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HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake mocked for crying selfie after staff cuts

HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake mocked for crying selfie after staff cuts

The CEO of an online marketing firm was lambasted on social media after he posted a “cringe-worthy” selfie on LinkedIn that showed him crying as he announced cuts to staff.

Braden Wallake, CEO of marketing services firm HyperSocial based in Ohio, US, took to the professional networking site to announce the firings in a lengthy post to employees, the new york post reports.

It is unclear how many employees were let go by the company.

“This will be the most vulnerable thing I’ll ever share,” he wrote. “I’ve gone back and forth whether to post this or not. We just had to lay off a few of our employees.”

Mr Wallake then wrote that the dismissals were “my fault” because of a decision that he made in February. I have admitted that I am “stuck with that decision for far too long”.

“Now, I know my team will say that ‘we made that decision together,’ but I lead [sic] us into it,” he wrote. “And because of those failings, I had to do today, the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do.

“We’ve always been a people first business. And we always will be,” he said.

“Days like today, I wish I was a business owner that was only money driven and didn’t care about who he hurt along the way,” Mr Wallake wrote. “But I’m not. I’m sure there are hundreds and thousands of others like me.”

According to HyperSocial’s LinkedIn page, the company, which was founded in 2019, has up to 50 employees.

“The ones you don’t see talked about,” he continued. “Because they didn’t lay off 50 or 500 or 5000 employees. They laid off one or two or three. One or two or three that would still be here if better decisions had been made.”

Mr Wallake continued: “I know it isn’t professional to tell my employees that I love them. But from the bottom of my heart, I hope they know how much I do.

“Every single one. Every single story. Every single thing that makes them smile and every single thing that makes them cry,” he wrote. “Their families. Their friends. Their hobbies. I’ve always hired people based on who they are as people.

“People with great hearts and great souls. And I can’t think of a lower moment than this,” Mr Wallake wrote.

The post by Mr Wallake generated more than 30,500 reactions, with more than 5,800 comments, and nearly 500 shares as of Thursday morning. Most of the reactions were negative.

“Why don’t you cut your salary or don’t take one until the company is back where you need it to be?” one commenter wrote on LinkedIn. “I mean, if you really care about your employees and the hardship you just dropped on them.”

Another LinkedIn user posted a screenshot of an Instagram post by Mr Wallake from June in which he announced that he adopted a sea otter.

“Maybe it’s not a great idea to adopt a sea lion at the beginning of a recession?”

Mr Wallake pushed back, saying that the adoption was a result of a “donation made on my behalf as a birthday present to me” and that he doesn’t “actually have a sea otter running around our van”.

Another LinkedIn user wrote: “Are you being serious here? Perhaps you think all publicity is good publicity.

“For goodness sake show some humility or some dignity.”

Another critic wrote: “I am sorry, your post causes bad feelings at me. This is more about YOUR feelings and not about the feelings of the people you had to lay off. That looks a bit like self-pity.”

But others on LinkedIn defended Mr Wallake – and clapped back at those who ridiculed him.

“What about this post in which he admits his faults, failures and expresses his anguish at the hurt he’s caused made you feel the need to pile on?” one defend wrote.

Mr Wallake posted another message on LinkedIn on Wednesday in response to the backlash. He defended his decision to post the thread and pushed back on suggestions that he publicly named the fired employees.

“Hey everyone, yes, I am the crying CEO,” he wrote.

“No, my intent was not to make it about me or victimize myself. I am sorry it came across that way.”

Mr Wallake continued: “It was not my place to out the employees’ names publicly.

“What I want to do now, is trying to make better of this situation and start a thread for people looking for work,” he wrote.

This post first appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission

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Westpac, CBA and NAB banks close 37 branches, 182 jobs lost

Westpac, CBA and NAB banks close 37 branches, 182 jobs lost

Dozens of major bank branches are set to be closed over the next few months which will see 182 Australians lose their jobs, according to the Finance Sector Union.

In total, 37 branches will be shuttered across the nation, with the union describing the closures as reaching “crisis point”.

Westpac Group is making the most dramatic cuts with 24 branches being shut down across the country.

In NSW, Westpac branches in the suburbs of Lakemba, Engadine, Corrimal and Kingscliff will be shuttered in coming months, while Queensland’s branches in Ashmore, Nerang and Rockhampton will also be shut.

The closures will also hit Westpac’s Western Australian branches based on Mandurah and South Perthwhile the berrimah branch in the Northern Territory has also been cut.

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The Finance Sector Union said it had campaigned against branch closures for many years but is now seeking government intervention to protect local economies and save what’s left of Australia’s bank branch network.

“This latest list of closures means the big four have closed more than 550 bank branches across Australia since January 2020,” said Finance Sector Union (FSU) national secretary Julia Angrisano.

“We must act to stop the banks walking away from communities in our suburbs and towns. It’s time to examine the impact of these closures which have hit hundreds of communities across the country.”

Others set to close down as part of the Westpac Group include St George’s NSW branch in Five Dockthe Bank SA’s branches in Munno Parra and St Peterswhile the Bank of Melbourne will also lose seven branches.

The Bank of Melbourne branches include Croydon, Coburg, Fitzroy, Sunbury, Footscray, 114 William St Melb and Mornington.

Meanwhile, the NAB is closing nine branches across three states, including sites located in Lavington, Narrandera, Corrimal, Figtree, Cronulla and Maroubra in NSW, Wynnum in QLD and North Melbourne in Victoria.

Two states will be impacted by branch closures by the CBA, including the NSW suburbs of Annandale, Toongabbie and Lindfieldas well as Drysdale and Woodend in Victoria.

Ms Angrisano said communities depend on the banks to deliver financial services and feared the current trend would mean no branches in the future.

“The banks notify the FSU about upcoming closures. In this case, two banking brands are being withdrawn from the same location in Corrimal, NSW. Imagine the impact of losing two more banks in the same suburb?,” she said.

She said the banks had failed to support local communities and cost savings from branch closures were designed to increase the banks’ already huge profits.

“We need an inquiry into bank branch closures to assess the impact on local communities when the banks pull out of suburbs and towns,” she said.

“The UK has a formal ‘community impact assessment test’ and we need a similar test to ring-fence our branches and make sure banking services the public which they derive their profits from.”

A Westpac Group spokesperson said with more than five million digitally active customers, it was investing in services to complement how our customers choose to bank.

“Declining customer use of branches means that in some instances, we may take a difficult decision to leave a branch location. In these instances, we continue to support our customers with access to banking services via Bank@Post, telephone, mobile and virtual banking,” they said.

“We take steps to ensure customers are notified in advance about the changes and are directly connected with the services they need to continue to do their banking. For those who are new to digital banking, or may require more assistance with the changes, we provide dedicated support and education to make the transition easier.

They added that the “majority” of affected employees would secure a new role within the group.

Krissie Jones, from NAB executive retail, said as more and more customers are choosing to bank online, we’ve made the difficult decision to close some branches that receive less customer visits.

“Increasingly Australians are banking digitally, with more than 94 per cent of customer interactions now taking place over the phone, by video or online,” she said.

“While these branches will no longer be there, we will still be there for our customers – just in different ways,” she said. “Over the past few years, fewer customers are coming into branches to do their banking and foot traffic has lessened, which has been accelerated by Covid.”

She added there will be no job losses at NAB and the branch team will also be working with customers over the coming weeks to talk with them about the various banking alternatives available.

CBA did not respond to news.com.au’s request for comment before publication.

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Geelong building company Norris Construction Group collapses owing $27m

Geelong building company Norris Construction Group collapses owing $27m

A collapsed Victorian construction company has $27 million in debt and owes $3.2 million to around 140 staff that it is unlikely to be able to repay, according to the liquidator’s report which revealed what went wrong.

The Geelong-based company called Norris Construction Group, which included seven associated companies, went under in March with KordaMentha appointed to handle the liquidation.

Its report, which was filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, revealed the range of reasons for the company’s failure.

It included the “misprising of projects” and a “crisis of confidence” experienced by the business during lockdowns in Victoria between March and October 2020 resulting in projects being tendered at “very low prices”.

This resulted in “heavy losses” on a very large number of projects, the report to creditor’s said.

It also outlined “cultural issues amongst the executive team leading to staff losses and staff turnover” as well as hiring new staff on “high remuneration packages”.

The pandemic also contributed to the company’s demise, as well as “noncompliance” with lodging statements and returns with the ATO and unpaid taxes, alongside “insufficient working capital” to meet its short term obligations.

The company had completed work on the Manufutures hub at Deakin University and the Marngoneet and Chisholm Road prisons and worked across Melbourne and southwest Victoria.

Millions owed to employees

From the overall group, 235 former employees are owed $4 million in wages and entitlements but will have to rely on the federal government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) to get their money back.

However the scheme, which is available for employees of companies that become insolvent, caps back pay and does not pay superannuation.

Aside from the $3.2 million owed to employees of Norris Construction Group, there was between $187,000 and $277,000 owed to 235 staff from the overall group including wages, redundancy payouts and superannuation.

But KordaMentha partner Andrew Knight said four out of the five companies that employed staff had “insufficient” assets to pay back the money owed.

“We understand that for four of the five employing entities, FEG has processed and paid over 90 per cent of the employee claims,” he said.

“FEG is still working on claims in the fifth entity, Norris Construction Group, which are more complex due to the quantity of claims as well as the relevant Award which applies to these employees. We estimate the majority of these claims will be resolved and paid within the next month.

“Unfortunately, there are some entitlements that are not covered by FEG, for example superannuation and amounts in excess of caps, and payment of those are dependent on the outcome of the liquidations.”

While an auction of the company equipment and assets in May raised more than $17 million, and is expected to paid to Westpac, the bank will still suffer a “shortfall”, said Mr Knight as its owed $22 million.

The ATO also has an outstanding debt of $5 million, the report revealed.

However, the ATO debt was unlikely to be repaid, Mr Knight added.

“The amount due to the ATO is unsecured, and given the likely shortfall to the employees and the secured creditor, it’s unlikely unsecured creditors including the ATO will be paid a dividend,” he said.

The creditor’s report also flagged it was investigating any potential offenses of director’s duties including trading while insolvent.

construction crisis

Overall, the construction industry has been plagued with a spate of collapses caused by a perfect storm of supply chain disruptions, skilled labor shortages, skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics, and extreme weather events.

Earlier this year, two major Australian construction companies, Gold Coast-based Condev and industry giant Probuild, went into liquidation.

Victorian construction companies have been particularly sensitive to the crisis.

Two building companies from Victoria were casualties of the crisis having gone into liquidation at the end of June, with one homeowner having forked out $300,000 for a now half-built house.

Then there have been smaller operators like Hotondo Homes Horsham, which was also based in Victoria and a franchisee of a national construction firm – which collapsed earlier this month affecting 11 homeowners with $1.2 million in outstanding debt.

It is the second Hotondo Homes franchisee to go under this year, with its Hobart branch collapsing in January owing $1.3 million to creditors, according to a report from liquidator Revive Financial.

Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million, although it was partially bought out less than 24 hours after going bust.

Others joined the list too including Inside Out Construction, Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes and Statement Builders.

The most recent collapse was NSW building company Willoughby Homes, which went into voluntary administration last week, leaving at least 30 homes in limbo.

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Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

A US online trading platform, which experienced a boom in customers during the pandemic, has slashed its staff by 23 per cent after being hit by the cryptocurrency market crash and record inflation.

It’s the second round of staff sackings for the company called Robinhood, which laid off 9 per cent of its 3,900 employees in April.

Yesterday’s announcement saw the company shed 23 per cent of remaining positions — about 815 jobs — meaning the company will have sacked more than 1000 employees in a matter of months between the two rounds of redundancies. Roles in operations, marketing and program management the most impacted by yesterday’s decision.

Robinhood was embroiled in the Gamestop controversy early last year when Reddit renegades and amateur investors blew up the share price of the brick-and-mortar video game retailers, but this momentum has failed to continue.

Robinhood’s chief executive Vlad Tenev said that letting go of 9 per cent the workforce in April to focus on “greater cost discipline” for the organization “did not go far enough” in a blog post on the company’s website.

“Since that time, we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody,” Mr Tenev said.

“Last year, we staffed many of our operations functions under the assumption that the heightened retail engagement we had been seeing with the stock and crypto markets in the Covid era would persist into 2022.

“In this new environment, we are operating with more staffing than appropriate. As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory – this is on me.”

Last year, Robinhood grew from 700 roles at the end of 2019 to nearly 3,900 by the first half of 2021, but its 2,022 cuts take its total workforce down to 2,600.

Mr Tenev said staff would receive an email and Slack message with their employment status after the company wide meeting announced the redundancies on Tuesday.

He added the cuts were a “painful decision” and meant the company would be “parting ways with many incredibly talented people”, although staff would be given the opportunity to remain with the company until October 1.

Robinhood also revealed its second quarter results which showed its monthly active years plunged to 14 million down by 34 per cent from a year earlier.

Revenue also plummeted by a whopping 44 per cent to $US318 million ($A461 million).

Robinhood became a trading phenomenon during the pandemic as it offered an easy to use, mobile first platform and in the second quarter of last year it boasted more than 21 million active users who were keen to trade crypto and meme stocks.

But with lockdowns in the past, revenue tied to customer’s trading dropped 55 per cent in the latest quarter to $US202 million ($A292 million).

The company has also been slugged with a $US30 million ($A43 million) fine from the New York State Department of Financial Service for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulation in its cryptocurrency trading unit.

A global tech bloodbath has seen a spate of companies laying off staff.

In Australia a crypto company called Immutable, which valued at $3.5 billion, is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Meanwhile, Australia healthcare start-up Eucalyptus, which provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Australian crypto platform Immutable sacks 17% of staff despite plans to ‘hire aggressively’

Australian crypto platform Immutable sacks 17% of staff despite plans to 'hire aggressively'

An Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

The crypto platform, which is an Australian unicorn called Immutable, could be hit with legal action as the union questioned the validity of the redundancies.

The union called Games Workers Australia has disputed the number of staff members that were fired claiming it was at least 30 roles, while Immutable has insisted just 18 workers were let go.

The staff came from the company’s flagship video game Gods Unchained and were advised of the redundancies 24 to 48 hours before being told to leave.

Staff were fired from roles including video effects artists, senior engineers and a marketing director and the process involved a 30-minute company wide meeting last Monday.

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‘devastating news’

Game Workers Australia, a branch of Professionals Australia, said it is supporting staff from Immutable Games Studio who received the “devastating” news that they would be made redundant.

“Based on information we have received, Game Workers Australia believes there are at least 30, but potentially more, job losses at Immutable,” said Professionals Australia CEO Jill McCabe.

“Immutable has provided varying reasons to their employees as to why the redundancies were necessary.

“While some employees were advised that the reason for their redundancy was due to individual performance metrics, others were advised the cause was due to an organizational restructuring or the non-alignment of their role to business goals.

“While staff were advised that they were able to request information about other roles in the company, their were given the impression that they would not be suitable for these roles.”

However, an Immutable spokesperson said the restructure was a “difficult choice” and was performed to meet business goals, while individual performance was not a reason for any redundancies.

They added individual staff were given the opportunity to respond to the redundancies and most were found unsuitable for redeployment to vacant roles.

Hiring 80 more roles

Concerns have been aired that Immutable is still hiring for similar roles that were made redundant such as product managers and engineers.

An Immutable spokesperson said the restructure impacted 6 per cent of the total number of employees at the company and it continued to “hire aggressively”.

“As we grow, the nature of the expertise the company needs is changing. We needed fewer artists, unity engineers and card designers and are hiring more tokenomics experts, blockchain engineers and crypto product managers,” they said.

“We have established new roles for Gods Unchained which we will be hiring for over the next six months; in total we will be hiring more new roles into Gods Unchained than were made redundant.

“Immutable is growing from 280 employees today to over 360 by the end of the year.”

The company started the year with just 120 employees and has already more than doubled, they added.

Game Workers Australia also claimed that Immutable provided no opportunity for employees to respond to the company’s intention to make them redundant and most of the redundancies were advised and executed within 24 to 48 hours.

“Sadly, the experience of game workers at Immutable is emblematic of the broader problems across Australia’s growing $3 billion games sector,” Ms McCabe said.

“While game workers are highly qualified and skilled, wages are unsustainably low, the hours are long, and unpaid overtime is common.

“Many people burn out of our industry and leave before even making it to five years.”

But the Immutable spokesperson defended its process and said the company “followed a fair and consistent process in relation to the restructure that is in line with legal obligations”.

Earlier this year, Immutable’s founders James, 30, and Robbie Ferguson, 25 were one of 13 new entrants that placed on the Australian Financial Review rich list with an estimated combined wealth of $1.01 billion.

Tech sector bloodbath

Immutable’s staff are the latest casualties in the tech sector, which has seen a spate of companies firing staff as conditions get tougher.

Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Australian tech company Metigy collapses impacting 75 staff

Australian tech company Metigy collapses impacting 75 staff

Staff who worked for an Australian tech company have been left “shell-shocked” by its sudden collapse after it planned to raise money with a valuation of $1 billion.

The company called Metigy was founded in 2015 and offered an artificial intelligence platform that provided insights into customers for small business marketing.

But its demise has impacted around 75 staff, who appeared to have been blindsided when informed on Monday that the company had gone into administration.

Some staff members had joined the company, which was founded by David Fairfull and Johnson Lin, just a few months ago.

One employee, who had been with Metigy for almost 18 months, said two weeks ago she “never thought” that the company would have gone under.

“All of us employees were informed today and we are shell-shocked to say the least,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

“It’s heartbreaking to have our journey cut short so early, when I could see that we were turning a corner with the product in the last few months and what was coming up in the next few months.”

Another staff member revealed plans they were making “for all the great work we could do with a new brand and communications function at Metigy” that she hoped to lead, but instead found herself suddenly unemployed.

“We’re pretty shell-shocked. It’s not because we didn’t care enough or because we did a bad job or the market conditions weren’t in our favor – and that will always be the toughest thing to deal with when you work as hard as we did,” she wrote .

“I am beyond grateful to have met this group of people who I now call friends and I’m so sad that we don’t get to continue on this rollercoaster together.

“My heart is always in start-up land regardless of how hard it gets. It’s an experience that teaches us so much about ourselves and I will always choose it.”

The company’s collapse is a particular shock as it planned to raise money just two months ago.

A recent presentation from a Metigy investor showed the company’s revenue had grown more than 300 per cent in both the 2020 and 2021 financial years, and had more than 25,000 clients across 92 countries, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Meanwhile, Australian private equity firm Five V Capital had recently presented Metigy as a case study showing it was valued at $105 million in October 2020 when it invested and its last evaluation sat at $1 billion in April this year.

Metigy’s collapse came as a “big shock” and had caused “a great deal of sadness”, one employee added on LinkedIn.

He said that the “growth team never failed to deliver” with a list of achievements in their short time, including acquiring roughly 38,000 users from a base of just a few thousand, rebuilding the website leading to significant improvements in conversion rates and a full rebrand .

Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell of Sydney-based firm Cathro Partners were appointed as administrators on Friday night.

The duo said they are working with investigators and creditors to assess the business commercials and explore the possibility of its sale.

“We are exploring the urgent sale of Metigy’s assets and intellectual property as part of the voluntary administration process and consider a sale could be an outcome in this process,” they said.

Metigy has more than 30 shareholders, according to documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Tech companies are struggling in Australia after a share market bloodbath, which has left investors spooked and made funding harder to find.

Other failed businesses include grocery delivery service Send, which went into liquidation at the end of May, after the company spent $11 million in eight months to stay afloat.

Last month, Australia’s first ever neobank founded in 2017, Volt Bank, went under with 140 staff losing their jobs, while 6,000 customers were told to urgently withdraw their funds.

A Victorian food delivery company that styled itself as a rival to UberEats and Deliveroo also collapsed in July as it became unprofitable, despite making more than $6 million worth of deliveries since it launched in 2017 and had 18,000 customers.

A venture capital firm issued a sobering message about the state of Australia’s start-up industry, warning that more new companies would go bust and pulling back on funding as a result.

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Willoughby Homes building company collapses, goes into voluntary administration

Willoughby Homes building company collapses, goes into voluntary administration

A NSW building company has gone into voluntary administration, leaving at least 30 homes in limbo.

On Friday night, Sydney-based Willoughby Homes appointed external administrators.

The company collapsed just over 24 hours after NSW Fair Trading suspended its building license for failing to pay back debts ordered by a court.

Homeowners were informed via email late on Friday that David Mansfield and Jason Tracy of Deloitte’s turnaround and restructuring department had been appointed as joint administrators.

A sister company of Willoughby Homes, Project 360 Degrees, which was run by the same leadership team, is also part of the administration proceedings.

It comes after an extensive news.com.au investigation found the company has been non-functional for some time, with build sites stalling for as long as a year, the company’s home building insurance not being reinstated and finally, all its offices being cleared out and phone lines going straight to voicemail.

News.com.au understands around 30 homes were in the pipeline to be built and that at least 10 creditors are owed money. There are also around eight staff members who will be impacted, although it’s understood they had all ceased working at the company in the last several weeks. Staff had not been paid their superannuation in the months leading up to the collapse and one staff member is owed $53,000 in wages.

One creditor, Regno Trades, is owed $184,000 and has a court date hearing this Wednesday calling for Willoughby Homes to “be wound up in insolvency”.

At least 10 contractors are chasing Willoughby Homes over unpaid debts and more than a dozen customers have taken them to NCAT demanding their deposits or progress payments be returned as works have stalled.

Although Regno Trades has applied for Willoughby Homes to be placed into liquidation over a $184,310 payment, several other creditors have also taken legal action.

Five companies have applied for a default judgment over payments they claim is owed to them: H & R Interiors ($73,925), Prospa Advance Millers ($60,913), Scaffolding Australia ($22,794), ATF Services ($5,658) and Green Resources Material Australia ($6,503). ).

Elba Kitchens claimed to news.com.au that they were owed around $80,000 from Willoughby Homes.

Trueform Frames and Trusses claim they are waiting on an outstanding payment from Willoughby Homes of $24,684 from an invoice issued more than seven months ago while Finese Electrical and Air Conditioning claims it is owed $4531 from jobs done in February.

News.com.au knows of two other suppliers owed money.

It’s understood these creditors have not yet been contacted about the company’s voluntary administration.

News.com.au has contacted the administrators for comment.

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The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) ordered Willoughby Homes to pay back $76,837 to a customer on June 8 and then last week, on July 21, another homeowner was also awarded $38,456, payable immediately.

Both debts were never paid, prompting the building license of Willoughby Homes to be suspended on Thursday.

Two employees who quit several months are also owed thousands in unpaid superannuation in what they said was a sign that the company was on the brink of collapse.

Xavier* worked in the sales department of Willoughby Homes for more than a year before he was made redundant in February 2021. The father-of-three claims he is still yet to be paid $53,000 from his commission fees. To recover the money, he’s spent around $5,000 on lawyers although his latest legal letter from him has gone ignored for months.

He also learned he was owed about $7000 in unpaid superannuation from Willoughby Homes.

Another staff member, Eric*, was owed about $5000 in super and had to get tax authorities to intercede on his behalf to recover his cash.

In June, news.com.au flagged that Willoughby Homes was on its last legs as some customers watched their dream home languish for months in the final stages of the project.

Several other aspiring homeowners forked out tens of thousands in a deposit as long ago as 2020 and to date, nothing has been done on their empty site.

News.com.au also knows of at least two customers who signed a contract with Willoughby Homes when the company was not able to enter into any new contracts.

NSW insurer iCare had not reinstated Willoughby Homes’ Home Builders Compensation Fund (HBCF) since April 2021, with the state body rejecting multiple applications, it confirmed to news.com.au.

That means the construction firm could not begin any new projects that required HBCF — so any project costing more than $20,000.

A NSW Fair Trading spokesperson told news.com.au that “It is a breach of the Home Building Act for a builder to enter into a contract to complete residential building work above $20,000 without HBCF insurance”.

Mum-of-three Marice Hartono and her husband, from North Ryde, gave out $38,000 to the builder as a deposit while Greg Denton and his wife paid $22,000 for a Central Coast home.

Both customers are not insured as they signed after Willoughby Homes’ HBCF had not been renewed and are not entitled to any compensation from the fund.

Ms Hartono told news.com.au she was “devastated” to hear the news that the company had gone bust as it’s left so many “unanswered questions” about what this means for her deposit and her plans of a dream home.

Since June, NSW Fair Trading has been actively investigating Willoughby Homes, with the government department telling news.com.au “The investigation into Willoughby Homes Pty Ltd is ongoing and no comment can be made at this time.

“NSW Fair Trading encourages anyone who has contracted with this trader to call 13 32 20.”

On Thursday, the entity used its powers against Willoughby Homes to suspend its license, effectively stopping the company’s ability to trade at all.

NSW Fair Trading took the drastic action of using Section 42A of the Home Building Act 1989, which allowed them to “automatically suspend a contractor license where the holder fails to comply with an order by a court or the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to pay money for a building claim by the due date”.

Not long after, administrators were appointed to the struggling company.

Customers have been left reeling over the long months of waiting as the company floundered.

Cherry Cobrador-Wong, 33, and her husband Logan Wong, 35, from Sydney’s west, who recently had a baby, are behind in mortgage and rent because they claim their house has been left untouched since November when it was nearing its final stages.

“I’m crying all the time. I’m emotionally saddened and destroyed,” she previously told news.com.au.

Saif Nabi and his wife Hanniya as well as their two-year-old son have also been left in the lurch.

“One and a half years into it and we’re not closer, it’s just an empty lot of land,” Mr Nabi lamented.

At first the Nabi family were ecstatic about building their dream home in Box Hill, forking out $18,000 in an initial deposit.

But as the months passed by, Mr Nabi said the situation turned “into a nightmare” and he called to mutually end the contract.

“Since then it’s just been complete radio silence,” he said.

Sarah Little and Nikki Young are two more impacted homeowners who forked out $29,000 as a deposit but have yet to see a single worker set foot on their vacant lot.

The pair of paramedics signed with Willoughby Homes in March last year for a $291,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Menangle Park, in Sydney’s south west.

“It’s taken a pretty big toll on our mental health and we’ve gone from being pretty financially stable to now having to really consider if we can even afford the home we dreamed of.”

*Names withheld over privacy concerns

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