Customers of a collapsed Melbourne builder have come forward with horror stories about dealing with the company
Customers of a collapsed Melbourne builder have come forward with horror stories of mould, shoddy work and years-long delays.
Hallbury Homes became the first builder to fail in 2023 when it went into voluntary administration early this month with about 50 projects still on its books.
One of those projects was a home for Terry Conder, 60, and his wife, Andrea. The Conders signed a contract for their art deco-style home in Harkaway in 2017 – a home that’s still unfinished six years later. Conder told The Australian it will take more than $350,000 and another nine months of work to complete the home.
Michael Caspaney of Menzies Advisory was appointed administrator for Hallbury. He said last week that the company owed about $6 million to hundreds of creditors.
“We’ve sent letters out to about 390 creditors and they have about $6 million in trade debt,” Caspaney told The Australian. “I’m also in communication with about 40 to 50 customers who are mitigating their position in relation to securing their sites, talking to the warranty insurer and chasing up new builders.”
“Black with mould”
Conder said the prolonged construction time on his home – more than two years over contract – and “aggressive and abusive” behaviour from Hallbury had negatively impacted the couple’s finances and health.
“They would ring my wife’s work looking for money when the house wasn’t even to lockup [stage],” Conder told The Australian. “There was water running down every room on the walls and the roof wasn’t even finished. My wife had a breakdown for six months over the house. She couldn’t drop me off at the house, she’d be shaking – she could not drive past it.”
Conder also said the floor of the house was “black with mould growing everywhere.”
In 2020, Biological Health Services analysed eight swabs from the site and found that all samples had “unacceptable levels” of mould spores. Some samples ranged from “high to very high” contamination. Biological Health Services recommended that professional remediation would be needed, The Australian reported.
Hallbury was “notorious”
Hallbury customer Rebecca Schrader, who signed a contract with the company at the end of 2019 for a home in Sunbury, said the builder was “notorious for doing things out of sequence.”
Scrader’s house has cracks in the plaster and uneven walls – and new faults are continuing to appear, The Australian reported.
Schrader said the builder had gone about eight months over contract, and had used incorrect materials and improperly installed features, which resulted in mould. She said she was even forced to engage lawyers after the builder failed to resolve one issue for 109 days.
“I liken their work to baking a chocolate cake. You need sugar, milk and chocolate … then after it’s baked, you go, ‘Oh, we forgot to put in the chocolate, let’s just put it on top,’” Schrader told The Australian. “They do anything they can to get progress payments from you … this is what kept them going for this long.”
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Schrader said she was pressured into paying progress payments even though Hallbury failed to meet the minimum 80% work threshold to receive the funds.
“We started to realise that things were really not going well because they kept asking for money,” she said. “We had different trades coming to site; there wasn’t one trade that was consistent. I had to fight so hard for something I shouldn’t have had to fight for, because all we’re asking for is what’s in the contract and the minimum standards – nothing more, nothing less.”
Schrader said she “cried out of happiness” when she heard about the builder’s collapse.
Hallbury could not be reached for comment, The Australian reported.
Hallbury Homes is one of nearly 30 construction companies to collapse over the last 18 months. Just days after Hallbury went into administration, Brisbane builder LDC went into liquidation owing creditors about $7 million and leaving nearly 50 projects incomplete.
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