Builder sentenced for forgery, pretending to be licensed

A builder pretended to be licensed when he was not. Photo / 123rf

A builder who forged signatures and pretended to be licensed has been convicted and sentenced to six months of community detention.

Jimmy Carson, sole director of Carson Design and Co, was convicted for forging the signatures of licensed building practitioners on certificates of design work for three buildings between September 2021 and July 2022.

Tauranga District Court Judge Greg Hollister-Jones considered the offending to be “moderate to serious”.

Along with six months of community detention, Carson was ordered to pay a $2000 fine for providing false and misleading information.

Duncan Connor, Registrar of Licensed Practitioners, said Carson was fully aware of the consequences of his actions and the impact it could have had on lives of his clients and on those whose signatures he knowingly forged.

“Carrying out restricted building work without holding an appropriate licence or being supervised by a licensed building practitioner is a serious offence,” Connor said.

“The scheme ensures consumers can be confident that they are hiring properly trained professionals to carry out or supervise restricted building work and I urge anyone engaging a builder to first look them up on the public register.”

Licensed builders can promote their professional skills and behaviour in the building industry and show the public and potential clients that they meet a minimum standard of competency in their licensed area, he said.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment would not hesitate to prosecute individuals who breach the act, and practitioners seeking to carry out restricted building work should do their due diligence and make sure they are properly licensed before starting the work, he said.

“There was a high degree of premeditation in the offending by Carson and he caused a significant breach of trust,” Connor said.

The offending was discovered in September 2022 when the Tauranga City Council telephoned the licensed builder whose name and signature Carson had forged to file a certificate of design work.

Carson filed certificates for three properties in Mt Maunganui, East Taieri and Tauranga, forging the names and signatures of two builders using their licence numbers, address, and phone numbers.

He got those while corresponding with them about designs.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.