Construction firm in liquidation

New homes under construction have been caught up in the collapse of a Taranaki building company.

On October 3, Grato Construction Limited, which traded as Navigation Homes Taranaki, was put into liquidation. The initial liquidator’s report said the company had five builds on the books.

Grato Construction’s voluntary liquidation was initiated by its joint shareholders, Michael Van Prehn and Sara Greensill.

The couple voted to undertake the action using a special resolution under the Companies Act. Messages left with Van Prehn, the company’s director, to discuss the liquidation went unanswered yesterday. The initial report by liquidators Philip Macey and James Eden, which was written on October 10 and is publicly available, indicated liabilities for the business totalled about $887,000. But work was continuing to ascertain the exact amount of money involved.

The report shows there were 79 creditors listed at the time of the liquidation. The company operated from premises on South Rd.

In a written statement, Scott Matthews, general manager of Master Build Services, said it was working with home owners who were caught up in the fall-out.

Navigation Homes New Zealand managing director Aaron Hall confirmed Van Prehn and Greensill’s company was one of its franchisees.

He said he became aware of Grato Construction’s financial difficulties only two weeks before the company went into liquidation and flew from Auckland to meet with contractors and subcontractors who were not being paid. He had been committed to helping Van Prehn trade his way out of the problems so was disappointed with the decision to enter voluntary liquidation.