Adelaide builder Stride Construction lays off staff with administration ‘imminent’

A South Australian and Queensland builder with several high-profile developments under its name has quietly suspended work on major building projects and laid off staff.

Adelaide builder Stride Construction has stopped work reportedly owing as much as $2 million to subcontractors, with sources claiming voluntary administration was imminent.

The company operates out of Warradale with projects in both SA and Queensland, but several sources told The Advertiser that up to 15 permanent staff were laid off on Monday.

Its head office was closed on Friday while its website is offline, and The Advertiser made several attempts to phone its landline without success.

Stride Construction's Warradale office was closed on Friday while its landline was unattended. Picture: Dave Kirner

Stride has handled several high profile developments including revamping the SeaLink building at 440 King William and recently completed extensions to Plympton International College.

It was also handling an uncompleted $1.2 million revamp of Hope Valley Sports Precinct at Tea Tree Gully.

The company’s sole director, David Angus, is currently based in SA and it is understood Queensland projects remain unaffected.

Stride handled upgrades for the SeaLink building at 440 King William St. Picture: Facebook

At least two subcontractors attached to a $2m upgrade of Strathalbyn Town Hall were owed up to $270k according to CFMEU SA secretary Dave Kirner, but more were likely to come forward.

Mr Kirner said discussions with the company would focus on repaying affected workers and that redundancy entitlements may need to be paid out.

An industry source close to the situation said outstanding debts could be as high as $2 million and the company was discussing options for liquidation.

Master Builders Association SA general manager Kym Morgan corroborated reports that staff had been told to down tools and said he was attempting to contact the business.

“The commercial sector is in a challenging period, but we are confident there is a strong pipeline of work throughout the state,” Mr Morgan said.

A state government spokeswoman said Stride was working on two publicly-funded projects, one mostly completed and another recently commenced, and it was re-assessing delivery timeframes for the latter.

Originally published as Adelaide builder Stride Construction lays off staff with administration ‘imminent’