The warning sign that nearly cost Gold Coast subbie his business

A Gold Coast subbie has revealed how he ended up tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket after missing a warning sign that the builder he was working for was about to go bust.

Steve Purcell with wife Bianca and kids Hadlee (3) and Cypress (2) at their Nerang home. Picture: Glenn Hampson

BIANCA Purcell says the stress of husband Steve losing work – after a builder he was working for went bust – put immense strain on their family and their relationship.

The Nerang-based carpenter was just 25, out on his own and responsible for a gang of seven men.

Steve was the boss, the one who paid the wages and the one who ultimately carried the can. He worked on condition of invoices presented at 15 days and payment at 30.

Then in early 2017 he woke to a text message telling him the gates were locked and not to go to the Waverley St Annerley in Brisbane, a CMS-Ashtay project he had been working on. Within the month another job at Morningside for CKP Constructions had gone belly up.

On that one he had changed his terms to 30-day invoices on offer of a payment boost. It was a warning sign he missed.

Only later did he realise his team and other trades on the site were replacements for others who previously, he said, had been ruthlessly swept out of the job.

Steve Purcell with wife Bianca and kids Hadlee (3) and Cypress (2) at their Nerang home. Picture: Glenn Hampson

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When it came time for money to hit his bank account, it was missing.

“They said they may have missed my invoice or that it could have come in late,” he recalls.

“I said I would not come back, the money went in and we worked another two weeks before they went under.”

Caught for $35,000 within a month, Steve, who operates Stephen P Carpentry in Brisbane, said any more would have finished his fledgling business.

While Steve faced struggles at work, he came home to a pregnant wife who was about three months off giving birth to their second daughter.

Bianca, 25, said it affected them not only as a family but put strain on them as a couple.

“It was pretty hard, I was pregnant with my second daughter and I was very emotional as it was but it was just heartbreaking,” she said.

“It was such a big lump sum in one go, it put strain on us as a couple, not just as a family. We were saving for a home – we were scared.”

Bianca said Steve had three people working under him who had families.

“It was a lot of pressure, especially when it’s not you...I just broke down. We’ve now had to be really careful.”

Steve Purcell says he has to time for the QBCC. Picture: Peter Wallis

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Even a small operation like Mr Purcell’s operates at a scale which would terrify most wage earners.

“It left me with between $10,000 and $15,000 in my account,” Steve said. “Generally, it’s between $50,000 and $100,000 depending on when BAS and super is due.”

The only way out for him was hard work.

“I needed to make the money back,” he said.

To do that required a crew willing to work 12 hours. Fortunately, his workers were prepared to stick.

“We did long days for three to four months and made it back. It was not a good time.”

Mr Purcell has no time for the industry regulator, the QBCC, whose licencing of builders he said offered no security of their financial viability.

And he described attending a meeting of creditors of the two companies that burnt him, as just more wasted time.

“The worst thing is builders want all your information,” he said. “We should be able to know they have good credit, are paying their quarterly BAS and are doing the right thing.”