Kim Gibson should be sitting in her brand new, two-bedroom home by now.
Instead, she's trying to figure out where she is going to live.
Kim Gibson says she is currently weighing up her options, but paying an extra $120,000 to build her home would set her retirement plans back for years. (Supplied: Kim Gibson)"As soon as they announced the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant, I thought, 'well, this gives me a chance to buy something new'," she said.
"I was wanting to downsize into something smaller and get ready for retirement."
Gibson was originally told her townhouse within the Provenance Estate in the regional town of Huntly would be built by May 2021. Then, multiple delays pushed the date back to May this year.
With this date in mind, Gibson sold the Bendigo house she was living in with a long settlement that was finalised last month.
But, in a devastating twist, the construction firm Gibson and 20 other landowners signed a contract with to build their homes - Vita Building Group - announced two weeks ago it was pulling out of the project.
While the concrete slabs have been poured on some of the building lots, construction on most of them is yet to even begin.
Kim Gibson is now looking for a place to live after selling her home in anticipation of moving into the new development. (Supplied: Kim Gibson)The landowners could sell their plots - either back to Huntly or on the open market.
The third option is to proceed with a new builder, but a surge in the cost of labour means the cheapest amount quoted would add an extra $120,000 to the price of each townhouse.
Kim Gibson's house was framed up with the slab almost ready to pour when work suddenly stopped on the project. (Supplied: Kim Gibson)Since publishing the article last week, more affected landowners, including Gibson, have come forward to share their heartbreak and frustration at the news.
Gibson is currently in South Africa visiting family and friends, but says she does not know what she will do when she gets back to Australia next week.
"I've been left homeless," she said.
"I'm going to stay with a friend for a little while, but I can't expect to do that for months and months."
Adding to Gibson's anguish is the fact that two of her nieces - both first home buyers aged in their mid twenties - also bought into the estate after she told them of the opportunity.
"I feel awful because I'm the one that said I'm going to buy this, wouldn't it be great if we bought three in a row?"
"I mean, it was the only opportunity you would ever have for three family members to purchase three little houses in a row.
"It's been extremely stressful, watching it unfold.
"We've definitely been left in the lurch, but it's just a sick feeling in your stomach because now you've got to try and decide what to do."
In a letter sent to the landowners on June 2, Vita Building Group said their decision to pull out of the project was due to insurance troubles as well as rising construction and labour costs.
"Unfortunately, we are not confident that we can secure the domestic building insurance required to proceed with the proposed construction of the townhouse as we cannot satisfy the financial and technical requirements of the insurer," the letter said.
About 20 landowners within Provenance Estate in Huntly have been affected by their builder's decision to abandon the project. (Supplied: Kim Gibson)"Our position is further complicated by the stress being placed on the participants in the building industry associated with the rising cost and shortage of labour and materials."
9news.com.au has contacted Vita Building Group for comment but has not received a response.
In a statement issued through its lawyers last week, Huntly said: "Our client and our office have (on an urgent basis) been endeavouring to seek further updates from Vita and its solicitor, and have also been requesting that Vita directly provide clarity to lot owners in respect of the refund of deposits and timing for such payments, as well as clarifying Vita's intentions in respect of any lots where construction has actually commenced.
"It is our client's intention to continue to assist and work with lot owners to achieve the best possible outcome given the circumstances."
Surging costs for raw materials, worker shortages, supply chain delays and interest rate rises have all combined to fuel a national construction industry crisis.
Steven Chagas is another Provenance Estate landowner who says he has been left gutted by the stalled project in Bendigo.
"In the time that I have been waiting for this house to be built I proposed to my wife, we then got married, my wife became pregnant and now our first child is four months old," he said.
The couple bought the house and land package with the help of two grants, the $20,000 First Home Owner grant for new homes in regional Victoria and the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant.
Chagas said the advice he received from the State Revenue Office was that he would lose the HomeBuilder grant if he signed a contract with a new builder.
Paying an extra $120,000 on the cost of their home would be extremely difficult, he said.
"Simply put, we can't afford it. And if we don't build, I believe two years from settlement, which is 14 months from now, we lose the First Home Owner Grant and we'd have to pay back the stamp duty concession as well," he said.
Chagas said he and his wife are still renting the same place they were two years ago, while paying an interest only mortgage on the land they owned.
"It's been very stressful, on top of having our firstborn and everything else," he said.
Contact reporter Emily McPherson at [email protected].
