Coast to Coast Homes build a never-ending nightmare for couple caught up in the company’s crash
It was supposed to be their forever home — but for an Adelaide couple building with Coast to Coast Homes was a never-ending nightmare.
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When Mel and David Birt first encountered Coast to Coast Homes, they believed they had found the builder who could deliver the “forever” home they’d dreamt of.
The Tranmere couple travelled to Moonta three years ago when the company’s Adelaide sales manager Steven Craven showed them recently-completed homes. They were impressed with the quality.
Over a two-hour lunch at the Port Hughes Tavern, Mr Craven — whose father Sean founded the company — assured them of Coast to Coast Home’s experience, how they used quality tradesmen and that he would provide personalised service.
It was going to be a stress-free process and Mr Craven assured Ms Birt the house would be built within eight months, she told The Advertiser.
Positive online reviews gave her further confidence to entrust the company to build their dream and, a week after meeting with Mr Craven, they signed a $474,000 contract in June 2016.
But the Birts have delivered a scathing review, urging others to avoid the company that had “ruined what should have been a very exciting journey”.
Among faults with their house were the facade not matching their design, multiple water leaks, cracks in brickwork, airconditioning ducts installed incorrectly, shoddy kitchen cabinetry, wardrobes that were the wrong size and salt damp. Three months ago, a 4m strip of cornice fell from the kitchen ceiling, chipping a counter top and destroying an oven.
Ms Birt said her family was living illegally in the house for 21 months because Campbelltown Council was never advised of the build and had not undertaken inspections to ensure it was compliant.
A building inspector has compiled a 70-page list of visible defects that Ms Birt is now trying to claim through insurance since last week’s collapse of Coast to Coast Homes, which owes 245 creditors $3.7 million, leaving 90 customers with unfinished homes and 15 staff jobless. “I am so angry with him,” Ms Birt, 54, said of Mr Craven. “He has caused so many dramas.
“We were led to believe he was an experienced builder, that he had all these years of experience but it wasn’t until much later that we found out his father basically handballed the position for Steven to look after the business in Adelaide and he ran with it. He had no building experience, no project management experience, no finance experience, as far as we know, and no business management experience.”
Ms Birt said that, a year ago, Mr Craven told her that he was “so f … ing stressed, the last thing I want to do is lose my old man’s business”. She said he had various “sob stories” for the delays, such as the company computer had been hacked, that he was being blackmailed and that he had unreliable tradies.
Ms Birt said she was angry that Mr Craven and his father had also opened a joinery business, Regency Custom Cabinets, last June, while clients were waiting for their homes to be completed. The Advertiser attempted to contact Steven Craven for comment.
His father, Sean Craven, declined an interview when approached at his Port Hughes house, saying that the company’s receivers had instructed him not to speak.
He did say there had been problems with the company’s computer systems in recent months but would not elaborate. Former construction manager Matt Tucker, who was made redundant last June, blamed the company’s “poor management” for its financial woes.
“I think it was underpricing for jobs and I don’t think he (Steven) knew enough about the building game,” he said.
“From my understanding, his dad wanted out of it (the business), took a back seat and Steven stepped up and said he could do it, but he couldn’t … he didn’t have the skills or the knowledge.
“I just think it went too big too quickly and I reckon he underpriced jobs. There were so many things going wrong that money was just pouring out constantly.”
Mr Craven did not have a builder’s licence and previously worked as a team leader for Optus before taking on a major role in the company his father started in 2010. Nicole Ferguson, daughter of Mt Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson, is among seven clients with unfinished homes in a group of 10 that Coast to Coast Homes was building at Mt Barker.
Ms Ferguson’s unfinished home is an investment property. While she did not have ill-feeling towards the Cravens, she said others who were waiting to move into their homes had “every right” to be angry.
She said she felt particularly sorry for the tradies, whom she hoped would be able to finish the work on her house.
Coast to Coast Homes was the seventh building company to go under in the past seven months, prompting housing lobby groups and Consumer Business Services to review whether current licensing regimen must be strengthened, in particular whether the current level of financial training for directors is adequate.
The SA Master Builders Association wants mandatory professional training as part of licensing regimen.
But Housing Industry Association SA director Stephen Knight has cautioned against any knee-jerk reaction to the recent closures and said government and insurers should work together to make trade credit insurance for subcontractors more cost-effective.
For Justin Zwar, 51, Coast to Coast Homes is the fourth company in the past two years that has been placed into liquidation owing his Moonta firm Peninsula Plumbing a “significant” amount of money.
Among them was Mawson Lakes Unique Urban Built, which collapsed in April owing nearly $4 million to more than 300 creditors.
Mr Zwar said he knew of a tradie who would probably have to sell his house or “go broke” owing to the collapse of Coast to Coast Homes.
Mr Zwar and a handful of other Yorke Peninsula contractors left out of pocket will be meeting next week with Narungga MP Fraser Ellis, to lobby for building trust funds that would quarantine money for subcontractors. Once their work was completed, they would be paid out of the trust.
“There’s got to be something put into place to protect the suppliers and trades,” he said. “In every experience I’ve had (in liquidations), the best result through liquidators is 4c in the dollar.
“Everyone feels sorry for the (home) owners, they come out of it OK, they have indemnity insurance … but there’s nothing for the tradies.”
A creditors’ meeting will be held on June 18.
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