Two Wells couple cancel wedding, refinance home after Adelaide Exposed Concrete collapse leaves them ‘on the brink’

Kelly and Gary were looking forward to their wedding but were forced to cancel after forking out thousands to Adelaide Exposed Concrete for a job.

• More fallout for failed concrete business owner

A Two Wells couple were forced to cancel their wedding after forking out $18,000 for a concreting job that left them with an “unsafe, nearly unusable” backyard.

Kelly Bunker and Gary Prause hired Adelaide Exposed Concrete (AEC) to concrete around their pool and back garden, but the job was never finished.

AEC went into liquidation on May 7, owing approximately $1.7m to 122 creditors.

Ms Bunker and Mr Prause were one of the many households left in the lurch by AEC crumbling.

Shane Lynch, owner of AEC, was contacted by the couple in November, Ms Bunker said, and come January work had started at their home — only concrete wasn’t being laid, it was being ripped up.

Kelly Bunker and Gary Prause hired Adelaide Exposed Concrete to concrete their backyard, but the job was never finished. Picture: Supplied

Concreter Shane Lynch. Picture: Supplied

“We already had some concrete laid and he (Mr Lynch) said ‘we should really remove this because it’ll look better if it’s all the same concrete’,” Ms Bunker said.

“They ripped up some of the concrete, and damaged our water pipes in the process and we had the backyard flooded.

“(Mr Lynch) goes: ‘I’m really sorry, I’m not a plumber, I’m a concreter’.”

Ms Bunker said it was at this point the pair decided to move away from AEC and “get this fixed properly”, but when they tried to get their money back is when the “constant excuses” came through.

Mr Prause and Ms Bunker had paid AEC $18,000 for the job, money that they had wanted to spend on their wedding.

Together for eight years, Ms Bunker said everything was booked for a 2024 wedding but the cost of living, having three kids at home, and losing the $18,000 they’d got from refinancing their mortgage was just too much for the couple “already on the brink”.

Kelly Bunker and Gary Prause hired Adelaide Exposed Concrete to concrete their backyard, but the job was never finished. Picture: Supplied

“We’re looking at ways to cut back here and there, and it might just be your coffee in the morning every day when you go to work, you don’t do that anymore because you’re like, we’ve just got to really buckle down now because we’ve got to get this backyard done,” Ms Bunker said.

“It’s really stressful, and I think I’m still processing it, I’m like ‘oh, it’ll be OK’, but it’s really not.”

Quotes to finish the Two Wells backyard have risen since November, the couple looking at paying a further $22,000.

“It’s just not fair,” Ms Bunker said.

“We’ve got our daughter’s 18th this year, and then there’s Christmas obviously, and with the cost of living, our mortgage at the minute, our wedding is just basically on the back burner because we don’t know how long until we can get on our feet.”

Mr Lynch, through the liquidator, has said he does not wish to comment..

Originally published as Two Wells couple cancel wedding, refinance home after Adelaide Exposed Concrete collapse leaves them ‘on the brink’