Bradley Hall, the owner of boutique home builder Chatham Homes, which went into liquidation this week leaving 50 buyers with unfinished homes, blamed the largely hidden commissions builders pay to referring agents – between 8 per cent and 12 per cent of a contract price – for his company’s collapse.

The “absurdly high” referral commissions to so-called wholesale channel real estate agents, financial planners or other advisers who introduced buyers to builders cost as much as $40,000 and increased the costs borne by builders caught by fixed-price contracts, Mr Hall said.