Taskers Living Development Company goes into voluntary liquidation

An award-winning builder of luxury apartments has voluntarily declared bankruptcy.

Taskers Living Development Company entered voluntary bankruptcy on Monday.

David Hurt, of WA Insolvency Solutions, said no creditors were owed any money.

“It’s a voluntary liquidation, it’s not insolvent. They just don’t need the company anymore,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘It’s not working now. We’ve just been asked to liquidate that particular company, they’ve just closed down that particular entity.

“The company has reached the end of its life, for whatever purpose, and it is no longer needed.”

The Perth-based developer won the Master Builders Excellence in Construction Award for best apartment building in 2016.

It had built apartments overlooking the Swan River and North Fremantle beach.

Director Gary Dempsey’s Gary Dempsey Developments was the project manager of Taskers’ Siskas development in North Fremantle, which was completed in 2021.

“It is standard procedure to close a project entity upon completion,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

‘As such, Taskers Living Development Company Pty Ltd has been placed into voluntary liquidation as part of this process.

‘All debts have been paid off and there have been no staff for a number of years.’

Mr. Dempsey continues to build apartments with his other company Gary Dempsey Developments, which he founded in 1987.

The construction company has voluntarily closed, while countless other businesses have been forced to close due to rising costs.

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates for the thirteenth time in eighteen months in November, bringing the cash rate to a twelve-year high of 4.35 percent.

Credit rating agency Moody’s Analytics warned that the construction sector is particularly at risk with economic growth in Australia set to slow to 0.9 percent in 2024 – from 1.9 percent in 2023.

Taskers Living Development Company went bankrupt on Monday, meaning the company would cease to exist (pictured is the Siskas development in North Fremantle)

“Construction is a particularly weak area, with filings from external authorities increasing over the past three years,” said report author Katrina Ell.

“The construction industry has faced a perfect storm of labor shortages, delays and rising material costs.”

Construction companies were responsible for 30 per cent of total bankruptcies filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in 2022-2023.

Moody’s Analytics says smaller construction companies, which primarily build homes, are more at risk.

“Small and medium-sized construction companies have been particularly vulnerable because they lacked the cash flow buffers or insurance coverage of their larger competitors to absorb delays and price increases,” the report said.

Western Australia will also experience dry conditions in 2024 as heavy rain falls on the east coast.

Dennis Voznesenski, a sustainable agricultural economist at the Commonwealth Bank, said this would impact farmers in Western Australia.

“While the east coast of Australia has seen a phenomenal turnaround in soil moisture since November last year, many Western Australian growing areas have continued to swelter in hot and dry conditions,” he said.

However, Perth has the best housing market in Australia’s capital. Data from CoreLogic shows house and unit prices rose 16.7 per cent to $676,823 in the year to January 2024.

Director Gary Dempsey’s Gary Dempsey Developments was the project manager of Taskers’ Sikas development in North Fremantle, which was completed in 2021