THREE families on one East Kurrajong road, all in the process of building with Beechwood Homes, have been left with unfinished homes after the company went into receivership and was pronounced insolvent last week.
Despite news reports that building work was continuing on Beechwood’s 300 homes currently under construction, that was not the case for Melanie McLaughlin and her husband Troy, whose home on Coobah Road had only begun in March, a year after paying the deposit to Beechwood.
“We’ve got kids who are suffering big time – I have a nine-year-old and a four-year-old living in a caravan, but Beechwood refuses to talk to us,” Ms McLaughlin said.
Their bricklayer Mario Franco told them last Wednesday he could not work any longer due to advice he had received from his solicitor. He was packing up his gear when The Gazette visited the site last Thursday.
Mr Franco, sub-contracted to Beechwood, said the first he knew of the company’s collapse was reading it in the newspaper.
“We were told on Monday by our (Beechwood) supervisor that there was a rumour that Beechwood might be bought out, and then he said ‘it’s up to you if you want to keep working’,” Mr Franco said.
“Then we saw it (the collapse) in the paper. I’ve had no advice from Beechwood. I tried for an hour this morning to get on to them but gave up. I can’t keep working but we feel dirty about it because it’s the McLaughlin’s dream home.”
Masterton Homes was last Friday reported to be offering to build the 300 unfinished homes, however, Ms McLaughlin contacted them and said she was told they said they would only help people who had paid deposits and hadn’t started building yet.
Two other families have also been left stranded. Natalie Schneider and her husband Mathew are building a dual-occupancy house with her parents Robin and Arthur Deaves. It was only six weeks away from being finished. She is living in a garage at Lower Portland with her two small children and her parents are in a caravan there.
“My daughter was three when we moved up here – now she’s five,” Ms Schneider said. “We’ve paid thousands of dollars in storage fees and rent – all her toys are in storage.”
Craig Brown’s house on Coobah Road is in a similar state to the McLaughlins’ – all frames and brickwork. He signed his contract with Beechwood on September 26 last year. He is also building a dual-occupancy home with his parents.
“We just want our houses finished,” he said. “My place is worth over $500,000. I’ve paid $215,000 so far.” He would be prepared to pay contractors himself to get the job finished and claim it back from insurers later, but doesn’t know if this would be possible.
The NSW Home Warranty Scheme, which Premier Morris Iemma has been touting as the white knight to save Beechwood customers, only covers 20 per cent of the contract price of the home. This means the McLaughlins will only get $36,000 back from the $90,000 they have paid.
Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams was at East Kurrajong last Thursday declaring that the Minister for Fair Trading Linda Burney had “deceived the people of NSW”.
“The Government has to ensure these homes get completed and the contractors remain on site,” he said. “They should remove any impediment that is stopping the owners engaging their own contractors. Then they can go back to their insurers later.”
Affected families are being advised to contact Fair Trading on 13 32 20.