Bornen Constructions Willowbank benefit from Government grant
Flood-affected small businesses across the Southeast have been thrown a lifeline from the Australian and Queensland governments, with grants of up to $50,000 now available.
In late February 2022, a job site in Willowbank was inundated by water as a result of the severe South East Queensland flooding.
Belinda’s company, Bornen Constructions (shares her same surname) had various machinery at the site which was destroyed as a result of the flooding, which included a work truck with tools on board, a work utility, bobcat, bobcat trailer, a box trailer and an excavator.
She said the water rose so quickly, they did not have time to retrieve any of the equipment.
Furthermore, they were in the middle of a job which they may not be able to continue.
“We’ve got guys who can’t work, because they have no equipment.”
She said with the immediate funding provided, she and her small team will be able to purchase the equipment they needed to continue trading.
“That grant has been so helpful, she said.
“Without that grant, I don’t think we would have kept going.”
They plan to use what is left for short-term equipment hire and to apply for a further application to make up for the cost of their machinery being paid off which was destroyed in the flood.
Belinda said the event has set her business back, which would have otherwise been continuing to grow and it has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses coupled with the dilemmas of repayments on various items, including machinery.
She encourages others facing similar situations to apply for an Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant, as without it, she said she would have lost everything.
She said she knows others who have gone through it twice.
“They just look very deflated, they’re just done… we definitely have recommend to other people (the grant) who have been affected and how easy it was for us.”
“There was nothing I would say was difficult about it, I was actually expecting it to be difficult. As long as we got quotes and photos of what we needed, it was smooth sailing.”
Belinda said the photos below had to be taken from a boat because the water was so high.
“Everything was under, you couldn’t see at all.”
