The legal and building consultant professions are the third most influential sphere of power and influence. An enormous and opportunistic industry has emerged from the debris and catastrophic losses created by the feral Victorian building industry. This secondary industry feeds and supports itself through the tragedy of those unfortunate victims of the ever-growing number of building disputes, VCAT hearings and bankruptcies. 

As the punter invests their hard-earned savings in a new home, of which a considerable number will go pear-shaped, they believe there is a reasonable pathway to compensation and justice. Most consumers come away from this journey cynical and dissatisfied with whatever remaining savings they had gone. 

In 2021 alone, $44.6 billion worth of building permits were issued in Victoria (VBA). The disputes and dissatisfaction rates are unquantifiable but let us guess 30%; this equates to more than $10 billion of unhappy customers. 

At the other extreme of only 10%, it is still a staggering $4.5 billion worth of dissatisfied consumers, creating an ever-expanding market for the legal and building consultant industry that surrounds the “bad building” industry in Victoria in only one year.

It is well known that the building industry is broken, and it is a double whammy for the punter that the delays, the bureaucracies, the legal framework, and processes meant to provide compensation are also desperately in need of a significant end-to-end review.

Fiona O’Hehir & the Team

Having encountered many of these issues, we simply want to share experiences to assist others to avoid what we did not. We are not lawyers, nor do we give advice.