Meet the builders finishing the homes of Victorians caught up in shock construction sector collapses

Victorian tradies are working overtime to finish the dream homes of families left devastated when their original builders went bust. These are some of our white knights and the people they helped.

Victorian tradies are rolling up their sleeves to help complete unfinished projects, in the wake of builder collapses that have left thousands of families without their dream homes.

Recent ASIC figures reveal 621 construction companies have gone bust in the 2022-23 financial year — the highest 12-month total since 2014.

Nationally, 284 construction businesses entered insolvency in July 2023 alone, with the construction industry accounting for more than one-third (34.6 per cent) of all insolvencies.

According to the Master Builders Association of Victoria (MBV) this is the highest level ever.

Despite the challenging environment, many Victorian builders had stepped in to help finish partly-built homes; saving the day for families that had their dreams crushed when their original builder collapsed, it said.

Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) said in past years it had processed an average of 2000 domestic building insurance claims a year, but was expecting to process twice as many this year.

Director of Mazzei building group and its insolvency arm Cecure, Zeb Woodhatch, is just one of the many white knights stepping up to help rebuild the shattered dreams of homeowners.

“We have heard some harrowing stories from people who can barely afford the rent they

are paying because they were meant to move into their new home months ago,” Mr Woodhatch said.

“At the end of the day we just want to see clients move into their homes so we are just

working through ways to do that. We started finishing off homes from Snowden when they went under . . . more recently it’s been everything . . . Hallbury to Porter Davis and a couple of other smaller ones in between.”

Cecure’s Androo Allen and Aaron Chrystie are part of a team that has helped bring scores of residential projects to completion.

A Porter Davis house under construction when the company went bust. Picture: Richard Walker

Mazzei and Cecure is currently working to finish more than 100 incomplete construction jobs around Victoria.

Mr Woodhatch said tradies and suppliers had supported his business, in helping hurting Victorians get their unfinished homes finally complete.

“They want to see these homes completed as much as any one. We are not even getting

push back from those tradies who have worked on these jobs and haven’t been paid. They

are just as keen to see them finished,” he said. “It highlights that, as an industry, we can face these headwinds.”

MBV chief executive officer Michaela Lihou said Victorian builders were showing resilience, in a tough environment.

“It’s been a difficult few years for the industry but what we are not hearing enough of are the good news stories across the sector,” Ms Lihou said.

“Every week there is another example of a building company stepping in to make a difference in the lives of customers who were left in limbo.”

Importantly, insolvencies had only affected about one per cent of the industry, Ms Lihou said.

But that didn’t mean clients caught in the collapses to date had not been devastated by them.

MBV chief Michaela Lihou says Victorian builders are showing great resilience. Pic: Supplied

A former Hallbury Homes display home. Picture: Supplied

Josh and Anne-Marie Hall were among hundreds of residential clients who suffered when Privium Impact Homes was placed into liquidation in December 2021.

“We were almost at lock up stage and then we found out they had gone under,” Ms Hall said.

“Our site manager’s phone just kept going to voicemail and we couldn’t get anybody at the company. We ended up Googling it to work out what had happened. We were in complete shock.”

The couple said they struggled to find a builder willing to take on their job.

“A lot of the bigger companies we had heard of wouldn’t take the job because they weren’t necessarily used to taking on their incomplete work. So we had to start looking at smaller builders but we didn’t know if we could trust them.”

The Halls had been forced to pay two mortgages simultaneously, before the property finally settled last month.

Victims of the Hallbury Homes collapse, Robbie and Lisa Pearson were forced to tarp their unfinished Olinda dream to protect it from rain damage, in what they describe as a nightmare.

“We attended numerous times late at night, in the middle of storms, trying to protect our home from rain by placing tarps over gaping holes in the roof to prevent water running into our insulation and plaster,” Mr Pearson said.

The Cecure team is helping rebuild broken dreams.

Robbie and Lisa Pearson with their twins Hartley and Coby. Picture: Supplied

Before Hallbury went under, there were worrying signs — with a substantial amount of work on the house not done — but in September 2022 the couple nevertheless made a progress payment, as requested by the builder.

“We caved into to pressure and paid because we wanted the work completed but in the coming months the builder went under. It was a nightmare for us,” he said.

But with domestic building insurance, they finally found a builder willing to help.

“It’s been a roller coaster but to see the level of professionalism from the team at Cecure has been really reassuring,” Mr Pearson said.

“It’s good to know there are builders out there who are ready and able to help because there are so many other couples just like us who never imagined an outcome. We finally have a house to call home.”

A spokeswoman for VMIA said it aimed to get homeowners affected by builder insolvencies into the home they originally contracted for as quickly as possible and at the lowest additional cost to them.

“Partially completed or defective homes are some of the most complex and challenging building projects. Builders who are willing to take on these projects play a critical role for

homeowners left with an incomplete or defective home,” the spokeswoman said.

“Homeowners choose the builder to complete or rectify their home. In some cases affected

homeowners will choose to use a builder VMIA has assessed as having the financial capacity, capability and experience to do the work.

“Earlier this year VMIA enlisted Simonds Homes, Metricon and Cecure to help quote for the

completion of a large number of Porter Davis homes. These builders have the resources, skills, and industry connections needed to complete a large number of projects to the standard homeowners originally contracted for, as quickly as possible.”