00:00An idyllic island setting but an empty block instead of a home.
00:08I could see that I had somewhere finally that I could settle down and rest.
00:14Plans are a painful reminder of how close the 75 year old came to building off the coast of Brisbane.
00:20You can see the water through there. The house was going to be elevated.
00:24Ms Hemley hired Gold Coast builder Carl Hoffman's company GoBuild 2000 in May 2024, paying $84,000 out of a quoted $240,000 to get started.
00:36After months of little progress, aside from some holes having been dug, she refused to pay the next invoice in September that year.
00:44At that stage, considering he'd invoiced me for another $72,000, I called a halt to it and I went to the lawyer.
00:52She did get $12,000 back through an insurance claim with the state's building regulator, but payouts for unstarted work are capped at 5%.
01:02She was left with no choice but to sell the block and has stayed living with a friend.
01:07If I was younger, I might have a way back, but I've had to learn that for me there is no way back.
01:13Ms Hemley's not alone. Three others the ABC spoke with say they also paid his company smaller amounts for jobs that were never completed.
01:20Mr Hoffman says the work was delayed due to serious health issues which prevented the business from continuing and says he plans to pay back all outstanding amounts.
01:29He says he's entered into a repayment agreement with one customer.
01:32The building regulator can't comment on individual cases but does warn people not to pay excessive deposits.
01:39The consumer should have some level of protection whether they've been careful or not.
01:45And things could get worse during a housing shortfall.
01:48Governments are trying to let the brakes off in order to get the construction industry to build more houses.
01:54Laying the foundations for future problems.
01:57Clothes Goated that are trying to pin responsibility.
02:06The sun god says he's enough to get the chickens.
02:12The Flags baĆæșă.
02:16The sign isćčłæ¶ what matters.
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