Another major building company enters voluntary administration

A well known building company has gone bust after almost two decades in business, adding to a growing list of thousands of collapsed builders.

Stevens Construction, based on New South Wales‘ Central Coast, announced on Monday that it had gone into voluntary administration having faced ‘unprecedented disruptions’ during recent constructions.

In its 18 years of operation, the business has undertaken projects for companies including Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s and the NSW Government.

It now leaves behind 10 unfinished projects as administrators from BRI Ferrie, Jonathon Keenen, Andrew Cummins and Peter Krejci, assess the company’s future.

However, the company’s 40 staff members will not be laid off in the meantime.

In a statement released on Monday, the company said issues plaguing the industry since the pandemic resulted in its collapse.

‘Unprecedented disruptions have led to skyrocketing building costs, reduced productivity, and critical shortages of materials and skilled labour,’ the statement reads. 

‘These factors have collectively placed immense pressure on Stevens Construction, making continued operations unsustainable.’

The statement added they wished to ‘express our profound gratitiude’ to those affected by the insolvency.

‘We are acutely aware of the distress this news will cause to all those involved—our valued staff, suppliers, subcontractors, design consultants, and principals,’ it reads.

‘Our priority now is to work closely with the appointed administrators to explore all possible avenues for a viable way forward.’

Mr Keenan said appointed administrators will work with the company ‘to investigate what has occurred and seek to identify options that may be available to clients, employees, subcontractors and suppliers of the company’.

Stevens Construction said their ‘primary focus’ was to restructure the business, but didn’t write off selling the business to ‘maximise returns for creditors’.

The company’s collapse is just the latest casualty in a horror period for the industry which has been left shaky amid skyrocketing build costs and employee shortages.

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Between July and March, 2,142 construction companies went into administration, comprising 27.7 per cent of the 7,742 firms that became insolvent, Australian Securities and Investments Commission data showed.

Should that trend continue, Australia is on track to have 10,000 companies go under for the first time since 2012-13.

Insolvencies in the first nine months of 2023-24 were 36.2 per cent higher than the corresponding months of 2022-23.

Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan said a labour shortage is adding to problems in the building sector, that has battled higher materials costs for several years.

‘There’s a lot of structural change needed to be made to achieve goals and trying to get more breadth and capacity in the workforce is a critical component of that,’ he told News Corp.

‘These skills are not developed overnight. These people are professionals and it takes a long time for them to get to a level to deliver a quality home,’ he said.