Rowlands Family in Australia: Chapter 14 - Domestic Builder

Our company, Industry Superannuation Services Pty Ltd, purchased land in Woods Road and together with Gary Freeman Constructions Pty Ltd, built two units at the corner of Woods Road and Maddern Drive, Yarrawonga that we eventually sold as “Spec Houses”.

Our company next purchased the two blocks of land next to the town houses that we had built and together with Freeman Constructions designed and built for four houses. These town houses were also sold as "Spec Houses" through O'Meara Real Estate in Yarrawonga.

I did most of the floor and wall tiling for these town houses and it was when working on one of the property's that I got a call from my sister Muriel to say that my father had collapsed and had been taken to hospital. Unfortunately, he died before we got to Melbourne.

Domestic Builder Developer and River Country Homes

When we settled in Yarrawonga I asked Gary Freeman whether he would be interested in a partnership arrangement with E F Rowlands & Associates Pty Ltd, the trustee company of the Rowlands Family Trust to build spec house in Yarrawonga/Mulwala. We agreed that our family trust would purchase suitable properties and then enter into an exclusive arrangement where all building work would be carried out by Freeman Constructions. Ed and Ruth Rowlands would design the houses and give drafts to Gary for his architect to complete the construction drawings. Where possible I would help in doing work such as tiling, painting, etc.

Our first property was on the corner of Woods Road and Maddern Drive in a recent subdivision of what was locally know as “The Priests Paddock”. At that time there were no houses on the East Side of Woods Road. The intention was to build two town houses on each block. Some pictures of our first venture are below.

Town Houses on the corner of Woods Road and Maddern Drive, Yarrawonga

Vacant Block looking towards Woods Road

Our next venture was on the adjacent double block where we built four town houses. Two by the Rowlands Family Trust and one by Freeman Constructions. Some pictures are below.

Four Town Houses on Woods Road, Yarrawonga

Another property that we bought was in Maddern Drive, where again we repeated the mirror image construction as shown below.

All sales were made using Des O’Meara Real Estate Sales and most or all town houses were sold by Michele O’Meara either before or just after completion.

We also bought a property in Hovel Street that used to be an Engineering Workshop. The concrete floor was nearly half a metre thick to carry the loads. We advertised for a purchaser to remove the large shed and if they also broke up and removed the concrete floor and filled the void with clay and had the ground engineered to building standards, there would be no charge for the shed. A farmer agreed to this and did a brilliant job in restoring the block. We built three town houses on this block as shown below.

Three Town Houses on Hovell Street, Yarrawonga

In the meantime, my wife’s stepmother whose maiden name was Frances O’Kaine of Katamatite, after the death of her husband decided to sell the family house in Melbourne and return to Yarrawonga. A suitable block was purchased in Shannon Court, Yarrawonga and we built a house for her, largely similar to our house in River Road, pictured below.

We next built two houses in Steneker Crescent, Yarrawonga, as shown below.

When my daughter Jacqueline who was working in England returned to Australia and got a job in Sydney, she decided to build and have and investment property in Yarrawonga. On one of her visits to town she bought a block of land in Harley Court, Yarrawonga and we built a house for her as shown below.

When our son Phillip decided to leave Melbourne and relocate to Yarrawonga, we purchased a block of land in Mulwala and built a house for him, as shown below.

We had formed a company named River Country Homes Pty Ltd and started building houses under this name, until Gary Freeman and his wife decided to relocate the family to Bendigo. I completed a crash course in the Building Regulations, etc and the Victorian Building Commission, based on my previous experience awarded me a “Domestic Builder Manager” license.

My son Phillip obtained a “National Builders Group” franchise. NBG was a sales organization that advertised a range of house designs and when all the paperwork was completed passed the client to River Country Homes for a building contract. The deposit paid to NBG was retained by them and progress payments thereafter were paid to RCH. We leased property in Melaleuca Street, Yarrawonga and established an office and materials display area.

River Country Homes Office and Product Display

The beauty of this franchise arrangement was that we could use NBG nominated suppliers for our own building contracts and this was great for our own margins. Our area under the franchise was Northeast Victoria and Southern New South Wales. To build in NSW we established another company named River Country Homes (NSW) Pty Ltd. Northeast Victoria was from Mt Beauty in the East to Strathmerton in the West and Benalla in the South and all towns in between. In Southern New South Wales, from Finey in the East to Deniliquin in the West and all towns in between. A small selection of the 200 NBG houses that we built are shown below.

When Phillip decided to relocate to Wodonga and my son Chris joined us from Melbourne, we also built houses for our own customers, some of the hundreds that were built are which are also shown below.

River Country Homes also built Display Homes for the National Builders Group in Wodonga. The first was in Snowy Street.

The second was in Barmar Place.

River Country Homes Pty Ltd and River Country Homes (NSW) Pty Ltd continued constructing homes for customers, including Display Homes for the National Builders Group until NBG decided to sell their existing display home in Wodonga and requested River Country Homes to build a new one. Building Contracts were exchanged and construction commenced in 2010. We had heard rumors that NBG was in financial difficulties due to the credit squeeze, but the Managing director assured us that it was a temporary problem that was in the process of being solved.

All was well, until RCH found that getting progress payments from NBG was taking longer than usual. We spoke to the Managing Director and went to Melbourne to discuss the situation as the RCH cash flow position was being affected.

The NBG Managing Director offered to sell the property to RCH on the understanding that the Wodonga display home would be finished. Contracts of sale at the agreed valuation were entered into, new finance was obtained by RCH and the display home completed in December 2011.

When RCH solicitors went to settle the Contract of Sale of the property on the nominated date, we understand that the Commonwealth Bank refused to settle the contract. RCH was advised to take possession of the property, change the locks and refuse NBG or the Commonwealth Bank entry.

During March 2012, we were informed that an Administrator had been appointed to NBG and the financial problems would be resolved.

Shortly thereafter NBG went into liquidation.

RCH then stated trading as "National Builders Northeast" and continued to use the display home for it’s own clients.

We eventually agreed with the Liquidator to a settlement and agreed to the cancellation of the Contract of Sale of the Display Home.