By Eleanor Wilson
Amber Barnes should be spending this Christmas in her brand new home in Clyde North.
The first home buyer had been saving up since 2018 to purchase the three bedroom, two bathroom townhouse, located in the prospective Five Farms Estate off Pound Road.
But news of the collapse of one of Australia’s largest building companies, Porter Davis, changed all of that.
“I’ve got almost $60,000 locked up in house and land that I don’t know how to get back,” she said.
“It’s devastating. You know, you save your whole life and now it’s just gone.”
Porter Davis announced it was going into liquidation on Friday, leaving 1500 unfinished homes in Victoria hanging in the balance.
On 31 March Grant Thornton Partners confirmed it had been appointed liquidators of the Porter Davis Homes Group, covering 14 companies.
Rising input costs, supply chain delays, labour shortages and falling demand contributed to Porter Davis’ collapse, the liquidators said.
Miss Barnes purchased her split-loan house and land package in December 2021.
Six months later, the Berwick local took a leap of faith and moved half-way across the world, to Saudi Arabia, for a high paying job which would help her get on top of her mortgage.
“I was at that point where, being on my own and trying to be able to afford a house was not going to be possible with all the rate rises and everything that’s going on in the world.
“So I chose to come over here and try to earn as much as possible to put towards not having such a big loan.”
Her return date to Australia was planned for 1 November, but now, she said she is unsure of her future.
Miss Barnes had already put $60,000 towards the house and land package, half of which went to Porter Davis for the build portion.
She was due to settle on the home next month, after which building would have commenced.
But, having signed a separate contract with an external developer for the land portion of her home, she fears she will be forced to settle on the package without a builder.
“Because the land is not through Porter Davis, I still have to settle on the land, so I’m going to be paying the mortgage on the land up until a house can actually go on the block.”
In a second hit for the young childcare worker, with building yet to start on her home, her deposit was not covered by insurance, meaning she will likely lose out on at least $27,000 paid to the construction giant.
She is one of many Porter Davis customers in a similar predicament, liquidator Said Jahani warned at a webinar on Tuesday.
“At its extreme, it means you do not have any insurance cover, and it means that the deposit you have paid has been lost,” he said.
“However, as I have said, we are trying to work with the VMIA [Victorian Managed Insurance Authority] and the QBCC [Queensland Building and Construction Commission] to see whether there is an alternative solution there.”
Miss Barnes said her current best option is to employ another builder to take on the construction of the home.
But even that would stir up between $80,000 to $120,000 in extra charges, she estimates.
“It’s going to cost us more than what we had first settled with with Porter Davis because we are now, as I said, two years down the track, everything’s gone up.
“It’s not going to be the fixed price we want. Or we try to get out of it, but I don’t want to lose on the money. I don’t want to lose on the location…it’s all in limbo.”
She claims she has not received any direct contact from Porter Davis, her estate agent or liquidators.
“I’ve had no contact with anybody. So I don’t I don’t know where I stand. I have absolutely no idea…its frustrating.
“Being a high volume builder, and you’d think that you were safe with them for this to turn around and happen. It just goes to show that it could happen to anyone.
“I just personally just feel for everyone who’s in the same situation and just hope that they do the right thing. I hope that they come out and help their customers as much as they can. And you know, the government maybe needs to step in.”
In Tuesday’s webinar, liquidators said they are in discussion with several builders about the possibility of acquiring Porter Davis.
That decision should be made within a week, they said.
