Surprising claim after $14m collapse of Queensland builder Oracle Platinum Homes
The collapse has left 300 homes, 200 suppliers and 70 staff members out of pocket but one construction top shot has a surprising claim.
A building boss has claimed that a failed construction company owing a reported $14 million is the victim of tough market conditions, but homeowners are not happy with that excuse.
On Wednesday, major Queensland residential builder Oracle Platinum Homes went into liquidation, impacting 300 homes, 200 suppliers and subcontractors owed money and 70 staff members who are now jobless.
William Cotter and William Robson from Robson Cotter Insolvency Group were appointed as joint liquidators.
Speaking to the ABC on Thursday morning, Paul Bidwell, CEO of Master Builders Queensland, said the Ukraine war was largely to blame for Oracle’s plight.
“Really no-one predicted that we would just have these ongoing issues. I mean, who could have predicted the Ukraine war which had, of itself, a significant impact on the cost increases with the major supply of engineered wood coming from that part of the world,” Mr Bidwell said.
“What we‘ve seen over the last 18 months post-Covid is a whole lot of issues that were really not capable of being contemplated in trying to work out what it’s going to cost and how long it’s going to take.”
However, an affected homeowner hit back, writing on social media “This is not another case of the builder being the victim.
“I think we’re all tired of seeing this builder portrayed as the victim.”
He also claimed Oracle took on more builds than they could handle and that insolvent trading had likely been going on for some time.
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Mr Bidwell also pointed out rising material costs had contributed to Oracle’s downfall.
“The massive increase in costs because of the shipping costs around the globe, the availability of timber, the availability of trades,” he continued.
“Across the eastern seaboard, there were a number of hailstorms that impacted significantly on roofing – so there are many things that have happened, sort of, completely out of the blue, completely – builders weren’t capable or able to take those into account in working out how these jobs would be built.”
Mr Bidwell assured people that he was not minimising the building crisis but that it wasn’t in as dire straits as it appeared in Queensland.
“In Queensland, we know there are 70,000 licensed contractors. I’m not trying to downplay the impact, but, relatively speaking, there haven’t been that many insolvencies,” he said.
“To be honest, we thought there would be more. A lot of builders have been talking about how tough it is, and we thought there might have been more than we’ve seen.”
Also speaking on Thursday morning to Sunrise was homeowner Dale Liston, who found out his builder had gone bust while he was in hospital.
His home is nearly complete, with just landscaping, tiling and flooring to go.
Just last week he was assured by staff that the house was only a month away from being finished and has so far shelled out just shy of $350,000 for his dream home.
He lays the blame entirely on the feet of Oracle Homes and doesn’t except that market conditions are the cause of the builder’s demise.
“Being stuck in hospital, my resources are limited to what I can do here until I do get out and get in front of an actual computer,” Mr Liston said.
“But what it means is I was moving into my house … on 5 September, which isn’t going to happen now, so it leaves me in a spot where I don’t know where to go from here.”
Reports indicate Oracle had taken on four times the amount of work than they could normally cope with.
“I had been contacted by the QBCC (Queensland’s insurer) themselves after they were doing an investigation into Oracle Platinum Homes about what was going on with them with the price increases and everything like that, and they were allowed to continue trading, even though they‘d quite clearly bitten off way more than they could chew,” Mr Liston added.
News.com.au spoke to an Oracle homeowner who has spent more than $200,000 on her build so far and also a staff member owed $50,000 in unpaid wages.
Coincidentally, the two were mother and daughter, as the mum sold a home to her daughter.
Montana Wilkinson, 28, and her husband have forked out $211,000 for a partially completed house while her mum, Boz Thurtell, has been left jobless and owed nearly $50,000 in commission fees from the company.
“They (Oracle) just dragged down everyone’s lives,” Ms Wilkinson told news.com.au.
Ms Wilkinson was looking to buy her first home and ended up using her mother as a sales agent, signing her contract with Oracle Platinum Homes in December 2020. However, nearly two years later, the house is not complete and now the company has gone under.
Meanwhile, her mother, Boz Thurtell, was fired over the phone on Wednesday morning as she was informed the company had gone into liquidation.
She’s worked at the company for three years and is owed around $50,000 in commission wages.
“It’s heartbreaking, it’s terribly worrying,” she told news.com.au.
“After I cry a little bit, I will ring some recruitment agencies, try to compose myself, suppose get on with life.”
alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au
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