FOR the average Australian, buying a house will be the biggest financial transaction of their lives. If they buy an existing property, they take a "buyer beware" mentality with them, knowing there may be some surprises in store behind the new coat of paint, or in a mess of wiring in the ceiling.
To avoid such pitfalls, many are attracted to the lure of a purpose-built home, tailored to their specific needs.
It becomes the home of their dreams.
Or it should, anyway. Unfortunately, building companies fail so frequently that they usually top the insolvency statistics, resulting in numerous government inquiries - and associated overhauls of the various state-based home-builder insurance schemes - aimed at minimising the impact on the public.
The problems, however, continue.
As we are reporting, one of Australia's bigger home-builders, the Queensland-based Privium, has appointed financial administrators to a number of companies in the group.
Privium (which also traded as Impact Homes) has more than 150 projects on the go, and its customers in three states were left in the lurch this week when work stopped across the group.
Similarly, a substantial body of subcontractors are owed many millions collectively by the Privium group, and will struggle to recoup their losses.
Privium has a number of customers in the Hunter.
Although it proved short-lived, Privium expanded its brand in this region when it took a front-of-shirt sponsorship with the Newcastle Jets in 2018-19.
Privium founder Robert Harder blames COVID and its associated delays and cost increases for the group's imperilled situation, but others point to the $22 million that two Privium companies paid their shareholders in fully franked, or tax-paid, dividends, in 2019-20, while at the same time posting combined losses of $28 million.
Most Australians accept that business owners will take profits when they can, but being in business also entails responsibilities.
The appointed administrators and corporate regulators will pore over the details in the coming weeks.
Time will tell whether Mr Harder can achieve his "priority" to "ensure that all homes under construction are completed, and to alleviate as much as possible, (any) angst and complications".
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