Melbourne family reveals trick to survive building crisis, and what they think those building today should do

A family has revealed how they navigated a national building crisis that’s caused major delays and builder collapses, and the one thing they think anyone building a new home today must do.

Haridev Nadarajan reveals what kept him and wife Barathi Loganathan as well as their girls Yaalynie, 7, and Ahanya, 5, going as they built a new home during the midst of a national building crisis. Picture: Valeriu Campan.

Haridev Nadarajan, wife Barathi Loganathan and their girls Yaalynie, 7, and Ahanya, 5, signed up to build a home with Metricon in the midst of Australia’s home building crisis in 2021.

They’ve since endured the full rollercoaster of the industry’s ups and downs, with supply and trades shortages causing lengthy build timelines that meant they were still a month away from getting the keys when Porter Davis collapsed earlier this year – a firm they almost selected.

Mr Nadarajan said they would do it all again if they had their time over, especially knowing they had increased the supply of homes after they saw 30 people at a time inspecting their former rental home.

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He also recommended others build a new home, but advised seeking a fixed-price contract for “peace of mind”.

“We were seeing material prices going up and people getting a bill for an extra $30,000 or $40,000, but we weren’t in a position to pay that extra,” Mr Nadarajan said.

“So we switched through three builders, even after paying a small deposit that they refunded, to get one. That was the deal breaker for us.”

They were partway through building their home when rumours about Metricon’s stability emerged following the tragic death of the company’s founder, Mario Biasin.

“The best we could do was look at the bright side; we kept visualising getting our home and getting the key, and talking to our site manager and our sales consultant, and they kept us well informed,” Mr Nadarajan said.
The father of four added that he had been particularly impressed with the efforts of their site manager Kennet Cini, who had kept them well informed throughout.

Mr Nadarajan advised trying to establish who your key point of contact during the build would be and ensuring you were comfortable with them in that role.

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Originally published as Melbourne family reveals trick to survive building crisis, and what they think those building today should do