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Watchdog vows to complete up to 300 homes affected by Oracle collapse

Queensland’s building watchdog says it’s working with hundreds of customers of collapsed builder Oracle Homes to ensure their partially-built homes are completed.

Aug 25, 2022, updated Aug 25, 2022
Image: ABC

Image: ABC

The residential builder collapsed on Wednesday with about 70 staff sacked and building work halted on about 300 homes.

Robson Cotter Insolvency Group has been appointed as liquidator, saying Oracle could be about $14 million in debt.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission says it’s contacting all 386 policy holders who took out insurance with Oracle in the last two years to help them lodge claims.

“The QBCC knows that when any building company collapses, it can have a significant impact on everyone who has had dealings with that company,” the regulator told AAP in a statement on Thursday.

“That is why the QBCC has set up a dedicated team to handle the non-completion claims from homeowners affected by this event, and we will be doing everything we can to help them continue to get their homes built.”

Master Builders Queensland chief executive Paul Bidwell said the state’s mandatory home warranty insurance scheme will cover most Oracle customers in Queensland for up to $200,000.

However, he said Oracle customers have faced months of delays on their homes and getting them completed won’t be fast enough for those that are caught up in this.

“So it will take time and it’s going to be time a lot more than what, a lot longer than what, those poor people had hoped, but their interests are protected,” Bidwell told ABC Radio on Thursday.

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“As I say it’s a very strong safety net.”

Oracle is among a number of building companies to collapse in Queensland in the past year, and Master Builders expect more to go under.

Bidwell said many construction firms are adding contingency into their contracts to take into account future building material price prices, which have surged due to supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Bidwell said the sector has also been dealing with labour shortages due to an uptick in demand for new homes amid low interest rates and after recent natural disasters.

“So we’ve had all this perfect storm of conditions, which means we can’t get the people we need to build and we can’t get the materials and where we can,” he said.

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