Arabic version: اتهام ستيف بريستون بترك عملاء في نيو ساوث ويلز متكبدين خسائر مالية
According to ABC News, Steve Preston, an unregistered builder who has used several aliases, is accused of leaving customers and a supplier out of pocket while offering tiny homes, cabins and other building work in regional New South Wales. Preston declined to comment when contacted by the ABC, citing pending legal matters.
Leigh Peters, who owns a motel in Grafton, said he agreed in 2024 to pay $80,000 for two tiny homes to be built offsite and transported behind his business. Peters said he later paid the full project amount through requests for additional payments and found poor-quality work at Preston’s site. He won a $66,000 NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal order for a refund in April last year, but said he remained about $30,000 out of pocket after payments stopped.
A Department of Communities and Justice spokesperson said the NSW Sheriff’s Office made multiple attempts to contact the debtor, including calls, letters and a visit to his address, and that the matter remains active. Clarence Valley Council said development approvals are required for all secondary dwellings, including tiny homes.
The ABC reported that Preston had previously faced regulatory action in Western Australia, Queensland and NSW. In 2007, the Western Australia Supreme Court permanently restrained him from representing himself as a registered builder in that state. In 2009, courts in Perth and Midlands fined him more than $60,000 over 19 charges involving unregistered building work and excessive deposit taking. NSW Fair Trading later issued nine penalty notices totalling $22,000, while Queensland’s building commission issued a 2014 public warning over alleged unlicensed work.
Other people told the ABC they were also owed money or left with incomplete work. Grafton steel supplier Mick Earea said Preston’s company still owed his business $7,000. Chris Blewitt said he paid $63,000 in 2021 for sheds and decking that were not completed, and NSW Fair Trading fined Preston $3,000 in 2022 for a Home Building Act breach. The NSW Building Commission urged people who believe they have encountered building offences to make a complaint.
