HE'S the linchpin of dodgy Daniel Roberts and his associates' controversial building empire.
But Lake Macquarie builder John Cousins says he's completely in the dark about the crucial role he is meant to be playing at construction sites at Mount Hutton, Terrigal and Wallsend.
According to NSW Fair Trading, Mr Cousins is the "nominated supervisor" for Sustainable Homes Australia R & D, meaning he is responsible for supervising all construction to ensure building standards, codes of practice, and laws and regulations are met.
But the 72-year-old told the Newcastle Herald this week he hadn't worked as the nominated supervisor at any of the company's troubled building sites, which are linked to Roberts and his long-term associates Shashanth Shankar Tellakula Gowrishankar and Madhukar (Madhu) Dhanesh Babu Pobbathi.
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Instead, Mr Cousins said he was employed to do "carpentry three or four days a week" for Sustainable Homes Australia R & D.
"I'm not responsible for supervising the jobs," Mr Cousins said. "I'm doing carpentry work. That's my job, not supervising or overseeing the builds."
Pressed further about why he was listed as the nominated supervisor for the company, Mr Cousins said he didn't realise he was.
"I suppose the term supervisor can be used pretty loosely," he said. "I'm doing some carpentry work, not overseeing the builds. Nothing like that."
On Friday, the Building Commission NSW said it takes allegations of false or unauthorised nominations on licences seriously and is investigating.
In NSW, companies need a contractor licence to undertake residential building work valued at more than $5000, and must nominate a licensed, qualified supervisor to oversee construction.
If the supervisor is not on site, they must ensure that work is carried out by a suitably qualified tradesperson, supervisor or licence holder, or workers are supervised by someone with an appropriate qualification.
Sustainable Homes Australia R & D has a contractor's licence and its nominated supervisor is Mr Cousins, who holds a builder's licence with restrictions.
When asked who was supervising the construction work at the residential building sites at Mount Hutton and Terrigal, Mr Cousins replied: "Daniel, Shashanth and Madhu."
The Herald attempted to contact the men, but they did not respond.
Mr Cousins said he also did not supervise work at the controversial Wallsend development linked to the trio, which is the subject of several legal battles over defects.
He added that at times he supervises a labourer who helps with carpentry jobs, and the company employs a plumber.
The sole director of Sustainable Homes Australia R & D is Madhu Pobbathi.
As previously reported, the Building Commission NSW has ordered Sustainable Homes Australia R & D to stop work at Mount Hutton due to serious defects and at Terrigal because "building work has been carried out otherwise than in accordance with the approved plans and specifications".
A spokesman for the Building Commission NSW said on Friday that "an individual cannot lawfully be a nominated supervisor on a company licence without their knowledge or consent".
"Building Commission NSW takes allegations of false or unauthorised nominations on licences seriously and is looking into the matters raised," he said.
"Building Commission NSW encourages contractors who believe they have been subject to a false nomination on a company licence to come forward and participate in any investigation."
The spokesman said that the watchdog "continues to conduct compliance on and closely monitor Sustainable Homes Australia R & D Pty Ltd".
"So far, Building Commission NSW has issued a total of six orders against Sustainable Homes Australia after inspections across multiple sites identified serious defects in the residential building work the company is responsible for," he said.
"The orders include building work rectification orders, stop work orders and a prohibition order across two separate sites located in Mount Hutton and Terrigal."
The company is only allowed to carry out work to fix defects and cannot issue an occupation certificate for the Mount Hutton site until defects are rectified.
"If they are not complied with in a timely manner, Building Commission NSW may consider further regulatory action including disciplinary or legal proceedings," the spokesman said.
The escalating pressure by the regulator is the latest instalment in a long-running saga involving Roberts and his long-term associates, Shankar and Pobbathi.
All three were involved in a notorious Wallsend development that is the subject of court battles over a long list of defects, including structural and waterproofing problems, mould, blistering paint, cracked plaster and render, and design changes.
Apartment owners have launched legal action against the developer SD Portfolio Holdings, claiming the cost of fixing the defects at the site is estimated at almost $1 million. Shankar is the sole director of the development company, and the builder for some of the work was Pobbathi's Sustainable Homes Australia R & D.
According to an expert report prepared by a senior remedial engineer of Landlay Consulting Group on behalf of the owners' corporation, there are a host of major problems with the building works at the Abel Street, Wallsend, complex, which consists of 20 two-storey townhouses over several lots.
Roberts, who is not a builder and was expelled in 2024 from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), was regularly seen on the tools during construction at Wallsend and Mount Hutton.
Mr Cousins told the Herald this week that he moved from Sydney several years ago, where he had been doing maintenance work for a real estate firm for about a decade.
He responded to a job ad and had been an employee of Sustainable Homes Australia R & D "doing carpentry work" three or four days a week for the past few years.
A carpenter by trade, he holds a builder's licence with a condition that if working for himself, he can only take on building jobs worth up to $20,000 as he is not approved to provide home warranty insurance.
In NSW, builders and tradespeople are legally required to obtain home warranty insurance for jobs valued at more than $20,000, including GST.
This is called Home Building Compensation Cover and is overseen by icare and regulated by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA).
The insurance is a safety net for homeowners so they do not suffer financial loss as a result of incomplete or defective work carried out by a builder or tradesperson who disappears, dies, becomes insolvent or has their licence suspended.
Mr Cousins said he was "completely unaware" of any defects at the Wallsend job, and had been told the Terrigal site was shut down due to a "paperwork issue".
He described the standard of work on Sustainable Homes Australia R & D jobs as "good" and said he would be happy for Roberts, Shankar or Pobbathi to build his house.
Roberts, who has been declared bankrupt twice in less than a decade, has been linked to a string of construction disasters across the Hunter stretching back at least a decade, which have left families, tradies, clients, and suppliers millions of dollars out of pocket.
In a NSW legal first, Roberts was ordered to pay more than $1 million in 2023 to a group of mum-and-dad developers after he trashed their Jesmond construction project, but they never received a cent.
Roberts was the first person in the NSW construction industry to be held personally liable for being negligent under new laws designed to tighten protection for homeowners and owners' corporations.
In late 2018, Supreme Court Justice Robert McDougall - ruling in a dispute involving Shankar and Roberts against another Hunter family - said there was "very strong evidence" the pair were "structuring their affairs in such a way so as to avoid, wherever possible, paying their liabilities".
"It is open to infer that they have engaged in the well-known but opprobrious practice of utilising phoenix companies," Justice McDougall said.
"Consigning insolvent companies to the fires of liquidation, and creating new companies to arise from the ashes and take their place."
