‘Huge impact’: Creditors owed $2.3m in collapse of building firm

Skyrocketing input costs have been a factor in the winding up of a major steel fabrication business that has left scores of creditors scrambling to recover more than $2m and employees out of work.

SKYROCKETING input costs have been a factor in the winding up of a major steel fabrication business that has left scores of creditors scrambling to recover more than $2m and employees out of work.

Mareeba-based firm BPB Mareeba Pty Ltd trading as Homefab Steel Truss and Frame entered voluntary liquidation in February.

Grant Thornton Australia has been appointed as liquidator.

Established in 1989, Homefab Steel Truss and Frame Mareeba specialised in the fabrication and supply of steel frames for use in home and commercial construction.

Documents obtained by the Cairns Post reveal creditors are owed a total of $2,348,613, which includes 16 workers who are listed as priority creditors and are owed $144,482 in unpaid wages and superannuation.

According to a report prepared by Grant Thornton, company directors blamed “poor economic conditions and inadequate cash flow” for the firm needing to be wound up.

“Our preliminary investigations to date attribute the trading losses and consequent cash flow difficulties to poor costing of a large project at Lakeland in Far North Queensland which was completed in January 2022,” the report stated.

Roofing trusses under construction at Homefab in Mareeba.

Master Builders Queensland regional manager Sharon Vella said the loss of the company was a heartbreaking blow for employees, directors and the wider community.

“The loss of local companies always has a huge impact on the local community,” she said.

“With the loss of many jobs and the loss of a local manufacturer who was not only supplying a service but also educating the next generation with apprenticeships or traineeships.”

Ms Vella said a perfect construction storm had created a profitless boom triggered by extreme supply problems, significant cost increase and a global surge in demand for construction materials, particularly timber and steel products.

An auction to sell assets of Mareeba manufacturing business Homefab was held on Wednesday at the instruction of liquidators. Picture: Quaid Auctioneers

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had meant limited access to engineered wood products (EWP) used in flooring systems and roof trusses and southern insurance work moving to the front of the construction queue was being felt locally.

Homefab equipment, vehicles and stock are estimated to be worth $565,461 according to a statutory report by joint liquidators Anthony Jonsson and Michael McCann.

The winding up of the company is expected to be finalised within a year after beginning in February.

Brian Cater, Peta-Maree Broadley and Benjamin Bolen according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents were the directors of the award-winning company.

Ms Broadley was invited to comment on the winding up but declined.

A Homefab house under construction.

On Wednesday on the instruction of Grant Thornton as Liquidators Quaid Auctioneers hosted an auction to sell Homefab assets including forklifts, Framecad forming machines, power tools and office furniture.

“The directors disclosed … the expected realisable value of the Framecad equipment to be $390,000,” the liquidators report stated.

The last completed products to be built at Homefab’s Chewko Rd yard were claimed by an Airlie Beach home builder and delivered last week. Listed as a creditor by liquidators Mareeba Transport are owed $13,276.

Then Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford (seventh from right) and the Member for Cook, Cynthia Lui, were pictured with staff during a tour of Mareeba steel-framed building components manufacturer Homefab in 2019. A Queensland Government grant will help Homefab create more jobs.

Business owner Colin Parsons said he held little hope of recovering the cash. “I have left it in the lap of the gods, what else do you do? You have to write it off,” he said.

He said the loss of the company actively involved in local sporting clubs and charity projects would be felt throughout the Mareeba community.

“I think the building game is a tough gig to be in at the moment with rising costs,” he said.

Liquidators stated it’s expected there would be sufficient funds to pay former employees however any dividend to unsecured creditors was unlikely.

Ms Vella from Master Builders urged anyone currently building a home to be patient with builders and tradies.

“There’s a lot of factors that could impact on timelines or availability of materials,” she said.

Originally published as ‘Huge impact’: Creditors owed $2.3m in collapse of building firm