When Construction Goes Wrong, Insurance Can Step In
Building a home is meant to be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. It’s where savings, ideas, and emotions come together to create something meaningful – a place to live, grow, and feel safe. But sometimes, the process doesn’t go to plan. Defective work, delays, or even a builder who walks off […]
Submission to Parliamentary Inquiry into Payments to Subcontractors
Background to Inquiry and Submission A submission to an inquiry headed by the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee, Victoria, has been made by Harriet Warlow-Shill, founder and principal of Warlows Legal. This inquiry relates to employers and contractors who refuse to pay their subcontractors for completed works. The Committee will examine the mechanisms currently […]
Reforming VCAT: Addressing Delays in Building Dispute Resolutions
Reforming VCAT: Addressing Delays in Building Dispute Resolutions Did you know that the median time to resolve a building dispute in Victoria now stands at an alarming three years? This is one of the many challenges currently facing the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), Victoria’s principal forum for resolving domestic construction disputes. The complexity […]
Do You Have to Make Progress Payments to Your Builder? A Recent Supreme Court Clarification
In the context of large, commercial developments, Victorian law has implemented protections for builders wherein the owner of the site is required to make ‘progress payments’: to pay the builder progressively for their work. Since its passing in 2002, the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002, has awarded the right to builders to make […]
Construction Progress Payments – High Court Upholds Adjudicator’s Determination
The High Court in Probuild Constructions (Aust) Pty Ltd v Shade Systems Pty Ltd [2018] HCA 4 has finally laid to rest a longstanding dispute over the finality of an adjudicator’s determination under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 NSW (SOP Act). The SOP Act, which has parallel legislation in all […]
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (VIC)
The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (BACISOPA) was first introduced in New South Wales in March 1999 and has since been adopted by the other states and territories of Australia, most recently South Australia in December 2011. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure that progress payments (which are required to […]
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW)
The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (‘the Act’) was first introduced in New South Wales in March 1999 and similar legislation has since been adopted by the other states and territories of Australia, most recently South Australia in December 2011. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure that progress […]