Builder fined for negligence

A Perth building company has been found to be negligent and fined $5,000 by the Building Services Board for winning a contract to renovate a chocolate store in Fremantle, but then failing to carry out or supervise the work.

Ferhan Developments won a tender worth around $236,000 and was issued a building permit by the City of Fremantle in November 2017 to undertake the major renovations.

However, Ferhan allowed an unregistered third party to carry out the building work.

In Western Australia, building work that requires a building permit and is valued over $20,000 must be carried out by a registered builder.

The Building Services Board found that Ferhan Developments had been negligent or incompetent in carrying out or completing a building service.

Crishan Fernando is the sole director of Ferhan, which is located in Queens Park.

The name of the chocolate store was confidential.

Department of Mines Industry Regulation and Safety building and energy division executive director, Saj Abdoolakhan, said it was a serious matter for the company to hand over control of the project after the building permit was issued in its name.

“This is a serious failure on the part of Ferhan Developments, which resulted in an unregistered builder undertaking major works without the involvement or even supervision of a registered builder,” Mr Abdoolakhan said.

“While there have been no complaints lodged in respect to the quality of the work carried out, it was negligent for Ferhan Developments to outsource its duties and responsibilities to another company or person that has not demonstrated, through the registration process, that it has the competencies to carry out that work.”