EQC cops shoddy jobs complaints

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Christchurch earthquake

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The Earthquake Commission has received hundreds of complaints from Christchurch residents unhappy with the work contractors have done to fix their houses, leading to accusations that "Mickey Mouse" operators are fleecing the system.

Figures released to the Sunday Star-Times show the EQC received about 400 complaints between February 1 and October 25 last year, with the major themes being the professionalism of contractors, the standard of emergency repairs, poor heating work and shoddy work quality.

Christchurch resident Richard Gane had his house refitted by contractors appointed by the commission, but said he had been "shafted" by contractors who did not seem to know what they were doing.

His house suffered surface cracks to plaster during the February earthquake, which meant the whole ceiling needed to be redone. But when his friend, also a building contractor, saw the repair job, he was shocked at the workmanship.

"It just wasn't up to it," Gane said. "It was a slack job."

Gane, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, asked the commission why someone was not checking the work done by contractors, and says he was told "that's what you're there for".

He said the contractors did not clean up after themselves, which made it difficult to move around his house. "The whole operation seems quite Mickey Mouse. It's just a real nightmare."

When Gane asked whether he could choose his own contractor for the work there were conflicting messages from the commission and Fletchers, the company managing the repair work. Commission customer service general manager Bruce Emson said customers were generally referred to a process managed by Fletchers if repairs to their homes were between $10,000 and $100,000.

That meant Fletchers project-managed repairs and any issues around workmanship and quality. But customers had the opportunity to opt out of the process, and manage their own repairs.

"That means they choose their own contractors, but they have to manage any workmanship issues, and carry the financial and legal compliance risk themselves," Emson said.

The commission retained responsibility for paying contractors directly for their work, but once a customer's house was being repaired by Fletchers, they were unable to opt out because the work had already been paid for.

Fletchers also managed the recruitment and accreditation of contractors who did repair work, and was responsible for quality control and managing workmanship.

Emson said there had been 7000 substantive repairs and more than 30,000 emergency repairs conducted in Christchurch. The commission had also received more than 600 instances of positive feedback, mostly for professionalism, the handling of claims, and over repairs by Fletchers and the commission.

Fletchers Earthquake Response spokesman Barry Akers said the company followed a process if it was alerted to dodgy contractors. If the situation was serious enough, contractors could have their accreditation revoked, but that had happened in only a handful of cases.

After last week's earthquake, the cost to the commission for the Christchurch rebuild is now estimated by Treasury at about $7 billion.

- © Fairfax NZ News