Construction firm collapses owing at least $3 million
Yet another Queensland builder has collapsed, this one only weeks after a regulator raised concerns about its financial stability.
Dane Hammond and Paul Nogueira of Worrells were appointed liquidators of National Construction Management (NCM), a Sunshine Coast firm, amid concerns that the company wasn’t paying its subcontractors and suppliers, The Australian reported.
Hammond said he was still trying to determine how much creditors were owed, but company records indicated debts of approximately $3 million, including an amount to the Australian Taxation Office.
Hammond said he believed the firm had only three incomplete projects, and these had been terminated prior to the liquidators’ appointment.
“The company had been struggling with many of the same issues that have plagued the building and construction industry over the past few years,” Hammond told The Australian. “This included a shortage of available labour, increases in raw material and contractor prices and projects either being delayed or shelved.”
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Last month, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission placed controls on NCM’s licence to prevent it from providing tenders and quotes without prior approval from the regulator.
The restrictions also prevented the company from entering into any new building contracts without getting prior QBCC approval and paying subcontractors in advance, The Australian reported.
NCM was founded in 2006 and dealt in commercial, residential, educational and aged-care projects between $5 million and $100 million. According to the QBCC, the company took on $12.7 million worth of residential construction work in 2020.21 but only $6.3 million in 2021/22.
NCM’s failure comes on the heels of last week’s collapse of national building company PBS, which failed owing creditors $25 million and leaving 80 projects unfinished.
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