Queensland grandmother distraught after losing $45,000 to unlicensed builder

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A Queensland woman left out of pocket by an unlicensed builder thought her troubles were over when she took her case to the state's civil tribunal and won. Months later, the work is still unfinished, and her legal bills have only added to her financial distress. Experts warn she's far from alone and say seeking compensation can be an expensive, unfair exercise.

Transcript

00:00This abandoned building site represents tens of thousands of dollars quite literally down

00:08the drain. $45,000. In 2021, Maria Coulter hired Craig Francis to build a granny flat

00:15under her Sunshine Coast home. Instead, the unlicensed builder left her with an unfinished

00:20mess. Craig admitted that he was out of his depth, basically, and that he would come see me

00:28and try and make restitution. Mr Francis told the ABC he shouldn't have done

00:32the job without a licence, but that hasn't helped the grandmother who has been rejected

00:37for compensation twice by Queensland's building regulator. She spent $30,000 on legal fees to

00:43secure a win at the state's civil tribunal, but still hasn't got her money back.

00:48It's really distressing. When I won at QCAT, I cried. I thought, oh gosh, this nightmare is over.

00:54The matter has been referred back to us and we are reassessing it. QBCC won't make any

01:01further comment, but the regulator says it responded to 700 complaints about unlicensed

01:06contractors last year, taking action against half of those. In the same period, it paid out

01:12home warranty claims to the tune of $60 million. Last year, we went out to over 1,100 construction

01:18sites where we were checking QBCC licences, and we got over 98% compliance. But even one

01:25unlicensed contractor is one too many. Only six claims against unlicensed builders have gone

01:31through the regulator's home warranty scheme. But experts warn Maria's situation isn't isolated.

01:37We're seeing matters taking 12 to 18, even 24 months from application stage to a hearing.

01:43When a consumer has a legal fight with a builder, the costs can really stack up, and any compensation,

01:50if any, that a consumer may be entitled to, may be diluted.

01:55A Wait That Continues

01:57A Wait That Continues

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