Company controlled by builder Wayne Dwyer faces a wind up bid after failing to pay out $500,000
More than a decade after she first discovered a badly leaking roof in her new home, a Queensland woman won a $500,246 judgment against the company responsible. She now wants that company liquidated. But here’s the catch.
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SOGGY TWIST
More than a decade after she first discovered a badly leaking roof in her new home, a Queensland woman won a $500,246 judgment against her builder two months ago.
But Maria Nel has been unable to collect the damages payout and has now gone back to court seeking to wind up Octoclay Pty Ltd, which is solely controlled by Sunshine Coast builder Wayne Dwyer.
There’s a rather unfortunate twist, though.
That company, which previously traded as Dwyer Corporation and Dwyer Quality Homes, has been dormant for the past few years and it’s unclear if it still has any assets worth chasing.
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission pulled the firm’s building licence last November for a “failure to satisfy financial requirements’’ after previously issuing it with infringement notices and demerit points.
So even if Nel wins her wind up bid in Brisbane Supreme Court, will she still be able to collect? Or would it just amount to a Pyrrhic victory?
No doubt making matters more galling for her, Dwyer continues to trade under the banner of Dwyer Quality Homes but through a separate entity.
Records show he set up the nearly-identically named company Dwyer Homes Pty Ltd in May 2018 and installed his then-22-year-old son, Alex, as sole director.
Dwyer used his still-intact personal building license to get the green light from the QBCC for the new company to trade and it does business from the exact same Warana address as Octoclay.
QBCC records show it has completed more than 80 projects with a combined value of nearly $26m.
Dwyer told us late Tuesday that he won’t fight the liquidation as Octoclay has no money and hasn’t traded in years.
DREAM HOMES
Google the phrase “Dwyer Homes” and you’re immediately taken to the page for Dwyer Quality Homes, which claims it has been “building dream homes since 1985’’.
A former carpenter, Dwyer claims he has constructed about 3500 dwellings across southeast Queensland in that time.
His fortunes have fluctuated over time, of course, with records showing he completed $23m worth of work in 2016 and just $2m in 2019.
There have been speed bumps too, with a failure to rectify two structural issues in 2017, according to the QBCC. That prompted the regulator to issue two fines totalling just over $5000 and issue demerit points.
Among his projects in 2008 was a new house for Theo and Maria Nel, who had acquired a property in the Sunshine Coast suburb of Doonan four years earlier.
The couple had to cope with severe leaks above the study and a second bedroom within six months of moving in.
Rectification work was done but the problem later resurfaced dramatically, according to her 2018 statement of claim which sought $600,000 in damages.
Ms Nel did not return a call seeking comment on Tuesday.
COUNCIL CLASH
It’s not the first time that Dwyer has managed to raise a few eyebrows.
He and his missus, Vicki, are currently locked in a long-running legal battle over the redevelopment of their sprawling waterfront home at Minyama worth an estimated $5m or more.
The couple have been at loggerheads with the Sunshine Coast Regional Council after they built a tennis court on their rooftop.
The council knocked back a development application for a deck, fence, stairs, lighting, lift access and more last year, prompting the Dwyers to immediately lodge an appeal.
They lost that battle after the Planning and Environment Court dismissed their case in September.
But the tennis court was built anyway after the pair secured building approval from a private certifier.
That action prompted the Council to go back to the Planning and Environment Court in May, where they are seeking orders over alleged contempt of court and a reversal of the building certifier’s approval. The Dwyers are fighting back, as you might expect.