Nicheliving's residential building arm signed four years' worth of work in a two-year period, the State Administrative Tribunal was told, as its debts total $76 million.
Nicheliving's residential building arm signed four years' worth of work in a two-year period, the State Administrative Tribunal was told, as its debts total $76 million.
It comes after the Building Services Board refused to renew the registration of Projex Management & Construction Pty Ltd, which trades as Nicheliving, on financial grounds.
In a SAT hearing over that decision, the tribunal was told of the builder's total debt being $76 million compared to its assets worth $44 million.
In last week's hearing, it was revealed Nicheliving had a debt of $7.1 million with the Australian Tax Office that it intended to repay over a 6.5 year term.
As a result of the board's decision to strip Nicheliving's building arm's registration, homeowners with incomplete or defective work can make a claim on their home indemnity insurance.
The board's lawyer Catherine Ide told the tribunal that more than 155 insurance claims had been made out of the 230 remaining unfinished homes, as of August 5.
She said that about 67 per cent of Nicheliving's customers with incomplete homes had kicked off the process of making an insurance claim.
The tribunal was also told that the builder appeared to have prioritised completing contracts signed in 2022 and 2023, compared to 2020 and to a lesser extent 2021.
Ms Ide said the "builder took on four years’ worth of work in a two year period" and pointed to its slow completion rate.
She said Nicheliving’s longest build took more than five years, with the average construction time being about three years.
But Nicheliving's lawyer Martin Cuerden SC said were still a number of customers who hadn't made insurance claims which he said suggested they wanted the builder to finish the job.
He said not overturning the registration decision would essentially be "sacrificing a solvent company" for homeowners relying on the board's decision to access insurance.
Further, he said it would be the throwing "the builder on the rubbish heap".
Mr Cuerden said it was a misuse of that insurance and called it a "very circular" way for the state government to assist following the 2020 stimulus packages it introduced.
He confirmed that if Nicheliving's building arm went under, the whole group would likely too. The Nicheliving group includes its development arm.
Ms Ide reiterated the board's position, being that it wasn't confident the buikder could repay its debts, and therefore didn’t’ meet the financial requirement for registration.
She told the tribunal, “If you're already pregnant, you can't get more pregnant", in the context of questioning Nicheliving's solvency.
