A couple who lost thousands after a Crieff construction firm went bust are dismayed that one of its directors now has a senior position at a different building company.
Campbell Construction (Crieff) Limited – run by locals Alistair Campbell, 41, and Tamara Campbell, 39 – was liquidated in September 2021.
Its demise left a couple with an unfinished extension costing £55,000.
Now the Dunblane residents have hit out after it emerged that just a month after her firm went under, Ms Campbell took on a senior position as operations manager at Dunoon-based Caber House Ltd.
The husband said: “There is no recompense for those affected by the company’s collapse and there appears to be no personal detriment from liquidating their company.”
Extension agreement
In May 2021 the couple, who don’t want to be identified, accepted a quote from Campbell Construction of almost £200,000.
The job was to replace a double garage with a two-storey extension containing kitchen, living area, office and roof space.
There was no indication from them that there were any issues.
“I met them before they offered a quote and my wife met Tamara a couple of times,” said the husband.
“She came around a few days before the works and reassured my wife that the building works will be pushed forward and we should consider buying the kitchen.
“There was no indication from them that there were any issues.”
As part of the agreement the couple paid a deposit of £41,116.
“They said to us that this money would go towards buying the frame for the structure and other materials,” the husband said.
“These materials would belong to us so the money was meant to be safe.”
Stopped trading due to ‘financial hits’
On the very day that work began, on July 9 2021, the firm requested a payment of £14,748 for windows and doors.
The couple say they were told these needed to be ordered urgently so they duly paid the money.
Ten weeks later they received a brief email saying because of financial hits the business would no longer be trading.
The company has taken a number of large financial hits…
Signed off by Ally and Tamara Campbell, it said: “The company has taken a number of large financial hits over the last three months.
“We have therefore been left with no alternative but to take the extremely hard decision to cease trading as Campbell Construction Crieff Ltd from today 16th September 2021.
“We apologise for not being able to complete your project and appreciate your support in the past.
“However, this has been completely out with our control.”
At that stage the couple had foundations of a shed and blockwork were about 90% finished.
“That was £8,000 of work carried out but we had paid them more than £55,000,” the husband said.
‘No distribution to creditors’
The couple contacted Johnston Carmichael, whose restructuring director Graeme Bain was appointed liquidator after the company ceased to trade.
But they were told that the company had no assets so they wouldn’t be receiving any money back.
Campbell Construction’s last publicly-available financial results, from March 31 2020, stated the company had £47,920 in the bank and assets of £199,610.
Total liabilities were £149,830, while shareholder funds stood at £29,340.
The previous year’s accounts revealed that the company employed an average number of staff of 15 – two more than in 2018.
“We sought legal advice and even got the police involved,” the husband said.
“There’s no comeback for companies like this and it’s disgraceful that they can get away with it.”
A spokesperson for Johnston Carmichael said: “To date it has not been possible to make a distribution to creditors, but the liquidator continues to review potential sources of recovery to the estate on behalf of creditors.”
‘Nice people’ helped by generous stonemason
While the overall job was a write-off the couple were helped by self-employed stonemason Jim Richardson, who lives in St Fillans.
Jim had actually undertaken work for the Campbells for six months prior to the company going under so was aware of the circumstances.
He kindly finished the blockwork on the couple’s house for free.
“They are nice people,” Jim said.
“They felt it was their own fault for trusting the company.
“I felt terrible for them.”
Director’s Linkedin post
Ms Campbell’s Linkedin page says she joined Caber House in October 2021 as operations manager.
The company’s office is registered in Dunoon and it also has a workshop at Castings Court in Falkirk.
Its website says it builds “architect-designed healthy-living houses to your specifications.”
Ms Campbell’s Linkedin entry said: “I was drawn to the company because having in-house architects and engineers on hand throughout the builds is a massive help.
“I have a background in traditional timber kit construction.
“Caber House have invested in training for me which can only benefit me and my career.”
Work funded by inheritance and remortgage
For the Dunblane couple, the financial pain continues.
“We are devastated,” the husband said.
“The project was in the planning for years.
“We raised the money through inheritance, savings and remortgaging the house,.
“Losing this means that we have had to scale back. We had a garage conversion instead.
“To know that we will be paying off a mortgage for the next 15 years for a sum of money that we have seen nothing for is hard to take.
“We are having mortgage payments every month going towards these costs.”
The Courier has contacted Tamara Campbell for comment.
