$70k of errors results in $5k fine for LBP
16 Sep 2024, Industry Updates, News
A Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP), who made $70,000 worth of errors, has been fined $5,000 for negligent and incompetent work. He was also fined $2,000 for failing to provide a Record of Work on completion of Restricted Building Work
LBP Kiel Rangi’s work required $70,000 worth of remediation to bring it in line with the Building Code, which took longer to carry out than it would have to correctly take the project from start to finish, said the remedial builder hired to fix Rangi’s mistakes.
In a statement to the LBP Board, the remedial builder wrote: “This was a very simple house to construct; so, in my professional opinion, the work completed prior to us arriving was not anywhere near good enough.
“It took us more time fixing all the issues than the whole job should have taken from start to completion.”
Lack of supervision
Rangi was hired by a developer to build a house in the Kāpiti Coast in 2022 as a labour-only contractor. Rangi carried out and supervised the building work with four of his staff, two of whom were also qualified builders.
However, Rangi admitted that he had not adequately supervised their work, which was littered with serious violations of Building Code.
The developer of the property also claimed that Rangi had “walked away” from the project before it was completed.
“He would not return phone calls, emails, texts; he just sort of put his hands up and walked away.”
The remedial builder noted in his statement that:
“The weatherboards we removed were not nailed off as per specifications, no corner flashings were installed and none of the cuts on the weatherboards that were installed by the previous builder were primed.
“Luckily, there were only a few rows installed before we turned up. We rectified all previous council-failed inspections on this job.”
Rangi did not provide any supervision of the cladding phase of the project, which he put down to his inexperience.
“He stated that this was out of character for him,” said the Board.
“He noted that he was new to contracting [and was still] finding his feet.”
Long list of errors
Additionally, the remedial builder stated that up to 90% of the cavity batten fixings were missing studs when they were nailed off, all the WANZ bars had to be re-levelled and the roof line on the front veranda was out of level by 80mm end to end.
In his defence, Rangi said the poor skill level of his staff was to blame for the build quality.
“[He noted he’d] been let down by others and was hit with the sudden departure of a key staff member, and money issues arose,” said the LBP Board.
In delivering its judgement, the Board reduced Rangi’s fine from a ‘starting point of $3,500 (an amount consistent with penalties imposed for similar offences)’ to $2,500 due to Rangi’s acceptance of some responsibility and the fact that he “outlined some mental health issues”. It also imposed costs of $2,500.
The Board did not say why it chose not to cancel or suspend his licence.
The fine left the developer unsatisfied, reported RNZ, especially given Rangi has been allowed to retain his LBP licence.
“The point is that he can still continue building like a cowboy. I just don’t want anyone else to put up with what he had to. It’s just really frustrating,” the developer said.
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