Tingey Development Group: The award-winning ‘fraud’ another badge of shame in WA’s cowboy-builder landscape

The director of a “boutique luxury builder” is being reported to WA Police and the corporate regulator by the liquidator appointed to investigate the company’s collapse. Tingey Development Group was named WA’s best start-up business in the Housing Industry Association’s awards 12 months ago. And sole director Brooke Tingey was a finalist in the best businesswoman category. The awards citation described the “young dynamic business” as “driven to be an industry leader” and said it created “elegant homes that endure the test of time.” What wasn’t known at the time was the company was insolvent and customers, contractors and suppliers were about to suffer the consequences. Nine months after Ms Tingey and her husband Geoff, who worked for her, celebrated the win, The Sunday Times revealed they were finally chucking in the towel. Some 15 home builds had been stalled for months while angry customers and unpaid trades complained they were being ghosted by the couple. Now, the scale of deception and impropriety in the company’s short-life can be revealed. Liquidator Cameron Shaw, from Hall Chadwick, this week reported the company failed to take out home indemnity insurance for all contracted work as required, leaving some customers without cover to pay other builders to finish their homes after the company collapsed. It also provided false remittances to creditors, leading them to believe they’d been paid, when they hadn’t, loaned more than $250,000 to Ms Tingey and traded while insolvent. Mr Shaw estimated the company, which launched in 2022, was more than $2.3 million in the red, and was probing several possible breaches of the Corporations Act. Mr Shaw said possible offences included reckless or dishonest failure to exercise duties in good faith and/or to gain an advantage. He said he would be reporting the false remittances to WA Police as “in respect of potential fraud.” “It will then be a matter for ASIC and/or WA Police to determine whether further action will be taken,” he said. The State Government’s building regulator is also investigating. “The Department . . . is investigating two cases where Tingey Development Group did not obtain home indemnity insurance policies before receiving deposits from owners. This occurred shortly before the company was placed into liquidation,” a spokesperson said on Friday. Mr Shaw said he believed the company was insolvent from the end of August last year. The couple both declared personal bankruptcy in the immediate aftermath of the company’s collapse. Mr Shaw said he intended to issue a demand against the director’s bankrupt estate for compensation for the debts incurred after the insolvency date, which he believed was about $1.6 million. Over three years the company it borrowed and spent big. It took out two loans, with $295,000 still owing when the company was wound up. A Porsche Cayenne 3 and Toyota Land Cruiser were among three vehicles the company bought. The Porsche was repossessed by Toyota prior to the liquidation, with $170,054 owing. The other two vehicles had a combined $165,765 owing. Katherine and Matthew Waldon are among the shattered customers. “It has felt like a nightmare from the moment that we signed with them,” Ms Waldon said. “Nothing about the process resembled what we were promised or what we expected. “What’s now been outlined in the liquidator’s report aligns with everything I have been raising for months. It confirmed our family is unlikely to recover any money through the liquidation process. “Our only avenue is to claim the home indemnity insurance, which is capped at $200,000 and even if we receive the full amount, it’s nowhere near enough to finish our home.” “Every reputable builder that we’ve spoken to so far has quoted in the realm of $800,000 to finish our home. And we’ve paid over that already for what’s sitting there. So, it’s a crazy situation that we find ourselves in.” The Waldons, who have three children, signed a contract with Tingey Development Group in December 2023 for the construction of a two-storey home in Wembley Downs. They said Mr Tingey introduced himself as a registered builder. His registration expired the same month. The company asked clients to pay variations over $10,000 up front or through a payment plan, even though it is unlawful. “We naively fell for that, not realising the risks and that’s why we paid them variations up front,” Ms Waldon said. “We paid over four instalments to the value of $96,000.” “They delivered none of that work. When we finally saw the red flags we engaged a lawyer.” After being contacted by the lawyer, Ms Tingey agreed to return their money, minus a $10,000 deposit the company had paid for flooring. “They gave our lawyer a payment remittance to show the $86,000 had been transferred into our personal account,” Ms Waldon said. But it hadn’t. Making matters worse, the Waldons reluctantly released $177,000 progress payment on advice from their lawyer, in the belief the $86,000 had been returned. “After the remittance proved false, our lawyer gave them 24-48 hours to return our funds,” Ms Waldon said. “That never happened. They never responded. We ultimately issued a statutory demand for payment through the Magistrates Court which we served to them … Long story short, they eventually went into liquidation. “They didn’t even want to do that voluntarily … It reached a point where it felt … that unless we funded the wind-up application ourselves (at a cost of around $50,000), nothing would happen.” History has repeated for other customers, who turned to Tingey Development Group to finish their homes after suffering through the slow death of their former builder, Modco Residential. “From speaking with other families, a troubling pattern emerged of people who had already been through a builder collapse,” Ms Waldon said. “At each progress payment, we felt the work delivered fell short of what the payment represented. We’re now left finishing not only the remaining build, but also work that we believe was already paid for. “I haven’t calculated our total losses because it’s too overwhelming. Losing $86,000 in personal savings, on top of the progress payment we made based on their assurances that they would return our money to us, has taken a real toll. “Emotionally, it has been draining. Instead of the excitement of building a home, our children have watched us struggle with constant stress and uncertainty. “Everything we have has come from years of sacrifice and working incredibly hard ...That was going to be our dream home. It was creating a different lifestyle for our children, but also for us.” The Waldons said they had tried to warn the HIA about the company, but they received no reply. HIA executive director Michael McGowan said it had a code of ethics and would investigate complaints. “We want to have integrity and credibility, so we want our members to share those values that we have,” he said. Brooke Tingey, who now operates an interior design business, was contacted for comment.