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Tom Orel (pictured) is at risk of losing his $5million luxury mansion after his company, Oracle Homes, went under
The managing director of a collapsed building giant is at risk of losing his $5million luxury mansion – with furious creditors setting their sights on the waterfront palace.
Oracle Building Corporation Pty Ltd – also known as Oracle Hunter Homes and Oracle Platinum Homes – was wound up at a general meeting on Wednesday, leaving up to 300 half-built properties across Queensland and NSW.
At least one creditor the company’s boss, Tom Orel, owes money to has since laid a legal claim on his six-bedroom home on the Gold Coast.
Property records seen by Daily Mail Australia show a concreting firm lodged a caveat against Mr Orel’s sprawling two-storey property.
That means the home – which features a cinema and private lap pool – cannot be sold by the owner in the event of the business going bust.
The property is listed in the name of Mr Orel’s wife, Elia, who is also an Oracle director.
But the Orels still have the property to return to, while hundreds of families can only despair at their dreams of building a new house – after the builder spectacularly went under.
The Orels still have this property to return to, while hundreds of families can only despair at their dreams of building a new house
It is the latest in a wave of devastating collapses in the building industry which is seeing firms go under across Australia, sunk by high costs and supply constraints.
Creditors and suppliers are lining up to get what money they can from Oracle after an insolvency notice was published with the corporate regulator ASIC.
Liquidators Bill Cotter and Roland Robson, of Robson Cotter Insolvency Group, said the company owed about $15million.
Oracle owes money to about 200 suppliers and contractors and 70 staff have lost their jobs, with some owed money for accrued leave.
Meanwhile, the Orel family home – a 1,122-square metre property – looks out on Nerang River in the canal-laced suburb of Benowa Waters – with a previous real estate listing gushing about accommodation that many customers would have liked to have had as they waited months or years to see progress on their homes.
The home theatre features scarlet red leather couches with an old real estate ad boasting that it offers ‘an authentic experience in gold class surroundings’
The two-storey luxury Benowa Waters property on the Gold Coast faces the Nerang River
The home has five ‘designer’ bathrooms plus a powder room, home theatre, large office, playroom or gym, a pool, BBQ area, sun deck and an area that is labelled as an ‘upstairs teenage retreat’.
The master bedroom has two walk-in wardrobes with a spa bath-equipped ensuite. Four other ‘super spacious’ bedrooms also come with ensuites.
The house’s ‘extra high ceilings and scenic window walls … create an ambiance of endless space’, according to the listing – and it also includes a sun deck area with a private lap pool with pontoon boat mooring.
But as the Orel family was living the dream, the company’s customers were asked to cough up tens of thousands of dollars – on top of their original bill – to have their homes completed as the business went under.
In a letter to one homeowner obtained by the Courier Mail, Mr Orel requested an additional $50,000 to finish the build on top of the contract price.
The large kitchen area comes with a large breakfast bar, appliances and a ‘butler’s pantry’
The director explained the increase was due to ‘ongoing ripple effects’ from the pandemic, which had caused a price surge and supply issues.
Ian Smith, whose son’s Oracle home is being built near Ipswich in Queensland’s south-east, was forced to threaten legal action against the company.
He said Oracle had demanded another $50,000 to complete the home, which at that point was receiving the finishing touches.
Having experience in the construction industry, he fought back and said revisions to the agreed upon price contract were not enforceable.
The master bedroom in the house comes with two walk-in wardrobes and a spa bath equipped ensuite
Mr Smith said Oracle still refused to hand over the property until he threatened legal action, but admitted other customers ‘are just paying up’.
‘There are other people in the same boat,’ he said.
‘Young people, working class people, are receiving these demands and it is stressing them out due to the time blowout as well as increased living and legal costs.’
Would-be homeowners flooded social media to express their anger and devastation as the company collapsed.
‘We just lost our deposit,’ one customer claimed … ‘Oracle Platinum Homes has gone into liquidation.’
Another said they had ‘just lost $25k’.
‘Biggest nightmare of our lives dealing with this company, so much money lost, no compassion or understanding,’ another post read.
The view looking out from the house where Mr Orel and his wife Elia live on the Gold Coast
‘Glad we are getting out, which has caused more stress. I wish we’d never started this process at all. Now we have land and no builder.’
Another said: ‘My granddaughter’s house is now two years and still only a slab and half a frame. Absolutely atrocious.’
A statement from Oracle’s liquidators said Mr Orel was fully cooperating with the process.
‘Mr Orel has highlighted the well known difficult circumstances prevailing in the construction industry, including the recent and rapid rise in costs of construction materials eroding the Company’s margins, and substantial delays experienced in securing supply of materials and labour, as all contributing to the Company’s position,’ a spokesperson said.
‘These factors resulted in cost over runs and delays in project completions, which severely impacted the Company’s cash flows and it’s capacity to continue to operate, despite the owners and staff of the Company’s best endeavours.’
Building giant collapses leaving hundreds of families with unfinished homes in the lurch as devastated homeowner reveals how she poured $211,000 into a dream house which may NEVER be built
Montana and her partner Troy (pictured) are just two of the many homeowners affected by the building company’s collapse
Devastated homeowners are reeling as yet another Australian building company collapses, leaving distressed customers facing huge bills to get their unfinished properties completed.
Oracle Building Corporation Pty Ltd – also known as Oracle Hunter Homes and Oracle Platinum Homes – was wound up at a general meeting on Wednesday, leaving up to 300 properties under construction in Queensland and NSW.
Montana Wilkinson and her husband are just two of the homeowners left in the lurch by the company’s sudden closure, having already forked out $211,000 for their unfinished home.
Their home in Ipswich, Queensland, is one of 300 incomplete properties left behind by Oracle, with 70 staff losing their jobs and 200 suppliers owed money.
The company’s websites have been taken down – featuring only a message saying ‘account suspended’ – as customers vented their distress and frustration online.
‘They [Oracle] just dragged down everyone’s lives,’ homeowner Ms Wilkinson told news.com.au.
She explained while she had been warned about delays to her $304,000 home, near Ipswich, it was when the company asked for a further $70,000 that she became suspicious about what was going on with the build.
Her mother, Boz Thurtell, even works at the collapsed builder and sold her daughter the home – leaving her in tears when she got a call at 9am on Wednesday to tell her she no longer had a job.
‘It’s heartbreaking, it’s terribly wrong,’ she added.
On August 9, Brisbane-based Besse Construction collapsed owing $1.7million and leaving 30 people out of work.
Solido Builders Pty Ltd went into liquidation in May and Pivotal Homes Pty Ltd in June.
Victorian firms Wulfrun Constructions Pty Ltd went into liquidation in July.
Another Victorian builder Waterford Homes went bust a week earlier, owing at least $600,000 to 60 creditors.
The failed companies joined a string of builders who have faltered this year.
Construction giant Pro-build went under in March owing more than $14million to 784 workers, while Gold Coast-based Condev appointed liquidators weeks later leaving creditors out of pocket $31million.
Meanwhile, several other firms have spent the past few months teetering on the brink of collapse as economic issues wreak havoc on the industry.
Surfers Paradise builder Pivotal Homes, one of Queensland’s biggest home builders, went into liquidation in May. Pictured is a stock image of a man painting the side of a house
Melbourne-based construction giant Metricon – one of the nation’s largest companies – last month sparked rumours it was trouble after holding crisis talks with clients and meeting with the Victoria Treasurer.
The owners injected $30million into the embattled company, although bosses have denied it is at risk of entering liquidation.
Michaela Lihou from the Masters Builders Association of Victoria, explained the crisis impacting construction in Australia.
‘We have got supply shortages, skills shortages and at the moment, it’s a perfect storm,’ she said.
Matthew Mackey, executive director of engineering company Arcadis, said smaller businesses are more likely to go broke because they can’t absorb the cost increases like their larger counterparts.
‘Smaller businesses don’t have the cash flow, they don’t have the same safety net,’ he explained.
‘They’re going to feel the pain a lot sooner and a lot more harshly.’