Insurance restoration company AJ Grant Building, which entered liquidation last year, has won $202,820 for breach of contract by one of its subcontractors.

The NSW District Court ruled against Allan Wright, trading as JALD Group Roofing, which conducted roof and gutter repairs for AJ Grant.

The builder claimed the work was defective and that JALD failed to rectify problems in accordance with its contract.

AJ Grant had to hire other contractors to fix the work and sued to recover the costs.

The amount claimed for some properties surpassed – sometimes substantially – the amounts charged for the original jobs, because rectification involved repairing damage caused by the defective work, often due to water ingress, the judgment says.

Judge John Catsanos says JALD took no active role in the hearing but the court had to ensure the damages “are properly proven and legally available”.

There was evidence suggesting Mr Wright was “impecunious”.

Judge Catsanos says AJ Grant’s liquidator, Darren Vardy, was thorough in gathering evidence to establish damages claimed for 14 properties in NSW, but the judge has not allowed all the expenses claimed.

See the judgment here.