Ricardo Fuentes was one of five men working on a townhouse in Craigieburn in February 2020 when it gave way, hurtling the workers to the ground.

At first his workmates thought the Wollert father and husband, who says he had only been at Oricon Group for two weeks, was dead.

Arnold Thomas and Becker’s Ilbron Osalian – who is Mr Fuentes’ lawyer – said his client would live with these injuries for the rest of his life.

“The injuries have also had a significant impact on our client’s enjoyment of life – he used to cycle up to five times a week and enjoyed gym work, in particular weightlifting and is now restricted in what he can do,” he said.

“As a consequence of his injuries, he was totally incapacitated for work for a period and then was only able to return to work on limited hours and duties before this was no longer viable.

“He is now unable to return to work in the type of employment he was trained and had experience in prior to this injury and, indeed, has had to make dramatic changes to his employment to accommodate. This means he has suffered significant loss of earnings and will see his future earning capacity severely impacted.”