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

A major Australian construction company that raked in 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. 

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. 

More to come