Tradie slapped with $14k fine, owes victims over $100,000
The past has caught up with a dodgy local tradie whose business gambled away $30k while owing one family $20k.
Just one day after a dodgy tradie’s business was ordered to pay $23,000 to a client for unfinished work, more than $30,000 was deposited from his business account to online bookies.
Bank records seen by news.com.au expose how disgraced Sydney roofer Scott Barnes’ business was burning cash on online gambling while victims fought for their money.
Barnes’ world came crashing down in March when he was finally brought before a magistrate at Parramatta Local Court and ordered to pay a total of $14,900 in fines for multiple offenses related to unlicensed and uninsured residential building work.
The cowboy tradie, the proprietor of SB Remodelling, pleaded guilty to nine charges, including contracting without a license, demanding excessive deposits, and accepting payments without supplying goods or services on time.
Following the sentence, a Building Commission NSW spokesperson told news.com.au the case against Barnes included two key victims who shared in losses totalling $109,000.
“The offences related to one victim who contracted SB Remodelling Pty Ltd for $24,000 worth of roofing work which was not carried out,” they said.
“A second victim who also contracted the company lost about $85,000 after some demolition work began but kitchen, bathroom and laundry renovations were not completed.”
His latest day in court reveals he breached the Home Building Act, which prohibits tradespeople from seeking more than 10 per cent of the contract price before starting residential building work.
News.com.au is aware of several parties chasing Barnes or his business, SB Remodelling, for unpaid debts since it first reported on the tradesman in early 2023 – at least two of whom have secured NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal orders against the tradesman.
Family owed $20k as business account blows $30k on the punt
One such family to fall victim to Barnes was the Marchants from Tempe, who have spent years trying to get back almost $24,000 they paid for roof repairs in June 2021.
In February 2022, the young family paid SB Remodelling, owned by Scott Barnes, $24,000 but claimed they received “zero work” in return.
The Marchants were quoted $35,696 for roof repairs on their Inner-West Sydney home, but they ended up paying almost $24,000 for work that was never completed.
After failing to deliver any work, Hugh Marchant and his wife relentlessly attempted to recover money owed to them, but to this day, they have had little success recouping just $2500 of what is owed.
NCAT ordered SB Remodelling Pty Ltd to immediately pay the family $23,945 on November 11, 2022.
However, just a day later, Barnes’ business bank account started to spend a lot on gambling transactions.
Bank records seen by news.com.au between January 2022 and August 2023 show that SB Remodelling’s Commonwealth Bank account was making frequent, large deposits to numerous online betting agencies.
On numerous occasions, payments to Colossalbet and Sportsbet drained the account, which was replenished by invoices from ongoing work and small personal loans from “mum.”
Between November 12 – the day after the Marchants’ NCAT order – and December 29, 2022, the account began rapidly transferring a total of $30,705 to the two online bookies – a sum well exceeding what was owed to the family.
The Marchants and Barnes spoke briefly on two occasions in May 2023 via email.
Barnes indicated to the pair that he’d made the first instalment of repayments.
“Sorry for the delay on the first payment it was my fault I proceed the payment early last week and put the incorrect details in and it bounced back, I’ll have it corrected tomorrow or the next day totally my fault,” he wrote.
“To make up the delay I’ll pay (second) payment by the end of next week and (third) payment at the end of the month.
“Sorry again I’ve been so busy trying to make money to get back on top hope this finds you well.”
But nothing landed in the Marchants’ account.
Victim remains empty-handed
Despite the March sentencing, an NCAT order, and numerous attempts to recoup the money by other means, the Marchant family remains over $20,000 out of pocket.
Speaking to news.com.au this week, Hugh said he ended up fixing the roof with silicon, as the ordeal left his young family unable to pay for further work.
During the almost three-year ordeal, he felt the general lack of enforcement of orders of payment had been disheartening.
“It is good that the building commissioner has taken him to court, and he’s been fined, but where that fine goes is obviously annoying,” he said, believing victims like himself will not be repaid with the proceeds from the local court fines.
“(Court orders) obviously haven’t prevented him from doing what he’s doing.”
The Marchants have so far recovered around $2,500 through orders that allow them to recover the judgment debt from the other party’s bank account — if the money is there.
The family also tasked the NSW sheriff to seize and sell property owned by a debtor to pay the debt owed, but they could not locate Barnes.
Barnes racked up $20k debt on ritzy rental
Another victim chasing Barnes for thousands is Latife Hayson, a US-based Sydney landlord who rented her swanky $1,600 per week three-bedroom terrace in Darlinghurst to Mr Barnes in September 2022.
After paying the first month upon signing the lease, Ms Hayson claims she never received another cent from Barnes.
He and his family were evicted in January 2023.
She, too, got an order from NCAT, seen by news.com.au, demanding Mr Barnes immediately pay her $20,314.
Following the issue of the order in January 2023, Ms Hayson described getting money from Mr Barnes as “trying to get blood out of a stone.”
Ms Hayson said she is still waiting to receive payment as of this week, but finding Barnes has proven difficult.
“I couldn’t find him, to serve him, he was too slippery,” she said from Napa Valley, lamenting she had all but given up.
When Barnes last spoke with this publication in February 2023, he pledged to repay the Marchants within “12 months max”.
That did not happen.
He told news.com.au at the time that he and his lawyer were drafting a repayment proposal to pay the Marchant family back in full.
“We’re gonna put in a (proposal for a) short-term payment plan for six to 12 months max,” he said.
“But I’m not going to promise something I can’t follow through with.
“He’ll get that (proposal) in the next seven days.”
When asked about the money owed to Ms Hayson for effectively living rent-free in her Darlinghurst rental, Barnes disputed the figure ordered by NCAT in this instance.