Canberra tradies have been left with thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices after a granny flat builder entered liquidation.
Cubitt's Granny Flats was officially liquidated on June 14 after a creditors' meeting.
Owner of ACT Fences Angelo Turcin said the company owed him about $45,000.
"It was over a couple of months I was chasing invoices, and I started to see the signs. It was starting to drag out," he said.
"I said to Cubitt's [on the phone], are you currently trading whilst you're insolvent, and they hung up on me.
"It was a disaster."
He said he had to spend a month picking up fences and toilets from Canberra to the South Coast that he had supplied to the company.
The administrator's final report said they had identified "possible claims" in respect of insolvent trading.
However recoveries from "potential insolvent trading claims" for creditors are unlikely, according to administrators, as both directors of Cubitt's have declared bankruptcy.
Payment to creditors 'uncertain'
Mr Turcin said Cubitt's had avoided paying his invoices for months, saying names were spelt wrong or sums were added incorrectly.
He hadn't heard anything directly from the company about his invoices, and was pessimistic about receiving payment now the company has entered liquidation.
Mr Turcin said he believes around a dozen tradespeople are owed money from Cubitt's in the ACT.
The administrators said on June 17 the return to creditors was uncertain and would be subject to future recoveries.
Cubitt's entered voluntary administration in February, leaving 130 projects unfinished. About 200 creditors were owed $3.8 million, according to the liquidators RSM Australia.
Certain assets from Cubitt's Granny Flats were bought by Acrow Granny Flats, a sister company of construction business HPAC, in a last-minute sale in mid-June.
The new owner said they intended to "restart, reinvigorate and complete" previous projects.
Constant challenge for ACT tradies
Mr Turcin said it's the third time in three months he's lost thousands of dollars when an employer entered administration.
He said a previous building business collapsed owing him about $35,000.
"Canberra is the worst place in Australia to be a builder," Mr Turcin said.
Zach Smith, ACT branch secretary at the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, said subcontractors and workers still carry too much of the risk.
"We've seen collapses in the ACT in which subcontractors, some of whom aren't that big, end up being owed half-a-million dollars or more," he said.
Mr Smith said mandating a statutory trust model that holds project funds in a trust would help protect subcontractors.
"You would think we could achieve easy consensus on such a fair and decent proposal, but the Master Builders Association has been running interference on this initiative for years," he said.
"Frankly, the responsibility for a lot of subcontractor pain and suffering in recent years should be weighing heavy on the MBA's conscience."
Master Builders ACT CEO Michael Hopkins said they believe experiences in other states show statutory trusts "don't achieve their intended purpose".
"The MBA is working with our members to find an industry wide solution which is more effective for subcontractors, suppliers and builders," he said.
Mr Turcin said he will need to be "more aggressive" in the way he asks people for payments.
"I really feel sorry for people, for young families with kids. They start getting very depressed and it's funny what it can do to marriages," he said.
"I've got to keep working otherwise [my employees] will be out of a job."
