Building Dreams Construction slammed as customers claim company ‘ghosted’ them with work unfinished
Families across Perth’s northern suburbs have lost tens of thousands of dollars through a builder they allege took their money before “ghosting” them.
Building Dreams Construction promised to build a granny flat for Ali Jafar before Christmas, but in the four months since work started there is only an empty shell in the backyard of his Clarkson home.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Dream builds turn to nightmares for families in Perth’s north.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“It’s impacted me a lot financially,” said he 24-year-old, who is trying to build the flat for his brother and sister-in-law as they prepare to welcome a baby.
“My brother is in a tough situation. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s trying to find a rental but he can’t even find one.”
Jafar said he lost all contact with builder Paul Howe in November.
“I felt betrayed. I called him literally 100 times and he didn’t reply,” he said.
Just a few doors down, Romano Fracassini said he is in a similar situation after paying more than $40,000 to the builder for work on a granny flat of his own.
“This was a place for one of my sons and his partner and they were planning (to move in). They were going to Ikea already, choosing everything. We were deciding the colours,” he said.
“We are feeling lost. We don’t know what to do, where to go, how to restart.”
Mindarie resident Darshana Jagatia said she paid a deposit only to have no work begin at all.
“I wanted to build a studio because I’ve got a beauty salon from home. I just wanted to expand the business,” she said.
“It’s going to take a while to recover this money because we had been saving for this.”
Building Dreams Construction advertises itself as a “registered builder” on its Facebook page but 7NEWS has confirmed neither that company nor Paul Howe are registered with WA’s building regulator.
The City of Wanneroo said it received no building applications from the company or Howe before works were carried out.
“Property owners have also been advised to report their dealings with Mr Howe and Building Dreams Constructions to both WA Police and (Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety),” the City said a statement.
The City is working with affected customers to approve retroactive building permits and get the work complete with other builders.
Building Dreams Construction was contacted for comment but did not respond.
Originally published on 7NEWS
