A SMALL family business has revealed how the sudden collapse of construction company Benson left it £52,000 out of pocket.

Father-and-son team Jeff and Damien Sharpe, pictured above, of floor specialists Flooring Inspirations say they were pressured to finish jobs only to find the company had gone into administration before they were paid.

Benson's "profitable" southern arm and other divisions of the company were swiftly taken over by rival construction firm Bluestone in a £3m deal.

Benson announced it was going into administration at 10am on Monday, December 13, and by midday was announcing it had done the deal with Bluestone.

The speedy deal saved 70 Hampshire jobs but for Jeff and Damien's Hedge End company, which employs 11 people and had 18 Benson contracts with outstanding money, it was a disaster.

"I have been in business since 1980 and I've never taken a hit as big as this and never in the way that this has been done," said Jeff.

"I guess that we will get nothing. It means we have to work harder and tighten our belts.

"It could have forced us to go under and, had we done so, we would have lost our houses and everything. Thank God we have got an understanding bank."

Benson had been behaving unusually in the run-up to the administration announcement, he remembers.

"They were putting us under real pressure to complete contracts by the end of November. They were ringing us up at night to urge us to get on site the next day even though it wasn't ready.

"We were laying floors among plumbers and painters and we should be the last thing. We thought at the time it was unusual.

"We never got paid for that work." He added: "I feel angry and stitched up."

Administrator Michael Gercke said the possibility of Benson going in to administration hadn't been raised until Friday, December 10, one working day before he was called in.

"No one was speaking to Bluestone until the Friday night. That was after the directors of Benson had decided they couldn't carry on," he said.

"It had to be a speedy deal because the alternative would have been liquidating the company, closing the sites and sending everybody home.

"Although it was a speedy deal it is quite a good deal in the circumstances."

A Bluestone spokesman was unable to offer any hope that the company would pay subcontractors who lost out.

She said: "The current position is that specific Benson contracts we will be taking over are still in the hands of the receivers so we are not in a position to comment on individual cases.

"However going forward, we will be reviewing situations on a case-by-case basis and we are committed to ensuring a smooth and efficient transfer of these projects over to Bluestone."