'Suspicious' fire tears through Porter Davis home after construction giant's collapse

Authorities were alerted to the fire at North Clyde in the city’s south-east at 4.30pm on Monday, which detectives suspect was deliberately lit.

“The building on Adante Court was not occupied at the time and no one was injured,” Victoria Police said in a statement.

“Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fire, which is being treated as suspicious at this stage.”

The blaze comes amid a suspected rise in out-of-pocket tradies vandalising construction sites after the collapse of Porter Davis homes, which went bust late last month.

The Melbourne-based construction group, which boasts 470 employees and has more than 1500 homes in progress, appointed Grant Thornton Australia as liquidators on March 31.

The administrators for Porter Davis Homes said there are 779 signed contracts with customers where building has yet to commence.

Devastated customers are now padlocking fences and installing security cameras to ensure their new homes aren’t targeted.

In one incident, cabinetry was smashed, doors scratched and taps opened to flood an entire house in Berwick, in Melbourne’s south-east, that was just days away from completion.

The home which was engulfed by flames yesterday was just days away from completion.

Today reporter Christine Ahern said a young family with three children were due to move into the home next month. 

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“I’ve been speaking to a neighbour who witnessed the whole thing,” she said on 3AW.

“She said that she saw a man leave the property, she didn’t think too much of it because this a massive construction site.

“But moments after, she heard a bang and then the house was alight.

“She has told all of this to police – though she doesn’t know for sure, she believes it was a tradie.”

Ahern said the house was sandwiched between two other Porter Davis homes.

“The outside two are steel-framed, the middle one that has gone up in flames is wooden-framed,” she said.

“It’s only next month that the young family with three daughters were scheduled to move in here.” 

Homeowners with under-construction properties being handled by Porter Davis “are taking matters into their own hands” to ensure they don’t become the next victims of the alleged vandalism.

They’re padlocking properties, changing the locks and “doing their own surveillance”, Ahern said.