Junglefy closed its doors on Friday blaming the harsh construction environment that is taking its toll on several companies in the industry in the wake of punishing economic circumstances.
And if Suzie Barnett, its vibrant, talented and popular chief executive said her announcement came with a heavy heart, she wasn’t alone. Those who knew of the decision personally or through a “permanently closed” notice on its website that morning were also shocked and saddened.
In a phone call on Tuesday afternoon Barnett told The Fifth Estate that constant and escalating delays on construction sites resulted in severe cashflow issues that in the end could not be sustained.
Administrators Grant Thornton were called in and around 30 staff were told of the voluntary administration on Friday.
It was clearly a company that was popular as much for the strong personal relationships forged by Barnett and its founders Jock and Hanna Gammon, as for the contribution it made to greening our built environment. Something that as Barnett noted was is needed now more than ever.
The company’s projects ranged from green walls inside and outside workplaces to greening car parks, freeways and other carbon dead zones. But it also included collaborating on evidence-based research with the likes of Professor Sara Wilkinson at UTS to prove the worth of plants to human health and wellbeing.
Barnett’s post Tuesday afternoon said the company “along with the entire construction industry, has been faced with unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, and extreme weather events.
“Unfortunately, these challenges have taken a significant toll on our business, as a subcontractor and finishing trade, leaving us with no choice but to close our doors.”
Barnett thanked the people who supported her through her journey. “Your contribution has been invaluable, and Junglefy couldn’t have come this far without you. I encourage you to continue your work towards nature-based solutions, which have never been more important for our cities,” she said.
She trusted her talented team would soon find other avenues realise this vision.
“Thank you for being trailblazers, and for believing in Junglefy’s vision,” she concluded.
Among some of the company’s highlights were Darumu House at Barangaroo, Lendlease global headquarters also at Barangaroo, a Manly Vale car park – and there was also the Penrith Public School’s Green Living Hoarding at Soper Place with the company’s “innovative Breathing WallTM” technology.
Barnett said that the industry had always been tough, especially for the finishing trades that Junglefy was part of.
There’s never been a job, she said, that when it’s completed the head contractor says, “We’re ready for you; it’s all gone well and we have plenty of money to pay you”.
It’s the nature of the beast. So, it was important not to blame any individual contractor or project, she said. It was more the immense structural changes since the end of the pandemic of supply chain disruptions, price hikes, and labour shortages that had hit the residential sector first and were now making their way to the commercial sector.
With about 20 projects in hand it was project delays, one by a full year, that caused the most pain.
“We had modules growing in our nursery for a year. We couldn’t get payment, we lost the ability to onsell those plants because we needed them for the project,” Barnett said.
“That’s our model and our system and these are the shocks. But it was crisis after crisis.
“We used to be able to call the main client and say we’ve laid out all this cash to get materials and grow the plants and normally they would do that because they’re good people.”
It was the equivalent of a “gentleman’s agreement” she said. But, since the pandemic clients were being squeezed by their own pressures.
The solutions offered, she said, came by way of suggestions to use bank guarantees, which meant not only did the company have to purchase the materials and grow the plants in advance but find cash flow to place the cost of the job in a term deposit before the contractor up the line would pay for work.
The company had about 130 maintenance contracts in hand.
Barnett said the Gammons had been based in Finland in recent times but had been working hard on the company from there.
It was the end of an era but in the washup, Barnett said she was immensely proud of the legacy the company was leaving.
“We’ve been a strong business, based on innovation. We wanted to be strong innovators that challenged the industry and led in research and product development.
“It’s heartbreaking we were trying to make our money from a broken system. We were also trying to lead the industry forward and give our cities a fighting chance to be liveable in the future.
“I truly hope we have pioneered that path and that others will find it easier.”