Pay me or I'll dig up the pipes, warns NBN subbie THE director of a civil construction firm contracted for the rollout of the $37.4 billion National Broadband Network has threatened to rip equipment out of the ground because of a dispute over pay and conditions. Barry Pringle, the director of Bench Excavation, said his company was owed $12,000 for work completed six weeks ago for Syntheo, a joint venture between Lend Lease and Service Stream, the biggest contractor handling the NBN rollout.