One of Australia’s major construction companies. Probuild, which is working on a number of high-profile projects around the country, has collapsed.

Deloitte has been appointed as administrator to handle the company collapse after Probuild’s parent company, WBHO South Africa, announced it was withdrawing any financial assistance for the firm.

“We are caught up in a set of circumstances not of our making,” a Probuild spokesman said.

“We are working closely with the administrator on a number of plans to protect our clients, subcontractors and employees.

“The Probuild brand is strong and we intend to keep it that way. We have several options for raising the necessary capital to continue as a premium Australian building company. These will all be pursued.”

On Wednesday evening, tradies were called off worksites across the country with workers seen pulling equipment and tools from project sites.

Tradies were photographed collecting tools from Cbus Property’s 443 Queen St project in Brisbane.

In Melbourne, at the Far East Consortium’s West Side Place project site, which is a $2 billion, four-tower development, subcontractors were seen driving in their private vehicles to collect tools and personal gear.

The shocking collapse reportedly came after a disastrous high-rise project dragged the company into massive debt.

Probuild raked in $1.3 billion in revenue and made $4 million profit last year, but the 443 Queen St project, which involved high-quality apartments, has haemorrhaged as much as $120 million.

The property features 264 luxury residential apartments, but with delays and technical issues it is already well behind its late-2021 completion date.

Originally heralded as Brisbane’s first premium subtropical residential tower, with views across the city, the building’s future now hangs in the balance.

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