Liberty Building Contractors falls into liquidation as company director hits out at lack of government support

A triple whammy of rising inflation, crippling supply chain costs and lack of government support have been blamed for a leading Sydney construction firm collapsing into liquidation.

A leading Sydney building company is the latest construction firm to collapse into liquidation, owing more than $1m to creditors and leaving behind customers with uncompleted projects.

The director of Liberty Building Contractors says rising inflation, crippling supply chain costs and lack of government support are among key factors resulting in the long-running company being placed into liquidation this week.

The construction company has been operating in Sydney’s southwest for more than 15 years and has worked on new housing build projects in booming suburbs such as Camden, Minto and Campbelltown.

The company’s director, George Khoury, said the decision to place the business in liquidation followed tough trading conditions indicative of the rising costs associated with building homes in Sydney.

“When Covid hit the prices for sourcing material went through the roof and, with inflation, there’s been no relief and it’s made it very hard to recuperate with jobs,” he said.

Liberty Building Contractors has been placed into liquidation

“We don’t work on massive margins and with interest rates, trades and materials costs going up it’s made it very hard – and that’s on top of all the other costs such as electricity, fuel and labour.

“We’ve reached out to our customers to explain our situation and some have been very compassionate.

“Obviously they had dream projects they worked very hard for that are going to be impacted.

“As a business, it was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make.

“Not only as a family business are we going to suffer, our clients are going to suffer, everyone involved is going to suffer.”

Mr Khoury said challenges in the sector included fixed building contracts that had meant recent rises in material and other costs had to be absorbed.

Liquidator Joseph Walker, of insolvency firm O’Brien Palmer, said his initial investigations into the company’s books showed it had terminated staff who had unpaid entitlements before ceasing trading this week, and that it had creditor liabilities in excess of $1m.

The company worked on new home builds across Sydney’s southwest.

He said there would be a number of affected customers who would need to find alternate builders to complete their contracted works.

“It appears to be another company in the building services sector that has succumbed to the same economic pressures that have driven such a spike in insolvencies over the last 12 months,” Mr Walker said in a statement.

Mr Khoury believes both the federal and state government should provide more support for the sector – particularly at a time when both levels of government have named the delivery of new housing as a priority.

“In the past couple of years it feels like we’re at the mercy of inflation and there’s no relief,” he said.

The company is among a rising number of construction firms that have fallen into liquidation.

“Unless you’re on a government contract, the feeling is you’re on your own and that’s why so many builders are going belly up.

“The government should be stepping in and supporting us, otherwise we’ll see more and more builders going bust.”

The collapse of the company comes as the latest figures show more than 2800 Australian building companies were placed into liquidation in the last financial year across – a 28 per cent increase on the previous 12-month period.

Housing construction inflation has remained stubborn about 5 per cent throughout 2024 – more than double pre-Covid levels.