Furious renovation customer's unique protest over half-built house
It's been almost two years since a Melbourne mum signed a contract employing Extension Factory to extend her home and add a second storey, but now she's living with tarps over her roof and constant flooding when it rains.
Jill Harris told A Current Affair she's at her wit's end.
"I call this the tent, I live in the tent, because there is no roof over my room or my son's room," Harris said.
Jill Harris' home. A Current Affair
READ MORE: Tracy Grimshaw to step down from A Current Affair
Harris said a series of building mistakes has resulted in her house being left untouched by builders.
To vent her frustration, she designed a series of signs in her front yard in Upper Ferntree Gully to warn passers-by about Extension Factory.
Some of the signs say Extension Factory has "been paid for this crap" is "destroying our lives" and is a "health hazard", referring to the mould and debris inside her house.
A Current Affair reporter Sam Cucchiara spoke to Jill Harris. A Current Affair
Signs outside Jill Harris' home. A Current Affair
READ MORE: Jim's Group franchise cuts ties with plumber exposed by A Current Affair
The first major error by Extension Factory came when the company was forced to knock all of its work down and start again.
"(It) just went completely wrong from there. They built it 160 millimetres out of square, which we didn't find out till 12 months later," Harris said.
Extension Factory owner Gerry Hoggard admits things have gone wrong with Harris' house.
Jill Harris' uncompleted home. A Current Affair
"It certainly was an error, it was built out of square, we accepted responsibility and took it down," Hoggard said.
In response to her signs at the front of her property, Hoggard said, "look, I know what she's living through" and "I can appreciate she's upset about what's transpired".
Currently, there's a stalemate involving Harris, Hoggard and the surveyor who ordered Extension Factory to down tools.
Inside Jill Harris' home. A Current Affair
Extension Factory owner Gerry Hoggard. A Current Affair
When we contacted the surveyor, Steve Maloney from Castle Kane, he explained that work needed to stop because of the "owner(s) and their builders non-compliances with the building legislation".
A Current Affair alerted the Victorian Building Authority to Harris' situation with Extension Factory.
The organisation said in a statement: "The Victorian Building Authority takes complaints against building and plumbing practitioners extremely seriously."
It continued by saying it, "[carries] out thousands of inspections each year to ensure work complies with the law".
"When it doesn't, we use the powers available to us to hold practitioners accountable."
We’d love to hear from you
