A major WA homebuilder has had significant sales caps in place since June 2022, while the state government says it will consult on reform options for the construction industry.
A major Western Australian homebuilder has had significant sales caps in place since June 2022, while the state government says it will consult on reform options for the construction industry.
A spokesperson for BGC Australia told Business News in a statement it had “significantly reduced sales caps in place since June last year”.
Read more: Inquiry calls amid builder crisis
It follows reporting this morning that BGC had frozen new work.
Data from the Housing Industry Association shows BGC reduced its new home starts nationally, from 4,205 in the 2021 financial year to 1,980 in the year to June 2022.
“We have continuously managed the sales pipeline to size it with our capacity to deliver,” the spokesperson said.
“Due to ongoing severe labour shortages across WA, BGC Housing Group has significantly restricted its intake of new home sales to absolute minimum levels.
“The ongoing acceptance of new sales by BGC is continually under review.”
That meant the company could focus on completing builds for existing customers.
“Our focus is entirely on delivery of the houses we have on ground,” the spokesperson said.
It’s been a rough couple of years for BGC.
The business revealed a $42 million loss in the year to June, and has been hit by a class action led by law firm Morgan Alteruthemeyer Legal Group.
Working group
In the latest edition of Business News, there were calls for an inquiry into the building sector following big stimulus, major insolvencies, and troubled years for Western Australians building their homes.
Today, the state government announced an industry working group to examine requests from Master Builders Association of WA.
On the lobby group’s wish list were the abolition of fixed price, lump sum contracts, shorter payment terms, and changes to the way the state undertakes tenders.
Many of those recommendations were targeted at government construction projects, rather than homebuilding.
The state government said the working group would assess the structural changes the state government could make to the way it did business with industry.
The group will have eight representatives, from MBAWA and the Department of Finance.
But the move indicates some progress from the state government on its approach to the industry’s challenges.
In April last year, Premier Mark McGowan said the industry’s “problems are ones of success”.
Nonetheless, the government said it had adopted a more flexible approach to administering contracts, established the relief scheme for head contractors, smoothed its infrastructure pipeline, and had increased use of different contract provisions.
