Dodgy builder fined $30,000

AN UNREGISTERED builder from Cranbourne West has been fined more than $30,000 after he was investigated by the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) and failed to face a court hearing.
In his absence, the Frankston Magistrates’ Court recently convicted and ordered the man to pay court costs on top of the hefty fine.
The illegal contract was entered into in November 2013, which documented construction to be carried out at a site in Sandhurst.
The Cranbourne West man did not hold a Domestic Builder-Manager registration and did not pay the required domestic builders warranty insurance despite the contract being over $12,000.
The VBA has confirmed that the dodgy builder had falsified the domestic building contract by including the name, registration and insurance details of a registered building practitioner, he claimed, had been engaged to carry out the work.
However, the practitioner denied ever having been approached to be involved in the project.
Investigations have revealed that the Cranbourne West builder also falsely listed the registered building practitioner’s name and registration number on the application for the permit, without permission- and had accepted payments of more than $13,000 from the owners of the property.
In the light of the court outcome, acting VBA CEO, Marlo Baragwanath, has encouraged prospective clients to check the identification of building practitioners, by requesting to see their registration card which includes photographic ID.
“When carrying out building or renovations costing more than $5000, the first question you should ask a builder is ‘are you a registered building practitioner?’” Ms Baragwanath said.
Consumers can check whether their builder is registered through the “Find a Practitioner” link on the VBA website (www.vba.vic.gov.au)