Building market ‘very competitive’

taking advice about how to proceed but ‘‘there hasn’t been any decisions made yet’’.

There were three houses waiting to be completed, he said.

‘‘We have been open and honest with our clients.

‘‘We are working closely with them and if we do go down the option of liquidation, we will give them the option to complete the home themselves. But we are going to get all those houses finished ... We are not shutting down and walking away, we are just going to re-evaluate where we sit in the market.’’

The company had suffered from ‘‘internal management issues’’ but also struggled in the highly competitive building sector against larger companies, Payne said.

‘‘It is a very difficult market, it is very competitive, it is not what people think, and the market is shifting as well, it is not as strong as it once was.’’

Executive director Ryan Butler had left the company ‘‘for mental health reasons’’, Payne said. ‘‘It took a massive toll on him so he took some time off.

‘‘We had about 14 people on the team at one stage but it is really just myself now. Some of our builders have gone labouronly and others have just left.’’

Several other construction industry companies have gone into receivership or liquidation in the past year.

Auckland and Waikato building company Stanley Group and related company Tallwood went into liquidation on Thursday.

The business had about 100 staff and three projects under way for Housing New Zealand in Ma¯ ngere, Hamilton and Whaka¯ tane.

Also on Thursday, crane company Tower Cranes was placed into receivership.