There's a question of is it legal or is it ethical? They're two different questions sometimes. If you are paying a deposit, anyone that pays money over in the dying hours or days of a business is extremely unfortunate. And so what happened in Porter Davis was that went straight into liquidation. NATASHA TOHOLKA: We are seeing such levels of financial distress that there's nothing to save. Financially we are struggling and it's a lot. Mentally, I'm suffering and it's not easy for our family. I'm again getting the panic attacks and all that. Emotionally, I'm more depressed, more anxious. PUJA SUNEJA: It has impacted me emotionally and physically. It burnt through customer deposits as the company desperately tried to generate cash flow for the failing business STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: According to the liquidators, Porter Davis may have been insolvent from February. Now you can't trust any builder in this industry. We are not expected of such a big builder, living in Australia, that this could happen to us. Now, they have taken our deposit a night before when they're going into liquidation. They should have stopped taking the deposit. PUJA SUNEJA: What they have done to us was not the right thing to do. About two and half thousand customers were affected by the collapse. STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: By the morning, liquidators had taken control of the Porter Davis Group. RAHUL MADAN: I mention in the email, I mentioned word "scared", that I'm very much scared, "Is it true? I mentioned in the email that, "Is it true? I saw this thing on the Facebook page of Porter Davis's customer portal that you guys are going into the liquidation?" I am very, very, very stressed at that time. I straight away, I emailed to Porter Davis to whom I was dealing with. I asked her to share me that screenshot, send me that screenshot of that Facebook page where they're saying liquidation.
Something is going wrong with Porter Davis. PUJA SUNEJA: I'm a part of the Facebook group, Porter Davis customers, and there were posts there that they're going into liquidation, they might go into liquidation and there are delays happening. STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: Hours later, a social media post catches Rahul's wife Puja's attention.
And then the balance of $4,884 I paid on 30th of March, which is Thursday evening at 6:45pm. And then on 29th of March, we paid $10,000 because our limit was 10,000 per day. RAHUL MADAN: I got an email on 6th of March from Porter Davis that at end of this month it's your last chance to sign the contract to lock the price. Rahul Madan has decided to lock in the builder for his family's dream home. STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: It's a March night in the suburbs of south-east Melbourne. STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: In this Four Corners, we follow supply chain pressures that are driving some builders to the brink, and we expose others that rack up debt, liquidate and re-incarnate. PROFESSOR JASON HARRIS, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: There doesn't seem to be an appetite for government to actually deal with the problem.
PETER MCLEOD, EARTHLIFT EXCAVATIONS MANAGING DIRECTOR: I'm sad.
#BUILDING A HOUSE OF CARDS FULL#
About boulevards of broken dreams full of unfinished homes, about tradies and suppliers unpaid in their thousands. STEPHEN LONG, REPORTER: This is a story about a broken industry.
MASTER BUILDERS HEAD: It's unethical, it's improper, it's immoral. NATASHA TOHOLKA, CORPORATE INSOLVENCY LAWYER: I think it's no secret that the current state of the building and construction sector is, is dire.
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