Porter Davis Homes collapses as home builder appoints liquidator Grant Thornton

One of the country’s largest homebuilders has collapsed and 1,700 projects are on hold.

Victoria-based Porter Davis Homes filed for bankruptcy on Friday.

The company struggled to find a buyer for the White Knight on Thursday night, prompting them to appoint Grant Thornton as liquidators the following morning.

Approximately 470 employees are employed by the company and have worked on at least 1,700 projects in Victoria and Queensland.

It was ranked as the 13th largest home builder in the country with a whopping 1,734 homes built in the 2020/21 fiscal year.

More than 1,500 homes were currently being built in Melbourne, another 200 in Queensland and a further 779 projects had yet to begin.

Staff were informed at a meeting on Friday morning that the company was going under.

One employee, who has been with the company for eight years, said the construction industry is facing unprecedented times.

“Construction is a volatile industry right now,” he said. “I’ve never seen it like this.”

Grant Thornton said liquidators would investigate the reasons for the collapse.

“The extremely challenging housing environment has directly contributed to the financial position of PDH Group (trading as Porter Davis), with rising input costs, supply chain delays, labor shortages and a decline in demand for new homes by 2023. , which has an impact on liquidity,” the company said.

Subbies United’s John Goddard said some subcontractors are still waiting for payments since Christmas.

“Suppliers have stopped their accounts and subordinates don’t work for them,” Mr Goddard said.

“It’s another box builder.”

The Porter Davis board said they would look into ways to help customers finish their builds.

Porter Davis Homes is the latest construction company to shut down after PBS Building went into voluntary receivership on March 7.

Approximately 470 employees are employed by the company and have worked on at least 1,700 projects in Victoria and Queensland

PBS Building has built major residential and commercial projects in New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland.

The company was in business for 33 years before insolvency firm RSM Australia Partners Jonathon Colbran, Richard Stone and Mitchell Herrett announced its collapse.

PBS’ board of directors and company founder Ian Carter released a statement saying that the team had always prided themselves on getting the job done.

“This has been a heartbreaking decision that we know will affect many lives and livelihoods,” they said.

But after months of intense behind-the-scenes efforts, it was ultimately the only responsible course of action. With regard to our current projects, we have secured, not abandoned, these sites with the express intention of not incurring further costs.

“We took this step to ensure we could negotiate better outcomes with clients for the ultimate benefit of creditors.”

More to come