Thousands of WA home owners could benefit from class action alleging delays by builder BGC

Thursday 18 DecemberThu 18 Dec 2025 at 10:36pm

A man and a woman stand on the alfresco of their incompete home. — David and Jo's slab went down on their South West home almost two years ago and it is still not finished. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)

In short:

If a class action against one of WA's biggest builders is successful, customers could get a share of more than $100 million.

Jo and David Dimov are among those who say they have experienced unreasonable delays with their home build.

What's next?

BGC has confirmed it is yet to take on new home builds, as it continues to work on dozens of incomplete homes in Perth and the South West.

Almost two years after the slab went down on Jo and David Dimov's "forever home", it is still unfinished.

They are among thousands of Western Australians who could benefit from a class action accusing one of WA's biggest builders of unreasonable delays.

Two years ago, a class action was launched against BGC Housing, claiming the company had oversold and underdelivered houses.

Since then, more homebuilders in Perth and the state's South West have signed up to the legal proceedings and lawyers say they are aiming for a payout of more than $100 million.

A couple stands in front of an unfinished house on a hill — A class action is underway claiming some BGC customers have experienced unreasonable delays with their home build. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)

Jo and David Dimov signed up with a subsidiary of Perth builder BGC Housing Group in late 2022.

They were "pretty excited" when the slab went down on their block, north of Bunbury, in January last year.

"It was exciting to see the earthworks happen … [and] to see the bobcat get in there and start digging it up," said Mr Dimov.

"It started to take some shape and looked like things were going to kick off pretty quick."

But nearly two years later, they are still waiting to move in.

"I have seen entire subdivisions go up in the time our house has been built,"

he said.

A man and a woman look at the camera — Jo and David Dimov say it has been a stressful two years building their home, north of Bunbury. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)

Ms Dimov said it had been a stressful couple of years trying to build what she described as their "forever home".

"It's been disheartening, there has been tears … The stress and the pressure on our family unit, it's been pretty hard," she said

"They need to be accountable as a big company for what they've done by overselling houses."

Ms Dimov has described having to fight "every step of the way" to get the work done correctly.

She said they had joined the class action in the hope it would bring about change, but said more needed to be done to keep builders in check.

"Even if it's just a spot check, 'Surprise, we're here to check to make sure that you're doing the right job' … then I feel like maybe some of these builders would be a little bit more accountable," she said.

The WA government has committed to mandatory building inspections in apartment builds from next year but is yet to set a timeline for bringing them in for home builds.

A man stands next to his incomplete home. — David Dimov says he has seen "entire subdivisions go up" while his home is being built. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)

Delays 'shouldn't have happened'

Lawyer Spencer Lieberfreund, who is supporting the claimants in the class action, said customers had dealt with alleged delays and cost increases "that shouldn't have happened".

"We started to get a number of people coming to see us individually with complaints about delays in their construction, we saw they were all BGC home owners and it snowballed from there," he said

"Our estimate was that there were between six and seven thousand customers that BGC had that were affected by this."

He said he ultimately wanted to see people compensated for the time they spent waiting.

"You might have had to pay additional rent, [or] if you already owned a home you might have had to pay additional interest payments, [or] if you were an investor, you might have lost rent because you were unable to rent your home when you should have been able to do so," he said.

A couple of tiles against a wall — If a class action is successful, the payout to home builders could be up to $100 million. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)

BGC still working through backlog

In 2023, BGC limited taking on new home orders to focus on its existing jobs, including home builds picked up after the McGowan government's COVID-19 "Building Bonus Grants".

In a statement, the company confirmed it was still working through the backlog, but said it was getting closer to handover on each build.

"BGC confirms it currently has 61 residential homes for retail customers remaining to be completed in Western Australia, including one in the South West of the state," a spokesperson said.