Residential builder Pride Homes & Developments has entered liquidation after joining the list of collapsed construction companies hit by cost and labour pressures.
Two Rocks-based residential builder Pride Homes & Developments has entered liquidation after joining the list of collapsed construction companies hit by cost and labour pressures.
Pride Homes & Developments Pty Ltd appointed Hamilton Murphy to wind down its operations following a general meeting on May 16.
Hamilton Murphy director Brett Orzel and partner Stephen Dixon were appointed liquidators, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents.
Business News understands the former Two Rocks-based builder had been operating since around 2017 and specialised in residential properties.
The company’s collapse left about a dozen projects in a lurch.
“(They were) principally a residential builder, they did have one commercial project on foot,” Mr Orzel told Business News.
“They weren't a large builder; I think they had about a dozen projects on when we were appointed.
“They had no staff, they used contractors to do the work.”
Mr Orzel said he believed there was not a “significant amount” of money owed.
He said a lot of the issues were driven by future costs to complete projects.
“That might change now that the company has been put into liquidation, and that the company is not in a position to complete those projects, so often as you imagine those people have to go and get another builder and that might cost more money, there might be damages, and that sort of thing," Mr Orzel said.
“Whether it's covered by insurance or otherwise.
“So, we do expect creditors may increase as a result of that once those projects have been completed and cost are determined.”
Speaking more broadly about the WA construction industry, Mr Orzel said it was a challenging time for the sector.
“There's a lot of difficulty in the building industry at the moment, with labour costs much more recently, but also the cost of products and delays with getting products and whether that’s as a result of or contributed to by COVID,” he said.
“In the building industry, those builders signed people up with fixed price contracts about three or four years ago and their margins have been well and truly eroded by those increased costs and those increased cost inputs.”
Pride Homes & Developments' website and social media platforms have been scrubbed and its phone disconnected.
The builder’s collapse follows The Slatter Group WA’s demise last week after it appointed EY to liquidate the 20-year-old company.
Slatter Group resolved to appoint the big four accounting firm to wind down the Perth-based company at a general meeting on May 29.
The company's collapse is expected to affect a pipeline of about 15 projects currently under way, about 10 staff members and an unconfirmed number of sub-contractors.
