Adrian Hill’s failed company AB Hill leaves Gold Coast retiree out of pocket and out of new home

GLEN Campbell is supposed to be enjoying his retirement in this place. But instead, 18 months after a Gold Coast builder promised it would be completed, it is a mess of unfinished and unsafe work.

Glen Campbell said he’ll take the matter to court if necessary. Photo: Richard Gosling

GLEN Campbell is supposed to be enjoying his retirement in this place, built on the site of his beloved parents’ home at Mermaid Waters.

Instead, 18 months after builder Adrian Hill promised it would be completed, Mr Campbell’s duplex is a mess of unfinished and unsafe work with no end in sight after the building company’s collapse.

Glen Campbell at his building site. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mr Hill’s company, AB Hill Constructions, went into liquidation last month, with a spray-painted threat of “pay tradesman or burn” on one of his sites sparking a police investigation.

Mr Hill said the vandalism was “nothing to do” with him as the property owner had completed the build.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) confirmed some homes by the builder may have to be demolished as they were built without proper development approvals.

Others were approved by the council after they were built, leaving neighbours with no way of objecting to developments that impacted them.

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Builder Adrian Hill.

Mr Campbell has paid AB Hill Constructions $1.2 million of the $1.3 million contract amount — and has paid more since as he rectifies multiple problems with the twin homes.

He’d like to know where that money has gone — because it wasn’t spent on his place.

The Bulletin has contacted Mr Hill for a reponse.

Glen Campbell's duplex at Mermaid Waters was supposed to be completed in November 2016. Photo: Kathleen Skene

Mr Campbell, 67, planned to live in one duplex from November 2016 and sell the other as an investment. Neither is liveable, yet he’s still paying back the loan for both.

Insulation hangs from wall cavities, pipes and cables dangle from holes in plasterwork, stairs and balconies have no railings and form work for the swimming pools sits empty and full of weeds.

Unfinished work at the Mermaid Waters site. Photo: Richard Gosling

The upstairs floor of one unit will have to be ripped up and replaced due to water damage, sliding doors will have to be relocated and window lintels moved to match up with their windows.

“I’m a very easygoing guy — he kept saying he’d do this, he’d do that,” Mr Campbell said.

“He’d look me straight in the eye. I thought he was telling the truth.

“But in March 2017, nothing was really happening so I went to the QBCC.”

Glen Campbell's duplex at Mermaid Waters was supposed to be completed in November 2016. Photo: Kathleen Skene

The regulator has 16 open complaints about AB Hill, including seven for incomplete homes.

Despite Mr Hill’s building licence having been suspended multiple times for failing to pay debts, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeal Tribunal gave it back to him in October, allowing his company to keep taking money from clients and sending subcontractors to jobs.

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Glen Campbell at his building site. Photo by Richard Gosling

The ex-Royal Australia Air Force member is pursuing an insurance claim with the QBCC, and plans to pursue it through the courts if the regulator doesn’t pay.

Mr Campbell said he would get an owner builder licence and oversee the rest of the job himself.

“I only wish the government would get off their butts and structure the management of building in the right way.”