Roofing-focused outfit Lifetime Builders has gone bust in Brisbane with debts of more than $1m

A Brisbane builder specialising in roofing repairs has gone to the wall. The construction firm has an association with a bloke tied to a slew of other company collapses.

A Brisbane construction firm specialising in roofing repairs has gone to the wall following its association with a bloke tied to a slew of other company collapses.

Future Property Solutions Group Pty Ltd, trading as Lifetime Builders, tumbled into voluntary administration on Wednesday at the behest of sole director Adam Killackey.

The firm, launched in 2015, carried out a lot of work for Alliance Property Consultancy Pty Ltd, a still-intact company trading as Storm Assist and also controlled by Killackey. It specialises in insurance claim evaluations and restoration work.

The demise of Lifetime Builders, which buckled with more than $1m in debts, came just two days after creditors launched a now-moot wind up bid in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Killackey did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment this week.

Darryn Van Hout

But City Beat has learned that a bloke named Darryn Van Hout, who previously served as a key figure at both Lifetime Builders and Storm Assist, has an astonishing track record of failure in the renewable power industry.

Van Hout spent four years as chief operating officer at Storm Assist before leaving in May. Records show he also acted as a director of Lifetime Builders for a year, ending in January.

A self-described tech entrepreneur, Van Hout oversaw the crash of his five Solarcore companies in late 2011.

The group, which installed solar panels in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay, went under owing nearly $1m to more than 200 unsecured creditors and 13 staff.

Van Hout pinned part of the blame at the time on a “trusted adviser’’ who had stolen a “significant sum” of money and wiped clean the group’s computer records.

Following that disaster, Van Hout set up Ludovico Media Pty Ltd in 2014 but it went into administration in late 2017 after one of his related entities bought the software.

Ludovico Media was wound up the following year with debts of more than $360,000 as the liquidator alleged it may have traded while insolvent.

That’s not all.

Van Hout appointed another liquidator to two more of his two companies, trading as Switchee and Australian Solar Quotes, in late 2018.

The businesses, which both provided an online price comparison platform for solar products, fell over with debts of nearly $177,000.

In a report to creditors, liquidator Chris Baskerville said both Switchee and Australian Solar Quotes had offloaded their businesses for $75,000 to another entity about three months before his appointment.

The buyer was Brisbane-based Rokkit Performance Marketing, where Van Hout later spent nearly two year as “head of tech’’ until April 2020.

Baskerville also alleged that it was likely both Switchee and Australian Solar Quotes had traded while insolvent prior to his involvement.

Van Hout did not respond to a request for comment on Friday and it’s unclear if he is still actively involved in the solar sector.

But corporate records reveal that he remains the sole director and owner of a company he registered in 2014 called Kelpee Pty Ltd, which also trades under the banner of Smart Automated Software Solutions.

Van Hout changed the name of the entity in January. It used to be called Solarcore Australia Pty Ltd.