‘Everyone is angry’: Looting and loss leaves Porter Davis customers on edge

After the shock collapse of the country’s 12th-largest home builder on Friday, Porter Davis clients are scrambling for legal advice and answers, while some claim their unfinished homes have been damaged and looted overnight.

Suzi Ralph, who has been living in a rental with her husband and two children while their home was being built in Warranwood, said her family had spent $900,000 on their Porter Davis build before the company folded.

Suzi Ralph’s unfinished Porter Davis property in Warranwood.

Ralph’s is one of about 1700 properties that were started by the Melbourne-based builder but are now left unfinished. Contracts had been signed for another 800 future homes but work had not started.

Porter Davis stopped work on Friday after it failed to find a last-minute buyer or backer to cover an estimated shortfall of $20 million.

Suzi Ralph, with husband Anthony and children Isla and Oli are stuck with an unfinished property in Warranwood.

Customers say they feel like they’ve been left in the dark, and some have claimed their unfinished homes have been stripped of supplies and damaged.

Ralph, 42, who is currently travelling in Japan, said her neighbour sent photos on Saturday showing someone taking supplies from her property.

“I have no idea what I can do, if it legally is ours or [if it is] the contractor who hasn’t been paid,” she said.

She said she had chosen Porter Davis because she thought it would have less cash flow issues than a boutique builder.

“We thought our money would be safe,” she said.

They have paid the lock-up invoice, but cladding isn’t finished, the front isn’t rendered, there’s no roof on the garage, no appliances, toilets or cabinetry and plaster work is damaged from a leaking roof.

Kim Misic, her husband Marko and daughter Ana in front of the site of their build.

“I’m paying $7000 a month in rent and mortgage repayments and funding the build at the same time. I’m bleeding money.”

She’s engaging a building lawyer and wondering if she should become an owner-builder, with the waiting costing her $40,000 a year in rent.

In Struthtulloh, in Melbourne’s outer-west, Kim Misic has hired a security fog machine and changed the locks on their Porter Davis property, concerned it could be broken into and damaged.

She is worried about how they are going to finish the house, if they lose their money.

“We are pretty much paying a full mortgage on it. I’m currently on maternity leave, we are living on one wage with two young kids. It’s all just very scary. It’s very hard for us to think about what the future is going to look like,” she said.

Kim Misic and her family were almost ready to move into their Porter Davis property.

”If someone was to break into that property, we’d have to pay for that and that’s money we don’t have to spare. No one has given us any instructions on what to do right now. It’s really hard being left in the dark right now, trying to defend ourselves and trying to protect our property as best as we can.”

Matt Byrnes, partner at Grant Thornton, which has been appointed the liquidator of Porter Davis, has asked customers to “bear with us”.

“The liquidators are exploring options to assist customers with solutions to complete their builds. This includes obtaining certificates of completion where that is possible, engaging contractors to complete works, or finding a reputable builder to step in and complete builds,” he said.

Byrne said the firm would be contacting customers in the next couple of days and there would be an online meeting on Tuesday. He has asked customers to join the meeting before making any decisions.

Byrne said he was not aware of homes being stripped or damaged.

“But [we] have made clear that suppliers, trades and other parties should not attend the sites or remove any items without authorisation and must be cognisant of the significant health and safety risks in doing so,” he said.

For Lina, who spent inheritance money from her mother on her Truganina property, the collapse of the builder is emotional.

“The grief I struggle with daily and now the disrespect of my mum’s hard-earned money,” she said. “To some it’s minimal but, to me, I honour my mum and this home was in her honour.”

On Saturday, she said her son saw a disgruntled tradie throwing bricks through other half-finished Porter Davis builds.

An unfinished Porter Davis property in Truganina reportedly had its windows smashed on Friday.

“Everyone is angry, it’s not just the homeowners. No one wants to go to work for nothing. My son stopped him and had a chat and said, ‘this was not going to help anyone’,” she said.

Mathew Barnsley, who has paid $180,000 to build a Porter Davis property in Mount Martha, said he was investigating whether he could start a class action. He’s had about 60 or 80 people interested in pursuing the directors and will meet with lawyers this week.

He was given assurances from the company only last week that their position was strong and he had nothing to worry about. So far, all that’s at Barnsley’s site is a concrete slab, and they have to move out of the house they are renting soon.

”I’m just devastated because it was only several days ago they gave us reassurances.”

Rachel, who didn’t want to provide her last name, said she and her husband were building in the Macedon Ranges. She has a baby and a two-year-old and her husband works six days a week to cover their rent and mortgage.

They have been driving past their build every couple of hours, worried someone would loot or start stripping it.

“At the moment we are trying to guard the house. We understand angry tradies are going to the homes and ripping things out,” she said.

They were waiting on appliances and were expecting to get their keys in three weeks.

“We’ve had no advice, nothing from anyone. I’ve spoken with our broker, I spoke with three different lawyers yesterday. Just spent all day on the phone, stressed.”

Mother-of-two Nadya Krienke-Becker said they were building their “dream home” in Bayside. Their slab had been laid, and they were told the frame would go up after Easter.

“The whole thing is a debacle. None of us know what’s next. Then the staff, suppliers, tradies. The impact on the economy. People think it’s 1700 families, but it’s not. It’s a far bigger ripple effect.”

“There are a lot of people who woke up today and do not know how they are going to feed their families. That’s horrendous.“

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