A further 779 customers who had signed a contract and paid a deposit were also affected,while 410 staff were made redundant after liquidators were appointed the same day. Those liquidators warned in April that some new customerscould lose thousands of dollars from deposits because they were not insured. NPG’s agreement does not apply to those people who paid deposits with no insurance.

Porter Davis was one of two companies that entered administration on the same day,as itstruggled under the weight of fixed-price contracts. It joined agrowing list of major builders suffering from rising costs of products and labour,as well as less funding appetite from banks and investors,and a slowing market.