When Mali Davoodi immigrated from Iran more than a decade ago, she wanted to achieve the "great Australian dream" of owning her own home.
But that dream has turned into a nightmare after one of the country's largest builders Porter Davis collapsed last month.
The 44-year-old and her husband, 49-year-old Behzad Molavi, are among about 1,700 victims caught up in the insolvency crisis the head of Master Builders Queensland says has been created by "the worst economic conditions in living memory".
Every time it rains, the distressed couple's unfinished home gets damaged further, because it's not yet watertight.
The $660,000 brick home, on land they bought for more than $800,000 in 2017, now sits idle while they wait for Queensland's Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) to assess a claim for compensation which could pay out up to $200,000.
But that could take months, or even a year, as the case officers work their way through 213 claims by affected Queensland clients — 74 for a deposit refund and 139 for non-completion.
Ms Davoodi said the "state of suspense" she and her husband have been left in had been frustrating.
"I just want to wake up and this nightmare to finish so I can have my life back," she said.
"The amount of stress and pressure we are under has made this unbelievably hard.
"I am a skilled migrant, a project manager who works very hard and with long hours and stressful job.
"This was our first house build, we have been saving for six years and our dream home idea is shattered and the hard-working money we earned has gone."
The couple also said they had trouble understanding the fine print of the QBCC claims process, as English was their second language.
"For the last six weeks I haven't had a good night's sleep," Ms Davoodi said.
"I have depression and my husband is worried I will end up in hospital."
The aggrieved customers have set up a Facebook group to offer support for each other as they, like thousands of other victims across the country, deal with the fallout of the nation's building crisis.
More builders teetering on the edge
Queensland Master Builders CEO Paul Bidwell said this time last year they were saying it would run into 2023.
"But now we are saying it is going to run through this year and right into 2024," he said.
"It is unchartered territory in that we have the worse conditions that builders have dealt with."
The latest Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) insolvency data shows more than 2,500 construction companies have gone into liquidation, administration or receivership since mid-2021.
But Master Builders predicts many more are teetering on the edge as they battle high inflation, the cost of materials continues to skyrocket and companies fail to make ends meet due to having locked in "fixed price contracts".
"We do not have any sense about how bad it might get, but we have been saying that for a year and more builders have crashed," Mr Bidwell said.
"So undoubtedly there will be more, but sincerely we hope it will be fewer than what pundits are predicting.
"It is a tough time for all concerned, for the builders themselves, their business has crashed, which then has an impact on the subbies that have been working on those jobs
"And we know there are a lot of clients in dire circumstances because they had accommodation only rented for the building period and then find their house is not going to be finished and if it can be, will cost more.
"It is a tragedy for them as well."
QBCC struggling to respond quickly
Recent correspondence from the QBCC said it was "receiving a higher than normal volume of claims and our ability to respond … quickly is being impacted".
So far Ms Davoodi and Mr Molavi have not been assigned a case officer, and under QBCC rules they are not allowed to do any repairs, or find a new builder, until their case for insurance is approved.
A QBCC spokesman said getting deposits back "can be processed quickly" because no work had been started.
"However, more complex non-completion claims require careful consideration and may therefore take longer to assess," he said.
"Homeowners should ensure they don't undertake repairs to reportedly defective work, as this could affect their eligibility for a defective work claim with us."
If they do, the insurance claim could be rendered null and void, leaving distressed clients between a rock and a hard place.
The QBCC has already refunded some deposit claims and has so far granted $720,000 back into the pockets of customers impacted by the Porter Davis Homes collapse.
Profitless boom to get worse
Anyone planning to build a new home is being urged to tread cautiously as the construction industry also battles with approvals hitting an 11-year low as RBA research finds Australia has up to an 80 per cent recession risk.
The same day Victorian-based Porter Davis collapsed construction firm Lloyd Group also went into administration.
Then there was the collapse of Oracle, Pivotal, Condev and Privium, to name just a few.
Even Metricon, the nation's biggest home builder, only managed to stay afloat thanks to shareholder and bank support.
Urban Development Institute of Australia president Maxwell Shifman said it was "shocking" to see so many high-profile casualties.
"This is across the board, every builder will be re-forecasting profitability, every developer, it is one of those things where there is this perception everyone is making a lot of money in building construction and development,' he said.
"But it has actually been far from it for the last few years."
Mr Shifman said the flow-on effect was that clients who had now signed contracts with builders for future work are starting to pull out.
"So up to 30 per cent of existing sales are no longer going to proceed to build and that is going to cause an issue down the track where we have gone from this profitless boom of too much work and making no money, to possibly not enough work coming quickly ahead of us.
"The factors that are at play now are absolutely unprecedented, it is the worst I have ever seen."
Small builders survive by shutting books
Builder Marcus Arber, who co-owns a Queensland firm that has been in business since the 1970s, said they have survived the recent tough economic conditions by shutting their books mid-crisis.
"It is unprecedented times, we have seen boom-and-bust cycles but this has been next level. It's been a train wreck", he said.
"Three times in the last three years we have shut the books to new clients, at one point it was up to nearly three months.
"I was saying to people: 'I can't take you on, I'm at capacity'."
Mr Arber said during the pandemic was the first time he'd ever had to turn clients away due to overwhelming workloads.
"It was also the first time ever we had to pay for materials up to three months in advance, to lock prices to protect ourselves from price increases," he said.
"It has been the toughest time we have ever seen, we had to learn to say no and learn to manage our workload."
He urged anyone looking for a new build to do their homework by first doing a QBCC licence search to see how their prospective builder was faring.
"So you can see if a builder has gone from building, say, 100 homes one year to 1,000 homes the next, that is a problem.
"It is too big too quick, that sort of growth in any business is not sustainable".
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