‘Living hell’ as Victorian builder takes man’s $51k, vanishes

A Melbourne man is sounding the alarm over a tradie who took $51,000, ripped up his home, then disappeared.

A Melbourne man is sounding the alarm over a tradie who took $51,000, poked a few holes in the wall and ripped up his home, then disappeared.

Sagar Kadia thought his time as a renter was finally over after nabbing a $830,000 house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Northcote.

He just needed to do an entire renovation as the kitchen and bathroom were not “liveable” and it was here he came across Mouhanad Said of In and Out Reno.

Mr Kadia found the tradie through a vertical of Airtasker, called OneFlare, and they agreed on $55,000 to complete the job in July last year.

Soon, he was coaxed into giving away $51,000 as deposits and progress payments but aside from tearing down parts of the house, no more work was completed.

As his concerns mounted, he called a meeting with the builder, but was left waiting for two hours. To this day, he has not seen the builder since, and has had only sporadic text and phone conversations with Mr Said.

“I have lost all my savings to this guy and was left with the demolished house which I could neither live in or sell or rent out,” Mr Kadia told news.com.au.

“This has made my life in last year a living hell with no money left in my pocket and yet to complete the house renovation.”

In another blow, the damage done to the house cost him an additional $15,000 to fix up when he engaged new builders.

Warning issued over Melbourne tradesman after homeowner left $51k out of pocket

Warning issued over Melbourne tradesman after homeowner left $51k out of pocket

Warning issued over Melbourne tradesman after homeowner left $51k out of pocket

Mr Kadia engaged the builder in the last half of last year but the process was drawn out until April this year where he demanded his money back.

Throughout, the process was fraught.

“As part of plumbing, he poked a hole to the wall which is shared with my neighbour‘s courtyard and ran a big pipe outside within their premise to the sewer underground,” Mr Kadia said.

“There was no consent either from me or my neighbour when that work was carried out.”

The work also took place in his garage, where he was storing furniture, and repeated requests for the builder to cover the items were not met.

“I only had a handful of furniture which I kept asking him to cover it up before doing any work or move to garage but he never did … and all the stuff is now covered with powdery residue and debris from plasterboard and other demolition,” Mr Kadia said.

“So that would be around $5000 to $6000 worth of possessions going to be thrown away or damaged.”

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Mr Kadia essentially talking to himself with minimal responses from Mr Said.

The refund has not eventuated despite multiple requests.

One of the progress payments Mr Kadia made.

Mr Kadia went overseas to visit family and let go of the rental where he was residing in the belief that when he came home, he would be able to move into his newly renovated house.

But this turned out not to be the case.

As a result, he has been crashing with friends ever since while he waits for the renovation to be completed, rendering him technically homeless.

This has now stretched out for months.

In a series of text messages seen by news.com.au, Mr Said used a number of excuses about why he couldn’t come to the site, including that he was busy visiting family and that he was sick.

Mr Kadia has not heard from the builder since May.

He has since engaged a new builder and is the process of completing the renovation.

News.com.au has called, texted, left voicemails and emailed Mr Said.

After contacting Airtasker, Mr Said has been removed from the platform.

A check on the Victorian Building Authority’s register shows that Mr Said is not a licenced builder.

In Victoria, you must be registered with the VBA to perform domestic building work that costs more than $10,000. In this case, the work was forecast to cost $55,000.

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