Auckland builder Your Builder Ltd could retain a $125,000 deposit after a customer fired it from a Mt Eden house renovation, hiring a new builder. Return of any deposit first required compliance with the dispute resolution procedure set out in Your Builder’s contract.
In July 2022, Dmitry Ruban and Alexandra Matveeva signed up with Hamid Zwart’s Your Builder Ltd to renovate and extend their house, adding a swimming pool and spa pool.
Estimated cost was $1.25 million. They paid the required ten per cent deposit.
Early on, work was paused four months after concerns about likely increased costs. No final agreement was reached on any amended scope of work.
The High Court was told the owners subsequently raised complaints about the standard of work done to date, alleging remediation might cost up to half a million dollars.
They purported to fire Your Builders from the job. A new builder was hired.
The owners sued to recover their deposit. They disputed liability for work invoiced.
Associate Judge Gardiner ruled Your Builder could keep the deposit until such time as a Construction Contracts Act adjudication was finalised.
The owners had signed a New Zealand Certified Builders Association Cost & Mark-Up (Renovations) contract.
Your Builder says the owners fired it without justification, allowing no chance to remedy any claimed defects. It claims payment for work invoiced plus its profit margin on the contract as if completed at fifteen per cent of the estimated $1.25 million final cost.
Your Builder Ltd v. Ruban & Matveeva – High Court (29.08.24)
24.209