{"id":91069,"date":"2025-10-21T00:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/91069\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:10:23","slug":"building-firm-director-accused-of-ripping-off-homeowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/91069\/","title":{"rendered":"Building firm director accused of ripping off homeowners"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mary Argue\u00a0of RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Police are investigating the director of a construction company accused by homeowners of taking tens of thousands of dollars before going to ground.<\/p>\n

Former clients of Enzed Construction\u00a0told RNZ in August\u00a0they’d paid money upfront for work that was done poorly, or not at all.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has confirmed it’s also taking a look at the company, which is now under threat of removal from the Companies Office register.<\/p>\n

The company’s director Hemi Arapeta Tiopira has not responded to RNZ’s multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Police investigating<\/p>\n

Documents shared with RNZ earlier this year show payments to the company and it’s director Tiopira – known as James – exceeded $60,000.<\/p>\n

Several former clients – from Wellington, Waipukurau and Lower Hutt – outlined similar stories after contracting Enzed Contruction to repile their homes.<\/p>\n

They spoke of Tiopira’s eagerness to quote the job, professionalism and the initial flurry of activity after the deposit – about 50 percent – was paid.<\/p>\n

They said a request for more money upfront followed, but then after a series of delays and excuses – including Tiopira claiming he had been in car crashes, his mum was sick, he’d had a diabetes diagnosis – they were offered a refund that never materialised.<\/p>\n

Two former Enzed Construction clients said they filed police reports after Tiopira stopped turning up to the worksite and responding to calls.<\/p>\n

Police have since opened an investigation.<\/p>\n

A police spokesperson said police received “supplementary information from the victim which has prompted police to investigate. Enquiries are ongoing”.<\/p>\n

MBIE investigates complaint<\/p>\n

The revelation comes amid another investigation into Tiopira by MBIE and a move by MBIE’s Business Registries, commonly known as the New Zealand Companies Office, to remove the company from the Companies Register.<\/p>\n

MBIE’s occupational regulation manager Duncan Connor confirmed the agency had received a complaint alleging Tiopira carried out restricted building work without a licence or supervision.<\/p>\n

“As this is part of an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further as that may prejudice the outcome.”<\/p>\n

On 16 October, Enzed Construction received a ‘Notice of Intent to Remove’ from the Companies Register under section 318 of the Companies Act 1993.<\/p>\n

The Act cites several reasons for removal, including amalgamation, a belief the company (or its director or shareholders) has “failed in a persistent or serious way” to comply with its duties, and liquidation.<\/p>\n

MBIE’s Business Registries manager Bolen Ng said a request for more information was sent to Enzed Construction on 29 August, asking for the director’s proof of identity and address.<\/p>\n

A response was required by 15 September.<\/p>\n

When that failed to materialise, he said the office moved to remove the company from the register.<\/p>\n

Objections to the removal could be made until 19 November, as of Friday 17 October no objections had been received, Ng said.<\/p>\n

No money, no comms<\/p>\n

Former Enzed Construction client, Warren Fitzgerald was interested to learn MBIE were investigating.<\/p>\n

To date, Fitzgerald has received no money or communication from Tiopira – and neither have the other clients who spoke to RNZ.<\/p>\n

Lower Hutt resident Patrice Lobb felt they’d exhausted all avenues.<\/p>\n

“It died a death. We’ve just put it behind us now, and we’re just carrying on.”<\/p>\n

Valerie Huxley, whose husband died during her dealings with Enzed Construction, said a new company had just finished repiling her home.<\/p>\n

“I hate paying for things twice, but it has to be done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By\u00a0Mary Argue\u00a0of RNZ Police are investigating the director of a construction company accused by homeowners of taking tens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-91069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}