Watchdog Crackdown Puts 300 Building Companies on Notice

Queensland Building and Construction Commission has sanctioned almost 300 licensees for failing to file annual financial reports. 

The state’s building industry watchdog has issued show-case notices to 296 licensees risk being banned from the industry if they do not file financial reports by October 5. 

QBCC Commissioner Anissa Levy said most category SC1 and SC2 licensees had submitted their reports but there were more than 200 who had not. 

Levy said the high-level financial information provided an important health check for these businesses with a maximum revenue of up to $800,000.

“We take this action because SC companies can under-report their annual turnover and escape the scrutiny that they warrant in order for us to properly assess their financial viability,” Levy said.

“Licensees who do not submit their reports to the QBCC face potential regulatory action, such as no-new-work conditions, licence suspensions and licence cancellations.

“It’s unclear why these licensees have failed to provide the reports—all they must do is send us a three-page form which captures high-level financial information from 30 June, 2021.

“During the show-cause period, the companies are given the opportunity to provide reasons why they haven’t provided their financials, as required under Queensland law, and this will be the last chance to lodge the documents.”

This latest action follows QBCC issuing show-cause notices to 71 licensees who were operating with “questionable financial health”.

“The minimum financial requirement and mandatory reporting laws enable us to more easily detect when a licensed company might be in trouble financially,” Levy said.

“We’ll do whatever we can to protect the industry from the devastating effects of insolvencies, because those impacts flow right through the building supply chain.”

The industry has buckled under the weight of supply chain issues, spiking materials prices and a chronic labour shortage. 

Construction insolvencies were up 21 per cent in March this year compared to the same time last year when the moratorium on insolvent trading was still in place, but the number of insolvencies was still historically low. 

But Master Builders Queensland chief executive Paul Bidwell told The Urban Developer recently that the building industry has weathered the storm better than it was initially thought it would.

“We thought there would be more failures,” he said. “That hasn’t happened and I’m pleasantly surprised.

“But we have had some [collapse] … in relative terms, however, given that we’ve got 70,000 licensed contractors in Queensland, it’s just a handful.”