Australia’s construction industry has been rocked by the collapse of yet another builder.
Victorian firm River Dale Building Group Pty Ltd, which trades as Chatham Homes, appointed Andrew Schwarz from AS Advisory as liquidator at lunchtime on Monday.
Schwarz confirmed to 9news.com.au that the company owes around 200 creditors a total of $2 million, although the liquidators are still gathering information about its affairs.
Sixteen staff had their employment terminated yesterday, and the status of Chatham Homes’ roughly 50 active building projects – which are at various stages of completion – is up in the air.
Schwarz said the industry’s “well known problems” were behind the collapse, including fixed-price contracts, supply constraints and building delays.
As of 1pm today, Chatham Homes’ social media accounts and website are still active.
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The latter bills the company as “one of Victoria’s leading boutique home builders”, covering the Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat regions.
In 2022, the company was recognised at the national sustainable building awards, winning the Housing Industry Association Australian GreenSmart Display/Project Home award.
The collapse of Chatham Homes is just the latest in a dire few years for Australia’s construction industry.
As of June, more than 2000 building companies had gone into liquidation, according to ASIC data, as supply-chain issues, rising interest rates, and the end of pandemic-era stimulus took their toll on the sector.
