Up to 100 WA homes in limbo as builder gets wind up order

The company claims it isn’t going under, despite the tax office issuing a wind up order to claw back creditor funds.

One of Perth’s biggest builders appears to be on the ropes financially as the Australian Taxation Office issues it with a wind up order.

Simsai Construction Group, an Osborne Park based builder which oversees First Home Buyers Direct, Multi Develop 360, and Express Homes, is understood to have up to 100 properties in the pipeline.

The WA government’s Building and Energy Division said they’re closely monitoring the situation Simsai finds itself in.

Simsai Construction Group is the parent company for First Home Buyers Direct, Multi Develop 360, and Express Homes WA. Picture: First Home Buyers Direct

“Building and Energy understands Simsai has several works in progress,” a Building and Energy spokesperson said.

“As part of its assessment, Building and Energy will seek details from the company about these projects.”

Winding up orders, also known as compulsory liquidation, are usually issued by courts on behalf of administrators, forcing a company to cease trading so its assets can be sold in order to pay creditors.

Simsai itself remains defiant in the face of the ATO’s wind-up order.

“We are aware of the order and we hope to have it sorted in the next two to three weeks,” a spokesperson told The West Australian newspaper.

“We are not going to comment further.”

The company was founded in 2009, and was up for major Housing Industry Association awards in 2011 and 2016.

First Home Buyers Direct touts itself on its website as “one of the best first home builders in Perth,” offering house and land packages from “as little as $295 per week,” with no progress payments.

The news comes just one day after it was revealed fellow Perth-based builder Intellibuild had gone under, just one of many building companies which have collapsed both in WA and across the country in 2023.