Australia’s largest student accommodation developer, Scape, is holding up three of its five contract builders to prevent them from going under at a time of soaring costs and supply chain constraints, in the latest sign of the pressures on Australia’s commercial construction industry.

Privately owned Scape was making more frequent progress payments, giving builders more leniency with timing and was looking at contractual models that would protect builders “from the downside a little more,” co-founder Craig Carracher said.