A subcontractor has spoken of despair among fellow workers and of his wife crying herself to sleep at night as the fallout from Hewatt Earthworks' slide into voluntary administration continues.
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Mick Butler, who is the owner-operator of Maxtom Integral, was contracted by Hewatt Earthworks to work on the Horse Park Drive project that will connect Gungahlin residents to the Majura Parkway once it is completed.
Mr Butler’s business, which he named after his six-year-old twin sons Max and Tom, is facing the prospect of closure as a result of Hewatt Earthworks move into voluntary administration.
But with an uncertain future and difficultly feeding his three children, Mr Butler said he had no grudge with the owner of Hewatt Earthworks, Geoff Hewatt, a man he has known for close to 25 years.
“When I was a young bloke, Geoff stuck his neck out for me and took a chance by saying he'd give me a start," he said. “I always wanted to be just like him growing up and now I am, because I’m just as broke as he is.”
Mr Butler said these were tough times for everyone in Canberra, but it was at the dinner table at night when the real pain was felt by a family.
“Sometimes I just wish someone would give me a hand so I could buy my kids something to eat," he said. “My missus cries herself to sleep every night because she knows what we’re about to lose here.”
Mr Butler said he was one of the lucky subcontractors who worked for Hewatt Earthworks because he had found a few weeks of temporary work to pay the bills.
“I got a phone call the Wednesday before Hewatt went down from someone saying ‘we’ve got three weeks work for you, can you help us out?'” he said.
He said his bosses at Hewatt told him to give them a ring when he finished the work and he could come back.
“I thought I was walking out on them and I felt like shit, but then this happened,” he said. “I guess I’m one of the lucky ones given that I’ve at least got a few weeks of work for now.”
Mr Butler said there were a number of subcontractors who were in a similar position to him following the closure of Hewatt and that the experience had brought them closer together.
“I’ve got a mate who was a subcontractor employed by Hewatt too,” he said. “He bought his first house just before Hewatt sank and his first mortgage repayment is due this week."
“When Hewatt went down, he went down.”
Mr Butler said he hoped he could look back on this experience more fondly in the future.
“I’m the sort of bloke who takes a lot of pride in what I do,” he said.
“There’s still a chance for me to be driving up and down those 9 kilometres of road and feel happy with what’s gone down, but ... it’s looking unlikely at the moment.”
