Dodgy builders hit with penalties

DOZENS of Victorian builders and surveyors have been disciplined in the past year for ripping off homeowners and carrying out illegal work.

DOZENS of Victorian builders and surveyors have been disciplined in the past year for ripping off homeowners, failing to fix faults and carrying out illegal building work.

The Building Practitioners Board deregistered two building surveyors and fined almost 60 domestic builders for a range of breaches.

These included people who issued certificates for sites they had never visited, builders who wrongly demanded money in advance of work conducted and several builders whose work was dodgy.

See the full list here

Building Commissioner Tony Arnel said it was important substandard work was identified and dealt with.

"The vast majority of our practitioners do the right thing, but for the small percentage that don't, we . . . make sure they are brought to account," Mr Arnel said.

Most of the investigations arose directly from consumer complaints.

Builders and surveyors who were disciplined by the board in the past year include:

SURVEYOR Albert Vivian Mitchell, of St Albans, whom a hearing was told issued 1100 building permits in 2007-08 that were not reported to the Building Commission. More than $400,000 in fees paid by customers was never passed on to authorities.

BUILDING surveyor Samuel John De Petro, of North Melbourne, who was deregistered and fined $35,000 after complaints relating to 580 sites around Geelong and the Surf Coast. He was found to have failed to perform his work in a competent manner.

The Building Practitioners Board investigated 630 builders, surveyors and draftsmen in the last financial year and levied fines and costs totalling $251,340 against those found to have committed breaches.