Aussie home builder collapses owing over $3million to 100 creditors and leaving dozens of homes unfinished

Another Australian home builder has collapsed, owing millions of dollars to creditors and leaving homes left unfinished or with defects.

Clarke Homes, based on the NSW Central Coast, was placed in administration, with a meeting of creditors held on Wednesday.

Jonathan Allan Clarke is listed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as the company’s sole director. 

In addition to 100 creditors owed around $3.1million, Clarke Homes owes pay, annual leave, personal leave and superannuation to employees.

Many of the creditors are tradespeople, contractors and suppliers, with one local firm claiming it’s owed around $60,000 by the home builder. 

‘We’re just trying to see if we can recoup some of the money so we can keep going,‘ the unnamed creditor told the Daily Telegraph.

‘We’ve been busting our a***s to stay afloat because, with the cost of living many people are not spending.’

Joshua Robb and Jason Porter of SV Partners have been appointed as administrators. 

They were told that the rising costs of materials and labour made it unprofitable to complete fixed-price contracts.

‘Unfortunately, there were a number of incomplete jobs at the time of our appointment. We have written to the affected homeowners and are assisting them during this difficult time.’

Building Commission NSW said it had received four complaints about Clarke Homes ‘regarding a range of building-work related issues’.

‘The Commission has provided advice to a number of these individuals about their rights when pursuing their matters in relation to Clarke Homes Pty Ltd,’ a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘The Commission is also currently assessing one of these complaints for potential further regulatory action.’

Building Commission NSW has encouraged ‘homeowners affected by the conduct of Clarke Homes’ to get in contact for assistance, support or to make a complaint. 

Among the creditors owed are Alesha McNamara and her husband who spent almost $400,000 on their ‘dream home’.

Construction began in June 2022 and the couple and their baby boy have been living in the home since early 2024, but there are a lot of defects. 

Ms McNamara said that during the building process, ‘every trade (person) we spoke to was owed money’. 

‘We had different tradesmen start and finish jobs. We’re just lucky we got a house in the end,’ she said. 

Though the house was habitable, Ms McNamara said defects such as holes in the ceilings would cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix.

As she is on maternity leave at the moment, so the couple cannot afford to get these problems fixed right now.

‘It’s definitely cost us a whole lot more than what paying for a different builder might have,’ Ms McNamara said.

Mr Robb said Clarke Homes stopped trading when SV Partners was appointed and it will issue a further report to creditors within a week.

He said homeowners with defects will need to engage another builder to complete rectification work and the cost of that would make them an unsecured creditor that the administration would try to repay. 

It is understood that Clarke Homes customers may have access to Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) insurance, which provides a safety net for homeowners in the event of defective or incomplete work. 

A number of homes built by Clarke Homes have an HBCF certificate, the details of which are here.

HBCF compensates homeowners for losses from defective and incomplete work where the builder or tradesperson becomes insolvent, dies, disappears or has their building licence suspended or cancelled by the Commission due to non-compliance. 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Clarke Homes and SV Partners for further comment.