Lara estate hit hard by Porter Davis collapse

A family who spent $360,000 on their dream Lara home has been left in limbo amid the financial collapse of one of the nation’s biggest builders.

Kate Saha, whose house in Lara was being built by Porter Davis. showing the stage they left it and tradies walked away. Picture: Mark Wilson

A family who spent $360,000 on their dream Lara home has been left in limbo amid the financial collapse of one of the nation’s biggest builders.

Home builder Porter Davis announced it had gone bust late last week, with work halted on more than 1500 homes across the state and a further 200 in Queensland.

In the wake of the news, Geelong families have found themselves scrambling to secure their new homes and find contractors to take over work.

Kate Saha and her family, who spent more than $300,000 on their “dream home” in a new Lara estate, will have to project manage the remainder of the build themselves.

“To date, we’ve spent $360k on the build and trades,” she said.

“Our build is too far advanced for us to have someone else come and take over, so we don’t have many options left in that regard.”

Ms Saha said their build had suffered delays in the lead up to the announcement last week, leading to her penning an email to the company management which went unanswered.

She and her husband received a letter from liquidators, confirming the news.

“My initial reaction was that I needed to get control of my home,” Ms Saha said.

“It was important that we secured the home and our assets.”

Despite the scramble to negotiate with traders, Ms Saha said she was positive about the prospect of finishing her home.

“While I’m nervous about what this will look like for us financially, the fact this is my home and (we are) no longer contracted under Porter Davis (is a relief),” she said.

Liquidator Grant Thorton announced on Friday it would be conducting investigations into reasons for the group’s collapse.

“The liquidators will not be trading the PDH Group companies and works on current builds will cease immediately,” the statement read.

“The liquidators are working urgently to determine if a solution can be found to support customers and some employees, including by engaging with key stakeholders and potential interested parties who may be willing to take over the current customer contracts.”

Rising input costs, supply chain delays and labour shortages have been identified as key issues for the struggling company.

Pain was felt elsewhere in the state as well, with Melbourne man Mark Anthony – who had been renting with his family during construction – telling News Corp his half-finished Mitcham build could cost him up to $1m.

“We are a young family and this was going to be our dream home,” he said.

“It’s become our worst nightmare. We are beyond devastated. This has finally broken us.”

Originally published as Lara estate hit hard by Porter Davis collapse