Adelaide Designer Homes collapses leaving dozens of heartbroken families with unfinished homes

A South Australian housing company has gone bust, leaving 20 homes unfinished and more than 80 creditors with significant unpaid bills.

Adelaide Designer Homes has been declared bankrupt and is being handled by Anna Agostino of the bankruptcy firm Clifton Hall.

“We wrote to the homeowners (Thursday) and essentially returned the lots, saying the company can’t continue,” Ms. Agostino said. 9News.

An employee of the company said he should have left earlier because he had run out of money and the company had been in financial trouble for some time.

“With a name like Adelaide Designer Homes you would think that this is what you get… that maybe it will get better, that maybe we can get through it or that it’s just a setback, but it’s not,” he said.

Ms Agostino said rising material and labour costs meant the company could not fulfil fixed-price contracts it had in place before Covid.

She added that she is investigating whether the company should have closed earlier.

“We will investigate whether they did that on time or not, but they have fulfilled that obligation.”

This week, approximately 20 construction sites were returned unfinished to paying customers

The luxury home builder previously won the HIA-CSR Housing Award for Best SA Bathroom and another for Best SA Steel Frame Project.

Some creditors allege that the company took on more work than it had resources to fulfill before it went bankrupt.

Nearly 3,000 builders went bust in Australia last year, according to data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

That number is about 28 percent higher than last year.

Adelaide Designer Homes has been contacted for comment.