Builder Coombs Barei, linked to a part-owner of Adelaide United, owes more than $220,000 with concerns over its future

A HIGH profile builder working with the State Government on a major rebuild of Housing Trust stock owes thousands to contractors and is “on the brink” of closure.

A HIGH-PROFILE builder working with the State Government on a major rebuild of Housing Trust buildings is struggling to pay wages and is on the brink of closure, according to contractors owed thousands by the company.

And the tradies have questioned why government agency Renewal SA hired Coombs Barei Constructions despite highly publicised financial difficulties of the firm, part-owned by Adelaide United shareholder Bruno Marveggio.

Three companies have contacted the Sunday Mail saying the Hindmarsh builder collectively owes them $227,000 for work stretching back to May.

Paul Apostalokas, whose Edwardstown concreting company Contek poured foundations on four Housing Trust sites at Underdale and Holden Hill, says Coombs Barei owes $144,298.

He said he invoiced Coombs Barei on September 22 and October 10 but said repeated requests for payment had been ignored.

He said Coombs Barei director Tony Basile told him over the phone on Thursday that he wasn’t sure whether he could help and that the business was “on the brink (of collapse)”.

Mr Apostolakos said that an employee also told him that the company was looking to go into administration.

“Their (Renewal SA) selection procedure is flawed; they’ve chosen a company which can’t pay their contractors,” he said.

“We’re a small business — I’ve got 15 staff, I’ve got a family to feed as well.

“$150,000 — it’s literally like someone’s pulled it straight out of my account and it’s not something I prepared for.”

Paul Apostokalos is owed $144,000 by Coombs Barei Constructions. Picture: James Elsby/AAP Image

Mr Apostolakos said he had been asked by Coombs Barei to price work on a further nine Housing Trust properties at Morphettville, Mitchell Park and Woodville West.

The work is part of the government’s “1000 Homes in 1000 Days” project — unveiled by Treasuer Tom Koutsantonis in December 2015 — aimed at stimulating the housing and construction industry.

The Advertiser reported in August that Coombs Barei had been under pressure from contractors and former employees over outstanding bills and superannuation entitlements.

In September, the company survived a winding-up application brought by Fleurieu Cranes four months earlier over a $120,000 debt.

The Sunday Mail also reported in August that the Supreme Court had approved a Commonwealth Bank request to repossess Mr Marveggio’s Fulham Gardens home over an unspecified debt.

In an email sighted by the newspaper, Mr Apostolakos wrote to Renewal SA’s project delivery manager, Peter Dawber, on Monday raising his “very real concerns” he may not be paid.

In the email, he said that Coombs Barei staff had not been paid for “some 4-6 weeks”.

Mr Apostolakos told the Sunday Mail on Thursday that staff had since been paid outstanding wages on Tuesday but it is understood that staff are still owed superannuation from November.

Somerset Environmental Services managing director Petra Traegers, whose Melrose Park company has been chasing $32,780 since May for cleaning work the firm completed for Coombs Barei, said she was “surprised to think the government had engaged someone that aren’t paying their contractors”.

She said she had also been told staff had not received wages for three weeks.

E-Control Solutions said Coombs Barei owed them in the “vicinity of $50,000”.

Mr Basile did not respond for comment. Renewal SA declined to respond to a series of questions from the Sunday Mail including when it engaged Coombs Barei and what due diligence it had done on the company.

*A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE STORY INCORRECTLY STATED E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS, NOT E-CONTROL SOLUTIONS, WAS OWED MONEY.