Hallbury Homes customers reveal years of delayed projects in Melbourne

As the amount creditors are owed by Hallbury Homes grows to $6m, customers caught up in the collapse are left sleeping on the floor of a rental.

Terry and Andrea Conder have been building their dream home for more than six years. Picture: Mark Stewart

Terry Conder has been building his dream home for more than six years and still needs to spend more than $350,000 to complete it.

He’s also just been left in limbo after the collapse of builder Hallbury Homes, which became the first developer to fail in 2023 after a tumultuous period for the sector last year which resulted in the collapse of several major firms.

Mr Conder, 60, and wife Andrea signed a contract with Hallbury in December 2017 to build their art deco-style home in Harkaway, near Berwick. But the couple expect it will take another nine months to complete.

Michael Caspaney, of Menzies Advisory, was appointed administrator and last week said the company owed some $6m to hundreds of creditors. The first meeting of creditors will be held on Tuesday.

“We’ve sent letters out to about 390 creditors and they have about $6m in trade debt,” he said.

“I’m also in communication with about 40 to 50 customers who are mitigating their position in relation to securing their sites, talking to the warranty insurer and chasing up new builders.”

Mr Conder said the prolonged build – more than two years over contract – and “aggressive and abusive” behaviour from the company has had an effect on the couple’s health and finances.

Terry and Andrea Conder have been left in limbo. Picture: Mark Stewart

“They would ring my wife’s work looking for money when the house wasn’t even up to lockup (stage). There was water running down every room on the walls and the roof wasn’t even finished,” he said. “My wife had a breakdown for six months over the house; she couldn’t drop me off at the house, she’d be shaking – she could not drive past it.”

The behaviour Mr Conder said he experienced from the company made him cautious of being alone on site with them – and he would bring his son along. “I’m not talking about a scratch on the paint … the floor was just black with mould growing everywhere,” he said.

In 2020, Biological Health Services analysed eight swabs from the Conders’ Harkaway site and found some samples ranged from “high to very high” contamination. The report recommended professional remediation was required and all samples had “unacceptable levels” of mould spores.

“(We) have benchtops to be ripped out because they’re non-compliant, we have stumps that hold the house up, back steps and half the cabinetry that are all non-compliant,” Mr Conder said of his unfinished house. “The painters said there’s three weeks worth of work to repaint, there’s at least 10 walls that need to be ripped out, the whole side of the house has to be re-rendered. Both bathrooms also have to be ripped up.”

Terry Conder inspects a hole at his home. Picture: Mark Stewart

Mr Conder said he first alerted the Victorian Building Authority in June 2020 and continued to contact it until a few months ago.

The VBA said it was aware that Hallbury Homes had entered into external administration, adding it had received 24 complaints in 10 years, although most were closed with no further action. “One recent matter is being considered for further action,” a spokesman said.

Hallbury customer Rebecca Schrader has had a similar experience. She signed a contract with Hallbury at the end of 2019 for her dream home in Sunbury and described the builder as “notorious for doing things out of sequence”.

The house she had planned since 2014 is showing cracks in the plaster, uneven walls and new faults are continuing to pop up.

Issues at Rebecca Schrader's home.

The home from the outside.

She said her house with Hallbury had gone about eight months over contract with issues including incorrect materials being used and improperly installed features resulting in mould. Ms Schrader said she was forced to engage lawyers after one issue remained unresolved for 109 days.

“I liken their work to baking a chocolate cake, you need sugar, milk and chocolate … then after it’s baked, you go ‘oh we forgot to put in the chocolate, let’s just put it on top,” she said. “They do anything they can to get progress payments from you … this is what kept them going for this long.”

Ms Schrader said she was pressured into paying progress payments despite the minimum 80 per cent work threshold to receive the funds not being met.

“We started to realise that things were really not going well because they kept asking for money. We had different trades coming to site; there wasn’t one trade that was consistent,” she said. “I had to fight so hard for something I shouldn’t have to fight hard for because all we’re asking for is what’s in the contract and the minimum standards – nothing more, nothing less; when people come to my house, they tell me that the house looks five or six years old because of the poor workmanship.”

Ms Schrader said she “cried out of happiness” when she heard Hallbury would be going under.

Another client, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said her build, which started in early 2021, was still at the frame stage.

Calls to the company and its directors were not returned.

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Originally published as Hallbury Homes customers reveal years of delayed projects in Melbourne