Tradies abandon building project for NDIS recipients as alleged debts pile up

A construction company has denied being on the brink of collapse, as tradies abandon the site amid disputes over debts.

A construction company building a multistorey apartment block for people on the NDIS has denied being on the brink of collapse, as tradies abandon the site in droves amid disputes over debts and alleged defects identified by the building regulator.

The Two Birds residential development in Ormond, in southeast Melbourne, has been under construction since 2022, and advertises itself as providing 24 “unique” and “individual handcrafted” apartments. This includes 15 specialist disability accommodations (SDAs) for some of Australia’s most vulnerable people on the NDIS scheme.

Roberts Construction Group, the builder, has drawn the ire of subcontractors, some of whom claim they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars – something the company has staunchly denied in court documents.

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.

The Two Birds site has been plagued with problems. Picture of the site. Supplied.

The site has seem multiple construction managers and multiple tradies have abandoned their work and left the project.

News.com.au knows of one case where more than four different electric companies were used to wire up the apartments with business eventually hiring tradies from HiPages, an online portal to connect people to tradesmen.

Tradies have begun a winding up application against Roberts Construction Group on the grounds of alleged insolvency with total debts initially adding up to just shy of $1 million.

However, Roberts Construction Group is defending the case and has emphatically denied in court documents that it is insolvent and has also disputed all of the debts.

Insolvency proceedings launched

Drummond Carpentry Services director David Drummond launched proceedings against the builder last year after he claims it failed to pay him $200,000 he was owed.

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

The carpenter was contracted to complete the frame on the site, with him and his staff working there from September 2022 until May the following year.

Mr Drummond said he had concerns about unsafe work practices, and said WorkSafe had made multiple visits.

In the end Mr Drummond said he had no choice but to stop working on the site as his invoices remained unpaid, and take legal action.

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

Drummond Carpentry Services won a case in the County Court of Victoria last year where the builder was ordered to pay back $208,000 plus costs. Roberts Construction failed its appeal and had to pay up. The County Court proceeding is currently stayed.

Mr Drummond was still owed $15,000 from costs and interest on the costs and obtained a garnishee order to recover the rest.

However, there was only $108.28 left in a Westpac bank account belonging to Roberts Construction Group.

Mr Drummond then launched a winding up proceeding against the builder to recover the rest of his money.

Several other contractors also initially 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 will have racked up $125,000 in legal fees for this case, according to a court filing.

‘Abuse of process’

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

The building firm claimed the garnishee order was an “abuse of process” and also said there remained a genuine dispute between the debt Drummond Carpentry Services claimed, as well as the other supporting creditors.

The builder claimed some of the work tradies 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, had. The County Court still accepted that the builder owed them money.

After a hearing at the end of last year, several contractors have withdrawn from the court case, including Earthwood Villa, Ability Plaster and D Squared Electrical

News.com.au understands Ability Plaster and Earthwood Villa have settled the matter with Roberts Construction Group.

A judgment is due to be handed down for Mr Drummond’s case in late May.

Theodore Kerlidis is the sole director of Roberts Construction Group.

Mostafa Ghal, 58, the director of MZ Plastering and Painting, is another tradie who claims he is owed money.

The plasterer says Roberts Construction Group hired him off HiPages just before Christmas.

They agreed to an hourly rate because it was too hard to quote the job as it had been left incomplete by a previous plasterer.

Mr Ghal brought along six staff to the site, so each day they were supposed to be earning around $3500, and they also outlaid some money for materials.

But soon he was getting strange calls from other tradies warning him against working at the site.

“I have a big sign in my car that says plastering and painting. Everybody can find me. I think people walked past,” he told news.com.au.

Nervous, he said he convinced Roberts Construction to pay him everyday. But then this stopped, so he stopped coming to the site. The builder then terminated his contract. All up, he says the figure comes to around $9000.

“It’s big money for a small business,” he said, adding that he had to pay his workers out of his own pocket.

$1800 fine docked from pay

Adam Dew worked as a site manager at the Two Birds project in 2022 and said he lasted four months before he was driven to quit.

Mr Dew said he was terminated after warning tradies about his concerns.

He engaged a lawyer to recoup his sick leave, annual leave and notice period entitlements.

He says Roberts Construction Group deducted $1800 from his pay because of a fine they had incurred when a skip bin was left on a nature strip.

In a legal letter sent to him, Roberts Construction Group justified the deduction by saying his absence from the site had caused the company to be issued with the council penalty.

“Our client reiterates he is not responsible for obtaining council permits and that the company has no right of recovery from him as a result,” Mr Dew’s lawyer wrote.

“In any event, even if he were responsible (which he categorically denies), the company has not pointed to any right or entitlement (whether in contract, pursuant to statute or at common law) to recover the alleged amount from our client.”

Mr Dew is still chasing his money now, years later.

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

Roberts Construction Group has denied that it’s insolvent.

Meanwhile Roberts Construction Group (RCG) director Theo Kerlidis said the company 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.”

A closer look at Mr Kerlidis’ history shows that another company of his has been in trouble because of its debts.

The company, which was called 146 232 340 Pty Ltd, and was previously known as Longboat Development Group Pty Ltd, appointed restructuring partners last year. Mr Kerlidis is the sole director.

It owed $888,000 to the Australian Tax office.

The company’s debt went up to $902,000 because the restructuring partner incurred $22,000 in fees.

The restructuring plan was ultimately rejected in September last year.

How the apartments are being advertised.

Authorities investigating

The Victorian Building Authority confirmed to news.com.au that an investigation into the Two Birds Ormond site is underway.

“The VBA has identified 23 defects at the Ormond site and has issued the builder with a direction to fix – failure to comply could result in penalties of up to $500,000,” a VBA spokesperson said.

“An investigation into the architect builder and the building surveyor remain ongoing.”

They also said Mr Kerlidis is not a registered builder.

Mr Kerlidis appears to have been able to build the Ormond block because he is listed as an owner builder and is a registered architect.

A registered architect is not allowed to do domestic building work over the value of $10,000 – unless the architect is the owner of the building or the land – on which the work is being carried out. Mr Kerlidis appears to fall into this latter category.

News.com.au understands the Architects Registration Board of Victoria and the VBA are investigating the circumstances around him being allowed to build on the site.

The Architects Board of Victoria would not provide a comment specifically on the case.

Mr Kerlidis is also the sole director of Apeiron Homes, the approved specialist disability accommodation provider at the Ormond site.

A spokesperson for the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission said that the provider had met the requirements to provide special housing after passing an audit.

“The business’ key personnel are also assessed for suitability to run an NDIS registered business,” they added.

“The NDIS Commission has not received any complaints about the quality of building works in relation to this individual or provider.”

The Commission was not aware of the VBA’s investigation or the 23 alleged defects.

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