Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Homeowners need to seek out personal recommendations when getting building work done, an industry expert says, as one way to help keep themselves and their money safe.
It comes after a group of homeowners in Wellington sounded the alarm about a construction company who they said took tens of thousands of dollars before its director disappeared.
So what can homeowners do to protect themselves when dealing with construction companies and tradespeople?
John Tookey, a professor of construction management at AUT told Afternoons, while there were many solo tradies who wanted to do their best for clients they were getting lost by the "bad eggs", who spoiled things with bad behaviour.
"Some [builders] do ask for money upfront, a deposit of some description as a commitment... but one of the more typical [bad] behaviours is they'll come in hot to trot, work like hell for a week and then you won't see them for three or four.
"What that is, is they have multiple projects on and move from one place to another place which just pads out the process."
Tookey said unfortunately this was not uncommon practice, but it was not good practice and could cause a lot of stress and issues for clients.
If homeowners were asked for a deposit, it would normally be of relatively minimal value, up to 10 or 15 percent of the price, Tookey said.
Homeowners should look for personal recommendations from people they know, he said.
Tookey said good builder would often have various different testimonials from past clients and you could always follow up with these people to learn more.
Getting advice from a friend who had connectivity with the building industry or was a tradie themselves was also helpful, he said, especially for people who had no background in construction.
Using a registered builder was another way of weeding out "bad eggs", Tookey said as people behaving in such a way were unlikely to bother getting themselves registered.
"They are the bottom feeders, trying to pile it high, sell it cheap.
"Listen to the people who are there to actually help you. If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true."
'Find out what is reasonable' - Builderscrack
The construction company at the centre of the latest complaints was listed on the online Builderscrack platform, which offers reviews and verifications of tradespeople.
Builderscrack co-founder Jeremy Wyn-Harris said Enzed Construction went through the normal verification process, which required tradespeople to submit their New Zealand business number, identification and proof of address upon signing up.
Additional checks were also run through the Insolvency Register and NZ Companies Register, and included checks for anything on social media platforms.
Wyn-Harris told Checkpoint the company had been suspended from the platform in June, "nine days after we learned things were not going well for a lot of homeowners out there".
He said Enzed had been on the site for three years with a range of good workmanship reviews, before poor reviews started in January.
"We did have a specific complaint from a Wellington homeowner and he wanted to reach out some other homeowners who might have been affected."
He said Builderscrack found a number of red flags with the company that let to it being suspended. He said bans only happened one or twice a month.
"It's not a huge number, we have 10,000 jobs posted every month.
"It's really unfortunate when this happens, we do our best, we work really hard to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen and it's really unfortunate when it does."
He said education and communication were key for homeowners considering a tradesperson or company to do a job.
"It's about that homeowner using our resources or other similar external resources to ask the right questions
"It's also about getting multiple quotes, so we provide up to three connections to happen, so there are up to three quotes you can get from us. And when asked maybe about a deposit, there should be some hard questions from the homeowner about why you need that deposit - is it for materials, if so a deposit is reasonable, communicate with that tradesperson and do the research yourself, and find out what is reasonable for that job."
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