Financial status for 12 of Qld’s biggest builders under microscope amid industry costs pressure
As supply issues, labour costs and builder collapses leave an industry on edge, the financial health of key companies is in the spotlight. SPECIAL REPORT
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As supply issues, labour costs and a flurry of builder collapses leave subcontractors and suppliers on edge, the health of the largest builders is under the spotlight.
The latest ASIC data reveals the industry experienced its greatest number of administrations in a June quarter since 2015, Condev, ProBuild and Pivotal Homes among the casualties.
Using ASIC documents, news articles and QBCC licence records, we’ve put the health of some of the state’s biggest builders under the microscope.
Not all companies below are required to publicly lodge financial reports.
Those which do, are required for lodge for FY22 October 31.
Here’s the current state for 12 of the biggest:
McNab
Trading company: McNab Developments (Qld)
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20: 10 jobs at $8.87m; 2020-21: 112 jobs at $42.18m; and 2021-22: 82 jobs at $28.94m.
Status: The Toowoomba-based company has a swath of major Gold Coast projects under way, including the controversial $85m, 22-level White Main Beach and $77m Elements Budds Beach.
McNab’s latest financial report, lodged for the 2020-21 financial year, revealed its sales had dropped by 10.88 per cent to $267.1m, and net profit dived more than 70 per cent cent from $4.781m in 2020 to $1.39m in 2021.
Despite the fall, McNab paid a fully franked dividend of $2.7m to its ultimate sole shareholder, director Michael McNab, who had received a $2.8m dividend the previous year.
In its full-year report for the year ended June 30, the company said it had access to a $13m Commonwealth Bank guarantee, of which $7.38m had been used as at June 2021.
Its related White Main Beach company is registered owner of an apartment in the sold-out $85m development with the same name, which is under construction by McNab.
McNab changed auditors last financial year, from RSM Australia to Pitcher Partners, incurring double the audit costs of the previous year.
In an effort to address a crippling shortage of workers, McNab offered a $10,000 “welcome bonus” to potential employees who applied for “priority roles” in August.
Hutchinson Builders
Trading company: J.Hutchinson
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20 223 jobs at $65.39m; 2020-21 76 jobs at $11.04m; 2021-22: 85 jobs at $33.34m. Five jobs for $1.95m have been logged for the current financial year to date.
Status: The company known as “Hutchies” is Queensland’s largest and is responsible for some of the country’s biggest civil and commercial projects, including schools, hospitals, churches, high-rise office blocks, residential towers, service stations, Coles and Bunnings stores, airport terminals, sport centres and hotels.
It was this month also named the nation’s third most prolific home builder, with 3829 starts, primarily in the apartments sector.
Headed by chairman Scott Hutchinson, the 110-year-old business reported a net profit of $20.8m for the 2021-22 financial year, down from $27.3m the previous year.
Hutchies reported gross revenue of $2.66bn in 2021-22, down from $2.67bn the previous year, and had $388.6m in net assets as at June 30.
It paid dividends of $212,565 in 2020-21 and has recommended a dividend of $197,241 for 2021-22.
The company sent a shiver through the industry this month when a document appointing an external administrator to the company was “lodged mistakenly” to ASIC.
The clerical error was made by an external lawyer who put the company’s name in the wrong field while trying to secure funds owed to Hutchies in the administration of another company.
Recent local projects have included $275m The Star Gold Coast Tower One; $140m 272 Hedges tower; $7.2m 77 Jefferson at Palm Beach, Vue tower at Broadbeach; and $23m O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat hotel.
Current projects include the $17m Paradise Centre redevelopment, Mondrian Hotel and Residences, Miles Kirra and $65m residential project The Lanes at Mermaid Waters.
Hutchies is also building the $150m Eve Residences at Labrador, which it took on after Condev collapsed in May.
Tomkins
Trading company: Tomkins Commercial & Industrial Builders
Licensed revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: None recorded on licence since 2017-18
Status: Tomkins has transitioned much of its business to commercial and industrial work in recent years, with warehouses, medical centres and apartment towers making up the majority of the company workbook.
Tomkins was revealed as Queensland’s 11th largest home builder in a recent report, with 456 dwelling starts in 2022 – up 29.9 per cent from last year.
Third generation builder Mike Tomkins heads the company, which employs 160 people.
Projects have included Homeworld Helensvale, Harbour One Sanctuary Cove and multiple buildings at Brisbane Airport.
The company’s latest publicly-lodged financial report, for FY21, said it had $228.69m in revenue and $27.1m in net assets as at June 30 last year.
Tomkins reported net profit of $5.36m for that year, down from $7.48m in 2020.
A dividend of $2m was paid to sole shareholder Mike Tomkins, the same amount he’d received the previous year.
A Tomkins spokesman said the company’s FY22 report, which was yet to be lodged with ASIC, would log $207m revenue for a before tax profit of $6.26m, down from its before tax $7.72m the previous year.
Metricon Homes
Trading company: Metricon Homes Qld
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20: 668 jobs at $247.8m; 2020-21: 1574 jobs at $509m; 2021-22: 1402 jobs at $563.1m; and 2022-23 to date: 111 jobs at $53.4m.
Status: Metricon was this month named the nation’s top home builder for the seventh year in a row, starting construction on 5969 homes across the country in 2021-22.
After rumours of financial trouble surfaced in March, the company was rocked in May by the unexpected death of founder and chief executive Mario Biasin.
While the private company never disclosed its books, Commonwealth Bank stepped in with $30m finance after a meeting between the Victorian government and Metricon executives.
Metricon has not filed any financial reports with ASIC or published them on its website.
Homecorp
Trading company: Homecorp Constructions
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20: 533 jobs at $112.3m; 2020-21: 645 jobs at $155.76m; 2021-22: 500 jobs at $158.55m; and 2022-23 to date: 38 jobs at $14.36m.
Status: The Benowa-based construction company, part of Ron Bakir’s Homecorp Property Group, is majority owned by a subsidiary of motoring giant Toyota and is behind some of the biggest house and land estates in Queensland, including The Heights at Pimpama, The Pines at Yeppoon and Greenwood Village in Ipswich.
Homecorp was named Queensland’s third largest home builder for the past financial year and picked up about 200 contracts from collapsed builder Privium.
In its latest financial report, for 2020-21, Homecorp reported $122.63m revenue and $23.23m in net assets.
Net profit was up from the previous year: $6.39m compared to $2.81m in 2020.
The company paid dividends totalling $841,710 to its multiple shareholders, up from $751,922 the previous year.
Multiplex
Trading company: Multiplex Constructions Qld
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: None recorded on licence
Status: Multiplex is responsible for some of the Gold Coast’s largest developments, including the $1.4bn Jewel project.
It has a $290m contract for Tower Two at The Star Gold Coast, a $200m tower at Surfers Paradise, is working on the mammoth Queens Wharf development in Brisbane, and has built a host of other large-scale projects in the state capital.
Multiplex Constructions Qld, the holder of the company’s QBCC licence, has not lodged a financial report with ASIC since a 2020 calendar year report lodged in February 2021.
It reported $196.3m in revenue for that year, with
The company, directed by WA-based John Flecker, recorded net profit after income tax of $14.37m for the year December 31, 2020 up sharply from $324,912 in 2019.
Multiplex’s various Sydney-based related companies have also not filed financial reports since last February.
Multiplex Global, the group’s UK-based holding company, last filed full accounts in March last year, for the 2020 calendar year.
At that time, it reported a net loss of $USD68m, an improvement from its $USD169m loss in 2019. Multiplex’s ultimate parent company is Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management.
Descon Group Australia
Trading company: Descon Group Australia
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: None recorded on licence.
Status: A relative newcomer to the Gold Coast, Descon has been quick to make an impression, embarking on a range of super-sized projects, including Iris Capital’s $800m V & A Broadbeach, Orion Towers at Surfers Paradise and 3321 Surfers Paradise Bvd.
The group took on some work left hanging in the Condev collapse, including the sites of Macquarie York’s Allure tower at Chevron Island and SGP Land’s Brooke Residences at Robina.
Descon, directed by Danny Isaac and Greg Sneeden, is currently facing a court challenge from a former employee.
The group is yet to lodge any financial reports with ASIC.
Philip Usher Constructions
Trading company: Philip Usher Constructions
Licensed maximum revenue category: Over $240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20: 336 jobs at $40.47m; 2020-21: 197 jobs at $38.07m; 2021-22: 3 jobs at $11.23m; and 2022-23 to date: 1 job at $20,000.
Status: Phil Usher is considered one of the Gold Coast’s richest people and is head of the residential developer and builder which bears his name.
Construction projects have included the H2O and Sky apartment buildings in Southport, as well as houses and townhouses nationwide.
Assets of the diverse business include a substantial pastoral business encompassing about 1.2 million hectares of cattle properties across five Queensland stations.
The company also operates aged care facilities around southeast Queensland.
The latest financial report lodged with ASIC for the company was for the 2019-20 financial year, when it logged $170.14m revenue, net profit of $33.13m and net assets of $455.9m.
The company paid franked dividends of $5m to Mr Usher in 2019 and $15.9m in 2020.
Meriton
Trading company: Karimbla Constructions Services (Qld)
Licensed maximum revenue category: $120m-$240m
Three-year residential work record: None recorded on licence.
Status: Private company Meriton is founded by apartment supremo Harry Triguboff, who sits high on the 2022 Rich List with a $21.25 billion fortune.
Gold Coast projects include the Sundale at Southport, Ocean at Surrfers Paradise and has planned the $700m Iconica Supertower and another 1000-unit tower at the former Vomitron site at Surfers Paradise.
The Karimbla company which holds Meriton’s Queensland builder licence has not lodged any financials with ASIC, and Meriton Properties hasn’t lodged one since 2018-19.
Coral Homes
Trading company: Coral Homes Qld
Licensed maximum revenue category: $120m-$240m
Three-year residential work record: 2019-20: 637 jobs at $175.49m; 2020-21: 938 jobs at $282.43m; 2021-22: 575 jobs at $218.39m; 2022-23 to date: 122 jobs at $47.79m.
Status: Coral Homeswas named Queensland’s sixth largest home builder for the 2021-22 year.
The Varsity Lakes-based builder was founded in 1990 by carpenter Paul Sweeney, who is building a riverfront mansion in the TSS precinct.
Coral Homes Qld, which offers fixed-price contracts to customers, last lodged financials with ASIC in November 2020, for the 2019-20 year.
In that report, Coral logged $160.44m in revenue, net profit of $10.26m and net assets of $19.75m.
Alder Constructions
Trading company: Alder Constructions
Licensed maximum revenue category: $60m-$120m
Three-year residential work record: None recorded on licence
Status: The Helensvale company, and its related Alder Developments, chiefly deals in commercial and civil projects, having worked on local schools, industrial projects and high-profile council jobs in recent years.
Alder has the contract to build a $4m new jetty and ferry stop at The Spit, while past projects include the $30m M1 Connect office building; $11.3m Sickle Ave Bridge; $3.8m Soul Surfers Paradise foreshore; $5.5m Arcadia College at Robina; $3.7m Chevron Island bridge remediation and early works on Sea World’s new Atlantis precinct.
In 2020 Alder expanded into NSW and this year had been awarded $12m of projects in that state.
Alder founder Greg Alder, who is joint shareholder of the company with wife Chantel Alder, lives on the Sovereign Islands.
Alder has not lodged any financial or director’s reports with ASIC.
G C B Constructions
Trading company: G C B Constructions
Licensed maximum revenue category: $60m-$120m
Three-year residential work record: 2017-18: 46 jobs at $2.7m; 2019-20: 99 jobs at $25.02m. No work recorded on licence since.
Status: The Varsity Lakes and Lismore-based company is headed by managing director Trent Clark, who is taking after parents Greg and Jenny in the family business.
G C B is working on the $72m Marine Quarter project at Southport and $45m Vantage at Burleigh Heads and is contracted for the Drift Tower at Main Beach.
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Other local projects have included a block of four luxury apartments on Stanhill Dr at Chevron Island, the striking Tweed Terrace house at Point Danger and work on two Rayjon apartment buildings near Royal Pines Resort at Benowa.
G C B last lodged a financial report for the year to June 30, 2019.
At that time it reported revenue of $61.32m, for a net profit of $2.1m and net assets of $3.55m. The directors resolved not to pay themselves a salary for that year.
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