Australian building giant Probuild has gone into voluntary administration after a problem-laden high-rise project drove the company into debt, meaning up to $5 billion in commercial and public sector projects are in jeopardy.
It was tools down on Wednesday night across the country, and 750 dismayed employees along with countless contractors have woken up today to the news the parent company Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Limited (WBHO) pulled the plug.
“We are caught up in a set of circumstances not of our making,” a Probuild spokesperson says.
“We are working closely with the administrator on a number of plans to protect our clients, subcontractors and employees.”
CreditorWatch CEO Patrick Coghlan told SmartCompany Probuild has become the latest victim of the pandemic’s “triple threat”.
“You’ve got big supply chain delays because raw materials aren’t available, you’ve got material price increases which is either part of the supply chain issue or the result of inflation (and that’s where it can get really dangerous, is if a builder doesn’t quote properly as it can substantially blow out their margin) and three, there are a lot of project delays due to labour shortages from COVID-19,” he says.
And when a…
