- New building guidance to help Western Australians building a home
- Key advice and important checks for each building or renovation stage
- Consumer-friendly videos to be translated to different languages and dialects
- Resources will protect communities and support the building & construction industry
The Cook Government has developed a suite of resources in several languages to help Western Australians navigate the process of building a new home.
The consumer-friendly videos, fact sheets and guides provide key advice and important checks for different stages of building or renovating.
To help Western Australia's Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities, most materials will soon be available in Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, Hazaragi, Karen, Thai, Punjabi and Burmese.
The resources available on the Building and Energy website include a new video, "Building your new home", which outlines rights and responsibilities from initial steps, such as choosing a builder and signing a contract, through to construction and handover.
A fact sheet with Building and Energy's top 10 tips when building a home will also be translated.
The video and fact sheet include information on protections such as builder registration, home building contract laws, maximum deposits, progress payments and home indemnity insurance.
The resources are available on the Building and Energy website: commerce.wa.gov.au/building-and-energy/building-or-renovating-your-home-1.
The State Government is acutely aware of the current housing and construction market and its impacts on the industry and some Western Australians.
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the building and construction industry in Australia and around the world.
Around 27,000 houses were under construction across the State in the 2022-23 financial year and 96 per cent of those projects progressed without complaints.
Similarly, of WA's 4826 registered builders, 27 became insolvent in the last financial year, which is on par with previous years.
Although most building projects across WA progress smoothly, a guide on 'Building a home in challenging times' and a video with translated captions about Building and Energy's dispute resolution service are available – if issues do arise.
The State Government has acted to keep the construction industry working and provided greater protections by:
- doubling the cap on individual payouts through the home indemnity insurance scheme;
- smoothing the pipeline of Government projects to free up skilled labour for the private sector;
- investing in a range of measures to attract skilled workers to WA, as well as build a skilled local workforce;
- introducing security of payment laws, strengthening protections for subcontractors, supplies and builders (security of payment legislation);
- strengthening regulatory powers in the event of a builder's insolvency;
- revamped Call for Submissions for new builders to assist the Cook Government deliver its target of 4,000 social homes;
- more affordable housing options available to Western Australians entering the property market with reforms to Keystart home loans.
- introduced a $30 million financial relief scheme to assist head contractors with rising costs on Department of Finance and Department of Communities projects which face unforeseen supply chain impacts;
- rise and fall provisions will be included in future Government contracts, where appropriate, to reduce risk for tendering builders; and
- a landmark registration scheme for building engineers to strengthen public safety, industry accountability and professional recognition.
Comments attributed to Commerce Minister Sue Ellery:
"Building a new home is a major life event and stressful in the best of times. These resources will help Western Australian home owners understand what to expect and check at each building stage to ensure they have a positive experience and minimise the risk of any issues.
"While the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for the building and construction industry, there are signs that the impacts of labour and material shortages are easing and have already shifted the timelines on current builds.
"Ensuring the building industry remains stable is a key priority for the State Government and we have been proactively working closely with builders and the construction industry to deliver the best possible outcomesfor Western Australians in the current environment."
Original statement on State Government website: https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook-Labor-Government/Multilingual-building-guidance-for-Western-Australian-home-owners-20230906