Nowra's Scott Newman said he was "rattled" by the news, but was trying to remain calm in the hope his half-finished family home would proceed without any delays.

On Tuesday, Beechwood Homes announced the company was to be placed in voluntary administration, but by midday yesterday major creditor BankWest had appointed Deloitte as receiver.

This means the original intention of trading out of its financial problems has become less likely.

It is understood about 300 homebuyers in Sydney, the Illawarra and the Hunter are affected.

The company declined to comment, referring all inquiries to Deloitte.

A Deloitte spokesman said the receivers were assessing the company's affairs and were determining the ability of the company to continue to trade.

"At this stage it is too early to provide an indication of the eventual outcome for the stakeholders, including creditors and home buyers, or to make any comment as to the reasons for the company's failure," he said.

"Prior to the receiver's appointment the company had preliminary discussions with a number of parties interested in buying the business.

"The receivers are trying to speak with those and other interested parties who may wish to purchase the assets of the company."

The move comes as the building industry in NSW reaches a five-year-low with the number of new homes dropping from 47,900 in 2003-04 to about 29,000 by the end of this financial year.

There was little surprise in the building trade.

"Large companies in the basic end of the market like Beechwood operate on minimum margin on a fixed (contractual) agreement, so when costs go up as they have been doing for the past 10 years, this causes a reduction in the volume of business," Wollongong builder Philip Girardot said.

Beechwood sales offices at Haywards Bay near Yallah and Worrigee in the Shoalhaven were open yesterday, but the company's representatives declined to comment.

Mr Newman, whose home at Twin Waters estate south of Nowra is due to have bricks laid today, said he was nervous but optimistic that work would continue.

He, his wife and two young children were expecting to move into their five-bedroom home in two months.

"Our house has a way to go so we are obviously rattled by this news, but the company has done the right thing by us so far, so until I hear otherwise I'm expecting things to proceed as normal," Mr Newman said. "We went with a big name company for its reliability so this has come as a big shock.

"I haven't phoned Beechwood yet because I feel that if they don't contact us, then there is no problem with completing our house."

He said at his stage of life, with a wife who worked part-time and with two small children, there was not a lot of room for error.

"If this does cause delays then it means we have to continue ... paying part of a mortgage and rent on top of that."