Tradie mocks detail in new build as worrying housing trend emerges

Victorian Jim Zacharias said he sees seemingly dodgy builds like this all the time. He said it reflects a growing issue in Australia.

A photo showing merely centimetres between two neighbouring properties in Melbourne.
There's merely centimetres between these two neighbouring properties in Melbourne. Source: TikTok

An Aussie building inspector has blasted the company responsible for a half-finished home in Melbourne where the garage is so close to its neighbours it is nearly impossible to finish the job — branding the project effectively "stuffed" and a total "shemozzle".

A video posted online by Victorian man Jim Zacharias — who also works in the construction industry as an excavator operator — showed the two homes, in Sunbury in Melbourne, merely centimetres apart.

"I'm just looking at these two garages side by side. They've framed it up. But how do you brick it?" Zacharias questioned in the video. "How do you put anything on it between that little gap? Seriously? What? What's happening here?"

Speaking to Yahoo, Zacharias said this is just one example of a broader problem taking place around the country. "I see a lot of this stuff happening around in subdivisions, I came across this house and ...there's lots of them the same [in the area]," he said.

Tradie Jim Zacharias beside an image of an unfinished home in Melbourne which is just centimetres away from its neighbour.
Tradie Jim Zacharias blasted a Melbourne home build where the garage is so close to its neighbours, it's almost impossible to finish the job properly. Source: TikTok

In the video, a complete home is seen on the right, beside a new home to its left. The newer build's framework has been erected, but there's merely centimetres between the structures, meaning it would be incredibly difficult to lay any brickwork.

Prominent building inspector Zeher Khalil questioned how the project would be completed in this state, theorising that "they may install hebel panels".

"But I don't think that will work," Khalil told Yahoo News Australia. "That builder stuffed the process up, most likely to get paid for the frame stage," he added, explaining that builders are paid in parts, across the base, frame, lock-up and fix, and final stage.

"It's a complete shemozzle, it's going to be difficult to achieve compliance now," he said.

The Melbourne home is the latest example of what industry experts warn is a worsening standard in the sector. Yahoo News has reported on a number of other recent instances in which Australians have been forced to fork out big bucks to fix dodgy construction jobs.

Earlier this year a NSW resident was stunned to find their neighbour had built their home on the boundary line. Last year, a family were forced to give their brand new home a "1.5 metre haircut" after an oversight saw two properties constructed beside one another — merely 40 centimetres apart.

Gold Coast residents Kathy Morin and Devon Matsalla say their neighbour's property was built so close to their future home — still under construction — that they had struggled to reach completion on the project due to builders being unable to squeeze scaffolding between the structures.

The gap between the homes, in Coomera Waters, was the subject of an investigation by Gold Coast City Council, who have now officially found the "neighbour's building plans were in clear violation of a setback requirement".

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