http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,23696445-462,00.html
Does anyone have any exposure to Beechwood. I'm not familiar with them....
Does anyone have any exposure to Beechwood. I'm not familiar with them....
Leading home builder goes bust
- Thread starter Davidr
- Start date
Dropping from 25 houses per week down to 12-15 per week, things are tough out there.
Not sure how much lower things can go in this down turn. I guess the question is how long will it last?
cheers
Graeme
i think this perhaps is only the beginning. Alot of these builders do alot of new work out west, and unfortunately its a bit of a shake up at the moment. I feel it could stay bad for a while.
I myself have a trade business (air conditioning) and I made the decision to discontinue our relationship with all of our (kit/project) home builders and continue only with the specialist builders,architects,and engineer projects............
The reasons for this were many but the most notable ones were:-
1. Deposits,progress payments and completion and commissioning payments were getting harder and harder to extract from these guys and they were starting to find any excuse or reasoning to withhold or deduct monies on defects, which there were none. Blaming us for faults by other trades (tradesmen they imported from other countries etc etc and either not licenced, qualified nor experienced).
2. Workmanship, pride and quality of building was decreasing with every home that we continued to work on,things like water leaks and flooding, cheap and nasty fixtures and fittings that in no way reflected what was on offer in there display homes etc etc and I did not wish this to be a reflection on our organisation.
3. The amount of time taken to complete these project homes, every customer expressed to us the dissatisfaction of these builders to the point that the necessary people even told these customers not to contact them regarding there issues as they flatly refuse to speak to them, to the point of threats of physical harm to the customer.
And yet this same company got an absolutely rivetting review by a high profile newspaper but I am yet to meet any one who has a good word to say about them.
Anyway, I would not want to generalise and put them all in the same basket but there is absolutely no way in hell would I ever build a project / kit home.
Big T
The reasons for this were many but the most notable ones were:-
1. Deposits,progress payments and completion and commissioning payments were getting harder and harder to extract from these guys and they were starting to find any excuse or reasoning to withhold or deduct monies on defects, which there were none. Blaming us for faults by other trades (tradesmen they imported from other countries etc etc and either not licenced, qualified nor experienced).
2. Workmanship, pride and quality of building was decreasing with every home that we continued to work on,things like water leaks and flooding, cheap and nasty fixtures and fittings that in no way reflected what was on offer in there display homes etc etc and I did not wish this to be a reflection on our organisation.
3. The amount of time taken to complete these project homes, every customer expressed to us the dissatisfaction of these builders to the point that the necessary people even told these customers not to contact them regarding there issues as they flatly refuse to speak to them, to the point of threats of physical harm to the customer.
And yet this same company got an absolutely rivetting review by a high profile newspaper but I am yet to meet any one who has a good word to say about them.
Anyway, I would not want to generalise and put them all in the same basket but there is absolutely no way in hell would I ever build a project / kit home.
Big T
This is a shock! 
I recently completed a duplex with Coral Homes in NSW and am in the process of plan drawing for a duplex with Perry Homes - both project home companies. Having a company go bust during construction would be a major stress as I tie up about 800k in the project - including land etc. I guess this can happen with any builder though.
I am constantly hearing about rapidly rising costs of materials these past few months and it's no wonder that people have stopped shopping for new homes.
This will all contribute to the current housing shortages and continue the rising pressure on the rental market. Not that I mind higher yields- will help counteract the interest rate hikes.
Ian
I recently completed a duplex with Coral Homes in NSW and am in the process of plan drawing for a duplex with Perry Homes - both project home companies. Having a company go bust during construction would be a major stress as I tie up about 800k in the project - including land etc. I guess this can happen with any builder though. I am constantly hearing about rapidly rising costs of materials these past few months and it's no wonder that people have stopped shopping for new homes.
This will all contribute to the current housing shortages and continue the rising pressure on the rental market. Not that I mind higher yields- will help counteract the interest rate hikes.
Ian
Not anymore, my PPOR finished 2 years ago...
I guess I lose the remaining of the building insurance...
Anyone think this will result in increased prices or reduce supply of new dwellings?
I believe prices will increase, fewer builders means less competition.
When we built our PPOR we were able to drop the construction price by simply showing the quotation of another builder.
Ian
I will check, although my thinking is how can I claim warranty if the builder is no longer there?
Cheers
We have a close relative caught up in this Beechwood Homes bust. They have just had their slab poured and now work has stopped. They are very stressed and worried about the whole thing as they are retired and on a fairly limited income. We told them that (hopefully) the worst that will happen is a longer time to complete the home if they have to allocate it to another builder, but even that is bad for them as they are renting while they are building this and several more months rent for them will be hard.
We have a close relative caught up in this Beechwood Homes bust. They have just had their slab poured and now work has stopped. They are very stressed and worried about the whole thing as they are retired and on a fairly limited income. We told them that (hopefully) the worst that will happen is a longer time to complete the home if they have to allocate it to another builder, but even that is bad for them as they are renting while they are building this and several more months rent for them will be hard.
They should closely check their Home Owners Warranty Policy Petal. It may only cover them for a certain amount due to non completion by the builder. My heartfelt sympathy goes out for all those caught up in this situation. If Beechwood goes broke then I guess anyone can. You can't analyse the builders financial situation unfortunately so you don't know how stable they are.
Regards, Ian
