neighbouring Merrilands house after extending its boom.
Martin said the crane owner would have done hundreds of similar jobs without incident, while he had built around 600 houses and had never seen something like this happen.
"He's done everything he could,” Martin said.
"It was just a mishap. There's always a day that it happens."