Court settles building ordeal
A company that supplied defective wall panels for a house built at Tokerau Beach in 2016 has been ordered by the High Court to pay the owners more than $84,000 in damages.
Randolph and Karen Urlich began planning their “dream home” on Tokerau Beach Rd in 2015, and were sold a new wall panel system, K3T, by Auckland-based Global Fibre8 (GF8). According to the High Court judgement, GF8 director Tangi Tuake told the couple K3T was a tested and approved building material in New Zealand, which it was not.
They agreed to the purchase, the Far North District Council granted a building consent, and Stephen Barclay and SMB Builders were contracted to build the house in May 2016. By mid-October the panels were beginning to crack around windows and doors, on interior vertical joints and in plaster.
The Urlichs met Mr Tuake on-site in late October, but he failed to show for a scheduled visit with them and a council building inspector in February 2017. GF8 then ceased responding.
The council issued a notice to fix defects, all work coming to a halt. A new building consent was subsequently obtained and another builder was engaged to rebuild the house.
The council confirmed compliance in November last year.
The Urlichs sued the council, GF8, Mr Barclay and later SMB Builders, reaching settlements with all but GF8.
The company did not file a statement of defence, so the matter was set down for a formal proof hearing by the High Court, Justice Matthew Palmer finding that K3T, its plans and specifications were defective. He awarded the Urlichs $64,464 in special damages, with a further $20,000 in general damages.
Mrs Urlich said she and her husband had suffered extreme financial loss and emotional stress as a result of GF8’s conduct, which she described as fraud.
“Our main aim is to stop other people from getting into a similar situation, because too many people have been sucked in,” she said. Justice Palmer ruled that GF8 breached the Fair Trading Act by engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct in its characterisation of the qualities of K3T and the status of the codemark certificate. He also noted that the Commerce Commission had been investigating GF8, but had yet to issue its decision.