When Adelaide Designer Homes was placed into liquidation last month electrician Ralph Czabayski was one of more than 80 creditors left out of pocket.
It also left 20 home owners like Joanna and Henry Clough without a completed home.
They're now living in their friend's tiny spare room and are expecting a baby next month.
Mr Czabayski is $80,000 out of pocket. It's a staggering figure but for him it's just the cost of doing business.
They signed with Adelaide Designer Homes in December 2020. Their build at Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills was plagued by delays from the start."It wasn't until January 2023 until the slab went down," Mr Clough told 7.30.
"Once the slab went down … we thought this is the year, thinking it would be under 12 months that it would be built.
His family has owned Star Electrical for more than 40 years and he told 7.30 Adelaide Designer Homes is the seventh builder who's owed him money to have collapsed over the past 15 years."No-one likes to lose money, without a doubt, because … I paid the wages for our electricians, materials for all of those jobs. So yeah, of course I would have loved to be paid," he said.
"Luckily we're busy and we can work our way through it but, look, it definitely hurts."
The Cloughs, though, have been left with a house frame. No wiring, no plumbing, no gyprock.
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sure this is only one story. but Morrison's fiscal stimulus has seen a lot of businesses inadequately covered. and now families and businesses are paying the price.
we've been seeing stories of so many builders going bust and people being left with incomplete or improperly finished homes.
and businesses which have survived many economic crises have collapsed, building companies and numerous contractors left with no payment for their work.
this is not solely the legacy of the LibNat govt and the Albanese mob too have not acted to ensure construction companies are managing to finish contracted works.
I don't know what the solution is, or who carries responsibility for addressing the current problem, but surely theres enough of this sort of problem to warrant federal and state govts to help families and businesses back on their feet and functional.
perhaps it should deserve a RC into this. but its literally disastrous for home buyers and pretty crook for contractors who miss out on being paid for their work
