A Vietnamese woman has been fined $170,000 for posing as a builder in Melbourne, carrying out illegal renovations and failing to complete the dodgy work.
Ha Thi “Miki” Nguyen, 48, pleaded guilty to 12 breaches of the Building Act in Moorabbin Magistrates Court on Thursday over the botched renovations on homes in Wantirna South, Doncaster and Donvale.
Nguyen falsely claimed to be a registered builder, was not covered by the required insurance, and claimed to own a construction company with her husband, employ 40 people and have 20 years of experience, but had no training or qualifications.
She was previously exposed on A Current Affair in 2023, and her victims told the program they had been left thousands of dollars out of pocket with unfinished kitchen and bathroom renovations after Nguyen disappeared when confronted over her shoddy work.
Magistrate Jennifer Tregent fined Nguyen a record $170,000, and said she needed to be made an example of as she had undermined public confidence in the building industry, the Herald Sun reported.
“People trust people who they engage to undertake work,” she told the court.
“What they hoped would otherwise be a positive experience, having a recently renovated home, turned for them into a disaster.”
The court heard work at the Doncaster job – a $179,000 renovation and extension – was “generally of a low standard”, some items were never delivered, and Nguyen had falsely claimed to be a registered builder with 25-30 years of experience.
She made similar false claims while carrying out a $94,000 renovation and extension in Donvale, and a $55,000 renovation in Wantirna South.
The Donvale homeowner said in a victim impact statement Nguyen claimed workers were sick or injured in a car accident when confronted about the slow progress of the project, and said she was left feeling “helpless, frustrated and deceived”.
The court heard Nguyen only carried out 20% of the work despite being paid 70% of the agreed amount.
BPC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer Anna Cronin said customers should always use registered builders and make sure mandatory building insurance was in place.
“This case highlights how important it is to ensure your building practitioner is appropriately registered for jobs over $10,000,” she said.
Header image: Left, Ha Thi “Miki” Nguyen in 2023. Right, an unfinished kitchen abandoned by Nguyen (A Current Affair).
