However, after months of campaigning, he has finally been offered help to get his house fixed.
Mr Chaplin's woes began shortly after he signed a contract with now-defunct building company Coral Coast Homes in October 2006.
He expected to be able to move in by September 2007, but instead countless delays and shoddy building work led him to cancel the contract in November last year.
When he approached the BSA for help, Mr Chaplin was told initially he was ineligible for insurance because he was six days over the two-year deadline for terminating his contract.
“We didn't even know there was a timeframe on it,” Mr Chaplin said.
“We had been in touch with the BSA regularly before that, and no one had ever mentioned it.”
He was facing a bill worth tens of thousands of dollars to fix the numerous flaws in his property - from loose bricks and an incorrectly placed septic system to missing insulation, screws and glue visible on shelving, and cupboard doors that did not sit flush.
Mr Chaplin described his experience as a nightmare.
However, he received the good news last week that the BSA will cover the repairs under its insurance scheme.
“It's very positive, but I won't really believe it until the work is done,” he said. “Why didn't they just do it in the first place?”
The Building Services Authority's deputy general manager, Col Wright, said the BSA has sent a letter to Mr Chaplin on September 14 advising him that he had an entitlement under the BSA's Home Warranty Insurance Scheme.
“As Mr Chaplin's representative made contact with the BSA within the two years of contracting with Coral Coast Homes, Mr Chaplin has an entitlement for the completion of his home - less any retention under the initial building contract,” Mr Wright said.
Mr Wright said the letter also asked Mr Chaplin for a meeting at his house with a BSA building inspector to assess the work necessary to complete the home under the original contract.
About time....
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