Minister demands meeting with troubled Perth home builder Nicheliving over incomplete homes
/ By Emma WynneWest Australian Minister for Commerce Sue Ellery has demanded a meeting with the directors of Perth home builder Nicheliving amid concerns about the company's finances that have left potentially hundreds of customers with incomplete homes.
The ABC has spoken to many clients of Nicheliving over the past 12 months whose homes are still not finished, more than a year after promised completion dates.
Ms Ellery told parliament this week that she was endeavouring to get answers from the company.
"I am acutely aware of the difficult situation a number of West Australian home owners are facing due to delays with their building projects with Nicheliving and their construction arm … and I've requested a meeting with the company's directors," Ms Ellery said.
'Soul crushing' wait for new home
Customer Cindy Richardson told Damian Smith on ABC Radio Perth she first entered a contract with the company to build a home in Tapping in March 2021.
"I'm a single mum, [on a] single income, and my house is not finished," Ms Richardson said.
"I had a letter from Nicheliving saying to my bank that my house would be finished and I'd be in it this month.
"And I still don't even have a roof, so it's just it's really frustrating, soul crushing."
In the meantime, Ms Richardson is having to make payments on her loan and pay for rent and furniture storage.
"I don't know what to do anymore. Every door gets shut in our faces and no-one's there to help us," she said.
Ms Richardson said she now hoped the company folded so that a claim could be lodged for builders' indemnity insurance, freeing up funds to hire another builder.
"I would love for them just to go under and then I could actually finish my house," she said.
Opposition blames pandemic stimulus
WA Opposition leader Shane Love has also taken up customer's concerns, telling ABC Radio Perth he believed the government needed to get more involved in understanding the extent of the problem.
"These people can't see a way forward at the moment with the way that they're being treated by the government, the regulators, and the company," Mr Love said.
"They're stuck literally in limbo. They can't get their houses finished. They can't move into them because they're nowhere near that stage.
"They can't actually get somebody else to build them because they don't have the money to do that.
"And of course, if there are hundreds of houses that are unfinished, we have a situation where our rental situation is already dire."
Mr Love said even if the company went into liquidation, ultimately, as the provider of builders' indemnity insurance, the state government would be picking up the bill.
"That would at least though, unlock the money for those people to find another builder to perhaps complete their house," he said.
The situation comes amid a widespread crisis in the WA building industry, with several firms going into liquidation in recent years.
Mr Love criticised the WA government's home building stimulus package, released during the COVID-19 pandemic, as adding to the problem.
"This is a situation where government regulations and lack of oversight have contributed to this occurring," he said.
"The government contributed to this by bringing in the stimulus package in the first place into a market that didn't need that particular stimulus.
"What the government should be doing is establishing a process to work with the industry, including Nicheliving, to work through the issues and get these houses complete."
Nicheliving declined to comment for this story.
Mornings with Nadia Mitsopoulos is live on ABC Radio Perth every weekday from 8:30-11am. Tune in on 720AM, digital radio or the ABC Listen app.