Victorian couple reveal decision that cost them $900,000

A disqualified builder could soon reapply for his licence as his suspension comes to an end, as one of his devastated customers sounds the alarm.

A Victorian family are sounding the alarm as their builder’s 18-month ban from constructing houses comes to an end.

Hadar and Agnes Barsheshet, in their early 50s from southeast Melbourne, claim they were left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket from a nightmare ordeal with a building company called D & P Sales Pty Ltd, trading as Phill Jones Master Builder.

The construction firm built without a permit and also left the couple’s house half-finished when they abruptly ended the contract.

Mr and Mrs Barsheshet tried to recoup their losses by going to the VCAT but D & P Sales collapsed into liquidation before there was an outcome on the case.

Then in September 2021, the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) disqualified the co-director of D & P Sales Pty Ltd, Phillip Jones, from working as a builder for 18 months. They also cancelled his building registration and fined him $40,000. The other co-director is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The 18-month disqualification means Mr Jones will be able to reapply for his licence this month.

The couple ended up having to fork out hundreds of thousands to complete their home. Picture: Supplied

The couple are now warning others after their experience. Picture: Supplied

The couple were planning to build their dream home but it quickly became a nightmare.

The VBA said in a publicly available statement that Mr Jones “committed a string of offences” in the Glen Iris region of Melbourne including building without a permit, without insurance and undertaking plumbing work without qualiphifications.

According to the VBA, Mr Jones “acted unprofessionally” by issuing false invoices, among other breaches.

“Issues with building quality and timeliness caused his clients to suffer considerable stress,” the VBA added.

The VBA’s Executive Director of Regulatory Operations David Brockman said at the time of the ban that they hoped the punishment they dished out served as a warning to other builders.

His comments were included in the VBA’s public statement at the time.

“Mr Jones showed a pattern of unprofessional behaviour and demonstrated how not following the required building processes can impact consumers and result in significant penalties for practitioners,” Mr Brockman said.

“Had Mr Jones ensured the necessary building permit and insurance were in place, and had he ensured that any proposed variations were documented and assessed as required, many of the issues caused by his recklessness would have been avoided. This is a reminder to all practitioners to abide by the rules.”

In a statement to news.com.au, a VBA spokesperson added: “To be registered again Mr Jones (of D & P Sales) would have to satisfy the personal and financial probity requirements.

“The VBA has processes in place to check that a practitioner is suitable to be registered and the previous finding of Mr Jones not being a fit and proper person to practice would be taken into account.

“This would also apply to any building company that Mr Jones may seek to register.”

Mr Jones did not respond to news.com.au’s repeated requests for comment.

Trades working on their home prior to obtaining a building permit. Picture: Supplied

Mr and Mrs Barsheshet claim they paid for all of the $764,000 build price in progress payments and a further $138,000 in variation fees after taking out a small loan.

But when the house was only half-finished and with several major defects, they allege the building company abruptly ended the contract.

“I was horrified,” Mr Barsheshet told news.com.au. “We gave them everything.”

In a document tendered to a court, the builder claimed they severed the contract because the couple kept interfering in the building process and they had received legal advice that it was the safest option to end the agreement.

Mr and Mrs Barsheshet were happy to learn the company’s director had been banned from the building industry for a year and a half but estimate they are more than $900,000 worse off over the incident, based on how much the defects cost to fix and how much they paid to complete the project.

Phill Jones with Mrs Barsheshet at a social event.

The couple’s experience started in 2017, when they first came across Phill Jones Master Builder per a friend’s recommendation.

In March 2018 they signed the building contract, with plans to renovate their existing home to add an upstairs and a garage.

Before building commenced the Barsheshets claim they asked if a building permit had been obtained.

They claim Mr Jones said the company had a building permit but this turned out not to be the case.

On April 10 of that year, building works began.

Later, the pair learned the first stage building permit was obtained in June, and the second one was obtained in December.

As the project stalled and delays became more and more common, the couple took the case to the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria.

This prompted the building to grind to a halt completely on their site.

The pile of rubbish left on their property.

By mid-2019, the build was still incomplete, and it was over a year since they first signed on with the construction company.

In June of that year, workers came and “dumped a massive pile of debris on the driveway” of the Barsheshet property.

“They said it was backfilling, but it was rubbish from other sites,” Mr Barsheshet claimed.

In July 2019, the works had still not been completed and they were then given a notice that works had been suspended.

An independent building report filed in the tribunal detailed an extensive list of defects including “serious structural concerns”, non-compliant waterproofing, incorrect drainage, the ceiling and walls being out of alignment, incorrect room sizes and the garage not built according to the engineering plans.

The report estimated it could cost up to half a million dollars to rectify the defects and complete the home.

The couple have sworn never to build a home again.

Mr and Mrs Barsheshet took to the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) seeking compensation.

Their points of claim, shared with news.com.au and filed for the VCAT hearing, outlined how the house was also left exposed during heavy rain periods, with no roof tiles.

“As a result most ceilings collapsed and water destroyed the ornamental. 100-year-old ceilings and water damage occurred to the entire dwelling including new kitchen cabinets, existing ovens, electrical cables and destroyed ceiling speakers,” their filing read.

In the same document, the couple also claimed they were held “under duress”, with the company saying that if they forked out additional payments for variations, the house would be completed by April 2019.

D & P Sales strongly rejected these allegations, including on defective work, in court documents submitted to VCAT and sighted by news.com.au.

The company suddenly collapsed during the build.

“All variations to the Works were requested by the Owner, not the Builder,” the building company’s counterclaim read.

The company also defended dumping rubbish on Mr and Mrs Barsheshet’s block, saying it had been soil and roofing tiles intended for building works.

They also claimed Mr and Mrs Barsheshet were interfering with the construction site by visiting it and letting their kids and other relatives wander around, which is why the builder ended the contract. The couple owed them money for works completed, in the vicinity of $32,000, the builder also claimed.

D & P Sales admitted to building without a permit.

“The Builder performed preliminary works on the Property prior to the issuing of the first stage building permit on 20 June 2018. None of the works performed by the Builder prior to the issuing of the first stage building permit required a building permit,” their legal document stated.

They also said they had received $879,000 from the couple.

Before the VCAT case could reach an outcome, Phill Jones Master Builder Pty Ltd, which by now had renamed to D & P Sales, suddenly collapsed.

It meant there was no way for the couple to recover their funds through the builder.

Their completed home.

In July 2021, D & P Sales went into voluntary liquidation, with Bruce Mulvaney of insolvency firm Bruce Mulvaney & Co appointed as the liquidator.

According to a report filed with ASIC, the liquidator found that the building firm had been trading while insolvent since at least 2017, when the company took Mr and Mrs Barsheshet on as clients.

“The company has clearly been trading whilst insolvent since before 2017,” Mr Mulvaney wrote in a statutory report filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in October 2021.

He said accounts hadn’t been maintained since June 2017.

“There are currently no funds available for a dividend to creditors,” he also warned.

All up, there appeared to be 10 unsecured creditors owed $1,577,630, according to proof of debt claims.

The Barsheshets lodged a $924,675 claim although the liquidator noted “this was yet to be adjudicated”.

In conversation with news.com.au, Mr Mulvaney said the investigation was ongoing and added “I haven’t reached a conclusion about what level of claim (from the Barsheshets) is appropriate.”

Although the building firm collapsed in mid-2021, Mr Mulvaney said the reason for the company’s collapse was “not Covid related at all”.

“There’s several reasons in every matter,” he said. “There’s also issues to do with the health of the director and a dispute and a financier. So it’s not straightforward either.”

Mr and Mrs Barsheshet are critical of Australia’s regulator, ASIC, for not taking enough action.

Although the liquidator submitted his report, no action or investigation has commenced.

The pair submitted their story to Andrew Bragg’s parliamentary inquiry into ASIC in February. Submissions closed last month.