Harrison v Gateway Construction Group Pty Ltd

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Harrison v Gateway Construction Group Pty Ltd  [2024] QCAT 357

PARTIES:

ROSS HARRISON

(applicant)

v

GATEWAY CONSTRUCTION GROUP PTY LTD

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

BDL132-21 & MCD510-22

MATTER TYPE:

Building matters

DELIVERED ON:

20 May 2024

HEARING DATE:

20 September 2023

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member D Brown

ORDERS:

Application is dismissed.

CATCHWORDS:

CONTRACTS – BUILDING, ENGINEERING AND RELATED CONTRACTS – REMEDIES FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT – dispute between two building contractors – where there was no formal contract in writing signed by the parties – whether there is evidence of a contractual relationship – whether employee or contractor

Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld)

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld)

 Erin Shay v Christopher Shannon [2021] FWC 2815

APPEARANCES REPRESENTATION:
Applicant:	Self-represented
Respondent:	Self-represented

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background  

1. The applicant Mr Ross Harrison lodged an application for a domestic building dispute on 10 June 2021 seeking payment of money owed in the amount of $30,867.50.

2. The amount is alleged to be payment for the applicant’s work on two separate building jobs, at two separate building sites. One a demolition of a house at Mukie Street in Jindalee and the second labour and truck hire at a building site at Sumner Road, Sumner.

3. Mr Harrison asserts that he supplied a machine and a truck for both jobs and spent weeks on site but has not been paid any money for this work.

4. The respondent, Gateway Construction, represented by the Director Mr Jean Claude Fakhry, asserts that the application should be dismissed as Mr Harrison was an employee of a different building company being either Plumbing Dudes Pty Ltd (‘Plumbing Dudes’) and/or Harrison Civil Pty Ltd (‘Harrison Civil’) and the applicant should obtain any money owed to him from those companies. The respondent also states that the matter went through a QBCC process prior to commencing at the Tribunal and QBCC did not find that any money was owed to Mr Harrison by QBCC.

5. On 20 May 2022 the applicant filed a second application for a minor civil dispute - minor debt recovery in the amount of $14,860 and costs of the $358 filing fee. This is file MCD510-22. This appears to be the amount alleged to be owed for the work at Mukie Street, Jindalee, involving the demolition of a house.

6. This application appears to be as a result of a misunderstanding by the applicant in relation to directions made on 3 May 2022 that state, amongst other things that:

   (a)These matters involve the same parties and two separate disputes in respect of two separate contracts and two different project sites. 

   (b)The file BDL132-21 should be separated into two separate files with the dispute relating to the commercial site situated at Sumner Park being contained in one file and the dispute relating to the demolition of a dwelling house situated at Jindalee contained in another file.

   (c)The applicant will pay another filing fee of $358.00 in respect of one application…