Hundreds crushed by builder collapse

Dozens rallied on the steps of Victoria’s Parliament House on the weekend, demanding more robust safeguards to protect consumers from falling into their own perilous situation.

Victim and organiser of Sunday’s protest, Mike Tarno, estimates that 800 families have lost between $30,000 and $50,000 and said many were left without insurance.

He accused the company of taking deposits right up until it went into liquidation, telling Sunrise: “Companies don’t usually go into liquidation overnight.”

Another Porter Davis collapse victim, Anil Vemula, wept on parliament steps as he revealed the pain of not knowing whether he’ll see his $33,000 deposit for a build again.

“They robbed us, they cheated us, they left us in the dark, we don’t know what to do now,” the father-of-two – who spent three years saving for his deposit – said through tears on Sunday. “Three years of our savings. I have two kids, we make a lot of sacrifices.

“We need help. We need our deposits back.”

He said “not a brick” had been laid.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews hinted at support for victims as the government scrambles to get an idea of what went wrong.

“We need to establish what’s gone on here and then take steps and actions against anyone who has done the wrong thing and make changes,” he said.

Another victim told Sunrisehe demolished his family home just days before Porter Davis went into liquidation.

“The news was a big shock for us. We didn’t expect everything to happen in one week,” he said. “We knocked down our house on Tuesday … but then Friday we heard this news, so it’s a huge shock for us – my two kids and my wife.”

He said had he known, he and his family could have continued to live in the former home.

“It was a nice house, but we were creating a dream house for ourselves,” he said.

Host Natalie Barr said it was “just horrendous” that nobody stopped him from demolishing his home as liquidation loomed.

Victims continue to become more vocal after Bethany McLaughlin, 27, and her fiance Joel Patty, 29, from Melbourne, took to TikTok in the days after the collapse.

They had bought a block of land in Lara, near Geelong, in 2018.

They had pumped $97,000 into their dream home but now just have a concrete slab to show for it.

The young couple have labelled the disaster: “Our building nightmare”.

Porter Davis was placed into liquidation on March 31, with construction immediately halted on more than 1500 homes in Victoria and a further 200 in Queensland.

Another 779 contracts had been signed, but construction had yet to commence.

The Melbourne-based company employs 470 people and joins dozens of Australian building firms to go under in the past 18 months as soaring costs wipe out razor-thin margins.

Hundreds of customers have already lodged claims with the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) or the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC).

Still, liquidator Said Jahani from Grant Thornton last week said the VMIA or QBCC had told a number that their property was not covered by domestic building insurance.

Grant Thornton liquidators are currently holding talks with over 20 builders who have offered to help complete homes for Porter Davis customers.

The liquidators have identified more than 250 homes that they believe will qualify for occupation certificates, given how near they are to being completed.