‘Wrecked, not fixed’ — owners slam firm
Accusers say faulty work on homes left them out of pocket
A three-time bankrupt property developer jailed for contributing to his own insolvency by “extravagant living”, is back in business with customers claiming he has taken their money and ruined their homes.
Graeme Brent Raymond, 56, was sentenced to 13 months in 2001. The judge in the case said Raymond had put almost $30 million across the tables at casinos and enjoyed “riotous living at the upper end of the scale”.
Judge Graham Hubble also described Raymond as “commercially hazardous” and added a six-month sentence for concealing property under the Insolvency Act.
At the time of sentencing, Raymond’s company, First Investments Ltd, owed finance company National Mutual $8.6m and tradesmen and suppliers at his halfbuilt hotel at least $2.6m.
A Weekend Herald investigation has found Raymond is now director of Pacific Decontamination Services (PDS). In the past year the specialist asbestos removal company has had 11 health and safety breaches and initially had its asbestos removal licence cancelled by WorkSafe NZ.
A new licence has since been issued with strict conditions.
The Weekend Herald has spoken to property owners, tradesmen and former staff who claim Raymond’s work caused damage to their properties, led to safety concerns and has cost them thousands.
But Raymond denies any wrongdoing and claims he is owed money by his clients.
Property owners in Otahuhu, Beach Haven, Castor Bay and Pukekohe claim, after paying a 50 per cent deposit, their homes were left for months with only poorly fitting tarpaulins to protect from heavy rain.
In one case it is claimed work done by PDS led to asbestos contamination throughout the house which saw the family forced to find other temporary accommodation.
Each property had repair bills of up to $160,000 and photos and paperwork appears to show those reroofed by PDS were constructed so poorly they had to be removed.
Those properties were re-roofed by a different roofing company.
Property owners say while their homes were flooding, Raymond was on overseas holidays.
Otahuhu man Stewart Thompson contracted PDS to remove the asbestos roof at his elderly uncle’s Hutton St home in June last year.
“It was a straightforward job and we were told it would be done in a week,” Thompson said.
He paid more than half of the $85,000 invoice to kick-start work.
In August 2017, the roof was removed and tarpaulins erected. Work stopped and the heavy rain hit Auckland.
“The tarps were put on completely incorrectly so ended up diverting heavy rain into the property rather than away from it,” Thompson claimed.
“Some parts were completely uncovered and some had pink-bat bags stapled with just a household stapler.”
Desperate calls, emails and texts to Raymond went unanswered. Thompson was told Raymond was on holiday in South Africa.
The ceiling completely collapsed under the weight of the water. More than $100,000 of damage was done to the property.
Thompson claimed that PDS often told him it was not being paid because he hadn’t paid his deposit.
“We paid a deposit of $50,800 and as soon as he got the money that was the last we saw of him.”
The roof that was eventually installed was below standard according to the company which repaired it.
“The workmanship [was] well below industry standard . . . which would have caused serious leaks in the future,” said James Johnson at Johnson Roofing.
“The only way to bring the roof up to a decent standard was to replace all the incorrect flashings and sheets with new ones. There was no way to remedy the existing work without new materials.”
Families in Castor Bay and Beach Haven also claim PDS caused thousands of dollars of water damage to their homes.
In Beach Haven, Malcolm and Johanna were invoiced for close to $80,000 to have their asbestos roof removed. They paid half and were told the job would take 10 days.
“It went over six months. They left it exposed, it is still a disaster now,” they claimed.
A year later they still have no lighting in the area and rely on lamps at night.
In Castor Bay, another family spoken to by the Weekend Herald contracted PDS to remove their degrading asbestos roof and replace it with a new iron roof in April 2017.
The couple claimed water poured into their home through tarpaulins that were too small. They were told Raymond was away in Dubai so couldn’t take their calls.
Paperwork obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act shows WorkSafe cancelled Raymond’s Class A Asbestos Removal Licence on March 12 this year.
WorkSafe found Raymond’s company had breached Health and Safety regulations 11 times from March 2017 to April 2018, including five cases of potentially exposing people to asbestos fibres.
On March 28, PDS was granted a new licence under strict conditions.
On May 7, Inland Revenue applied to the High Court to liquidate Pacific Decontamination Services Ltd. The application was dropped in June. A spokesperson for IRD said it could not comment.
According to the Companies Office, Raymond is also the director of several other companies including Pacific Roofing Solutions, Green Pacific Bins and Milford Cladding Systems.
When approached by the Weekend Herald, Raymond said he couldn’t meet as he was going overseas.
During a phone conversation he said he was the one owed money by the property owners spoken to by the Weekend Herald.
“That is absolute rubbish — those people owe us,” he said. “They have only paid half of the original amount.”
He said he was about to take the owner of the Otahuhu property to court.
Raymond also denied his licence had been cancelled, adding any breaches were not serious compared to other companies.
“We’ve had some issues on some jobs. We do an awful lot of jobs — about 10 or 20 a month.”
Asked about the claims of $100,000 of damage to the Hutton St property, Raymond said he wasn’t aware of it.
He said his past business history and numerous bankruptcies had no bearing on his current business.
“That was 20 years ago. I don’t have extravagant living now, I work very hard.”
We paid a deposit of $50,800 . . . and that was the last we saw of him. Stewart Thompson, customer