Urban Trend Construction liquidation: Mackay builder owes $93k for Porsche

The downfall of an award-winning Qld firm left half-built homes with water damage. Now its creditor debt has blown past $2m, with landlords, tradies and even a car dealership unlikely to get their money back.

Liquidators cite poor financial control as a potential reason for a Mackay-Whitsundays construction business going under as more creditors come forward, and questions swirl over $460,000 in director loans and $93,000 Porsche.

Urban Trend Construction (UTC), a previously award-winning construction business, went into liquidation leaving homes unfinished and now owes more than $2.2m to its creditors including numerous suppliers, trade businesses, equipment rentals and Volkswagen.

SV Partners Mackay director and liquidator Frank O’Neill wrote in his latest report on the liquidation poor financial and management controls, particularly in the monitoring of construction costs, was one of the contributing factors in the companies downfall.

Mr O’Neill express the view in the report directors Ken and Kathryn Ogilvie have no defence to avoid personal liability in a potential insolvent trading claim.

Huge parts of the basement walls have since had to be removed due to mould.

“Mr Ogilvie attributed the company’s failure to unprofitable contracts, skill/labour shortages and adverse weather conditions,” Mr O’Neill wrote.
Mr O’Neill’s latest evaluation of the company led him to believe the company may have been trading while insolvent as early as August 2023, coming to his conclusion after viewing company balance sheets and other financial data.

Mr O’Neil said poor financial management may be behind UTC Director’s Ken and Kathryn Ogilvie downfall.

Mr O’Neill also discovered the directors owe $468,098 on director loan accounts, which he intends to report as an act of withdrawing funds from the company for personal use “in circumstances where the company couldn’t meet its due and payable debt”.

The latest report has also revealed over $140k in employee entitlements have gone unpaid with the bulk of this figure including superannuation.

These entitlements will be prioritised over other unsecured creditors in the liquidation.

UTC currently owes $93k on a Porsche Macan, at the same time as more than $140k on employee entitlements.

A standout debt identified by the liquidator was an almost $94k balance owed on a 2019 Porsche Macan Wagon, with Volkswagen listed as the creditor.

Other significant unsecured creditors include the ATO, owed $561,605 and Aero Glass and Aluminium, owed $140k.

Mr O’Neill said a number of the company’s customers had approached him with claims amounting to more than $1.6m, but has yet to quantify these claims for himself.

The liquidator’s report is investigating whether UTC continued to trade while insolvent, failed to act with a degree of care and diligence and failed to act in good faith.

Ken Ogilvie was contacted for comment, and asked to explain what the director loans were for. He declined the opportunity.

Kathryn Ogilvie was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Urban Trend Construction liquidation: Mackay builder owes $93k for Porsche