Melbourne based builder Andrew Donald Little has been suspended over conduct posing a risk to public safety and causing serious financial and emotional harm to consumers.
The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) has issued Little with a show cause notice foreshadowing disciplinary action on 58 grounds including that he knowingly contravened the Building Act.
VBA acting chief executive officer Todd Bentley said they’re continuing to use its full suite of disciplinary powers to ensure those who harm consumers are held to account.
“Protecting consumers is our priority and that means removing those who do the wrong thing from the industry,” he said.
The action proposed includes a statutory maximum disqualification from the industry for three years, the cancellation of Little’s building registrations and cumulative fines totalling $160,000.
The show cause notice relates to two building sites at Kurunjang and Emerald but more broadly alleges a pattern of incompetence and that Little is unfit to hold a building registration.
The show cause notice details Little’s conduct which posed risks to public safety including:
presenting for approval a design which was non-compliant for fire safety;
failure to include sprinklers in the design of a purpose-built specialist disability accommodation facility;
failure to include fire safety in the design as required in the building permit.
The notice also sets out allegations about Little’s conduct and serious financial and emotional harm reported by consumers, including:
commissioning work under a non-compliant major domestic building contract;
taking money for domestic building work without domestic building insurance;
leaving building owners with a non-compliant building requiring significant remediation to make it suitable for its intended purpose as specialist disability accommodation.
Little, of ADL Home Building and Constructions, is appealing the immediate suspension to VCAT.
