A frustrated couple has now waited more than two years for their dream home to be completed by a company that promised to have it ready by Christmas.
Travis McElroy and his wife Noeleen signed a contract to build their new home on a plot of land they bought in August 2021 in Smythesdale, 20km south-west of Ballarat, Victoria.
But more than 850 days after signing with builder Burbank Homes, the fed-up couple is still waiting for the home to be completed.
Mr McElroy said delays in building the house have left him with no choice but to continue the agonizing wait that has led to financial stress.
“It keeps me awake at night,” he told the newspaper ABC.
Travis McElroy and his wife Noeleen (pictured) have suffered frustrating delays in the construction of their new home
“You'd want to get close to finishing it and sell it to move on and try again, but financially we can't even do that.”
Mr McElroy said this year will be the third Christmas in a row that he has heard false promises from the company about when he would get the keys to the house.
Tensions between Mr McElroy and the company threatened to boil over after he began posting messages on social media telling users about the couple's experiences.
A lawyer for the company threatened to take legal action against him if any of his posts brought the company into disrepute.
Mr McElroy also wrote a letter to the company about the house not being completed.
Despite the delays, builders have reassured Mr McElroy and his wife that they will be able to move in by Christmas.
A spokesperson for Burbank Homes said several issues affected the construction of the property.
The couple have been waiting for more than two years for their Victoria home (pictured) to be built after Mr McElroy first signed the contract to build the property in August 2021.
Mr McElroy said continued delays in building the house had led to financial stress
“The delay in construction is mainly due to record rainfall in Ballarat last year and delays in accessing timber frame construction from suppliers, which has been an issue for the entire national construction industry since the COVID-19 pandemic and national construction boom.” , the spokesperson said. to the ABC.
Ny Breaking Australia has contacted Burbank Homes for comment.
Mr McElroy has started completing final payments before finalizing the contract on the house.
He is not confident that the house will be ready anytime soon.
As of September 2020, the number of homes planned to be built has exceeded the number of fully completed homes, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Labor shortages and fewer homebuyers entering the housing market due to the cost-of-living crisis have led to new housing projects being scrapped.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a plan for Australia to build 1.2 million “new, well-located homes” over five years, starting on July 1, 2024, in a bid to combat the shortage of new homes.
The number of homes that would be built since mid-2020 is greater than the number of homes that have been fully built (sources ABS)
The target was set by the National Cabinet, made up mainly of Labor Prime Ministers, which put pressure on states to change planning laws that give local councils the power to halt high-rise apartment development at the insistence of existing homeowners.
The federal government is also under pressure to increase the number of tradies after the construction industry raised concerns about labor shortages.
Peak construction organization Master Builders Australia expects there will be almost 230,000 fewer tradies over the next five years.