‘I’m pretty much guaranteed to get nothing’
Subcontractor Daniel Pepperell found out about Ebert Construction’s collapse from the news. It was the day after he had expected his last cheque from the company to come through for two months of work on an industrial dairy plant in Hamilton.
Pepperell says that he’s all but written off the $120,000 he was owed by the company, despite the ongoing liquidation and receivership processes.
‘‘As an unsecured creditor, I’m pretty much guaranteed to get nothing out of it.’’
The $120,000 that Pepperell’s family company is owed is a tiny piece of the $33.8 million (at least) that Ebert owes its unsecured creditors, who are the last to see anything left over from a liquidation, and quite often see nothing.
His family has owned and operated Waikato and Bay of Plenty Suspended Ceiling Services, an interior fit-out company, for more than 30 years.
Pepperell estimates it will take a contract worth more than $1 million to make up for the profit loss.
The impact to his bottom line is not inconsequential. The dent in profits will affect everything from pay rises to the budget for new equipment, he says.
‘‘We have 100 guys, 100 people’s families that we are supporting, but we don’t have any protection whatsoever. These are people’s livelihoods.’’
Ebert’s collapse will be the first test of new legislation requiring businesses to set aside retentions for contracted work that are the property of the contractor in the event of receivership liquidation, but can be dipped into by the business in cases of shoddy workmanship.
Unlucky for Pepperell, his contract with Ebert was signed a day before a law change came into effect that would have guaranteed him at least some money back.
Pepperell says the collapse of construction companies Orange H, Stanley’s Construction and Mainzeal has also hit his bottom line over the past few years.
‘‘It just seems like continually the subcontractors are holding more and more and more risk.’’
‘‘It’s absolutely criminal that you can damage so many people’s lives and essentially get away with it.’’