WA Premier Mark McGowan has refused to accept his government's pandemic-era home stimulus grants played a role in overheating the state's housing market, which has left people saddled with unfinished homes.
Instead, Mr McGowan characterised the move by one of the state's biggest home builders to severely limit new home builds as a sign of how strong the West Australian economy is, with tens of thousands of new homes currently under construction.
BGC Housing Group has limited taking orders on any new homes to an "absolute minimum" so it can concentrate on finishing existing contracts.
Scores of BGC customers have complained that construction of their homes has ground to a halt, with several hundred clients considering a class action against the building company over the construction delays.
New home a 'nightmare'
Zoe and Joel Masters signed a contract with BGC to build their dream home in Mandogalup in December 2020 but said they had not seen any activity on site now for more than six months.
"A nightmare's an understatement," Mr Masters said, while his wife described the build as "disastrous".
"There's minimal information from the builder. You get treated like you've got no right to ask those questions," she said.
It took almost a year to get their concrete slab down and then BGC informed them there was a 200-day wait for a bricklayer and suggested they hire their own, which they did at an extra cost of $5,000 on top of their contract.
"The builder has done nothing on site since," Ms Masters said.
Materials for their roof frame have been sitting on site, exposed to the weather since November 1, and the couple said BGC had now informed them there were no roof carpenters available until May.
Several bricklayers have told the ABC they would not work for BGC because of their low rates.
BGC Group Homes has been contacted for comment.
Blame put on 'severe labour shortages'
But in an earlier statement, it put the glacial pace of construction down to severe labour shortages, caused by the high demand, as well as the closed borders and lack of immigration during the pandemic.
The company significantly reduced the sales of new homes from June last year but has now gone further.
"Due to ongoing severe labour shortages across Western Australia, BGC Housing Group has significantly restricted its intake of new home sales to absolute minimum levels," the statement said.
"The ongoing acceptance of new sales by BGC is continually under review.
"This enables BGC to direct all its resources and attention to completing the builds for our existing customers. Our focus is entirely on delivery of the houses we have on ground."
The state government estimated there were currently about 30,000 homes being built around WA.
McGowan denies stimulus responsible
In June 2020, Mr McGowan announced $20,000 Building Bonus grants for anyone who wanted to build a new house or buy a new property, with the scheme worth a total of $117 million.
It was not means tested and there was no cap on the property value.
At the time, the premier said the grants gave people an "added incentive to build a new home and turn their dream into a reality".
"It's never been a better time to go and build a new house," Mr McGowan said while announcing the policy at a BGC site in Perth on June 7, 2020.
At the time, the pandemic had ground the home building industry to a halt.
Facing a catastrophe, the government wanted to get tradies and apprentices back on the job as soon as possible and stimulate the economy.
Mr McGowan said on Wednesday the government had succeeded in kickstarting the sector. But he would not accept responsibility for the current overheating.
"We've got more houses being built, 30,000 or so under construction as we speak," he said.
"That's the issue. There's so many being built. That's the problem. And it's in a way it's a better problem than having nothing.
"If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have enough being built now.
"Over time that problem will ameliorate because those houses will conclude and apartments will finish being built."
The government and the Master Builders Association of WA on Wednesday agreed to look at ways for the government to better work with the construction sector in the future.
The association's executive director John Gelavis described how difficult it had become for companies to operate at the moment.
"The industry has been heavily impacted by massive price escalations, material and supply shortages, skilled labour limitations, and global supply chain disruptions," Mr Gelavis said.
"These factors, coupled with the imbalanced contractual risks of modern contracts, are causing builders to be extremely cautious engaging in future contracts in both the public and private sector."
