PROPERTY developer Veritas says it is $4 million out of pocket because Builtform didn’t complete the contract on The Shoal Apartments.
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Builtform went into liquidation earlier this month – six months after work had stopped on site – owing sub contractors about $1 million.
Now Shoal Bay Beach Constructions (SBBC), a subsidiary of Veritas, will also seek money from the liquidation.
Builtform has been paid $8 million since March 2015 including an $839,000 progress payment in February.
Work stopped on the site soon after.
Veritas said the $4 million would make good the work Builtform didn't complete - work Veritas said it's had to carry out instead.
"Builtform had a contract with us to complete the job by December [2015]," Veritas managing director Adrian Mastronardo said.
"They walked off the job."
Melbourne firm Balanced Securities is the financier for the project.
An independent quantity surveyor verified Builtform's 12th progress payment claim for the $839,000 which Balanced Solutions paid.
It was during assessment of that 12th claim that the quantity surveyor noted that not even the revised March completion date wouldn't be met.
A 13th progress payment worth $158,000 was originally refused but paid after it went to adjudication.
SBBC twice asked Builtform in February to show cause for why it should not step into the contract, before it did just that on March 9.
On March 13, SBBC appointed Fortis as the new builder.
"We've come up here and put our money where our mouth is with this development," Mr Mastronardo said.
"I pride myself on my reputation and that of Veritas."
Veritas has since launched a civil action in the NSW Supreme Court against Builtform for what Mr Mastronardo said was an unrelated project. A creditors’ meeting for the Builtform liquidation is scheduled for Thursday under Jones Partners.