‘Disaster’: $116k bombshell as renovation threatens Canberra home
A family’s plan to make an addition to their dream home has turned into a nightmare, which threatens to rip the roof off their house.
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A Canberra family who spent $73,000 on a simple addition to their backyard has seen it turned into a “disaster” amid fears the defective work could see the roof of their house “torn” off.
Daryl Smith engaged a tradie to do a six-to-12 week job building a deck and pergola attached to the home his family has lived in for 16 years.
He sourced the carpenter in October 2020 from Hipages, a website that promises to connect Aussies with “trusted tradies”, because he wanted to give a small business the work.
But almost two years later he could be forced to fork out $116,000 to demolish the uncompleted work and start again, an expert’s report has revealed.
A structural engineer, who has completed design work for a new pergola on the property, also warned that the current structure was so risky it could actually rip off the roof of their house, Mr Smith claimed.
“Because the work was a pergola, it’s not covered by building insurance, even though it’s affected the structural integrity of the house,” he told news.com.au.
“If there is a huge gust of wind, the roof of the pergola will form a sail and could actually lift the roof off the house as it's attached.
“Our backyard is a complete disaster zone, we can’t really use it.”
Have a similar story? Continue the conversation | sarah.sharples@news.com.au
The business intelligence consultant said while work initially started quickly back in 2020, there were numerous delays that they were “comfortable” with, but then he claims the tradie stopped answering his calls after a number of months.
Desperate, the couple approached a lawyer, who suggested a building assessor should examine the work.
Bombshell $6000 report
The bombshell report, which has cost them $6000 so far, revealed the couple would have to spend more than the original contract price to demolish the work and start building again, while the tradie had also failed to obtain planning approval for the work.
The list of defects in the report included roof tiles that were not fitted properly and didn’t comply with building legislation and the timber posts of the pergola were in direct contact with soil which was a rotting risk, Mr Smith said.
“Also in the process (the tradie) damaged a number of tiles on the roof, which has led to water intrusion in the house and also a mould issue that we now have to resolve. It means we will probably now have to repaint the ceiling,” he added.
Building materials and equipment have also been left in their backyard since the tradie stopped work, he said.
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No negative reviews
Mr Smith has been left frustrated by his experience after contacting Hipages about his issues with the tradie.
“We went to Hipages, which promotes itself as a place you can get reputable tradies to come and do work on your house, but they won’t actually put any negative feedback about people on their site,” he said.
“They will remove a person if you have enough supporting documents. We gave them the contract, photos and expert’s report and they haven’t even bothered to delist him as a tradie.”
Hipages has billed itself as Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace with more than 31,000 tradies and over three million users and said there were 1.5 million home improvement jobs posted on the site last year.
Mr Smith lodged a complaint in 2021 and was told by Hipages in an email in August that the organisation had “not been successful in continuing any correspondence” with the tradie and provided a link to ACT Fair Trading.
An email from Mr Smith in January this year to Hipages providing the expert report showing the defects and asking for the tradie to be removed went unanswered.
“I also believe that you should review your policies re negative reviews. We only chose this provider based on the positive reviews on your site,” he wrote to them in the email.
Tradie delisted
Once news.com.au reached out to Hipages, the tradie used by the Smiths was delisted.
A spokeswoman for Hipages said the January 2022 email from Mr Smith was received but incorrectly archived meaning that no action was taken, adding it was “unfortunate” that it had been missed.
“This is an isolated event, and the level of service of our Trust and Quality team is something that we take seriously. This case is being investigated further internally,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the site does not provide online reviews for tradies but star ratings and recommendations only.
“We have developed our feedback system to allow small businesses to be rewarded for good work and held accountable for any problems,” she said.
“Customers are invited to complete our feedback questionnaire for each job and can choose whether this feedback is shared with the small business.”
She added feedback provided by homeowners is converted into a star rating.
If a customer has negative feedback a mediation process can be launched too between the homeowner and tradie and could result in a formal warning or removal from the platform, she explained.
The Hipages spokeswoman added there was a “comprehensive screening process” for tradies to gain access to the platform, including speaking to them on the phone, checking their ABN and relevant licensing where required and whether there has been any insolvency event.
‘Nowhere to turn’
The 54-year-old said he was also disappointed by the response from government bodies too.
“The building insurance people said because it was an addition to an attached structure it wasn’t actually covered by building insurance, even though it was a sizeable amount of money we spent,” he said.
“It appears there is nowhere to turn and you have to cop it on the chin and try and fix the problem yourself.”
In an email seen by news.com.au, the tradie told Mr Smith that he had gone bankrupt.
Mr Smith said he was now out of pocket with the money spent on the renovation as well as thousands on the report and lawyer’s fees.
“So now we are down close to $100,000 with nothing to show for it and nowhere to turn,” he added.
“Bankruptcy in Australia gives no protection to consumers.”
News.com.au reached out to the tradie used by the Smiths but did not receive a response.
The family have now paid to obtain planning approval, which has taken nine months, and are waiting to find out how much a new builder will cost.
sarah.sharples@news.com.au
Originally published as ‘Disaster’: $116k bombshell as renovation threatens Canberra home
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