If you look through Dark Factions(Warcraft RPG sourcebook published under Blizzard), it does state that the House of Nobles told VanCleef that he and his masons would be paid for helping to rebuild the city.

Near the beginning of THIS article - "Katrana was the one who made the deal with the Stonemason's Guild and its leader, a man named Edwin VanCleef -- and she deliberately led them to believe they were going to be paid a handsome sum of money for their services."
Edwin VanCleef and the Masons' Guild -believed- they were working for a rather good chunk of money, not as a charity piece for the benefit of the kingdom. That they were lied to doesn't really make any difference in the end result. 'Oh, sorry. Lady Prestor didn't tell us we were supposed to pay you' sounds laughably weak when you're saying it to someone's face.

And in Beyond the Dark Portal it says it was mainly a charity case, so someone screwed up some writting here. "When finally their work was complete, they gathered outside the House of Nobles to receive their payment, only to find that the nobles had never intended to pay them, and that they had thought the Stonemasons' work was out of charity. The leader of the Stonemasons, Edwin VanCleef, demanded that the Guild be paid for its work, but the nobles flatly refused. Outraged, VanCleef riled the Stonemasons into a frenzy, and soon riots broke out that spread throughout the whole city, the Stonemasons vandalizing the very buildings they had just finished. Soon the chaos got out of hand, and a stray stone struck the queen of Stormwind, Tiffin Wrynn, on the head, killing her instantly."

This quote is not from the Beyond the Dark Portal, I use that as a reference that Nethergarde was rebuilt as charity, so its not much of a leap to think Stormwind was as well. So one of these books is wrong, I'm trying to find where the quote from above came from, I have it in my Warcraft Lore pad(yes I am that big of a lore nerd) , but forgot to list its location, appologise as I look for its origin.

Found it, its from the Lands of Conflict book that states basically "Razed by the Horde in the First War, Stormwind City required a small army of engineers and artisans in order to begin a massive program of reconstruction. After restoring the city to its former glory, the workers gathered outside Stormwind Keep to collect payment for their services. This came as a surprise to the nobility of the city, who had assumed that the work was being done as a matter of civic pride. Whether they were unable or simply unwilling to proffer payment, they immediately ordered the workers exiled from the city. With only the tools in their hands and the clothes on their backs, the workers were forced out of Stormwind and into Elwynn Forest." taken from the Wowpedia quote.

The concept that one would "build a city out of the Kindness of your heart" when that would litterally mean your children starving is Inane.

The Nobles are corrupt. Defias are the good Guys. I don't see why they didn't decide to fix this in cata. The Alliance doesn't need "Are we the baddies" throw at them in the earliest levels. At least the Forsaken when they do horrible acts, they at least get moral justification.

How convenient. The rich and powerful nobles assumed that the workers were rebuilding their mansions for them out of "civic pride" and were *shocked* that those ungrateful peasants wanted to be paid so they could do unpatriotic things like *eat.*

Yeah, the workers are the villains here.

I don't see where your confusion comes from. The Nobles were told the work was being done as charity, the workers were told they would be paid. Hence neither book is 'wrong', there was just a difference of opinion based on the fact that the go-between for both sides, Lady Prestor, was lying through her big dragon teeth.