Design errors for the Bella Vista Homes houses were noticed by director Danny Cancian he has told a court during cross-examination, but work 'boxed on" anyway.

Cancian remained on the stand on Tuesday at the Tauranga District Court in defence of his portion of the 28 collective charges laid under the Building Act against Bella Vista Homes Limited, The Engineer Limited, Bruce John Cameron and block layer Darrell Joseph.

Tauranga City Council prosecutor Richard Marchant asked Cancian if he had followed the consented plans.

Cancian said it was hard to comply with the plans and designs, as there were so many variations and amendments.

"But that's your responsibility," Marchant said.

This prompted Judge Paul Mabey to ask what steps Cancian took, as a licensed building practitioner, when he discovered issues with the design.

"All I could do was contact the designer," Cancian said.

"And when he didn't change it, what did you do?" Maybe asked.

"I did nothing," Cancian said.

"You boxed on?"

"According to the building code, we had to box on.”

"There other houses in the Bella Vista subdivision were they filled with design errors?” Marchant asked.

"Yes, they were," Cancian said.

Marchant questioned and labelled Cancian as a liar and says Cancian's version he was simply "running the office" was a "figment of his imagination".

Cancian said he had become too busy to supervise all the sites and so had project managers be the LPB on the sites.

He blames his project managers, council staff and contractors for the failure of the company.

Marchant said it was the $1.3 million transfer of funds to a fellow company director which two liquidators identified as being the downfall of the company.

Cancian replied saying the company was not insolvent at the time of the transfer and pointed to sections he owned as assets to cover the costs.

Mabey asked to verify aspects of Cancian's statements that his former business partner and cousin had made threats to Cancian and that he "was over a barrel".

"Were there any charges laid over Mr De Martin threatening to kill you?" he asked.

"No," Cancian replied.

"Was he charged with anything that amounted to blackmail," he continued.

"No," Cancian replied.

"Do you have any documents between yourself and New Zealand Police?"

"No," Cancian replied.

"Yesterday, you told me you went to the police," Mabey asked.

"I made a phone call,” Cancian answered, before adding he had feared for his family's safety.

Marchant pressed on asking what happened to the company email server and copies of company records.

Cancian said the records were lost in the ‘cloud' but he had printed off every email each week and stored it in boxes.

"There must have been thousands of boxes," Marchant asked.

When asked where the boxes were Cancian said he didn't know and he collated documents before they were "taken away".

Marchant asked where they were taken but Cancian responded, "I don't have to get into that."

He then said Cancian was telling desperate lies to shift blame away from himself.

"You lied to the LPB tribunal when you said he [employee Lee Corner] was the LBP for the site," Marchant contended.

"You didn't think for a minute the pressure it would put him under.

"You were putting on pressure and you made false claims."

Cancian said he was telling the truth and was not a liar.

The trial continues.