Debt from collapsed east coast construction company PBS Building has soared past $60 million, according to Federal Court documents.
Administrator RSM Australia Partners said the five failed PBS companies owe an estimated $60m to more than 400 creditors across Queensland, NSW and the ACT.
The group was involved in multimillion-dollar contracts across 82 projects.
The estimate is more than double the initial debt forecast of $25m. It comes as the Federal Court granted administrators until June 30 to complete their investigations and July 7 to hold the second creditor meeting.
The builder - with companies based in Canberra plus offices in Sydney and Brisbane - went into administration on March 7.
Federal Court Justice John Halley allowed the extension and administrators to maintain the existing PBS Building bank account structure to streamline operations,
"I am satisfied that the administrators are confronted with relatively large and complex administrations, and they need further time to pursue the key tasks summarised ... to assess the financial position of the PBS companies and provide creditors with sufficient information to make an informed decision at the second creditors' meeting,'' Justice Halley said.
The number of claims lodged by creditors across the three states has reached more than 450, but administrator Jonathon Colbran said some shares might have been duplicated.
"New lodgements followed the meeting of creditors on March 17. This number may change still as claims are assessed and verified over the course of the administration,'' Mr Colbran said.
"The additional claims, combined with further investigations by the administrators, have lifted the current estimated value of creditor claims to more than $60 million across all five PBS companies.
"However, the final figure will not be known until the administrators complete their investigations and detail their findings in the creditor's report."
The news is more bad news for the industry following the demise of home builder Porter Davis which affected more than 1700 properties in Victoria and Queensland, with an estimated 1500 in Victoria.
The company directors are being investigated for trading while insolvent, as hundreds of customers risk losing their deposits.
Porter Davis had about 470 employees and was forecasting revenue of $555 million for the 2023 financial year before the company collapsed.
