Australian builder sued over alleged billing for extreme work hours

A Newcastle builder has been taken to the Supreme Court after being accused of billing clients for implausible work hours, the Daily Mail reported. James Shafren was accused by a residential construction company of charging for up to 19.5 hours a day. The claims allege he billed for time spent exercising, playing sport, and attending his own wedding. [1]

According to the Daily Mail, Mr Shafren claimed up to 494 hours in a single month at a rate of $300 an hour. These charges resulted in invoices totaling almost $150,000 for his family construction business, Basebuild. The contracting company launched an investigation after the high billing amounts raised suspicions. [1]

The investigation relies heavily on digital activity records collected by the contracting firm. The Daily Mail reported that evidence submitted to the Supreme Court includes data from Mr Shafren's personal Facebook and Strava accounts. [1]

Facebook is an American social networking platform owned by Meta Platforms, which was founded in 2004. Strava is a San Francisco based internet service founded in 2009 that tracks physical exercise using GPS data. [2][4]