A local couple who paid Richmond’s SmartWay Homes to build their dream property have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket after the company’s owner, Bernd Mager, disappeared halfway through the project. Chris and Mellinda Fitzgerald’s home is quarter-finished and they now live in a leaky caravan on site with their kids. “We’ve been stuck like this for two years,” says Chris. “The recent rain has been disastrous for us as everything leaks.”
The couple have already shelled out $600,000 but only really have the bare bones of the build to show for it. “He’s left us in a real hole,” says Chris. “We just want to finish our house.”
The couple approached SmartWay Homes, which specialises in container homes manufactured in China, in 2019. “We couldn’t afford a conventional home, so it was a great alternative,” says Chris. SmartWay quoted them $424,000 for the 10-container home, which was to be installed to code compliance standard.
Yet the build was fraught with problems from the start, with SmartWay sending non-consented plans to China to get the containers made. “We got the containers on site eventually, but they had none of the bracing or welds that were required,” says Chris. “Bernd got a guy to spot weld them, but he was uncertified so his work had to be fixed at a further cost of $50,000.”
When transport prices increased during the project after Covid hit, the couple paid an extra $75,000 directly to the Chinese manufacturer because they didn’t want SmartWay to foot the bill. “We literally did him a favour,” says Chris.
Two years into the project and with costs escalating, Chris called Bernd last month to discuss a plan of action only to find his cellphone had been disconnected. “His email is dead and his website has gone,” says Chris. “We don’t even know if he’s alive.”
The scaffolding on their abandoned property was costing $1,000 a week, with the bill hitting almost $25,000 before it was taken down. They’ve also lost thousands on orders which were never placed. “We pre-paid the builder for the gib, ply, floor tiles, bathrooms, the kitchen, the doors, glass balustrades, the decking, outside cladding, the chimney,” says Chris. “We won’t see any of that. I managed to get hold of the manufacturer and was told nothing had ever been ordered, which means the builder has kept all that money.”
Chris has since discovered that subcontractors have also been left unpaid by Bernd, so he’s having to pay those bills again depsite having already given the money to SmartWay. “Some of these bills are coming from local family businesses,” he says. “How can I not pay them? Invoices keep turning up for work that Bernd was supposed to have paid for. I don’t know what to tell them.”
He estimates he’ll need a further $350,000 to get the house finished. “The costs are rising every day,” says Chris. “We are where we are. It’s winter again and we’re still living outside. My wife has had to move in with a neighbour because it’s so bad for her back to be out in the cold, sleeping on a hard bed. She doesn’t deserve that.”
If you can help Chris and his family, visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/buider-disappears-with-money-and-unfinished-house.