Couple’s dream home renovation turns into $100k nightmare
NOT a day goes by without a person taking a picture outside the Dunedin dream home of Matthew and Vivien Dwyer.
The 104-year-old villa is located halfway up Baldwin St, a photo op for the hundreds of tourists who visit the world’s steepest street each day.
But those photos outside the couple’s dream home fail to capture the renovation nightmare unfolding inside.
When the builder was sacked in August 2014, the property was left without cladding on one side, a toilet exposed to the Dunedin winter, and holes in the floor.
The couple found three mice dead inside their toaster and, as the stress of the unfinished build spun out of contol, Vivien was diagnosed with breast cancer.
‘‘We even got snowed on going to the toilet . . . it was miserable,’’ Matthew Dwyer said. JAMES GUNN
Their problems were compounded when they discovered their builder, Gregory Padman, a licensed building practitioner, had failed to get consent for concrete foundations.
When a Dunedin City Council building inspector was called to the site, the work was immediately slapped with a cease HAMISH MCNEILLY / FAIRFAXNZ and desist notice. ‘‘Realistically all we got out of this was a bedroom cupboard, which cost us $35,000 – everything else had to be condemned,’’ Matthew said.
The pair, who had lived in the home for 12 years, were faced with a rebuild of around $100,000, and had to extend their mortgage.
But the local community has rallied around the couple, who have been actively involved with the North East Valley community, and their plight had attracted support from volunteers and Habitat for Humanity, who gave them $1000.
‘‘We know the builder isn’t typical, but he hurt us and we need your help to make our house a home again,’’ their Givealittle campaign read.
The couple had filed a complaint with the licensing board and were taking Padman to the Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand.
Padman declined to comment until the matter had been heard.