Messy dispute breaks out at Melbourne construction site as legal cases pile up

Tradies claim a Victorian building company is making it as difficult as possible to be paid for their work.

Tradies claim a Victorian building company is making it as difficult as possible to be paid for their work as messy disputes pile up.

Roberts Construction Group is building a 24-unit apartment block in Ormond, Melbourne, with 15 of the flats slated for NDIS recipients.

News.com.au previously reported that tradesmen have abandoned the site over alleged unpaid debts while the state’s building authority is actively investigating and has ordered 23 defects to be fixed.

Several tradies have launched winding up proceedings against Roberts Construction Group on the grounds of insolvency with total debts initially adding up to just shy of $1 million.

But far from backing down, Roberts Construction Group defended the case, insisting it was solvent, and lodged counter lawsuits against several of the companies. Tradies say these countersuits are expensive to fight, and one says the claim against his company is “baseless”.

Other tradesmen on the Ormond site have also claimed the building firm demanded they take down negative Facebook posts or default credit listings if they wanted to be paid.

Roberts Construction Group’s sole director Theodore Kerlidis was contacted for comment.

“It’s crazy,” James Muscara, 32, who runs Diamond Edge Joinery, said. He claims he is owed close to $10,000 for his work installing cabinets on the Ormond site.

An upside down sign for the Roberts Construction Group at the Ormond site.

Mr Muscara says Roberts Construction Group approved his invoice, but a day later the same employee changed their mind and said they would withhold payment until defects had been fixed.

“We jumped on those items. They were super minor,” Mr Muscara said. “There were a couple of bulkheads that were out of alignment by a couple of millimetres. We went there and fixed them.”

When no payment was forthcoming, Mr Muscara listed Roberts Construction Group in default of a payment on CreditorWatch – which incensed the company more.

Then the company said he wouldn’t be paid until he removed the listing.

“I should consider reporting your company to (A) Current Affair for dodgy work practices and false statements,” Mr Kerlidis, the company’s director, wrote in an email. “Remove the false listing on an immediate basis and we can talk about re-engaging and the proper timing and value of a claim.”

Mr Muscara would not back down.

“I will not be dictated by you on how I run my accounts department or my trade terms. Payment is now overdue!” he wrote back.

Mr Muscara told news.com.au he needs that money and revealed he’d been forced to make five employees redundant as a result.

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Ruria Franco claims he is owed around $20,000 and that he was left high and dry right before Christmas, and while he was on a honeymoon with his partner.

A text exchange between Theodore Kerlidis and Ruria Franca. Roberts Construction Group is accused of withholding payment until a negative Facebook post about the company was taken down.

Ruria Franca claims he was left penniless right before Christmas because Roberts Construction Group owes him $20,000 for carpentry work.

A negative post was made on Facebook about Roberts Construction Group – and Mr Franco said the company thought he had made it.

He says he wasn’t paid for his work as a result. He denies he made the post.

Mr Franca was about to go on a honeymoon with his new wife but said he was “short of money” for the trip.

“We are workers, we are not a company,” he told news.com.au, adding that it was particularly difficult as it happened just before Christmas.

In text messages shared with news.com.au, Mr Franco can be seen begging to be paid.

“Pay our invoice, it’s Christmas Day, we have children and family,” he wrote in one exchange.

Mr Kerlidis, the director of Roberts Construction, accused Mr Franco of posting negative comments about the business.

“Expect litigation,” Mr Kerlidis texted the carpenter.

Ruria Franca can be seen begging for the money.

He texted the director of the building business, Theo Kerlidis.

Carpenter David Drummond said years of his life have been ruined because of the legal fight he is in against Roberts Construction Group.

“The effects this has had on me and my family has been terrible,” he told news.com.au. “I now suffer from panic attacks from the stress I was put under.”

Mr Drummond, who runs his own carpentry business called Drummond Carpentry Services, had to abandon the Ormond site after his invoices piled up, unpaid.

He then took legal action, claiming by that point he was owed around $200,000.

The County Court of Victoria ordered the builder to pay back $208,000 plus costs. Roberts Construction tried to appeal this adjudication decision but lost and had to pay up. The County Court proceeding is currently stayed.

Mr Drummond was still owed $15,000 from legal fees and interest on the costs, and launched a winding up proceeding against the builder to recover his money.

Several other contractors also joined the application, including Aspire Stairs claiming it was owed $10,000, D Squared Electrical claiming $44,000 and G2K Carpentry claiming $17,000.

Earthwood Villa first claimed it was owed $6000 then increased this to $112,000.

Contractors also applied for much larger amounts – Ability Paster claimed for $79,000, Beenak Concrete and Formwork claimed $270,000, and Formcode claimed for $278,312.

Mr Drummond also estimated he would have racked up $125,000 in legal fees for this case, according to a court filing.

But Roberts Construction Group hit back against the court case, claiming it was solvent and therefore should not be wound up.

The builder also claimed in court documents these companies actually owed it money from the damage they had caused by abandoning its site.

An affidavit submitted by the building company’s boss, Mr Kerlidis, claimed these trades cumulatively owed his business a whopping $3.8 million.

Roberts Construction Group and Theo Kerlidis then lodged several separate lawsuits against some of those who had joined the case.

Theodore Kerlidis is the sole director of Roberts Construction Group.

Theodore Kerlidis, the sole director of Roberts Construction Group, is seen walking away from the Range Rover he drives.

Mr Kerlidis lodged a case in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal against David Drummond’s carpentry business claiming he was entitled to $560,000 in damages.

It was claimed that Mr Drummond had misled the court and that was why the court had found in his favour.

“Drummond constructed misleading and deceptive statements misleading an adjudicator,” the filing read.

The building firm claimed some of the work Mr Drummond’s business had done was defective, and therefore it said the debt amount should be offset. Roberts Construction Group also said it had not entered into a contract with Drummond Carpentry Services, but rather a sister company Timberworks (Vic) Pty Ltd. The County Court still accepted that the builder owed them money.

Mr Drummond said the countersuit is “baseless”.

“The legal system is frustrating,” he said. “I feel like I haven’t been able to get any justice out of the legal system.”

How the apartments are being advertised.

Then a winding up application was lodged against Earthwood Villa, one of the supporting creditors who had joined Mr Drummond’s case.

Roberts Construction claimed $733,000 was owed.

The director of Earthwood Villa, Kent Mac, said in an affidavit submitted to court that he had issued nine separate invoices to the building firm before finally joining the winding up application.

“Soon after Earthwood Villa filed its notice of appearance in the Roberts Winding Up Proceeding, on 4 September 2024, Roberts filed this proceeding seeking that Earthwood Villa be wound up in insolvency,” he noted.

The proceedings were discontinued in February this year. News.com.au understands the parties have settled.

Kent Mac did not respond to requests for comment.

The same went for Ability Plaster – they were issued a creditor’s statutory demand for $1.656 million in liquidated damages shortly after they joined the court case.

A judgment is due to be handed down for Mr Drummond’s winding up application against Roberts Construction Group in late May.

A picture Daniel Dickson took of the electrics at the site.

Several other tradies saw trouble unfolding and decided to cut loose while they could.

D Squared Electrical owner Daniel Dickson withdrew from the court proceedings after he was hit with liquidated damages costs.

Mr Dickson too walked off the site after racking up $45,000 in payments which he didn’t receive.

“After sending my invoice, they (the builder) essentially backcharged me,” he recounted to news.com.au.

“They tried to charge me liquidated damages, which was $4000 per day.”

Mr Dickson decided to pull out of the court case to spare himself more money in legal fees.

During his time on the Ormond site, he said he did notice one potential red flag.

“I got a call off the old electrician,” he recalled. “It was at that point I realised we were the fourth electrician on site.

“As soon as I found that out I was worried. We’ve taken jobs from one electrician. But never where there’s been more than one electrician on site.

“Financially, it’s hurt a lot.”

Mr Kerlidis said Roberts Construction Group is a family owned and operated subcontractor to a property developer.

“The apartment project in Ormond will provide high quality and sustainable housing as a care facility in a great suburb, adding to the diversity of local housing stock,” he said.

“Unfortunately, a subcontractor has refused to take responsibility for some defective works leading to an unfortunate legal dispute that we are vigorously defending.”

The Victorian Building Authority is currently investigating Roberts Construction Group and has ordered the building firm to rectify 23 alleged defects it discovered at a recent site inspection or face fines of up to $500,000.

News.com.au understands the builder is disputing the defects.

WorkSafe Victoria has also visited the site multiple times due to numerous complaints over an 18 month period, news.com.au understands.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has said it has not received any complaints in relation to the project.

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Originally published as Messy dispute breaks out at Melbourne construction site as legal cases pile up