Franklin (Qld) Pty Ltd v Holliday

Franklin (Qld) Pty Ltd, a building company, sued David and Fiona Holliday, homeowners, in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The dispute revolves around the cost of extra works performed during the construction of a pool and house extensions, which the builder claims were not adequately documented or agreed upon in writing. The homeowners dispute these claims and assert that the builder frequently proposed changes without proper authorization and failed to credit them for lower costs resulting from those changes.

The central legal issue was whether the tribunal should grant the builder's application to recover the additional costs claimed for variations to the original contract, despite the fact that these variations were not documented in writing as required by the contract. Another issue was whether the tribunal could proceed with the hearing in the absence of the respondents, given that a counterclaim by the respondents was already before the tribunal in a separate proceeding. The builder argued that the respondents' absence should not prevent the tribunal from making a decision, while the respondents contended that their absence prejudiced their ability to defend the claims.

The tribunal found that the builder had not followed the contractual requirement to obtain written and signed approval for the variations. However, it also noted that the builder had a longstanding relationship with the homeowners and had acted in good faith, assuming that he would be compensated for the additional work. The tribunal concluded that the builder was entitled to recover the additional costs, subject to a reduction to account for the homeowners' failure to provide proper written quotations for the work. The tribunal also determined that it could proceed with the hearing in the absence of the respondents, as the issues in the two proceedings were separate and did not overlap significantly.

The tribunal ordered that the homeowners pay the builder the amount of $18,448.83, representing the cost of the additional works, reduced by the amount of $1,000 to account for the builder's failure to provide written quotations. The tribunal also dismissed the homeowners' counterclaim.