Fletcher Building

WA’s largest residential builder is back on the market, three years after BGC postponed the sales process. The proceeds will flow to the children of company founder Len Buckeridge.

The federal government has announced grants to three big timber processing companies in WA in another sign the industry’s future rests with softwood plantation timber.

The state government’s Building and Energy department has released its findings from an investigation over pipe leaks across Perth homes, with the results welcomed by builder BGC.

BGC Australia has estimated it will cost more than $700 million to fix burst pipes that were installed across thousands of homes in Western Australia.

Fletcher Building says the mass failure of plumbing pipes it manufactured are confined to the Perth market and asserted the problem lies with defective installation.

Fletcher Building is holding firm on its stance that plumbing issues in thousands of BGC-built homes in Perth were caused by installation failures as the company announced a loss of $120 million.

The company at the centre of a long-running dispute with Perth home builder BGC over responsibility for thousands of burst pipes has been hit with a class action.

Records show that an entity owned by Regent Motors boss Tyson Sutton bought the Osborne Park property for $19 million this year.

The Perth home builder’s legal move is additional to a class action against pipe manufacturer Iplex and comes after it spent $18 million repairing damaged properties.

Iplex Pipelines and the state government have agreed to provide up to $150 million as part of an industry deal to repair damaged houses but BGC Australia is not participating.

The boss of residential building company JWH has criticised the state government’s proposed legislation around the Iplex pipes issue, echoing concerns of industry.

BGC Australia has returned to the black after two years of big losses, helped by major asset sales, but acknowledged its continuing operations are still trading in the red.