BGC churns Perth ‘shell homes’ amid class action over years-long builds

One of Western Australia’s largest home builders has raised eyebrows after it bought vacant blocks of land in popular housing estates and built houses on them in less than 12 months – even as it faces a class action over thousands of building contracts that have languished for years.

WAtoday is aware of numerous vacant blocks across the metropolitan area purchased by BGC in April and May 2024 and recently listed for sale with completed homes.

This house on Sandstone Road in Eglinton was completed quicker than most new builds in Perth. Credit: Domain

The ad for a property in Eglinton states, “why go through the challenges of building when you can jump straight to the exciting part – making a home truly your own?” The land was purchased in May 2024 and the house hit the market in March 2025 for $745,000.

BGC also listed a home for sale last month in the mid-to-high $600,000s in the rapidly expanding southern suburb of Wellard after buying the vacant block in April 2024. It’s advertised as a “recently completed spacious family home”.

In Brabham a newly built 4x2 in the Ariella Private Estate is on the market with a price tag in the high $700,000s. The house took BGC a year to build.

A BGC spokesman said the properties were part of a small program of “shell homes” the company constructed as part of a trial of alternative, faster methods.

“While appearing complete externally, these homes are literally structural shells, with no internal finishing, to avoid competing with the already high demand for finishing trades in Perth,” he said.

“The intent of the program was to test innovations with the potential to help combat industry-wide supply chain shortages and more broadly assist in meeting the challenges of WA’s housing shortage.

“None of these homes have been prioritised over any other home, and the locations were carefully chosen within areas where construction trades were more available than others in the metro area.”

When WAtoday asked BGC what construction methods they were trialling and how many builds remained unfinished on their books they declined to answer.

BGC customer Amanda was handed the keys to her new traditionally constructed home in Brabham in February this year, nearly three years after signing a contract in July 2022.

An unfinished home in a Perth housing estate.Credit: Ross Swanborough

“It’s been nothing but a circus,” she said.

“We were told the delays were due to labour shortages, but our neighbours’ house was completed in eight months.”

Amanda said she and her husband were currently undertaking processes with regulator Building and Energy after reporting more than 100 defects.

“We had a broken window from when the bricks went up, drainage and roofing issues, issues with the paint, the doors didn’t line up and flues were attached with duct tape and cable ties. Only 5 per cent of the problems have been fixed, out of 151 defects,” she said.

“100 per cent I will never build again.

“I’m pissed BGC is building and selling houses built so quickly.”

BGC Housing Group, which includes Aussie Living Homes, Homestart, Smart Homes for Living, Now Living, Terrace and Ventura South West, was toppled as WA’s biggest builder in 2023 after putting the brakes on new builds to tackle its backlog of 4000 pandemic-era projects.

The company is still not taking on new sales stating they “continue to focus all its resources on completing homes for existing customers”.

Last year three BGC Housing Group entities were at the centre of a $100 million class action being spearheaded on behalf of thousands of frustrated home owners who entered contracts.

Perth law firm Morgan Alteruthemeyer Legal Group commenced unprecedented Supreme Court proceedings against BGC in July last year.

In it, the complainants claim BGC Residential, J-Corp and Ventura Homes breached Australian Consumer Law and their contractual obligations with thousands of individual BGC home owners in contracts entered into between January 2019 and September 2022.

The firm expects mediation will be held later this year.

Housing Industry Association WA executive director Michael McGowan said across the wider market, bricklayers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers all remained in high demand but with the work spread out more evenly over a twelve-month period, the intense pressure at each stage of the construction process had eased somewhat.

“Finishing homes has been a priority for many builders over the last two years and as such we have seen strong demand for painters, cabinetmakers, plasterers, tilers, and brick pavers,” he said.

“We have seen delays in some of these areas but expect some potential easing in the acute shortages over the next six to 12 months as trade capacity builds.”

McGowan said while there were still some legacy projects with long construction timeframes, the average project was now taking 11 months to construct.

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