A young Melbourne man, who has been saving for a home since he started working at Subway at age 15, was excited to start building his dream house but more than two years later it has turned into a “disaster”.

Abishek Mahajan had signed up to build a $675,500 home with Melbourne construction firm A1A Homes in August 2021.

The 27-year-old claimed his build was delayed for a year before the slab was poured – but once it was completed he was “angry and shocked” by what happened next.

He claimed the building firm demanded an extra $125,000 to complete the build but it was impossible for the NDIS worker to come up with the huge sum.

“It was always a dream getting into the property market, to build our own house and move in there and start a family,” he told news.com.au.

“I recently got married and it’s a migrant’s dream. My parents came here 12 years ago and I’ve been working so damn hard to have my own house and they have ruined every year of hard work for us”

Mr Mahajan said he had no idea when attending a meeting on site in August 2022 that he would receive a request for an extra $125,000 – with the building firm basing the decision on “rising costs”.

The situation left him reeling.

“Literally the earth was gone from my feet and my heart was about to come out. How would you find that much amount of money and how could ask for that much money?” he said.

“People take out a loan to get that money, it’s not like $5000 or $10,000, but $125,000 is a down payment for a house...”

“Mentally I was so damn sick from the inside, I was having breathing issues when I spoke to them. I was having a mini heart attack as you have lost everything in that split second.”

A1A Homes declined to answer detailed questions on the dispute.

The company issued this statement: “We believe some of these accusations are completely not true. As you know publishing false defamatory statements will have consequences. We will seek compensation if there will be damages to A1A Homes reputation.”

Mr Mahajan claimed he had no choice but to mutually cancel the contract with the builder in September last year after the money request.

Building in the suburb of Craigieburn, an email to Mr Mahajan from the building company outlined how he had already paid $101,325 as part of the contract.

The building firm said they had incurred an approximate cost of $92,585 from the work already done and said they owed him a refund of $8740.

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Since then his site has sat empty and he has been unable to do anything with it as he chased compliance certificates and the refund of more than $8000.

Despite pleading for a refund and telling the builder he is having “cash flow issues and requires the money urgently,” he claims nothing has happened.

In an email from AIA Homes on October 13 seen by news.com.au, he was told that “due to current market conditions” the refund would take approximately three to four weeks – but more than four months later he is still waiting for the refund.

The Melbourne man claims he has been chasing AIA Homes for months with multiple emails and phone calls but he said they stopped responding – leaving him in limbo.

He said he had to continually ask for compliance certificates for the plumbing and termites – and was told by the company in an email on December 22 they were chasing the certificates “as quickly as possible”.

Later an email to Mr Mahahan from the contractor responsible for the termite certificate in January revealed the contractor was waiting for a payment of $165 from the builder before he could release the certificate.

Mr Mahajan said he ended up paying the money out of his own pocket to get the certificate.

Mr Mahajan said he was meant to be moving into his home a year ago but now feels destroyed by his experience.

“I started working at age of 15 and nine months at Subway and started saving up from that time. I invested and made a bit of money to build my own house and then literally since I signed up its been a disaster,” he said.

“I’ve got land with no house, I’m paying a mortgage and council bills … Financially and mentally I’m absolutely done and don’t know what to do next.”

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Mr Mahajan said he would love to keep the site for his dream home but is worried it won’t be possible.

“Building or buying another house is going to be a nightmare with interest rates going up – everything is out of our budget and even if we sell now I would have a mortgage and just be paying for nothing no land, no house, no nothing,” he said.

“I still have hope, even if just keep the land for one or two years down the track, to keep that dream if I do double shifts and get another job to work that’s what I will do to get it done.”

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