Tradie sent owner of ‘Grand Design’ abusive texts over unpaid bill

A plasterer admits he went too far after calling his client a “child molester” and a “con man”, but says he was pushed to the brink by the man who refused to cough up nearly $16,000 for work at his property.

The home featured on Grand Designs New Zealand several years ago.

The owner spent more than $1 million on renovating the house.

However, shortly before the episode aired, tradesmen were rushing to get the place finished, including Brian Horisk and his company, hired to finish off the exterior plastering over the top of existing block work.

The local council raised some issues with the work and the owner withheld the final payment of $16,000 on that basis.

Over the next eight months, Horisk sent his former client a flurry of abusive text messages and emails asking for the invoice to be paid.

“Tomorrow that invoice better be paid. No excuses no nothing . . . F***ing test me,” one message read.

“One way or another your [sic] going to pay me what I’m owed and all my Gib. Karma is a bitch and I’ll make you pay my company what I’m owed. Every time you try to sell that scam of a building I’ll make sure that the people know the truth and all the lies and bullshit you tried to cover up and mislead buyers.”

In further text messages, Horisk called his client a “pedo” before emailing realtors listing the property and told them they couldn’t sell it until he’d been paid.

The conduct landed Horisk in front of the Building Practitioners Board where he was found guilty of a breach of the Licensed Building Practitioner’s Code of Ethics and of bringing the profession into disrepute.

Horisk is the first LBP to be officially punished under the new code, which outlines a series of professional standards for builders and associated trades similar to what’s expected of doctors, lawyers, realtors and other qualified vocations. It became enforceable last October.

Horisk told NZME he regrets the way he handled the situation but was pushed to the brink by his client who refused to pay him for the completed work.

“The issues the council raised we fixed pretty much straight away, it took less than an hour. The house has consent,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have abused him but he pushed me to a point where it got out of hand. It felt like all he was doing was looking for a way to get out of paying the bill.”

Horisk said he had lodged a claim with the Disputes Tribunal as, more than a year later, he said he has still not been paid.

As a result of the repeated text messages and emails, the client phoned police in August last year. They issued Horisk a harassment notice, after which he ceased messaging his former client.

The homeowner also complained to the Building Practitioner’s Board which held a hearing into Horisk’s conduct in November.

The owner, who sought suppression from the board after NZME contacted him, said in a statement that he’d paid most of the other invoices Horisk sent him without issue.

“Despite my having paid all his previous accounts Brian Horisk immediately became aggressive and started a campaign of harassment.”

He didn’t respond to a question about why he still hasn’t paid the $16,000 bill despite Horisk claiming the work is complete.

The board found Horisk had breached the code and had brought the profession into disrepute.

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