2022 is going to be a challenging year for Perth home builders, with uncertainty as to when the state will open borders to the rest of Australia and international travellers. The opening is likely to be both good and bad with the ability to get more workers and materials being a big plus, while on the other hand it may result in a net reduction in workers due to Covid infections and close contact rules. This along with an expected influx of people into the state causing increased demand for housing could stretch some builders to the limit. While 2021 had it’s challenges with high work loads and shortages of labour and materials most suppliers and contractors continued to operate at maximum capacity with out lock downs and Covid cases to deal with. With time to plan for the opening most builders should have strategies in place to cope with these challenges.

So which builders will have continued success?

The bulk of WA’s new homes are constructed by a few large building groups with Australia’s second largest builder by number of home starts being the ABN Group (Dale Alcock/Webb Brown Neaves) with 5345 starts across the country of which 3150 were in WA during the 2021 financial year. WA’s biggest builder however is the BGC Housing Group with 4205 starts for the same period in WA.

The top five builders in WA collectively had 12,492 starts out of a total of about 18,000. The balance of these are taken up by a large number of builders varying in size from a few hundred starts to less than ten. While how to choose a builder was discussed in a previous blog, here we are going to look at the financial side of the choices.

Big or small, the builders all face the same financial pressures in varying degrees. There are many articles online talking about the serious trouble some of the companies are in and expectations of these falling over this year (Find out more). Even with the protection that should be provided by compulsory indemnity insurance you may not be safe. In 2020 the Building Commission issued the follow warning to consumers about builders signing up clients without a current and valid home indemnity insurance (HII) policy. (Read about this ) This warning noted that some certificates of HII provided to home owners may have been forged.

While we believe that most of Perth’s new home builders are well managed and in good shape, we make it our business to ensure that any builder we recommend has adequate capacity on their HII insurance and the financial resources to complete your home.

If you are about to sign up for, or are just thinking of building a new custom design home then talk to us.

To borrow a phrase from one of our reviews, “we could help you dodge a bullet”.