‘House of horror’
A widow planning to look after her three grandchildren in a new home instead went through an experience that left her feeling physically ill. Geraden Cann reports on another case involving Tawharau Housing.
A second client of building company Tawharau Housing Ltd has spoken about how the company left their new-build home unfinished, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on getting a new builder in for remedial work and finishing the property.
Charmaine Burnett, who is 76, has had to pay to have the upstairs and downstairs cladding replaced, decking redone, and parts of the roof fixed on her Maketu build.
This followed an independent building report conducted in June 2021 that found the home had been left with weathertightness issues, that elements of the build were not up to code, and some windows and doors had been fixed at different heights.
Burnett said the experience had been ‘‘a living nightmare’’ and ‘‘a house of horror’’ that had left her depressed and physically unwell.
She was widowed shortly before signing her building contract, and is looking after her three grandchildren after their mother died. The children’s father, who was Burnett’s son, was murdered in 2007.
The situation bears resemblance to Glenn and Karen Peat, whose Rotorua property was left abandoned for months while Tawharau completed 24 homes in a nearby development, resulting in them facing having to test, and possibly replace, the floors, cladding, and framing.
Burnett’s case has led the Western Bay of Plenty District Council to lodge an official complaint with Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP), the government organisation that accredits residential property builders.
The complaint targets Tawharau’s director, part-owner and carpenter Dylan Thompson and its architect, Jayden Thompson.
In the complaint, the council points to an independent building report that found the work completed by Tawharau was incomplete and ‘‘to a very poor standard’’. The report described the work as ‘‘negligent and concerning’’.
‘‘Their conduct towards the homeowner and council inspectors was not only unprofessional, but it would bring LBPs into disrepute,’’ the complaint reads.
In the complaint, the council states Burnett had paid $690,382.55 in instalment payments – about 95% of the total $720,000 for the build – ‘‘and they were far from finished’’.
Jayden Thompson disputed the amounts quoted by the council as the build cost, saying $30,000 of the sum was for planning and architectural design, and Burnett had paid $655,500 of the $690,000 build contract price.
The complaint included images of text messages between Jayden Thompson and Burnett, in which he asks her to consider a new payment schedule and for her to send an additional $10,000 for carpets. She repeatedly asks him to stop contacting her and direct communications to her lawyers.
Burnett said she would now have to sell the plot of land she bought as an investment property, to cover the cost of finishing her home.
The council said the cost to complete the build was estimated at $397,710, with an additional $113,913 required for remedial work, although Burnett said the final cost was not known yet.
She said some of the other workmen brought on to help her finish her home had carried out work free of charge.
The council’s LBP complaint said that by March 2021, there had been two meetings and one mediation held between Burnett and Tawharau Housing, and on each occasion, the company had agreed to complete the build and then failed to follow through.
‘‘On 7 March 2021, Charmaine’s lawyer terminated the building contract with Tawharau Housing Ltd as it was evident they were not going to cooperate,’’ the complaint reads.
In his response to LBP, Thompson said all works by Tawharau at the Maketu address were incomplete and ‘‘not a true refection of the standard of work that would have been achieved had we been allowed to complete the works’’.
The council’s complaint also states that after further investigation, it was established that Tawharau’s behaviour towards council building inspectors had been intimidating.
‘‘They were aggressive in their demeanour and would often try and manipulate the inspections,’’ the complaint reads.
The council’s LBP complaint included two statements from inspectors. The first came from the team leader of the council’s inspection team, and related to an inspection conducted after Tawharau’s contract was terminated in March 2021.
He said the work being done was ‘‘below what you would expect from a licensed building practitioner’’ and ‘‘they would often just do enough to pass the inspection’’.
‘‘I found their conduct to be arrogant and at times intimidating. They would try and manipulate the inspection and if you questioned their work, they always had an answer to come back with,’’ the statement reads.
A statement from a second inspector who attended the site while Tawharau was the builder reads: ‘‘They would often stand over you while carrying out the inspection and would try to manipulate the inspection.’’
‘‘Inspections were also carried out by multiple inspectors at the same time due to the issues on site from both the designer and builders.’’
Jayden Thompson described these as ‘‘a fabricated claim and an incorrect defamatory statement’’.
‘‘The two inspectors who made the complaint, both had conducted only one of the 11 total inspections each. None of the inspectors for the remaining nine inspections have supported this claim,’’ he said.
‘‘It is very common for builders and inspectors to disagree and then have a discussion on-site.’’
Thompson claimed Burnett prevented Tawharau from returning to the site by failing to confirm the status of a number of additions and variations, including the removal of a garage and changes to heating, that were required to complete the contract works.
Burnett said Thompson had asked for the garage to be left for storage of materials and said the company would remove it when it was no longer needed.
Laurie Goossens was brought on as the project manager of the build in March 2021, to try to get the project back on track.
He said the variations to the heating were minor and work could have restarted prior to a decision being made on it.
He said he stopped trying to work with Tawharau after it promised to finish the build but took no action. As a result he brought on other teams to finish the job.
Burnett said she had had trouble sleeping until recently, when her home finally received its code of compliance on New Year’s Eve. ‘‘It was the first time I could sleep, because I was able to insure my house,’’ she said.
A June 2021 independent building report by NZBC Pre-Purchase Company identified a number of defects and elements that did not meet code
It found the tops of some windows and doors did not line up, that there was no approved ventilation to the outside air for the laundry, insulation was missing or had fallen out, cladding was missing from a number of locations, and where cladding had been partially complete it had not been done adequately.
Tawharau’s behaviour towards council building inspectors had been intimidating.
The roof was also not complete over the rear deck verandah, some flashings needed to waterproof the roof were missing, and the spouting and downpipes had not been done.
The report noted the build was unlikely to be achievable on-budget. The report was commissioned by a company that was considering taking over the job from Tawharau, but was paid for by Burnett.
Thompson disputed many of the findings, and said that there were no faults with the cladding that required its removal.
Tawharau is facing an application from Inland Revenue (IR) seeking liquidation.
Thompson said negotiations were continuing while Tawharau continues to make payments towards the settlement of the tax debt with Inland Revenue. ‘‘Tawharau is solvent,’’ he said. Duncan Connor, the occupational regulation national manager at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said the ministry had two disciplinary investigations ongoing against Dylan and Jayden Thompson as Licensed Building Practitioners.
‘‘The associated reports will be considered by the Building Practitioners Board before the board makes their decision.
‘‘Both complaints were submitted by Western Bay of Plenty Council against Jayden and Dylan Thompson. The complaints relate to the same project.’’
A decision would likely be made in ‘‘a matter of months’’.