A Perth building company has been found to be negligent and fined $5,000 by the Building Services Board for winning a contract to renovate a chocolate store in Fremantle, but then failing to carry out or supervise the work.

Ferhan Developments Pty Ltd (BC102155) of Queens Park and its sole director Chrishan Fernando won a $236,158 tender and were issued a building permit by the City of Fremantle in November 2017 to undertake the major renovations.

However, Ferhan Developments allowed an unregistered third party to carry out the building work. In WA, building work that requires a building permit and is valued over $20,000 must be carried out by a registered builder.

At its July meeting, the Building Services Board found that Ferhan Developments had been negligent or incompetent in carrying out or completing a building service, which is a disciplinary matter under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011.

Building and Energy A/Executive Director Saj Abdoolakhan said it was a serious matter for the company to hand over control of the project after the building permit was issued in its name and under its registration.

“This is a serious failure on the part of Ferhan Developments, which resulted in an unregistered builder undertaking major works without the involvement or even supervision of a registered builder,” Mr Abdoolakhan said.

“While there have been no complaints lodged in respect to the quality of the work carried out, it was negligent for Ferhan Developments to outsource its duties and responsibilities to another company or person that has not demonstrated, through the registration process, that it has the competencies to carry out that work.

“All registered builders must comply with their regulatory responsibilities and be aware that, if their name is on the building permit, they could be held liable for all the work carried out under that permit. They put themselves and the community at great risk when they relinquish control and offload those responsibilities to others, particularly if they are unregistered.”

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Media contact: Sarah Roberts – 0466 409 828 or CPmedia@demirs.wa.gov.au

Note: BC and BP numbers refer to registration as a building contractor or building practitioner. The registers of building service providers are available online: www.commerce.wa.gov.au/buildersearch