About two years ago I prepared expert report in relation to defective brickwork. The clients, husband and wife were extremely distressed and I expected that the dispute would follow to VCAT.

However I had not heard from them and I wandered what had happened. When I followed up I was told that they had simply given up. They were told by their barrister that they would not get any redress unless the brickwork was nearly collapsing. That advice cost them $2000 and was patently wrong as you can see from my previous blog. He also told them that they needed $20,000 for the proceedings.

They did not have that kind of money and the trauma of the proceedings was too much for them. So they gave up, a hill too high to climb, a music to builder’s ears.

Their dream and confidence totally destroyed they told me they did not expect that in Australia.

I could have done a lot better for them but they did not ask. Knowing how distressed they were I did not want to bring it up again as they found peace and I did not want to disturb that. I simply wished them good luck and the client thanked me for following up.