Partly owned by David Heathcoat-Amory, a former Tory MP, the company has appointed administrators from Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP
The Devonshire Homes administration comes after a pre-tax loss in September 2024 of £137,024 and a £52m turnover.
Only Devonshire Homes Limited will be affected by the administration; other associated developments or companies will not be.
77 jobs are in question
According to accounts, the majority of the blame for the company’s fall has been placed on a development that was acquired partly built. The development consists of architect-designed timber-frame homes, each one bespoke.
The cost of finishing this development was much higher than anticipated, resulting in an in-year loss of £156,099 and a total forecast loss of £1.28m.
A change in accounting policy coincided with this, resulting in an additional profit reduction of £341,902.
Devonshire Homes, formerly part of the London and Devonshire Trust, has delivered over 2,000 homes since 2008.
Construction one of the most difficult businesses to run
Earlier this year, Witan Solicitors published their analysis, finding that 41.6% of construction businesses have failed in the last five years, according to data from Companies House.
The data covers January 2021 to December 2025, and all of these businesses either fell into administration or were liquidated or dissolved. In that period, 257,087 businesses opened, and 107,086 of these closed. Companies involved in constructing bridges or tunnels saw a closure rate of 70.5%, the highest rate by far. This is followed by road and motorway companies with a 59.5% closure rate.
Railway and underground railway sat at a 51.9% closure rate, commercial building construction at 46.4%, and domestic building construction at 43.4%.
Construction holding had the best chance at a 25.7% closure rate.
Qarrar Somji, solicitor-advocate and director at Witan Solicitors, said: “The construction industry is under sustained and growing pressure, and there are very few signs that things will ease in the short term. In the past few years, we’ve even seen the collapse of well-known contractors such as ISG. So understandably, things may feel pretty bleak for firms that have just entered the market.
“But these challenges aren’t confined to one corner of the industry. Whether you’re looking at major infrastructure projects like roads, railways, bridges and tunnels, or at commercial and residential buildings, the same underlying problems keep resurfacing. Rising costs, stretched supply chains, skills shortages and increasingly complex regulation are crippling the industry.
“Cash flow remains one of the most critical pressure points, especially for smaller firms. In many cases, contractors are waiting 90 days or more to be paid. During that time, payments can be reduced or delayed through ‘pay-less’ notices, and disputes can drag on for months. This means that firms are effectively financing projects themselves while labour, materials and overheads continue to increase.
“This payment model is fundamentally flawed. While stronger regulation is clearly needed to protect the health of the supply chain in the long term, businesses can’t afford to wait for systemic reform. In the short term, firms need to be far more assertive about contractual payment terms and much quicker to put protections in place when early warning signs of financial distress appear.”
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