Shed builder fined on 13 charges

The WA Building Commission has advised homeowners to do their homework before engaging a building contractor after a former Albany shed builder was fined $4000 in the Albany Magistrate’s Court recently.

Anthony Probert pleaded guilty to 13 charges relating to registration and contractual offences he committed while contracting for and constructing three sheds, in Robinson, Elleker and Warrenup, in 2014.

In September, the court heard the offences committed in relation to all three sites were undertaking to carry out, and carrying out, builder work without the required registration, failing to provide the homeowner with the prescribed notice, and demanding and receiving a deposit in excess of 6.5 per cent of the total value of the work.

Mr Probert, operating under South Coast Sheds, also failed to provide the Robinson site owner with a copy of the signed contract and misrepresented the value of the contracts, which ranged between $29,700 and $34,900, on building permit applications he submitted to the City of Albany.

Defence counsel Phil Wyatt said South Coast Sheds had begun trading in 2013 but Mr Probert’s business partner left the following year, placing him under financial pressure.

Mr Wyatt said his client, as a result, began carrying out work but the construction received no complaints and was done to a high standard.

He requested a spent conviction and said Probert had co-operated with the WA Building Commission investigation “to his own detriment”.

In a statement last week, Building Commission acting executive director Ian Munns said the conduct denied the three property owners their right to engage an appropriately registered building service provider and exposed them to financial risk.

He said homeowners could protect themselves by doing their homework before engaging the services of a building service provider. “The Building Commission will continue to hold to account people who put the public interest and the reputation of the building industry at risk,” he said.

Mr Probert received a spent conviction.