THE NSW construction watchdog's investigation into rogue building operator Daniel Roberts and his associates has widened, with another stopwork order issued at a residential building site on the Central Coast.
Signalling a further crackdown on the serial-building industry shonk, the Building Commission NSW has ordered work to stop on a development site at 71 Terrigal Road, Terrigal.
The escalating pressure by the regulator is the latest instalment in a long-running saga involving Roberts and his long-term business associates, Shashanth Shankar Tellakula Gowrishankar and Madhukar (Madhu) Dhanesh Babu Pobbathi.
All three are linked to a controversial development in Herd Street, Mount Hutton, which is on hold after the Building Commission and Lake Macquarie City Council cracked down on their operation earlier this year.
Last Friday, the watchdog ordered Sustainable Homes Australia R & D, also known as S.H.A.R.D, to stop work at Terrigal, following a site inspection on July 15.
According to the stopwork order, "building work has been carried out otherwise than in accordance with the approved plans and specifications".
"The continuation of such work could prevent the valid issue of an occupation certificate and/or result in significant harm, loss or damage," the stopwork order reads.
Previously, a rectification order was issued for the site after inspectors found structural defects, including "uncontrolled cracking" in a concrete slab and a risk of concrete cancer.
The Terrigal site was bought for $800,000 in July last year by 103 Bellbird Close Pty Ltd, which is run by Roberts' long-term business associate Shankar. The company also bought the neighbouring site on the same day for $1.4 million.
The sole director of the building company, Sustainable Homes Australia R & D, is another long-time associate of Roberts, Dhanesh.
All three were also involved in a notorious Wallsend development that is the subject of several court battles over a long list of defects, including structural and waterproofing problems, mould, blistering paint, cracked plaster and render and design changes.
As reported by the Herald last year, the cost of fixing the extensive list of defects at the Abel Street, Wallsend, development completed by Sustainable Home Development R & D is estimated at almost $1 million.
According to an expert report prepared for the owners' corporation, there are major problems with the building works, which comprise 20 two-storey townhouses across several lots.
Residents are calling for the building regulator to turn its eye to the Wallsend development as well.
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.
The unscrupulous operator's track record has sparked boiling anger from Hunter residents about the impotence of regulators.
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 a 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."
In June 2024, Roberts was expelled from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) following a series of complaints from Hunter resident Phillip Kapeller.
For years, Roberts has used his membership to the globally recognised body to give him professional credibility and attract clients.
But following seven days of hearings in 2024, RICS members voted to expel Roberts, finding his actions in deliberately trashing the Jesmond development would significantly damage the public's confidence in the surveying profession.
"The panel noted that these were serious breaches of the rules and that the departures were a significant departure from what would ordinarily be expected of a professional," the RICS ruling reads.
