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Creditors are claiming tens of thousands of dollars from an Auckland fibreglass swimming pool manufacturer and installer declared insolvent, with a liquidator saying it’s a sign of the time that three businesses failed in the last few months.
Creditor Candice Smith went to the High Court to have liquidators appointedto the business, which has only been operating for the last four years.
She had Pool Spec of Piermark Dr, Albany put into liquidation, claiming $5157, according to the first report from Waterstone’s Damien Grant and Adam Botterill.
Heartland Bank is a secured creditor, with motor vehicles listed as collateral.
Carters Building Supplies, UDC Finance, AMAX of Silverdale and Prospa are other registered security holders.
Two unsecured claims total $58,000, but there might be other claims against Pool Spec, so the Waterstone liquidators want those parties to lodge documents if they are owed money.
They don’t know yet if there will be enough realisable assets to pay Pool Spec’s creditors.
Wellsford’s Richard Spearpoint and Ellen Spearpoint own the business. Richie Spearpoint did not respond to attempts to contact him today about the failure.
Their company is relatively new, having only been incorporated in 2019.
It is the third pool manufacturer and supplier to be declared insolvent since April.
The Herald reported in May on 42 clients of a failed Auckland swimming pool manufacturer claiming $1.5 million from Container Pools, which didn’t deliver what they paid for. Container Pools is owned by Michael, Joel, Nicola and Lousie Painter, but didn’t fulfil many contracts.
It went into liquidation in April, causing an outcry from customers who either hadn’t got pools they had spent money on or didn’t get all that they had paid for. Naomi Reed of Hunua got her $88,000 Container Pool installed off the deck of her rural Auckland property, but not accessories such as a heat pump and pool-cleaning robot which she says she paid for.
In a second case, Stuff reported how All Black TJ Perenara was more than $40,000 out of pocket after Kāpiti Pool Services Limited, Pool and Spas Kāpiti and West Coast Pools were all put into liquidation.
TJ Perenara and his wife, Greer, are in the process of building a home and had paid one of the companies to install their pool.
Pool Spec displayed this property on its social media page.
Asked about the failures, Botterill said today: “It’s a sign of the times. A lot of the demand has come out of the luxury end of the market, and that’s likely to be why these three pool businesses are insolvent. That’s what’s causing it. People aren’t spending as much on those nice-to-have items. Pools are very expensive, and often people borrow for these types of projects. When money is tighter, it makes it harder for customers to buy. Not everyone has $100,000 in their back pocket for a pool.”
Many industries were struggling, not just pool companies, he emphasised.
“There’s a lot of insolvencies. Maybe it’s the new normal. Insolvency figures for July showed a rising number, and August felt busier,” Botterill said.
On the Pool Spec failure, one creditor said she wanted to build a carport at her Westmere house and claimed $5100 for her High Court application to have liquidators appointed. The business had done a number of smaller jobs for her over the years and she said she trusted them. She had paid a deposit of $49,000, but said no carport was built.
“For three months, I was told products were on order and starting dates were being set. But nothing ever happened,” she said today.
Waterstones said they expected to complete a preliminary investigation into Pool Spec within about three months.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
