Rachel Gibson, of Gibson and Co Interiors, has owned the two-storey Guinness St building for more than 20 years and next plans to convert the top floor into an inner-CBD apartment.
Mrs Gibson said a similar renovation she carried out five years ago in Werita St was "a breeze," and she expected it would be the same this time.
"It was incredibly easy then, so what's changed in that time?"
The Grey District Council had requested a peer review of the engineering report she acquired from a well-known Greymouth man who already carries out work for the council.
"So now I need to employ an engineer to look into my engineer," Mrs Gibson said.
"I've had the shop 10 and a-half years and I have spent over $35,000 on my expert reports.
"All that money going into reports, I may as well have thrown it on the bonfire — I have nothing to show for this," she said.
She is concerned for the future of the town's retail sector, with many more buildings yet to be earthquake strengthened.
"There's no-one saying, ‘how can we help, how can we make this happen?’
"We aren't doing it to make money, we're doing it so we can stay in Greymouth, but I don't see that happening now."
Only a handful of small retailers were left, Mrs Gibson said.
"We’re dropping like flies - don't they want to keep us?
"We are better off moving to Hokitika."
She queried what Greymouth would look like if no-one was able to have their building earthquake strengthened.
"If they are making it too hard for me they are making it too hard for everyone. What is a town with no shops?
"We will stay here until the lease runs out and we will walk away and then there will be another empty building in Greymouth."
Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson was sympathetic.
"We do understand the frustrations and we know it is not easy and it is a minefield of compliance and regulations. Unfortunately, we don't make the laws but we have to enforce them."
The mayor said the CBD was experiencing more development than it had for a long time, and from her own experience at her former hair salon, "the process was expensive and hard".
"There are all sorts of things there in the building codes, such as disability access. It's difficult for some of these [older] buildings.
"Central government make the law ... and we have to adhere to the law. If we don't follow the correct process we are failed as a building accreditor.
"It's not impossible [but] it's very difficult."
- By Meg Fulford
