Fears for deposit after collapse

A FAMILY has been left reeling after learning that their $18,177 home deposit is in jeopardy because the building company has gone bust.

Mum-of-two Ashley Wu, 38, and her husband, bought a vacant lot in Ipswich in October last year.

They planned to build a dual property for $363,500 and signed with Gold Coast-based construction firm Pivotal Homes.

But late on Thursday, managing director of Pivotal Homes, Michael Irwin, revealed that the company had collapsed.

He cited rising labour and construction costs as the main reason the company was forced to go into liquidation. The future of Pivotal Homes’ more than 200 new home builds has now been thrown into chaos, including that of Ms Wu.

“I don’t know what to do now,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, I really hope we can get the money back.”

Ms Wu was especially blindsided by the shocking announcement because just a day earlier, she had been negotiating a new price for the build and had come to an agreement, in what she says must have been a sign that staff had no idea of the company’s impending demise.

Looking back, Ms Wu said there were some red flags. According to the mum, her build was doomed from the beginning thanks to constant delays and then a strange request from the company asking for more money despite an already agreed upon price.

“I really regret buying this (land) to be honest,” she said. “I should have bought something that was already built. I’m very scared to build now.”

So far, Ms Wu has not received any direct communication from the company informing her that it has gone into liquidation or what to do to get her money back.