When builders go bust: What to do when renovating goes very wrong

A few months into a build on an old clothing manufacturer’s warehouse in the Sydney suburb of St Peters, the team’s worst nightmare happened: the builder went bust.

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When art gallery director Saxon Strauss put his hand up for the winning bid on an old clothing manufacturer’s warehouse in the Sydney suburb of St Peters, it was the beginning of a dream he’d nurtured for a very long time.

He and his girlfriend, sommelier Lisa Guenther, had been living in Saxon’s dad’s basement for three years to save enough money to buy their perfect fixer-upper.

Settlement sorted, Saxon engaged architect Luke Durack, from Durack Architects, to transform this very urban, very industrial space into a light-filled, liveable home and at first things went off without a hitch.

Architect Luke Durack shares some thoughts with a team member after disaster struck. Image: Supplied.

The two parties gelled well and the design began to take shape; a three-bedroom, two-storey home with a cantilevered mezzanine that blended the sense of scale and drama of the old factory with a modern extension, centred around a bright courtyard backing on to a local park. But then, a few months into the build, the team’s worst nightmare happened: the builder went bust.

“It was incredibly stressful for everyone involved,” says architect Luke.

“The builder wasn’t easy to deal with; he didn’t want to wind up his company but he also couldn’t complete the job. That meant we couldn’t claim homeowners’ warranty insurance.”

From a disaster to a true beauty. Image: Katherine Lu.

Today, Saxon is still battling the paperwork to get fully compensated for the loss. A build which should have taken nine months ended up taking an extra year.

A silver lining was that Luke was able to engage a new builder, Chris Griffin from Burmah Constructions, fairly quickly and because the project was still in its infancy (a bit of excavation had been done and a bit of drainage) the handover was reasonably seamless.

“It wasn’t too bad,” says Chris.

“I’ve had other projects where you’ve had to go back and take things apart and redo things. In this case it was incredibly stressful for the client – and the paperwork is still ongoing for him – but it could have been much worse.”

Part of the reason the transition was relatively painless was that Luke, as the architect, was able to be the go-between.

“When an event like this takes place, having an architect on board who is managing the contract between the client and the builder can be a big help,” says Luke.

“The architect will manage the often complicated task of assessing where the work is at, in terms of work complete versus money paid, and generally assist the client with how to protect themselves financially.”

Graffiti House as the home became known after it was completed — finally. Image: Katherine Lu.

A difficult start turned into a tremendous home. Image: Katherine Lu.

Thankfully for everyone involved in this project, the end result was everything Saxon and Lisa, and their greyhound Domino, could ever have wanted. The space is a delicate juxtaposition of the old and the new, and Saxon likes the sense of community interaction that comes with being so close to the park.

“It can be super busy and loud sometimes but in the best possible way. It’s people having fun outside; a soundtrack of positivity.”

He also loves his office area which Luke designed to incorporate a projector screen so he and Lisa – both film fiends – can ensconce themselves in movie nights. And he also loves Luke’s careful choice of materials.

Graffiti House is now an architectural triumph. Image: Katherine Lu.

“I was going to have a lot more brick walls and stained timber but Luke convinced me to go more natural, to enjoy the materials for what they are,” Saxon says.

“It’s totally different to how I imagined it to be but when you’re working with an artist you have to let them run with it and then see if you like it. And I did.”

Speaking of art, the part of the building that’s perhaps more arresting isn’t even inside. It’s the 180 sqm mural created by Sydney illustrator Alex Lehours.
It’s a collage of Saxon and Lisa’s favourite things: the robot from the sci-fi film Metropolis, and a depiction of the Duke of Wellington monument in Scotland, which was famous for a prankster repeatedly topping its head with an orange traffic cone.

The open-plan kitchen where guests can gather. Image: Katherine Lu.

There’s Darryl Kerrigan from The Castle, a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that the home sits almost directly in the flight path of Sydney airport. And then there’s a quote from Twin Peaks that is close to the couple’s hearts and neatly summarises the twists and turns of the journey that they had to take to finally live in their perfect home.

“I have no idea where this will lead us,” the quote reads, “But I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”