A man who posed as a licensed builder carried out restricted work on 34 Dunedin and Mosgiel properties before he was caught, a court has heard.
Ian Fletcher Stead (65) — director of Steadfast Civil Ltd — was sentenced to 300 hours’ community work before the Dunedin District Court this week for offending which spanned more than 18 months.
He previously pleaded guilty to representative charges of forging a document and two under the Building Act.
Stead applied for a discharge without conviction but that was denied by Judge Michael Turner.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment occupational licensing manager Duncan Connor said the case was one of the most serious of its kind dealt with by the courts to date.
Licensed building practitioners (LBPs) are professionals assessed as competent to carry out building work essential to the structure or weathertightness of residential buildings.
Restricted building work can only be undertaken or supervised by an LBP.
It was a qualification Stead had never held
but his website claimed was licensed to carry out restricted work on foundations, and from July 2017 he did so.
After completing jobs at properties all over Dunedin and Mosgiel, Stead would create a "record of work" using the names of two LBPs.
Court documents showed the defendant got hold of their details after they completed work at his home.
The council unwittingly used the forged records to issue certificates of code compliance.
"The LBP scheme regulates people who physically carry out or supervise restricted building work and is in place to ensure consumers can make informed decisions when it comes to hiring builders to undertake restricted building work,” Mr Connor said.
The judge found the aggravating feature of Stead’s offending was that it was "premeditated".
"This type of offending compromises the integrity of the LBP scheme and will not be tolerated.”
