Hartner wharf deal was too big: developer

By ANNE GIBSON

Developer David Henderson sympathises with Wayne Hartner of Hartner Construction.

But he regrets letting five of the six Princes Wharf construction jobs to Hartner Construction, saying that in hindsight this was a bad move.

He also revealed there had been flooded apartments in his $200 million wharf development and major faults with plastering, painting and tiling.

"I sympathise with Wayne Hartner.

"I don't know him that well, but I feel extremely sorry for him because he has spent a long time building up a business and to be faced with this is horrendous, so my sympathies are there."

However, Mr Henderson said he would do things differently in hindsight.

"I regret giving five of the six sheds to Hartner and I think in hindsight I should have put four contractors on site.

"Don't ask me who they should have been, though."

He was also critical of Hartner's work on the Hilton, saying Kitchener employed other firms for some internal fitout work "because we wanted a high-standard finish and Hartner were not interested."

This included tiling in the Hilton, the bar area and bar/reception fitout.

Hartner's troubles were much larger than just the Princes Wharf contract, with $13 million worth of disputed contracts.

Hartner's contract to build five of the six Princes Wharf sheds was a $90 million job, Mr Henderson said, so a dispute over between $1 million and $3 million was therefore minor compared with the entire scale of the work.

Hartner claimed Mr Henderson owed it $3.5 million, although Mr Henderson claimed only $1.3 million was owed.

Mr Henderson said that either figure did not account for the entire $13 million in disputed claims owed to Hartner. He said he was upset that money he had paid Hartner Construction recently had not gone through to the subcontractors. "One of the saddest things is that on January 25 or 26, we paid Hartner over $1 million and none of it went to the subcontractors.

"I asked the receiver if they had a trust account with all the retention money in it," he said.

"If we ever do another major building contract, we are going to make sure the subcontractors' monies are protected.

"I've had a couple of meetings with subcontractors and it's just heart-breaking, particularly on the Hilton where Hartner was running a bonus scheme on site in January." This was to encourage subcontractors, but Mr Henderson doubted if the subbies would ever get the bonuses owed to them.

"I will more than likely lose money in all this because I'm going to have to pay for work to be done which I've already paid for."