Within the last financial year in Queensland, the number of building contractors whose licences were cancelled due to bankruptcy increased by 25%^ – leaving behind them countless unfinished homes. Metro Builders was just one of the builders to stop building, with 24 homes left uncompleted.
Dixon Homes Sales Manager Kym Waldron said, “Every family in Australia deserves to have their home completed. It’s very sad what’s happening within the building industry following a slowdown in sales. I believe some builders just haven’t been able to comply with the tightening regulations and new lending practices that have changed as a result of the banking Royal Commission.”
This is obviously a terrible outcome for all involved, however Kym also raised concerns around the impact on structural integrity when homes are left incomplete – with an increase in the number of unfinished homes having the potential to blow out insurance times for assigning a replacement builder and the risk for significant long term damage on building sites as a result of the structure sitting unfinished for long periods of time.
Kym said, “We’ve been able to help families left in this position before – to quickly get their construction back on track by taking on the remaining build. Our Dixon Homes proprietary software has 1000s of designs, plans and prices – so we can price a project really quickly, even within 48 hours for standard construction. Although not specifically designed for this work, our system and its many choices does makes it very easy for us to take on unfinished work and do it cost effectively. We can quickly assess the existing plans and survey the land to determine if it is suitable. Being able to price it with our systems and inclusions also means it could cost less than the previous builders’ price, so the family could even be left with some money at the end of construction – a much needed break I’m sure.”
Grant and Zoe Whittle from Tallebudgera are one of the families Dixon Homes worked with to complete their unfinished 4 bedroom 2 bathroom home. Grant said, “we moved up from Sydney with my business and were in the area for a few years before we decided to build. One year into construction the builder went bankrupt – we couldn’t get an answer from them for months. When we contacted the industry body we were told it might take up to 6 months for the insurance to assign a new builder, so we started looking at other options ourselves. After speaking with three builders we were really happy with Dixon, the types of homes they built and the cost. The other builders couldn’t compete with their price and they had our home finished in 16 weeks.”
Kym said, “If you’re caught in a similar position, Dixon Homes can help and are the proud builder of over 80,000 Australian family homes. Dixon Homes is quality assured (ISO 9001:2015), is 100% debt free and provides our comprehensive building insurance across the complete project.”
^ Source: QBCC 2017-18 and 2016-17 annual report – “contractor licences immediately suspended due to insolvent trading or other serious risk”.