The WA State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has fined Perth builder Ben Trager Homes Pty Ltd $15,000 and reprimanded its nominated supervisor Ben Trager for not properly managing and supervising building work at an Alkimos house.

Ben Trager Homes finished construction of the two-storey house in late 2017. During a night storm in April 2019, the upper roof detached from the unoccupied home and landed on a road around 200 metres away.

Following mediation at the SAT, Ben Trager Homes (BC13876) and Mr Trager (BP14411) admitted that particular systems and procedures during construction were inadequate. This included a failure to develop an appropriate solution or obtain additional engineering advice prior to the installation of key roof components and fixings.

Specifically, there was a failure to:

  seek advice from an appropriate engineer regarding the connection of the ribbon plate to the top plate over the balcony beams and bulkhead beam on one side of the house;

  use an adequate method to connect the ribbon plate to top plate over the beams;

  ensure the manufacturer’s specifications were followed for the fixing of timber

framing connectors; and

  make sure the correct screw fixings were used.

The SAT noted that Ben Trager Homes and Mr Trager had cooperated with Building and Energy’s investigation and they had not faced other sanctions during their 10 years in the building sector. Mr Trager also advised that 335 roofs had been inspected after the incident to ensure they were properly constructed