Ptarmigan Homes in Liquidation

[MR10]

Seen a few mentions of Ptarmigan homes here in the past.

 

https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/life-savings-lost-after-collapse-of-highland-housebuilder-313233/

[ProDave]

Reading that article, it suggests Ptarmigan homes is what grew out of the ashes or Roy Homes?  Is that right?

[Kelvin]

Bloody hell. Poor sods. Devastating for many that they probably will never financially recover from. Something has to change to better protect people. 
 

By far the most stressful part of our build was the 3 month gap between paying for 80% of the kit and windows and it turning up. It’s put me off ever doing a kit build again. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Kelvin

[Kelvin]

4 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Reading that article, it suggests Ptarmigan homes is what grew out of the ashes or Roy Homes?  Is that right?

It’s what it says. Martin Roy is the common link between them. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Kelvin

[ProDave]

Roy Homes built the shell of our first build in 2004.

 

It makes me feel how lucky I was this time around having a builder I knew already and we trusted each other and everything was invoiced and paid in arrears.

[saveasteading]

https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/highland-housebuilder-ptarmigan-homes-collapses-313055/

 

More detail here.

Went bust. Sold to their own co as a prepack. Big debts.

Flash hq.

Bust.

 

Worried for the clients and subbies.....who is owed that 800k?

[saveasteading]

20 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

put me off ever doing a kit build again. 

Stick build gets the raw materials on site straight from bm.

 

[Kelvin]

12 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Stick build gets the raw materials on site straight from bm.

 

Yep. A groundswork guy I spoke to early on said he’d never use a kit build himself as he’d done the foundations for three previous houses where the kit builder went bust leaving the self-builders in the shit. One of them had to sell the plot as they couldn’t afford to build the house. 

[MR10]

Just skimmed through their accounts and the last time they were in profit was for the company year end Oct. 2015.

A lot of self builders are not aware they can view filed company accounts as part of 'financial health' checks. Not foolproof of course but in this case it probably would have raised red flags for some of the victims.

Basic checks and 'how to' really need to be highlighted in self build & renovation shows, self build magazines etc.

 

[Dave Jones]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

Bloody hell. Poor sods. Devastating for many that they probably will never financially recover from. Something has to change to better protect people. 
 

By far the most stressful part of our build was the 3 month gap between paying for 80% of the kit and windows and it turning up. It’s put me off ever doing a kit build again. 

 

yep another reason to avoid like the plague.

[Kelvin]

39 minutes ago, MR10 said:

Just skimmed through their accounts and the last time they were in profit was for the company year end Oct. 2015.

A lot of self builders are not aware they can view filed company accounts as part of 'financial health' checks. Not foolproof of course but in this case it probably would have raised red flags for some of the victims.

Basic checks and 'how to' really need to be highlighted in self build & renovation shows, self build magazines etc.

 

They do not talk about this enough even at the NSBRC. Protecting yourself is discussed on their PM course. However I think a few recent horror stories need to be included in the presentation and a very basic how to on looking at companies house and maybe even what to look for in the accounts. 

[SteamyTea]

@ToughButterCup started writing up what can be done.

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

They do not talk about this enough even at the NSBRC

I wonder if that is too sensitive for them, if some of the exhibitors may be in delicate health.

They can't exactly advise people to refuse deposits and only use kit companies with healthy cash accounts....when their income depends on many businesses who insist on large deposits.

[Kelvin]

They don’t need to be that specific. They just need to highlight the risks. They talk about the different approaches to building with some of the pros and cons of each so could easily cover it generically. They also have financial advice available so it’s something that may be covered there of course. 
 

Self-building is a risky venture even if you don’t have a company going bust on you.