Carpenter or Renovator Took Your Deposit and Never Came Back? Here’s How to Get Your Money

The kitchen has no benchtop. The bathroom has a bath but no taps. The deck has joists and no boards. The built-in wardrobe is a frame with doors leaning against the wall. And the carpenter, cabinet maker or renovator who took your $8,000 deposit (and probably a “materials” payment on top) has gone from “back Thursday” to read-and-ignore.

You’re living in a construction site you can’t use, you’ve paid for work that isn’t there, and the bits that were done look wrong. This is one of the most common building disputes in Australia and the law has a clear answer for it.

Your rights

Renovation, joinery, decking and cabinetry are residential building work in every state, and your contract carries statutory warranties whether the tradie wrote them in or not:

• New South Wales. Home Building Act 1989, s 18B: work done with due care and skill, in accordance with plans, with proper materials, in compliance with law, and with due diligence within the agreed or a reasonable time. Work over $5,000 needs a written contract and a licensed contractor; over $20,000 needs Home Building Compensation cover. A deposit over 10% is illegal.
• Victoria. Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995, s 8 warranties, plus limits on deposits (10% under $20,000; 5% over) and progress payments. Domestic Building Insurance is required over $16,000.
• Queensland. QBCC Act 1991, Schedule 1B: written contract required over $3,300, deposit capped at 10% for a level 1 contract and 5% for a level 2 contract, or 20% where off-site work is more than half the contract price (Sch 1B s 33), implied warranties, and the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme for non-completion and defects.
• Australian Consumer Law. s 60 (due care and skill), s 61 (fit for purpose), and s 18 (misleading conduct, which covers taking a deposit with no real intention of finishing).

An abandoned job gives you two claims at once: the money you’ve paid over and above the value of the work actually done, and the cost of rectifying whatever was done badly. Both are recoverable, and both are what a demand letter should ask for.

What to do right now

1. Write down what you’ve paid and what you’ve got. Deposit, progress payments, cash for materials. Then walk through the job and list what is complete, what is partly done, and what is defective. Photograph all of it with dates.
2. Check the licence. NSW Fair Trading, Building and Plumbing Commission (formerly the VBA) or QBCC licence search. Unlicensed work over the threshold is an offence, and it means the tradie can’t sue you for the balance but you can still sue them.
3. Get a second tradie to look. Ask a licensed carpenter, cabinet maker or builder to quote on finishing the job and fixing the defects. Get it in writing. This is your cost-to-complete and cost-to-rectify evidence.
4. Send a formal demand with an election. Give the tradie a choice: (a) written completion program within 7 days and finish by a fixed date, with defects rectified, or (b) refund of everything paid less the fair value of work done, plus the cost to rectify the defective work, within 14 days. Say that if they do neither you’ll engage another contractor and recover the extra cost.
5. Lodge with the regulator now, not later. Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission or QBCC.
6. Don’t pay another cent. Not for “materials”, not to “get the crew back”. If they come back and finish, you pay on completion against the original contract.

What if the work that was done is rubbish too?

It usually is. A tradie who walks off a job typically wasn’t doing it well before that. Half-fitted cabinetry that’s out of square, waterproofing that fails, decking on unsupported bearers. You don’t have to choose between “get them back to finish” and “claim for defects”. You can, and should, do both:

• Defects reduce the value of work done. When you calculate “refund less value of work done”, defective work has little or no value. A kitchen carcass that has to be pulled out and redone is worth nothing to you.
• Rectification cost is a separate head of loss. The second tradie’s quote should itemise “finish the job” and “fix what’s wrong”. Both go in the demand.
• Don’t let them “fix it” without a program. If the tradie reappears, insist on the written completion program with dates and a defects list they’ll rectify. Vague promises are how you got here.
• Statutory warranty periods still run. In New South Wales, 6 years for major defects and 2 years for others from completion; similar in Victoria (10 years under the Building Act) and Queensland (6 years 6 months). Abandonment doesn’t reset them, but it does mean you should get your claim in early.

Who to complain to

New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading (home building complaint and licence complaint), then NCAT Home Building Division. If the tradie is insolvent or can’t be found and the job was over $20,000, the Home Building Compensation Fund. Victoria: Building and Plumbing Commission dispute resolution first (compulsory), then VCAT; report the tradie to the Building and Plumbing Commission. Queensland: QBCC complaint, Queensland Home Warranty Scheme claim for non-completion, then QCAT. Elsewhere: CBS and SACAT (South Australia), Building and Energy and SAT (Western Australia), CBOS (Tasmania).

Put the tradie on notice — $49

Claim Done drafts a Renovator / Carpenter Abandoned Job Demand that sets out what you’ve paid and what’s been done, puts the tradie to an election (written completion program within 7 days and finish by a fixed date, or refund of what you’ve paid less the value of work done plus the cost to fix the defects within 14 days) and reserves your right to finish with someone else and recover the difference.

Put the Tradie on Notice — $49 →

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