Luxury motor home business hits the skids

A luxury Queensland motor home manufacturer that sells vans for more than $500,000 a pop has hit the wall, with new investors being urgently sought to save the business.

Paradise Motorhomes' model on display at the RNA

A luxury Queensland motor home manufacturer that sells vans for more than half a million dollars has hit the wall with new investors being sought to save the business.

Barry Wright and Jason Tang, of Cor Cordis, were appointed voluntary administrators of Yatala-based Paradise Motor Homes (Qld) and PMH Manufacturing last week.

PMH in a statement said the administrators were undertaking an urgent review of the business, with a view of finding new investors for the business.

The company said customers who had paid a deposit towards a recreational vehicle would be treated as a creditor in the administration process.

“The administrators will be assessing each customer project and will contact them shortly in due course to discuss the status,” the company said. An initial meeting of creditors has been scheduled for October 24.

According to the company’s website, Paradise Motor Homes had gained an enviable “reputation as a leader in motorhome design”. Customers have taken to the company’s Facebook page to lament its difficulties.

“That’s dreadful news for everyone involved, especially for customers that not only will potentially lose substantial money, but also lose the dream of getting their new Motorhome,” said one customer. “These things rarely end well for anybody other than the administrators or liquidators.”

Another said: “Not good news for anyone involved. Poor people who will lose deposits etc”

Paradise Home, which began manufacturing in 2002, offered vans from $159,000 all the way up to $507,000. Last year, the company moved into a new factory at Yatala. Comment has been sought from both the company and the administrators.

It is the second time the business has entered administration. A previous entity associated with the business closed in 2017 but reopened under new ownership.

The troubles for Paradise Motor Homes comes despite the Covid-19 pandemic fuelling an incredible growth in caravan sales and ownership.

There’s been a 275 per cent increase in the number of new recreational vehicles, including caravans, campervans, camper trailers and motorhomes, registered in Queensland in recent years. More than 200,000 caravans and campervans are registered in Queensland, the most of any state in the country. About 22,000 caravans and campervans are made in Australia each year – one in every 10 coming from Queensland.

Christmas Cheer

It may only be October, but we hear tickets are selling like hotcakes for the Property Council’s annual Christmas lunch in Brisbane.

The yuletide knees up is a must attend event for the sector’s movers and shakers with the function this year including a performance by comedian Dave “Hughesy” Hughes.

The lunch, to be held at the Royal International Convention Centre on December 9, is a barometer of how well the industry is performing in any given year and usually attracts well in excess of 1500 people. And it doesn’t end with lunch.

We hear Property Council Qld executive director Jen Williams (illustrated) will be propping up the bar at the RNA Showgrounds’ Stockmen’s Bar and Grill for the famous after party that goes until well after sundown.

Williams tells your diarist that 1200 tickets have already been sold for the event with numbers expected to exceed last year’s shindig.

Jen Williams

Well Furnished

Congratulations to local historian Mary Howells who has been named as the recipient of the 2022 Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame Fellowship.

Howell’s project ‘Trittons: Furnishing Queensland’ will research the iconic furniture business established in Brisbane in 1886.

Trittons furnished St John’s Cathedral, the Mater Hospital, hotels, government buildings and private homes and prospered throughout the Great Depression. The reasons for Trittons’ success and longevity will be revealed through the research project.

The Trittons Furniture Store sign on top of the Brisbane Trades Hall Building.