Real property construction goes bankrupt!!

Jet79 · Feb 09, 2008 7:28 am

Hi all,

RPC on the Sunshine coast in Queensland has gone bankrupt and the BSA took away their licence and ordered a stop work on all their projects. A lady who had just paid her deposit ran her car through the front windows of the office

Is anyone on here building with them?

I feel so sorry for all the people who are building with them and have half their house done and now have to wait to see when the BSA will get more tradies to finish the job. We have such a shortage of trades people in SE queensland I hope they help them out soon.

Jet

RockStar · Feb 09, 2008 9:09 am

Our house which is almost completed is next to 3 RPC homes. The one right next door is still in council, the one next to it was boxed up for the slab over a week ago and 2 days ago the concretor came back and took all of his boxing down, and the 3rd one down has just had site preps done.

Around the corner a couple of their houses have been really slow, two are at frame stage, one has just had the roof put on and the other has only the gutters and facias.

One a little further down from there has had the site prep and pumbing done but no slab boxing, and thats been like that since before christmas!

At the start I went and had a chat to RPC but didnt have a good feeling about them and left without any further information, I had also heard that they were slow, which really put me off...

I'm just cranky as my fence is going up next week and now it doesnt look like i'll be getting my 50% for it, so now we have to fork our another $1000 from my finishing off budget

Helyn · Feb 09, 2008 10:22 am

My parents were in the same situation a few years ago, in SA, when they were building a custom home with a small custom builder who then went bankrupt.
Sorry to say it caused a very long delay, was another 2 years before their house was finished. Builders insurance covered the cost and found other builders/contractors to finish the job (insurers choice, owner has no control over this) but no compensation for other related costs, paying rent for longer etc.

Are RPC a fairly major builder in QLD, with lots of homes affected??

just started · Feb 09, 2008 11:31 am

On a slightly related topic, how many people in Queensland have used the BSA's On line Builders Licence search to research their builders before they sign up, (presume other states have something similar?).

After hearing of the Real Property news I jumped on the BSA website to look them up (as I had done when we built our house with a "small" builder). It appears they have had posted on their website before the recent even information about Real that would have concerned me. ie 5th Sep 07 and 10th Oct 07 financial conditions, plus it is there for everyone to see that the Real Property Director was under an exclusion from the BSA for 5 years (up until Sep 05) for his association / involvement with a previous building company going into administration in year 2000.

ahuang · Feb 11, 2008 12:50 pm

Jet79

A lady who had just paid her deposit ran her car through the front windows of the office

I would run over the company directors if it's my $...

Jet79 · Feb 11, 2008 3:09 pm

The news hasn't been doing much coverage on it since last week. I hope all the affected parties are well compensated.

Zozomiester · Feb 11, 2008 4:55 pm

Unfortunately we are one of the unlucky ones who are building with RPC.

We signed our contract back in Feb last year and we only have a slab and frame. The frame will probably have to be pulled down anyway as its been sitting like that for some months now and has gone grey and warped.

We have our appointment with the BSA on thurs to find out what will happen now. To be honest i am kind of glad that this has happened because at least now we know where we stand. We had heard the rumours back in Oct that they were having financial trouble and nothing was really being done on the house anyway so it was really frustrating not knowing if they were going to be able to finish the house or not! At least this way we know now that yes it's going to take a bit of time to sort everything out but at least we can stop driving past our block everyday hoping that someone was working on our house! We will probably get a better built house anyway!!

I try and stay positive and think that no-one has died- that it's only a house and that worse things could have happened but it is annoying when you are renting and paying off the interest on the progress payments. That kind of sucks!!

Anyway thats our story- I would love to hear of any ones else's experience with them if you want to share or vent!!

PhoenixStar · Feb 11, 2008 5:02 pm

Zozomiester that is terrible news....I was hoping it wouldn't affect anyone on the forum....

As you say, you need to stay positive....and at least you know where you stand.
Hopefully it will not been too painful moving forward and at least you know that the house will be built with someone else who really wants your business.

Good Luck for Thursday....I'm sure you'll let us know what eventuates.

[/b]

Zozomiester · Feb 11, 2008 5:13 pm

Thanks for your kind thoughts Phoenix!

I have been an avid reader on this forum since we decided to build so i've been keeping track of everyones else's building experiences.

I must admit it has been frustrating at times seeing the progress being made on forum members houses and some even moving in to their new homes and all the time we have been having so much trouble with the whole building experience!! But i am so happy for everyone and know that ONE day that will be us too!! :lol:

...... to be continued

PhoenixStar · Feb 11, 2008 5:21 pm

Zozomiester

Thanks for your kind thoughts Phoenix!

I have been an avid reader on this forum since we decided to build so i've been keeping track of everyones else's building experiences.

I must admit it has been frustrating at times seeing the progress being made on forum members houses and some even moving in to their new homes and all the time we have been having so much trouble with the whole building experience!! But i am so happy for everyone and know that ONE day that will be us too!! :lol:

...... to be continued

Zozomiester, you WILL be in your lovely home, sooner than later we hope....i understand your frustration....
We're looking forward to hearing any updates....

Michelle · Feb 11, 2008 5:34 pm

Jet79

A lady who had just paid her deposit ran her car through the front windows of the office

Jet

Zozomiester…there still might be room left for your car to do some damage!!! :evil:

How awful for you! I wish you all the best, and hope your next builder is A1!

Zozomiester · Feb 11, 2008 5:41 pm

Michelle, never mind the office...if only i knew where the director or RPC lived!!:twisted:

Apparently he's "gone away" for a few days. I'm sure he's still driving around in his expensive car and living comfortably in his waterfront home!!

It makes me so angry that someone can do this to people and take their hard earned money knowing that they were never going to finish their home!!

What goes around, comes around i say!! :evil:

Michelle · Feb 11, 2008 5:52 pm

Zozomiester….I know how you must be feeling!!! I would have to be tied down so I wouldn’t do damage to anyone!

And yes, you can bet he’s still got all his assets securely tucked away in his wife’s name! Probably did it months.

Totally agree with the”what goes around, comes around”…..but the trouble is….when!

On the upside… better off now, than a house ½ done, and no one to finish it off. You’ve lost an amount of money that should never have happened. But imagine if it was more!!!

Where’s the shotgun!!!!! :twisted:

gelly1 · Feb 11, 2008 6:15 pm

Zozomiester how terrible for you. I hope that this all works out and you are in your home soon.

Hugs

Zozomiester · Feb 11, 2008 6:34 pm

Thanks gelly1 and to everyone for your kind thoughts and wishes.

I wasn't going to post on here about our situation because to be honest, i know this will sound stupid but i was actually a bit embarrased. I know it is not our fault that this has happened but you start thinking to yourself "Why did we have to pick this builder!!" " Maybe we could have done something differently!"

But i realize that's it's just one of those things.

VJ · Feb 11, 2008 6:55 pm

Quote:

At least this way we know now that yes it's going to take a bit of time to sort everything out but at least we can stop driving past our block everyday hoping that someone was working on our house! We will probably get a better built house anyway!!

I can just imagine how disappointing it was on your part to not seeing any progress to your site when you drive past your block. We know the feeling.

We wish you the best on your next build...

Jet79 · Feb 12, 2008 8:13 am

Don't be embarassed!!! The reason I posted this topic in the first place was I thought it might have affected someone on this forum and I wanted anyone to know that this is why we are all here. To give support to people in the same situation (building).

When no one had posted I was kind of relieved as I thought there might not be anyone on here that had been hurt by these jack*****. I'm so sorry to hear that I was wrong.

I agree with Phoenix, you will find that your house will be much better built and by someone who wants to build it. Please let us know what happens on Thursday at your meeting.

Jet

3timesbuilda · Feb 12, 2008 10:43 am

As intrest rates head up (RBA talking about up to 4 more increases this year) we can expect a lot of turmoil in the housing market.

The lower end of the market is where it will show at first and then it will move up. House prices may stagnate, fall a bit or crash. The result will be a huge fall off in demand for new housing and a move towards rentals. This will cause more and more home building companys to fail with the resulting fallout for those building through them. The bad stories will feed already skeptical home builders and encourage them to back out. This is how a market collapses.

The real question is whether the RBA knows when to stop (I'm not confident at the moment) and whether inflation can be brought down before the trigger point is reached. Once a certain point in intrest rates is reached, a growing market can suddenly and unexpectedly swing to a falling market - it is not a gradual process. Some think that as intrest rates rise, the market will naturally cool or slow down - but this is not the case, slow downs occur as a result of prices topping out (sydney), crashes occur due to changes in conditions (intrest rates).

/END POINTLESS BLURB

Essentially what I am saying is that we all need to be very careful when choosing a builder - more so that at any other time in the last few years.

Personally I am a bit worried about my builder but we are too far down the road to do much about it - just keep our fingers crossed and push hard for completion. Watch out for some of the bigger builders too as they may get overstretched.

Good luck to all who were with RPC, I would be very intrested in what happens to those affected.

enigma_brennan · Feb 12, 2008 10:54 am

Zozomiester,

Just wanted to let you know that I admire your ready acceptance of what must be a harrowing experience and, please, do not be embarrassed - none of us have a crystal ball!

enigma+family

clath · Feb 13, 2008 9:51 pm

This building group was featured on today tonight this evening ...There are alot of very unhappy customers and trades people that dont know what is going to happen next... and the guy who ran the company is still living the high life