The Consumer Council has registered 611 complaints about the construction industry since 2018 in which the complainants claim to have lost an estimated $7.1 million to unscrupulous traders.
Speaking at the Construction Industry Council of Fiji workshop in Suva yesterday, Consumer Council official Jessica Lal said the complaints were about poor workmanship, transparency in costs, and timeliness of projects.
Ms Lal said the complaints were often against joiners, builders, plumbers, contractors, architects, engineers, valuers, and surveyors.
“Often at times, consumers come to us because they are not satisfied with the work accorded by businesses or a particular company,” she said. “Over the years, we have seen consumers pay thousands of dollars on the projects because we understand there are several factors that determine the cost of a project, but having paid that upfront and not having the services delivered is very frustrating.”
In some instances, Ms Lal said people had come to the organisation and lamented that they had invested their entire life savings in such deals, causing them overwhelming financial stress and emotional turmoil.
Ms Lal said certain traders accepted over 50 per cent in deposits, tended to the site once or twice, and abandoned the project.
However, she said if traders were aware of the hardships, they must communicate this to the client. In the case of registered businesses, Ms Lal said the complaints were resolved fairly well.
However, things were trickier with traders who were not registered, did not have physical offices, and operated through social media.
Construction Industry Council president Gordon Jenkins also highlighted how some traders caused the entire industry to earn a bad reputation.
