Heartbreaking for a young Loch Sport family, after spending close to $70,000 for renovations; their home is now facing demolition.
The future of a Sanctuary Road residence is yet to be determined following works by Darcy Wheildon of Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance, almost all of which allegedly violate the Building Act 1993 and associated regulations, including illegal building work from an unregistered or unlicensed practitioner.
Virgil Tirris, 33, and his partner Izabela Kupniewska, 31, fell in love with their Loch Sport residence, agreeing it was the perfect home to raise their infant son; the pair bought the property in February 2022.
Shortly after moving into their new property, Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska began the search for a tradesperson to complete several renovations to the main house.
“We planned to renovate the main house, make it a bit more modern,” Mr Tirris said.
They reached Darcy Wheildon, 22, legally named Darcy Di Dios, of Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance, which promotes numerous services such as driveways, concreting, fencing, tiling, roof and gutter clearing, solar panels, cleaning and landscaping.
Mr Tirris’s mother notified him of Mr Wheildon’s services after seeing advertisements on the Loch Sport Notice Board Facebook page by both Mr Wheildon and page admins.
Following communications via Facebook, Mr Wheildon agreed to the job and began work on Mr Tirris’ residence in March 2022.
It was later confirmed Mr Wheildon was not a registered builder.
“He was saying he was a part of VBA (Victorian Building Authority), and I just didn’t think to check; this is my first renovation,” Mr Tirris said.
“When it started going south, a tradesman told me to check his name with the VBA to see if he was actually a registered builder.”
More than three months after works started, Wellington Shire Council’s municipal building surveyor, who was in Loch Sport for general business, noticed substantial building work being undertaken at the property, sparking a review of council records.
“Upon checking council’s records, it was found that no building permit was in force,” a Wellington Shire Council spokesperson said.
“Under section 16 of the Building Act 1993, it is a serious offence to commence building work without a building permit.”
“[Mr Wheildon] was saying I didn’t need a permit because I wasn’t going three metres from the existing structure, and that’s not correct,” Mr Tirris alleged.
Mr Wheildon told the Gippsland Times that he advised Mr Tirris he did not need a building permit from Wellington Shire Council.
Wellington Shire Council issued Mr Tirris a stop work order (SWO) on June 26, 2022.
The state government is the only organisation capable of making changes to building permit rules.
It is also the only organisation capable of making changes to regulations, with the latest changes put into effect on December 1, 2020.
“Council is the only organisation who can determine if a building permit is required, and this assessment is completed by the Municipal Building Surveyor,” a Wellington Shire Council spokesperson said.
The SWO mandated Mr Tirris to obtain an official building report, which building practitioner Darren Hood at Smart Choice Building Permits & Inspections, Traralgon, completed.
“Once we got the stop work order, we had to get a building surveyor out, and he said that 95 per cent of his actual work isn’t to standard,” Mr Tirris said.
In the Illegal Building Works report, Mr Hood documents that Mr Wheildon had committed numerous violations of the Building Act 1993 and the Building Regulations 2018 legislation.
“The building had quite a bad termite infestation, masonry walls have been cut out and not reinstated correctly, there has been more demolition done than reconstruction and what has been reconstructed hasn’t been done correctly at all,” Mr Hood said.
In his report’s conclusion, Mr Hood declares the building as dangerous and should not be entered until the building was made safe.
Mr Hood notified the municipal building surveyor about the Sanctuary Road residence, recommending a temporary fence be built around the building as termite-infected floor joists, lack of fall protection and asbestos littered around the outside of the building posed a serious safety hazard.
Following the SWO, Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska attempted to acquire materials they had paid Mr Wheildon for during the renovations that they had yet to see.
Mr Wheildon allegedly blocked the Sanctuary Rd resident’s phone numbers and social media accounts after being questioned about the materials’ whereabouts.
Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska made one final attempt to rectify the situation amicably, travelling to Mr Wheildon’s Loch Sport residence, where he lives with his partner Camryn Eicke and mother-in-law.
Ms Eicke is the legal owner of Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance, and its listed ABN.
Ms Eicke allegedly told Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska that she had no knowledge or nothing to do with her fiance’s business, despite legally owning Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance, with her name listed as the ABN entity name.
Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska claim Ms Eicke told them Mr Wheildon was working away and that she would tell her fiance to call or visit the Sanctuary Rd residents when he returned; this never happened.
In mid-September, Mr Wheildon advertised Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance services on the Phillip Island Notice Board Facebook page and the Bass Strait Coast Notice Board Facebook page.
Unable to locate or contact Mr Wheildon, Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska submitted a fraud report to Loch Sport police, who advised the case was a civil matter, not criminal.
Mr Wheildon told the Gippsland Times that he was still in possession of materials paid for by Mr Tirris.
“Yes, there are; there are still materials, there’s plaster, it’s still sitting there, I can get that delivered to his place anytime,” Mr Wheildon said.
“The council had stopped the job, we worked out how much we owed, either direction, and we both agreed on that, no worries; then he turned around and said I’ll have to take legal action.
“As soon as someone says anything about legal action, I stop, and I have nothing more to do with it,” he said.
“So I got my lawyer and have spoken with him about it, he said not to make any contact, and I haven’t done anything since.”
Mr Wheildon said he was unable to disclose his lawyer’s name.
Mr Tirris has since submitted a complaint to the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) and is communicating with Consumer Affairs.
The VBA has confirmed a complaint has been made against Darcy Wheildon (Darcy Di Dios), which is now under investigation.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the VBA took action against two practitioners in Gippsland.
“We prioritise the safety of Victorians by taking decisive action when practitioners break the rules, helping to give consumers confidence in the industry,” a VBA spokesperson said.
“The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) actively targets non-compliant building and plumbing work through our nation-leading Proactive Inspection Program (PIP).
“Our inspectors carried out more than 12,000 proactive inspections across the state in 2021-2022 financial year, helping to reduce non-compliant building and plumbing work in Victoria,” they said.
“Anyone who believes that their practitioner has carried out non-compliant work is encouraged to make a complaint to the VBA, so we can investigate.
“Anyone found to be in breach of relevant rules and regulations will face enforcement action, risking financial penalties as well as the suspension or cancellation of their registration.”
From day one of renovations until the issue of the SWO, the Sanctuary Rd residents record they handed about $70,000 to Mr Wheildon, with some money provided to the couple by Mr Tirris’ elderly mother and siblings, for materials, external services and the work undertaken by Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance.
Since the SWO, Mr Tirris has paid thousands of dollars to begin repairing the extensive damage that Mr Wheildon allegedly had rendered, with no guarantee of rectification, leaving Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska staring down the barrel of possible demolition.
Mr Tirris has spent nearly $2000 on the building surveyor report and almost $5000 for further asbestos removal, with impending charges for new building plans and structural engineer consultations.
If the structural engineer deems damage to the Sanctuary Rd residence irreversible, Mr Tirris may have to spend up to $20,000 to demolish the house.
“It’s heart-breaking,” Mr Tirris said.
“I feel like an idiot, like it’s my fault; I keep looking back and thinking I should have recognised that something wasn’t right.
“After all of this, there is a high chance my house is going to have to be demolished; I just want to make sure he doesn’t do this to anyone else.”
In the early days of renovations, Mr Wheildon called in Andrew Considine, owner of Sale Asbestos, to remove asbestos in a small bathroom.
Mr Tirris claims he paid Mr Wheildon for Mr Considine’s services, who provided advice on the presence of asbestos in other areas of the house, in addition to the removal of asbestos from the downstairs bathroom.
“I completed the small job; I sent Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance a bill which hasn’t been paid,” Mr Considine said on October 13.
Despite Mr Considine’s explicit direction on the presence of asbestos throughout the Sanctuary Rd residence, Mr Wheildon allegedly continued work without proper asbestos removal, resulting in significant asbestos litter throughout the building, posing a significant health and safety hazard.
Following directions stated in the Illegal Building Works report, Mr Tirris requested Mr Considine’s services to rectify the asbestos safety hazard caused by the works carried out by Mr Wheildon.
“During my original visit, they [Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska] were discussing the taking out of walls, and I advised them that was a structural wall,” Mr Considine said.
“I am not an engineer, but I know buildings and houses, so I advised them not to remove that, and the builder [Mr Wheildon] informed the homeowner that it was going to be okay; I left it at that.”
On November 3, Mr Considine exchanged text messages with Mr Wheildon regarding whether he had received the invoice for the removal of the asbestos in the bathroom at the beginning of the renovations.
Mr Wheildon wrote that he was yet to receive the invoice, and provided Mr Considine with his email and a postal address upon request.
On November 4, Mr Wheildon told the Gippsland Times he had paid Mr Considine for his services, claiming he settled the bill out of his own pocket, contrary to Mr Tirris’ version of events, in which he had given Mr Wheildon money for the asbestos removal, which Mr Tirris’ mother claims to have witnessed.
Mr Considine asked Mr Wheildon about the invoice again on November 9 and November 12, to which Mr Wheildon replied he would search his junk mail as it was not in his inbox.
On November 15, nine months after the completion of Mr Considine’s initial services, Mr Wheildon confirmed he had received the invoice; the account has yet to be settled.
In late July, staff from a local provider visited the Sanctuary Rd residence in search of Mr Wheildon, who had taken money from Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska to hire a tip bin but had allegedly neglected to pay the account.
“A guy from [a local provider] came here looking for Darcy Wheildon because he didn’t pay for the skip,” Ms Kupniewska said.
“He had put down the details of his credit card, his name and the company, but they couldn’t charge him because every time, it declined.
“We gave him money to pay for it.”
Another Wheildons Excavation & Home Maintenance client, who has requested anonymity, spent more than $8000 on works, most of which allegedly was never completed or completed incorrectly.
“I cut my losses and got out before any more damage was done; I’ve had to pay other people to come in a fix the work he has done,” the client said. All had commented on the poor quality of his work.
Mr Wheildon has allegedly left a trail of destruction in Loch Sport, as locals hit the hip pocket to rectify the damage they say he has caused.
Only time will tell whether the house Mr Tirris and Ms Kupniewska fell in love with, the house they planned to nurture their growing family, will stand to be a part of that dreamed future, or whether it will be reduced to rubble on a near-empty block.
