ANTHONY AUSTIN wants the construction company which he hired to build his house to turn up and complete the job.
The Goodland, St Michael man complained that he had paid Cornerstone Development Inc. $81 000 to build his two-bedroom, one-bathroom home, but four months after the agreed deadline of 12 weeks, the house is still in an unfinished state.
Austin, who is living in the house with his young daughter, says the majority of the external walls are not plastered, the floor is not tiled, the windows are falling out because they are not pinned securely and the closets, the patio, the ceiling and the internal walls are not completed.
“I don’t owe them anything,” Austin said. “I have paid Cornerstone all of the money they charged me to build my house and yet it is not finished.”
However, when contacted, Peter Worrell, the quantity surveyor for Cornerstone, countered that Austin owed them money to complete the house.
Austin said the contract provided for the construction of a two-bedroom purple heart house at a cost of $79 000. Producing receipts from payments he made to the company, Austin said he paid four installments $20 395, $22 100; $20 300 and $16 700. He said he also paid an additional $2 500 because he changed the style of the windows.
The upset man explained that just before the company commenced construction in May, Worrell contacted him to enquire if he wanted the house done in wall instead of purple heart.
“He told me that it would take about six weeks for the purple heart to dry and he would not be able to complete the house in the time frame so I told him he could build it in wall as long as there would not be any additional cost and he told me the price would remain the same.”
However, Austin said he was not pleased to discover that the company had used sheet rock in the ceiling and sheet rock as the internal walls and had also used treated pine wood throughout the house. But he decided not to make a fuss about those issues because he desperately needed to get into the house to live.
“I was renting a house in St Philip and I had to move out. I contacted Mr Worrell on several occasions telling him that I need my house done so that I could move in,” Austin said, pointing out that he finally moved into the house in August even though it was not finished.
Bathed on step
“All the time I was living in here we could not use the bathroom and I had to bathe my daughter on the step. Only last month the plumber come and put in the toilet and the sink and tile the floor after I call and keep noise.”
He also complained of having to sweep the house multiple times throughout the day because dust accumulated on the untiled concrete floor.
“My daughter was wheezing all the time and when I took her to the doctor he asked me if she live around some place that was stuffy and I told him ‘yes, there was dust in the house’.”
As to the money he utilised to build the house, Austin said it was settlement he had been waiting for after being involved in an accident at work five years ago, which rendered him medically unfit to work.
“I did not even get the money that I wanted but I decided to take this because times hard and I had to stop working because I am medically unfit. I decide to build this house for my daughter because when I gone nobody can’t put she out. I spend all of my life living here and there from house to house and I say I don’t want my daughter to be like that. This company have all of my money. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Austin said the contractor accused him of making changes to the house but he said the changes were all approved by Worrell and he never told him there would be any additional cost attached.
“Even before the house build I ask him to put the bathroom at the back instead of the middle of the house and he told me that was not a problem. I also changed the type of windows from sash to push out and he told me that would be an additional $2 500 which I gave him to purchase the windows.
He said that all the workmen and equipment were pulled from the house for over two months.
“They started back working on the house after I call the police. The carpenter turned up and put in the cupboards in the kitchen and the plumber turned up and did the bathroom and that was it. I want my house to live in. I can’t celebrate Christmas with my daughter with this house in this state.”
When contacted, Worrell maintained that Austin owed Cornerstone additional money but said he could not disclose how much the money was because Austin was their client.
“He has not paid all of the money and no additional work will be done until he has paid the money,” Worrell said, pointing out that his company had built over 65 houses in Barbados.
Asked if he had sent any correspondence to Austin outlining how much more money was owed in order to complete the job, Worrell said he had not.
“He knows how much more money he has for me,” Worrell said.
