When *Jake and *Rachael were told the renovation and extension of their home in Wollongong would be completed by Christmas, they didn't think to ask which Christmas their builder meant.
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Now, the family of three is 92 weeks into what was meant to be a four to six month build, and their nearly three-year-old has never experienced a home that isn't a construction site.
What had gone from the family's dream home to a construction nightmare is the latest iteration of the crisis gripping the building and construction sector.
Woonona-based business Seaside Building and Design went into liquidation on May 4.
Documents filed with the corporate regulator ASIC show the company, owned by Aaron John Cowie, ended up with over half-a-million dollars in liabilities across multiple half-completed homes throughout the Illawarra and subcontractors not yet paid for work they had already completed.
One subcontractor, who chose not to be named, said the writing was on the wall for some time.
"For the last six months, it's been going downhill," the subcontractor said.
With the company having appointed liquidators, the subcontractor said he expects to get five cents in the dollar back on the $46,000 of work that he is owed for.
In Thirroul, Matt and Sophie Inch were building their forever home.
"It's not an investment or anything, it's just meant to be our home for us and our three kids to live in," Mr Inch said.
The family are also one of the homeowners left with a half-completed home after Seaside went bust.
Mr Inch estimates the house is 30 per cent complete but said he had no idea of when the home will be finished, or how much it will cost them.
"They've been working for about six months before they went into liquidation and it's a seven month contract, but they were only a fraction of the way through the total works."
The hope was to finish a first floor addition to the single storey house and partially renovate the existing premises, but soon into the build realised that things weren't going to plan.
"It was just generally slow progress and [Mr Cowie] was disorganised and hard to get a hold of," Mr Inch said.
"I never knew when the job was going to be finished and the frustrating thing is that he's kind of disappeared.
Having bounced between multiple rentals while waiting for their home to be finished, Mr Inch said paying for accommodation will come on top of an increased project cost once a builder can be found to finish the job off.
Across NSW, builders have been going bust in record numbers, with the Illawarra no exception. Data from the NSW government home building compensation scheme show that claims lodged due to insolvency peaked in December 2021, with 216 claims - the highest on record.
Builders on fixed price contracts have been hit by rising material costs and delays due to consistent rain, as well as COVID-induced supply chain challenges.
With the effects of this rippling through to subcontractors and home-owners, there is no end in sight, with the subcontractor caught in the collapse of Seaside saying he was looking to move industries.
"It's terrifying, I don't want to go to work anymore, you don't know if you're going to make money."
While margins are tight across the industry, Jake said there needed to be strict consequences for rogue actors who went under. In this case, as Seaside had filed for insolvency, home-owners affected will be able to claim under the NSW Home Building Compensation Scheme, however in other cases where a builder continues to trade, either through a deed of company arrangement after entering administration or simply refuses to complete work, homeowners can be left to cover the costs.
While the NSW government is embarking on major reforms to the construction sector, these are of little comfort to home-owners such as Jake, who are expecting to shoulder increased build costs on top of an already blown out timeline.
"It's a home, right, the definition is it's meant to be full of love, memories, good times, and it has been the accumulation of two years of hell."
Mr Cowie was contacted for comment but did not provide a response.
*Name has been changed.
Do you know more? Contact connor.pearce@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
