Gold Coast builder H.I. C International Constructions collapses owing $1.4m

A Gold Coast construction company that may have traded while insolvent for more than a year has been forced into liquidation, leaving creditors chasing $1.4m.

Gold Coast residential builder H.I. C International Constructions has gone into administration with debts including more than $500,000 owed to the ATO. Image: Getty

A Gold Coast residential construction company – that may have traded while insolvent – has been forced into liquidation, with up to $1.4m in estimated debts.

Southport-based H.I. C International Constructions ceased trading and went into administration last month, shortly before the Australian Taxation Office applied to wind it up in the Federal Court over outstanding tax debts in early October.

On Friday, the court ordered the 13 year-old company be wound up.

H.I. C International Constructions ceased to trade just before the administrator was called in and had no clients or contracts yet to be completed, a document lodged with ASIC confirmed.

The report from liquidator, Daniel Frisken of O’Brien Palmer, said the company owed up to $1.4 million in estimated debts, all to unsecured creditors.

The ATO had lodged a proof of debt for $541,908, although this was expected to rise with additional outstanding lodgements, the report said.

The company also owed about $218,514 in unpaid superannuation, interest and penalties. Liquidator Daniel Frisken said the company appeared to provide labour, rather than operating as a primary contractor holding projects.

WorkCover Qld claimed it was owed $4,803 for workers premiums. H.I.C International Constructions’ policy with WorkCover Qld was cancelled on June 30, last year.

The company also owed an external adviser about $80,000 for consulting and financial services, the report said.

A further $210,000 was owed to related parties, including a former director.

There was also no cash left in the company’s bank account, the report said.

H.I. C International Constructions’ sole director and shareholder Adam Humphries told the administrator the company failed due to bad debt write offs, with a number of its key customers placed into liquidation from February this year.

H.I. C International Constructions may have traded while insolvent from November 2023, the administrator wrote. Image: Getty

However, Mr Frisken wrote he had not been able to access the company’s prime books and records, including financial statements, for the years prior to June 30, 2024.

The administrator wrote the catalysts for the company’s failure appeared to be poor financial control, including lack of records, and poor strategic management of the business.

“ … The company did not ensure it had sufficient cash reserves to meet its ongoing trade liabilities, notably any tax debts owed to the ATO, possibly due to inexperience on the director’s part,” the report said.

H.I. C International Constructions produced a $64,345 loss in the 2025 financial year.

The company may have traded while insolvent from November 13, 2023, the administrator wrote, but he noted his investigation had been limited by a lack of records and books provided. This would be investigated further in a liquidation scenario, the report said.

Mr Frisken estimated the potential insolvent trading claims against former director Mladen Kljaic and the current director, Mr Humphries, would total $870,000.

The administrator also noted $186,108 in potentially uncommercial transactions or unreasonable director-related transactions in the company’s bank statements over the previous year.

Former director Mladen Kljaic had proposed a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) for creditors – which would have allowed him to take over managing the company in exchange for him contributing $300,000 into a deed fund, to be divvied among creditors.

Under this agreement, creditors were expected to receive 1 to 14 cents per dollar owed.

However, the administrator recommended against the DOCA, telling creditors the proposed deed fund was not reasonable or “realistically achievable”, given the size of the outstanding debt and Mr Kljaic did not appear to have sufficient personal resources to pay contributions.

The DOCA also required him to pay $120,000 into the deed fund by the time the report was published – which had not been done, Mr Frisken wrote.

Mr Kljaic was a director of H.I. C Constructions from July 2019 until October last year, while Mr Humphries became a director in March 2023.

The report from Mr Frisken said Mr Kljaic had also previously been a former director of Civtech One, another company which went into a liquidation ordered by the NSW Supreme Court last year.

Mr Humphries had also been involved as a director of Civtech, as well as being a director of Reactive Services, another company which went into liquidation in 2023.

News Corp has contacted Mr Humphries and Mr Kljaic for comment.