Perth builder ordered to repay homeowner

Shuttered residential building company Beyond Builders has been ordered to pay $55,000 after a homeowner launched legal action over construction delays.

Beyond Builders has been ordered to pay $56,183 to a Brabham homeowner, who this masthead has chosen not to name, in compensation from construction delays and the repayment of a progress bill, according to orders handed down by the State Administrative Tribunal.

SAT also blocked a $72,000 contract price increase that Beyond Builders had requested from the homeowner, with the builder pointing to supply chain issues, labour shortages and skyrocketing material and logistics costs.

It comes a week after the state’s construction industry watchdog, Building and Energy, refused to renew Beyond Builders’ building contractor registration on financial grounds.

The Building Services Board said the Dianella-based builder, led by director Atalla Abbas who also owns company Consbuild, is understood to have 13 home builds still under construction.

In the email included in the SAT orders, Beyond Builders requested a 30 per cent overall price increase on the homeowner's $240,000 fixed price contract, being $72,000.

“As you and all the people of WA aware of, the construction industry has been plagued with a spat of price increased caused by a perform storm of supply chain disruptions, skilled labour shortages and skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics,” Beyond wrote in an email.

“We hereby sending you this price increase notice for the construction of your house at … Brabham.”

In its orders, the Tribunal said the $72,000 contract price increase was not payable, alongside ordering the builder to repay a $31,200 progress payment and $24,983 in compensation by April 19.

The Brabham homeowner entered the $240,000 fixed-price contract in December 2020. Beyond Builders broke ground in June 2021, meaning it was contracted to practically complete the build by June 2022.

But after the roof cover stage was partially completed, the builder stopped work in February 2021 and refused to resume until the homeowner agreed to a price increase. 

In another email sent to the homeowner, Beyond Builders demanded a roof cover progress payment, citing cashflow management challenges due to suppliers requiring upfront payments arising from ongoing shortages of materials, according to SAT.

The homebuilder paid the $31,000 progress payment, but in closing submissions, the builder accepted that the roof was only partially installed and didn’t cover the ground floor area of the home.

Beyond Builders also said it shouldn’t be required to repay the progress payment as it would impact “cash flow” which might make it “unable to complete the building works”.

But the tribunal found that when considering a home build contract remedy order, it cannot consider the impact the order will have on the builder’s financial position and ordered Beyond Builders repay the $31,000 payment.

In the owners opening submissions, he claimed he suffered financial losses due to building delays, namely having to rent a home for his family over the period.

The owner requested compensation in the order of $61,000, but the tribunal settled on ordering the builder to pay $24,983 in compensation to cover rent expenses incurred.

In its statement last week, Building and Energy said Beyond Builders was first registered as a building contractor in April 2020.

The builder's director, Mr Abbas, holds a builder registration as a sole trader under the name Consbuild. The watchdog said a financial assessment would also be conducted as part of the renewal process for that registration.

Mr Abbas was contacted for comment.