Tamara Wardlaw's daughter does not remember what it's like to live in anything but a caravan.
The young family have been waiting for Bond Homes to deliver a house to their 120-hectare "piece of paradise" in the Northern Grampians Shire.
Two wet years later - and still in their Avoca caravan - they were told the Ballarat company went into voluntary administration on Monday.
That caravan is now home indefinitely.
"It's absolutely devastating," Ms Wardlaw said.
"We'd put our heart and soul into building our family's forever home in these uncertain times."
"We're very overwhelmed. Going to the property - it's just heartbreaking."
Both sets of relatives have been farmers for generations, and the young couple were keen to get back to their roots.
Ms Wardlaw said the family of four - including girls aged 3 and 6 - gave up renting a house in the hope their own version would be in place soon, and they could become self-sufficient on their land.
"It's hard getting builders out to isolated properties, so getting a relocatable home like this seemed like the perfect solution - and we loved what Bond Homes were doing," Ms Wardlaw said.
"We thought we'd live in the caravan (with an annex) on my parents property until the house was ready to move into.
"At the moment we have a basic toilet and shower at the caravan, but we have to go into mum and dad's house for a lot of things.
"I think it's hard on my parents too.
"They really didn't expect all of this."
The young family had already erected a large amount of solar panels, driveways, gardens, orchards and even a kids' cubby house on their Northern Grampians property.
They were told the home would be finished by Easter - then in April they were told the move-in date would be closer to August.
They rushed to create access tracks and do other urgent work in anticipation.
"If we'd had some honest communication from Bond Homes we could have acted and had other options," Ms Wardlaw said.
"For example, we spent a lot of money on a big rack or solar panels and now it's just sitting there.
"There are a lot of options that could have been available for both sides.
"Now we just have to sit and wait."
Ms Wardlaw said the couple had been seeking answers for months, and last week her fiance went to the Ballarat Ring Road office in person.
"The operators have been quoted in the media as saying that they'd tried to contact clients," she said.
"We were in the office on Friday (July 29) and got told nothing.
"It was just something along the lines of: 'It's all good, nothing bad will happen.'"
"Apart from that I've had no communication from anyone.
"I ended up ringing (insolvency accountants and administrators) Worralls to let them know about us."
She said the voluntary administration news had put a huge amount of stress on the wider family - but she also expressed compassion for the 20 Bond employees who were now jobless.
"I feel for them," Ms Wardlaw said.
"I don't harbour any malice.
"It's a terrible situation for everyone."
The couple are now sweating on emails from the administrators.
"That bit of land is like paradise - and we just want to put something up for the kids, so they can have their own rooms again.
"There's a chance now the home may never be built.
"We're hopeful there could be an answer, but we're also realistic."
Reading this on mobile web? Download our app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you breaking news alerts. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
