Simon Washbourne has been found personally liable for the damage he caused to a house in Christchurch he was tasked with renovating.
A builder who took 16 months to complete what should have been a two-month job, and caused several hundred thousand dollars worth of errors in the process, has been found personally liable to pick up the tab.
Simon Washbourne was hired by Christchurch couple Matt Wilkins and Heather Jenkins to replace parts of their roof, as well as replace the windows and cladding of their suburban home, and quoted them a fixed price of $166,000.
However, a “catalogue of errors” as the clients described it, ensued over nearly 18 months, including Washbourne fixing all of the weatherboards incorrectly and installing windows that leaked.
Now, Wilkins and Jenkins have won an order in the High Court at Christchurch that Washbourne, and his company, pay them $400,000 to fix the errors he made in the build as well as $30,000 in compensation.
According to Justice Matthew Palmer’s ruling, Washbourne, through his company 77 Degrees Building Limited, began work on the property in September 2021.
Washbourne worked on the tools himself but also oversaw several employees and contractors throughout the renovations.
However, errors quickly began to pile up including windows installed out of square that wouldn’t open and leaks developing around other installed windows.
Wilkins and Jenkins said in evidence that neither Washbourne, nor his employees, knew how to use some of the parts the windows came with so used those parts elsewhere, and incorrectly, which meant they leaked.
However, it was the way the weatherboards were installed that was the heart of the defective work Washbourne did at the property according to the ruling.
Washbourne recommended the James Hardie product, Linea Oblique Weatherboard – known as LOW – which is an interlocking weatherboard system.
The LOW system must be installed over a cavity but Wilkins and Jenkins told the court that Washbourne had said this was just the manufacturer covering themselves since the “leaky building stuff” and that he had complete confidence in the product.
As a result, he fixed the weatherboards directly to the superstructure of the building, against the manufacturer’s specifications and voiding its warranty in the process.
Building surveyor Rory Crosbie gave evidence to the court that because of the way the weatherboards were fixed they were “highly unlikely” to comply with the Building Code.
Crosbie said that because the entire cladding of the house was removed, consent would have been needed rather than it being a like-for-like replacement as Washbourne had claimed and that this was well-known in the building industry.
Crosbie said that the entire cladding would have to be removed and disposed of and new weatherboards purchased and installed in order for the property to meet the code.
Justice Palmer said in his recently released ruling that the work Washbourne did was “protracted and error-ridden” and was satisfied that he was personally liable for the negligent work he undertook.
“Essentially, that is all of the defective work as Mr Washbourne was directly involved with all aspects of the work at the Wilkins’ property from initial discussions, planning, instruction of sub-contractors, advice (or lack of it) as to consenting, the selection of materials and the undertaking of the work or its supervision,” he said in his ruling.
“There is no aspect of the defective workmanship with which Mr Washbourne was not involved.”
Justice Palmer ordered that Washbourne, as the sole director of 77 Degree Builders Ltd, pay Wilkins and Jenkins $400,852, which he deemed would put them back in the same position they would have been if he hadn’t made the errors he did.
Justice Palmer also awarded $15,000 in damages to both Wilkins and Jenkins for the stress and anxiety caused by the building process “completely misfiring”.
Washbourne did not engage with the hearing at all and the company’s website is no longer active, nor is his cellphone and emails associated with his business. NZME has been unable to reach him for comment.
While his company is still listed on the Companies Office, the registrar of companies noted in December last year his intent to remove it from the registrar as it no longer appeared active.
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.