Mark and Suzanne Chamberlain settle long-running dispute with GJ Gardner, welcome first child

Seven years after entering a costly dispute with a building company, Suzanne and Mark Chamberlain have finally moved on, and out. The couple have signed a settlement agreement with GJ Gardner. They marked their new future with the recent arrival of their first child together. Tracy Neal reports.

The Chamberlains have now spent twice as long trying for a baby than the seven years it took to resolve the protracted and expensive dispute over their newly built, hillside home.

“The baby is something we’ve waited for, for so long,” Suzanne Chamberlain – a first-time mum at 52 – says.

“It was delayed because of all this with the house, and it’s now a big part of our moving on.”

The big life shift comes after years of battling the company they commissioned to build their dream home in Nelson.

Mark and Suzanne Chamberlain are moving on with their lives after reaching a settlement agreement with GJ Gardner. Photo / Tracy Neal

Disputes over faults with the build, which resulted in outstanding payments, turned into a nightmare that included them being locked out of their home on the day they were due to move in.

Both sides then battled it out through numerous hearings in three different courts.

Now, that battle has been resolved, and topped off with the arrival of a much-wanted child.

The 52-year-old became a first-time mum in late November with the slightly earlier-than-planned arrival by cesarean delivery of a healthy daughter. The pregnancy was her last chance at IVF treatment, while Mark has two adult children from a previous marriage.

Mark says it’s the perfect way to ring in a fresh start.

“It’s almost kind of something we need in our life as a distraction, like it almost feels like starting anew.”

A confidential settlement ended the dispute over what the Chamberlains said was a list of faults discovered just before they took possession of their Nelson home, with more found soon after they moved in.

The house that Suzanne and Mark Chamberlain built has been the subject of a drawn out legal dispute. Photo / Tracy Neal

The company which built it, LSK Builders, operates the Nelson franchise of GJ Gardner Homes.

LSK Builders had argued it was left out of pocket as the Chamberlains withheld a portion of the final payment due on possession.

In September 2023, just days from the start of a long-awaited trial, the Chamberlains said the company made a reasonable offer, which they agreed to.

“We were working with [lawyer] Luke [Acland] in full preparation to go to court. We’d submitted our affidavits and they were due to submit theirs in response and they finally made a reasonable offer,” Mark said.

LSK director Graham Vercoe told NZME the mutual agreement was confidential.

“All I can say is any outstanding issues were agreed to the satisfaction of all concerned.”

Mark says it’s been a tough lesson – and one he believes has cost all parties involved “the thick end of a million dollars” in legal fees.

Life feels very different now the stress is over.

“Very, very different. Honestly, I didn’t realise just how much of a cloud was hanging over us during those years.

“But yeah, the cloud that’s now lifted from us, and the peace that we’ve gained – it’s the first step in moving on.”

The start of a long legal fight

The Chamberlains went public with their plight in early 2022, as they entered the fifth year of a legal wrangle that had already spanned the District Court, High Court and Court of Appeal.

The couple contracted LSK to build their home in July 2017.

Problems arose when they discovered faults with some of the building work. The Chamberlains said they paid the full amount on the fixed-price contract.

However, on legal advice they withheld some of the final payment due on provisional allowances (sums over and above the fixed price they signed up to).

The building firm responded by locking the doors on the day they were to move in.

The Chamberlains responded by smashing into the home.

LSK lodged legal action against the Chamberlains, alleging they had taken possession illegally.

The Chamberlains reacted with a counter-claim around the alleged faults and issues with the contract.

Part of the dispute focused on questions over apparently large increases in the cost of those provisional allowances, including almost $13,000 more in council fees and charges, $20,000 more for earthworks, a timber retaining wall, and the construction of a concrete floor.

The home’s timber foundations and sub-flooring were almost $16,000 more than estimated and engineering works were an additional $6000.

In October 2018, LSK placed a caveat against the title on the Chamberlains’ property (which meant they could not sell it).

A few months later it registered a mortgage against it to secure the amount in dispute, pending the outcome of the case scheduled for the district court to resolve the matter over the alleged faults.

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LSK claimed it was owed about $200,000. The Chamberlains said that the amount withheld – and placed in a lawyer’s trust account – was just under $145,000.

The Chamberlains applied to have the caveat lapse; LSK sought an order that it remain, and the High Court eventually dismissed the firm’s application.

LSK then took the matter to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the High Court’s decision.

In February 2023 the parties were back in court to thrash out a request for disclosure the Chamberlains claimed LSK Builders was refusing to hand over, despite an earlier court order.

LSK was ordered to say if the documents existed which would support the couple’s claim they were misled over the project.

The Chamberlains told NZME it was in the months following that LSK began making noises about a settlement offer, which they initially baulked at.

The Chamberlains leave town

It was around the same time that the Chamberlains packed up and left Nelson for Whangamatā.

They were driven not only by the need for change but by the need to help Suzanne’s mother in her own long-running legal fight over a commercial property she owned.

The Chamberlains rented out the Nelson home, to make the move north in mid-2023 where it took a while to get established after Mark badly injured his back.

Mark, a teacher, has since picked up part-time work at a local school and Suzanne, who worked in health administration, has been working as a support services manager at a local rest home.

They plan to return to Nelson in 2025 and finish the few details that still need fixing in the house, but they can’t see themselves living there again.

Suzanne says while there are aspects of it they miss, such as the view, the stress of the fight has coloured their view of the home.

“From my point of view, it never felt like our house because we couldn’t take full ownership of it.”

Mark has no desire to spend any longer in the house than he has to.

“What we went through has permanently damaged our view of the house. I think both of us would struggle to find any love for that house again.”

The Chamberlains credit Acland for helping them through.

“He was really supportive of us as people, not just as clients.

“I felt that he had his heart in it for us and I’m really so thankful to him for that,” Mark said.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.