IN Twin Waters estate Bob Hines, a Masterton Homes kitchen fitter, looks across the fence at the solemn sight of subcontractors packing up their tools.
“I feel for them, I really do. Last night a couple of guys phoned me looking for work.”
Ironically, across the street from the Beechwood homes are sites being worked on by other builders, such as Masterton, with tradesmen struggling to keep up with the workload.
Mr Hines is installing four kitchens a week at jobs between Wollongong and Eden.
“I’ve been doing this for about 16 years, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen Beechwood in trouble.
“About 18 months ago a similar thing happened but they traded out of it, although I don’t believe they ever got back up to full strength after that,” he said.
“I think this is just going to snowball. The subbies will end up undercutting each other to get work, instead of working for $30 an hour they’ll be working for $15.
“But it will flow on from there, I think New Image Kitchens in Nowra do about 16 kitchens a month for Beechwood so they will feel it,” he said.
Mr Hines said he had also heard that Kiteleys in Bomaderry was owed about $400,000 and Bunnings, $200,000,” he said.
Brett Kiteley from Kiteley’s Roofing confirmed that Beechwood owed the company a “sizeable amount of money.
“We do their roofing and they’ve had an account with us for nine years.
“I think it’s been coming for a while
“I’ve had a long and close relationship with all the owners so it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
“We’re just lucky we’ve got insurance,” he said.