Aussie construction company PBS Building collapses having projects in NSW, Queensland and ACT

A major Australian construction company worth more than $90million last year has gone into voluntary administration.

PBS Building constructed large residential and commercial projects across New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland.

The business had run for 33 years but insolvency firm RSM Australia Partners Jonathon Colbran, Richard Stone and Mitchell Herrett announced on Tuesday the company has now collapsed.

A notice on the company’s website suddenly appeared on Tuesday telling customers it had gone into administration – leaving 180 staff across the country’s east coast without a job. 

A major Australian building company has collapsed after running for 33 years

PBS Building posted a notice on its website on Tuesday, telling customers they’d gone into voluntary administration

The PBS Board of directors and company founder Ian Carter released a statement on Tuesday, saying the team had always prided itself on getting the job done.

‘This has been a gut-wrenching decision that we know will impact many lives and livelihoods,’ they said.

‘However, after months of intense efforts behind the scenes, in the end it was the only responsible course of action available. In relation to our current projects, we secured, not abandoned, these sites with the express purpose of not incurring any further expenses. 

‘We took this step to ensure that we could negotiate better outcomes with clients for the ultimate benefit of creditors.’

The company said the combination of soaring material costs, labour and material shortages, extreme weather events and wars had ‘proved an insurmountable challenge’.

‘We are the latest, but we won’t be the last construction group to buckle under the weight of a broken industry and way of doing business that needs urgent reform,’ the statement continued.

Staff were told of the company’s collapse on Monday. Some have been with the business for 25 years. All employee entitlements will be paid in full.

‘PBS Directors have personally been working closely with many of our clients over recent months to negotiate better outcomes for all stakeholders,’ the company said.

PBS had a revenue of $90.8million last year but had losses of $4.3 million in the last financial year, news.com.au reported.

Many of the company’s construction sites have now been abandoned. 

More to come