Fighting for Subbies Rights
Update 10.10.17
Response from General Manager Dan Burley received 09.10.17
Sommer & Staff Constructions Pty Ltd (S&S) has been operating for more than 40 years. We are in a firm position and taking full advantage of the current market. As such, we are successfully completing a number of Brisbane based residential projects, in conjunction with regional and remote government projects across the State.
We are disheartened to hear that subcontractors are feeling disadvantaged by our suspension of the Ivory Street Project, as indicated in your recent article posted on 05/10/17. Unfortunately, we had to exercise our rights under BCIPA in order to protect ourselves and more importantly our subcontractors.
We have contacted all subcontractors on this project individually to discuss the current situation.
We stand by our reputation for building quality projects in a safe environment.
The external accountants have just completed the 2017 audited financials, these will be lodged with ASIC and QBCC by 28th October should anyone wish to review.
Should there be any subcontractors wishing to discuss the matter further, we encourage them to contact myself personally via our Head Office on 07 3376 7544.
04.10.17
The tidal wave is bearing down on subbies, I cannot begin to tell you how many reports I have received this week of subbies struggling to get paid and it's only Wednesday.
The comment at the bottom makes an excellent point, if the builder can't or won't pay, they are trading insolvent, that is a license breach and an investigation should start immediately.
Subbies who have called Sommer & Staff have been told "you will be paid when we are paid".
Subcontractors have been advised verbally that "Sommer and Staff Constructions will not be making account payments to suppliers for their project ‘Ívory Apartments’ in Mt Gravatt.
Pay when paid provisions are strictly forbidden under BCIPA Legislation so you should all put your claims in under BCIPA and inform the QBCC of what they are saying to you.
Subbies have not been paid and quite rightly have asked when their overdue payment claims will be made.
- Sommer & Staff are entitled to suspend the head contract.
- They are not entitled to tell subbies they will not be paid until Sommer & Staff receive payment.
It's a disgrace that a builder that has been around as long as this one does not have cash reserves to fund this job.
Subbies have to fund their own work, why do we also have to fund builders?
Below is a Sommer & Staff notice to subcontractors.
While Rome burns, the clowns at the MBA bitch about Project Bank Accounts (PBA's) and tell subbies that they will be no better off with their implementation.
The developer would have to have sufficient funding in place for a job done under a PBA but in this case "the client is still finalising their finance with the bank".
The MBA bozos have wasted a huge amount of their members money fighting tooth and nail to stop Mick De Brenni from getting Security Of Payment legislation though parliament.
Conflict of Interest
Any subbie who is a member of the MBA should resign now, today. The hundreds of dollars in membership fees you pay is being used against your best interests. Effectively you are funding your own demise. Get out now while you still have the shirt on your back.
The MBA cannot possibly represent the best interests of subcontractors and builders at the same time, it is a massive conflict of interest. They will always support the interests of builders.
You only have to look at the name of the organisation to know that. They are not the Master Subbies Association, they are the Master Builders Association.
Subbies wake up to yourselves and get the hell out of the enemies camp.
One thing I am certain of is that subbies will be better off than they are now under PBA's. I speak from experience, we have worked under one and it was a dream run of payment on time.
As to Sommer & Staff not paying their subbies, please tell me MBA,
- Why is subbies gut busting work and materials being used to fund this job?
- How many months of work has been done without the funds available to pay subbies?
- Possibly 2 months. The month that is now overdue which would be work done in August and then the work done in September that will fall due at the end of October.
Doesn't this builder have any cash reserves or an overdraft?
A subbie called me today who had a similar nightmare time getting paid a huge amount of money from this company. The nightmare culminated where his wife had a meltdown and left him.
They had their suppliers putting massive pressure on them for payment they couldn't make because they were not being paid. They had to borrow money from family that put more pressure on them.
She couldn't handle the stress of juggling the accounts and the constant attempts to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of claims that were always many months late, then to be told "you will be paid when we are paid".
This is exactly why we need Project Bank Accounts.
67P Interest
Subbies start charging builders including Sommer & Staff 67P interest on overdue money. You are entitled to do this under 67P of the QBCC Act. Under the Act, builders have to pay you.
Here is a link so that you can work out how much they owe you in interest on your unpaid claims.
It's free to join the 67P section of www.whojungle.com.au