Shopfit Co, directed by Skye Wheatley’s partner Lachlan Waugh, in administration over ATO debt

A building company run by the partner of a Gold Coast reality TV star has gone into external administration. Find out why

A shop-fitting company run by the partner of a Gold Coast reality TV hotshot has gone into external administration after being unable to pay its debts.

Shopfit Co has completed fit-outs for scores of high-profile shops including Pink Monkey Burleigh, Red Rooster, Quiksilver, Muffin Break, California Tacos, Sass & Bide and more.

It is directed by Lachlan Waugh, partner of Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity Star Skye Wheatley.

Mr Waugh, 34, and Ms Wheatley, 30, have been documenting on social media the extensive renovation of a dilapidated mansion on an acreage at Tallai in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Videos and photos posted by the pair show workers in Shopfit Co shirts working on the property after arriving in a Shopfit truck.

Skye Wheatley with partner Lachlan Waugh.

Workers in Shopfit uniforms working on a mansion renovation at Tallai.

Ms Wheatley has her own business as co-director of activewear brand Good People Apparel.

Shareholders of Shopfit include Mr Waugh, the company’s chief financial officer Dannielle Tewkesbury and a company directed by its operations manager Steve Wilson.

Shopfit Co is being administered under the Small Business Restructuring program, which gives companies with debts of less than $1 million a last-ditch attempt to avoid liquidation.

Documents lodged with ASIC indicate the company’s major creditor is the Australian Taxation Office.

Influencer and ex-Big Brother star Skye Wheatley and her son, Forest, 2, at the Spanish mansion they are renovating after purchasing in 2019 when it was abandoned and left in a dilapidated state. Photo from 2021 by Scott Powick.

Shopfit holds a Queensland low-rise building licence, restricted to shop fitting, for maximum annual revenue of $12 million to $30 million.

According to QBCC records, it logged one residential job worth $650,000 in 2023-24.

The company expanded from its Carrara head office to establish a second factory at Smeaton Grange, southwest of Sydney in September last year.

The Gold Coast Bulletin has contacted Mr Waugh for comment.

The company has been locked in a District Court battle against Sydney man Dany Girgis for payment of $59,516 for a flashy interior fit-out of a Portuguese burger bar since July 2023.

Shopfit claimed Mr Girgis and his company Kokomo Living failed to pay for part of a fit-out of the Beloporto burger bar in Surfers Paradise in 2022.

Mr Girgis is countersuing Shopfit, alleging the work was not up to scratch and has asked the court to award him damages for breach of contract and loss of opportunity.

Beloporto never opened at the site and the case is still ongoing in the Southport District Court, with no hearing date set as of this week.

Shopfit Co has appointed an administrator under the Small Business Restructuring Program after being unable to pay its debts.

A report from administrator David Stimpson said the company had been referred to him by its corporate adviser Eventum Opium.

The restructure of the business follows similar action by multiple Gold Coast companies as the ATO cracks down on unpaid tax following a pandemic-induced hiatus on enforcement.

Among the high-profile local companies taking advantage of the restructuring plans are four top Gold Coast nightclubs operated by Artesian Hospitality Group, which will only have to pay $475,000 of a $2.2m tax debt after appointing a practitioner in January.

Creditors of a struggling Gold Coast fashion brand Outland Denim were offered a fifth of what they’re owed after that company appointed a restructuring practitioner in March.

It was unable to meet $522,933 in debts and offered $104,587 as consolation.

Originally published as Shopfit Co, directed by Skye Wheatley’s partner Lachlan Waugh, in administration over ATO debt