Hampton Home Builders licence cancelled by QBCC

Construction company Hampton Home Builders have been put on ice by the industry watchdog, with their licence cancelled for being unable to meet financial requirements.

The state construction watchdog has put the licence of Hampton Home Builders on ice following a month-long suspension. The company was launched by Karen Robinson, who said Wednesday they were working with the QBCC to resolve the problem. Photo Patrick Woods / Gympie Times

Residential Gympie construction company Hampton Home Builders have been put on ice by the industry watchdog with their licence cancelled for being unable to meet financial requirements.

The company’s licence was suspended by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission on August 14, over a failure to satisfy financial requirements.

Director Karen Robinson said on Wednesday they were working with the QBCC to resolve the issue.

“Unfortunately, we are still waiting on documents for our asset ratio and have not been able to get them to QBCC in time. We are working with them to get it sorted,” Ms Robinson said.

On September 11 the company’s shares were restructured, ASIC records show.

The bulk of the shares are held by John David, who has been the secretary and director of Hampton Home Builders since October 10, 2018.

Ms Robinson, who holds the remainder, was added as a director in October 2020.

Hampton Home Builders was launched in late 2018 by Karen Robinson. ASIC documents show a change to the company’s share structure on September 11, 2023, four weeks after the QBCC cancelled its building licence over financial concerns.

Companies and contractors who have their licences cancelled by the QBCC have the right to request a review of the decision.

This can be done by either the QBCC’s internal review team, or through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Any review application must be lodged within 28 days of the cancellation.

QBCC records show that in Hampton Home Builders’ first three years of operation it built 74 homes worth a combined total of more than $16.6 million dollars.

Hampton Home Builders undertook more than $16 million in residential construction work in its first three years, QBCC Licence records show.

This slowed considerably in the next two financial years, with only eight jobs worth $2.18 million on the books for the 2021-22 financial year and two projects totalling $574,250 in 2022-23.

Hampton Home Builders was launched by Ms Robinson in late 2018 following the controversial collapse of Stirling Homes into liquidation.

Stirling Homes’s debt at the time of its collapse was estimated at about $6 million, liquidation papers showed.

Ms Robinson, who was married to company director Peter Bazzan, reached a $75,000 agreement with the liquidators for her release from the company.

She refuted the claims about the debt in the liquidator’s reports at the time as “complete and utter rubbish” and said she had not been involved with Stirling Homes at the time of its liquidation, having separated from Mr Bazzan.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Ms Robinson, Mr Bazzan, or Mr David.