Newcastle contractor Stein England says he is committed to repaying creditors of his former concreting company, which collapsed in December owing $1.7 million.
The company, SJE Contracting, went bust on December 5, three weeks after Mr England set up another firm called Clean Cut Civil.
Mr England said on Monday that about $650,000 of SJE debt was secured against two properties in Garden Suburb and he was determined to make sure smaller creditors were paid.
Clean Cut Civil has lodged court statements of claim against one company, Roxton Commercial Builders, arguing it is owed $163,000 from a commercial job in Cameron Park.
Mr England has lodged another legal claim against a former business associate, Matt Roberts, for $63,000 arising from a deal to buy and resell steel from China.
Clean Cut Civil has filed a statement of claim for more than $50,000 from another building company, Compton Constructions.
"It makes it very hard to pay the next person when others are not paying what's owed and then you have to pursue it through the courts and pay more to do that," Mr England said.
He said on Monday that he was trying to trade through his business challenges and had started paying creditors via Clean Cut Civil.
"We've already done about $200,000 worth," he said.
He rejected the notion that he had "phoenixed" SJE to avoid repaying debts
SJE liquidator Mitch Griffiths wrote in a report to creditors in March that the company owed unsecured creditors $1.388 million and partly secured creditors $352,000.
Mr Griffiths said in the report that he was concerned SJE had traded for five months last year while insolvent, but the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is not investigating the company.
The Newcastle Herald reported in May that the Environment Protection Authority had issued Mr England with a clean-up notice last year to remove 10 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated fill he allegedly dumped at his Garden Suburb property.
Mr England said on Monday that he had removed the contaminated fill in July last year and was ahead of schedule in removing other building waste the EPA had ordered gone by November this year.
