A home building company that at one stage sponsored the St Kilda Football team, Watersun Homes, has gone into administration with the loss of 90 jobs.
The residential builder was working on about 300 homes in metro Melbourne and regional Victoria when it was voluntarily placed in administration on Tuesday.
The firm had insufficient funds to continue trading. Its website failed to load and phone calls were not returned.
Watersun appointed administrators Neil Mclean and Mathew Gollant of Rodgers Reidy Melbourne to sell its assets, and had ceased trading.
Mr Gollant said they would be in contact with property owners soon, and that several parties had already expressed interest in buying the company's outstanding projects and assets.
"There have been half a dozen or more parties that have expressed interest," he said.
Building supervisors, regional managers and administration workers are among those who will lose their jobs, Mr Gollant confirmed.
Partially completed homes and those newly contracted to Watersun Homes are among the hundreds of projects affected.
Former Watersun Homes employee Shiree Reeve told The Bendigo Advertiser she felt sick and shocked by the news.
"I take it quite seriously that they're not going to get what was promised," Ms Reeve said. "I don't sell people homes that can't end up being built."
She estimates she sold 40-odd houses to people in Bendigo and surrounds while she was working for Watersun for a year, most of which have already been built.
Central Victorian businesses have also been affected by the announcement.
Render Solutions company director Brendon Frost said his business had lost about $10,000 through Watersun.
"Home owners that are halfway through construction will be affected heavily," he said.
Superior Concrete and Construction director Nathan Tresize said he knew of Watersun houses throughout Bendigo that were yet to be completed.
He felt for the families that had invested their hopes, dreams and savings in those properties.
"Where does it leave those people?" he said.
Mr Tresize said he had been doing work for Watersun for about two years – partly with his previous employer, recently as the owner of his own business.
"They have always been slow payers," he said.
However, he figured a company that was financially stable enough to sponsor the St Kilda Football Club, was worth working for.
Mr Tresize said he provided concreting and cleaning services for Watersun.
"I'm still owed money from September last year," he said, though the business provided some payments earlier this year.
Mr Tresize said he was owed about $17,000 in total.
"That'll hurt us, as a small family business, considerably," he said.
"It'll take me a long time to trade out of that."
But it could have been worse. Mr Tresize said he was scheduled to complete at least six jobs for Watersun in March, which would have blown his losses out to more than $60,000.
Watersun Homes has branches in Queensland and NSW, but they have not been affected by the company's decision to enter its Victorian branch into voluntary administration.
In 2014, the company signed a three-year deal to sponsor AFL coach Alan Richardson, although the company logo wasn't featured on the St Kilda Football Club coach's shirt during the 2016 season.
The first creditors meeting will be held on Friday, March 10, at 10am. Creditors can obtain details of the meeting by contacting the Rodgers Reidy Melbourne office on (03) 9670 8700.
Property owners have been advised get in touch with the administrators or check their building insurance policies with the VMIA.
With AAP