DODGY work, an unfinished home, $400,000 out of pocket and a legal quagmire that has taken five years to resolve.
Despite sounding the alarm to every regulatory body they can think of, Phillip Kapeller and Rachael Cesnik's complaints about their builder have "fallen on deaf ears".
The Newcastle Herald has reported extensively on the couple's battle with BH Australia Constructions, previously known as Blissful Constructions, that left their Gillieston Heights home unfinished and full of defects.
Earlier this year the couple won a court judgement that the company - fronted by Daniel Roberts and Shashanth Shankar Tellakula Gowrishankar - owes them $191,366 and legal fees, but they have not received a cent.
Mr Kapeller, who has complained about the pair to NSW Fair Trading, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Department of Home Affairs, is determined to get action.
"I don't understand how these guys are allowed to keep operating," he said.
"There is no way I'm letting this go because I don't want someone else to end up like us."
A Newcastle Herald investigation revealed in November that Mr Roberts and Mr Shankar - accused by a Supreme Court judge of utilising phoenix companies to avoid paying debts - are linked to numerous building companies blamed for leaving a string of construction and financial disasters across the Hunter, with combined debts into the millions.
The pair, who are not licensed builders, are now working on a multi-million dollar unit development at 38 Abel Street, Wallsend.
The 3480-square-metre property was purchased in June 2017 by BH Australia Constructions for $1.35 million.
The site was sold about a year later for $400,000 to another related company called Abel Street Developments.
Mr Shankar is the director of Abel Street Developments and he and Daniel Roberts are listed as the shareholders.
According to a development application approved by City of Newcastle, there are plans to build 20 attached two-storey dwellings at a cost of more than $2 million.
A tradesman who worked at the site said it was being promoted under the name Immersed Group.
The NewcastleHerald found numerous job ads online for tradespeople and a project architect wanted by Immersed Group at Wallsend.
The tradesman said five units were under construction at the site, with another five expected to begin soon.
Central Coast builder Pejay Lanser, of Self Made Construction Group, is the licensed builder on the project and said he was being paid $750 a week to oversee the job.
Mr Lanser confirmed he also worked as a supervisor on Mr Kapeller's Gillieston Heights home, but said he was not the builder.
Self Made Construction Group's business address is listed as 38 Abel St, Wallsend.
Mr Lanser said he was overseeing the construction of five units.
"I'm not hands on," he said.
"It's just a supervising role... I don't have anything to do with the finances, I just oversee the building work for them. I'll be there maybe three times a week...a lot of it is done on the phone."
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison is making representations to NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman and Minister for Better Regulation Kevin Anderson on behalf of Mr Kapeller and Ms Cesnik.
"This case speaks to the failure of Fair Trading to be able to regulate the industry," she said.
"It's just not good enough."
- Do you know more? Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au
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