Mount Lawley builder Squire Homes Pty Ltd (reg. BC5025) has been fined $15,000 and ordered to pay costs of $1,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for negligent conduct in the construction of three commercial projects on two Margaret River sites.

The outcome was mediated by the parties as a result of disciplinary action commenced by the Building Services Board. The SAT agreed the company was negligent in that it failed to:

• notify the Shire of Augusta Margaret River that it was not the builder carrying out the work for all three of the projects despite being named as the builder on the building licence. In all three cases, the building work was instead carried out by the sites’ owners; and
• advise the insurer that it was not the builder carrying out the building work at two of the sites for the purpose of obtaining home indemnity insurance policies.

“By engaging in negligent conduct, Squire Homes has failed to meet its obligations as a registered builder,” Building Commissioner Peter Gow said.

“If building work is not carried out correctly, it can put the safety of people working on the project and the building’s future occupants at risk.”

The company’s breaches of the repealed Builders’ Registration Act 1939 and the Building Services Registration Act 2011 occurred in 2006 and 2007 and are commonly known as ‘licence lending’. The value of the building work contracts ranged between $124,000 and $280,000.

“By allowing itself to be incorrectly named as the builder on the building licence, Squire Homes also put its own interests at risk – it is the entity named as the builder on the building permit that is ultimately responsible for the building work,” Mr Gow said.

“The Building Commission will continue to hold to account and name those who put the public interest and the reputation of the building industry at risk.”

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