A spokeswoman for Metricon Homes, who was responding to questions from the Mercury, said all homes currently under construction in the area were on schedule.

Illawarra customers of Metricon Homes were breathing a little easier today after the building giant said yesterday there was no truth to speculation the company was on the brink of collapse.

Read more: Illawarra building boom stretches homeowners, tradies

Metricon Homes has two offices and display homes in the Wollongong area, at Wongawilli and North Macquarie-Calderwood, and a number of homes currently under construction in the area.

A Metricon customer commenting on a closed Wongawilli community Facebook page on Thursday said they were building a home with Metricon and were "a couple of weeks until handover". They said they had not been advised of any issues.

The Mercury on Thursday asked Metricon for details about building works under way in the Illawarra, including the number of homes under construction and the number of contracts.

In a response late today, a spokeswoman said, "Metricon currently have five homes under construction in the Wongawilli, Calderwood and North Macquarie region. They currently are all running on schedule."

A further statement issued to the Mercury today said the company had more than 4000 homes under construction across Australia's eastern seaboard. The company reaffirmed its long-term viability "in an effort to put an end to baseless rumours".

Metricon Homes acting chief executive Peter Langfelder said Metricon was a "long-term, viable business, with a strong history of performance".

"All our contracts are profitable, and we are up to date with all our payments: to contractors, suppliers, employees and trades," he said.

He also emphasised the company's banking relationship was longstanding.

"We have a strong and positive relationship with our bankers and all facilities are in term, and with headroom," he said.

Thursday

Acting Metricon Homes chief executive Peter Langfelder fronted the media at a press conference in Melbourne today to deny there was any truth to speculation over the company's future solvency in light of the death of its chief executive this week and spiralling construction cost blowouts across the industry.

Mr Langfelder said it was "business as usual" and the company remained in a strong position. He also denied reports it had engaged with administrators.

"Our contracts are profitable. It's business as usual as far as I'm concerned," Mr Langfelder said.

He acknowledged some Metricon customers were facing delays but denied offering customers money to cancel their contract.

"There's delays with contractors, with land being available ... we're just dealing with it as best as we can," Mr Langfelder said.

"The reality is we're strong, we're paying everyone on time, nobody is not getting their payments."

There were multiple media reports this week that the builder was on the brink of collapse after its co-founder and chief executive Mario Biasin died unexpectedly on Monday, aged 71.

Australia's largest project home builder released two statements after his sudden death, including one on Tuesday, which said Melbourne-based Biasin was experiencing mental health issues at the time of his death.

In the statement, Mr Langfelder said, "We are committed to continuing to run the Metricon business as usual during this sad time.

"We are very much appreciative of the kind messages of support from our business partners, suppliers, trades, contractors, government agencies and finance partners."

Metricon was co-founded by Biasin and his late former business partner George Kline in Melbourne in 1976. It has gone on to become the biggest home builder in the country.

Last September, Metricon was named Australia's number one home builder for the sixth year in a row in the Housing Top 100 Report, which ranks Australia's top residential builders based on the number of home builds commenced each year.

Metricon topped the list with 6052 building starts. At the time, Mr Biasin said Metricon's site starts had increased by 33 per cent in the past year.

He said Metricon was fortunate to be in such a position "in an economic climate that has been challenging for so many others", and mentioned the lockdowns, materials shortages and construction pauses that had plagued the industry since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.