Yet another family have fallen victim to Australia’s building crisis after their construction firm “ghosted” them for over a year and then collapsed, leaving them thousands of dollars out of pocket.
On Friday, regional NSW builder Tozer Construction Group, based in Wagga Wagga, was court-ordered to go into liquidation.
Stephen Hundy of Worrells was appointed as the liquidator but he told news.com.au he does not yet know how much the company owes or how many homeowners have been left in the lurch.
However, a look at the firm’s credit history reveals a trail of disgruntled contractors and homeowners.
One of those is 44-year-old Anita Kemp, a mum-of-three who paid a $14,000 deposit to add an extra bedroom to her house, only for work to stall for a year and a half.
She sent multiple legal letters to Tozer Construction Group asking for her money back after nothing was done for over a year but never received a response.
Ms Kemp has since learned she is not protected by the Home Builder’s Compensation Fund (HBCF), as the builder didn’t register her build, meaning she can’t get back any money through insurance.
“It’s unravelled to be a nightmare,” the mum told news.com.au. “The deposit was $13,200, which may not sound like a lot, but it is a lot for our family.
“(They’ve) taken my money and run.”
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“We were totally ghosted, (they have) taken the money and didn’t want to have anything to do with us since,” Ms Kemp continued.
Ms Kemp and her husband have three kids – two of whom share a room – and they wanted an extra bedroom in time for their eldest daughter’s final year of school.
“She’s in a little sardine box in her little room,” Ms Kemp said. “Our family has grown but our house hasn’t grown with us.”
The plan was for their daughter to move into the new room where she could fit a desk, while their two sons would inhabit the two pre-existing rooms.
Unfortunately, Ms Kemp’s daughter had her exam last Friday, on October 28 – the same day that Tozer Construction went into liquidation when the bedroom hadn’t even begun to be built.
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In May last year, the family approached Tozer Construction Group to complete the renovation, and paid the deposit the following month for their $60,000 build.
They said the firm appeared “legitimate” as it had its own shopfront and receptionist, but during the second wave of Covid-19 the shop shut down and it was never reinstated.
It reached October 2021 and no work had been undertaken, when Ms Kemp started chasing up what was happening to her build.
She was alarmed to discover several staff had quit and that communication was minimal, having to repeatedly call to get any kind of answer.
By January this year, she issued letters of demand and even employed lawyers to do the same saying she no longer wanted to continue with her renovation and wanted her money to be paid back, but the company’s director never responded.
Ms Kemp said she searched up the director’s address on ASIC and personally served him one of her letters, although she never received a refund.
She even took the case to court and a default judgment was issued, but that still didn’t make the company return her money.
“I shouldn't have to pay someone to get my own bloody money back. I haven’t done anything wrong,” she lamented.
She doesn’t expect to receive much, if anything, back through the liquidation either.
A report from private credit reporting bureau CreditorWatch shows Tozer Construction Group has a number of trades who are owed money.
The company was forced to go into liquidation after a joinery business called Ronbo Contracting started winding up proceedings over an unpaid debt.
American Express is owed $100,000, according to a default judgment order in September, while timber company Dahlsens Building Centres is owed almost $20,000.
Then there’s Steel Supplies, owed $9200, and the Building Supply Co who took the company to court over a $27,000 debt.
Beaumont Concreting took them to court in May over $21,000 of labour costs that went unpaid. Big River Roofing is also owed the same amount.
The liquidator, Mr Hundy, has implored creditors to contact his office so that they can lodge a proof of debt claim.
News.com.au has attempted to contact the company’s director.
A spate of construction companies have collapsed this year with more than a dozen failing caused by a perfect storm of supply chain disruptions, skilled labour shortages, skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics, and extreme weather events.
Last week, Brisbane-based builder Lanskey Constructions QLD went into liquidation.
In August, major Queensland residential builder Oracle Platinum Homes went into liquidation owing $14 million and impacting 300 homes, 200 suppliers and subcontractors and 70 staff members who were made jobless.
Another Queensland builder, Besse Construction, collapsed the same month owing $1.7 million.
Industry giant Gold Coast-based Condev also went into liquidation earlier this year.
In July, Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Victorian Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million.
Others joined the list too including Inside Out Construction, Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes, Statement Builders and Langford Jones Homes.
Then there was NSW building company Willoughby Homes, which went into voluntary administration, leaving at least 30 homes in limbo.
Also shuttered was Norris Construction Group, which was in Geelong, collapsing in March with $27 million in debt. It owes $3.2 million to around 140 staff that it is unlikely to be able to repay, according to the liquidator’s report.
Plus there was Melbourne-based company Blint Builders that collapsed with approximately $1 million in outstanding debt owed to 50 creditors, according to the liquidators.
alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au
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