Nelson and Kirstyn Pray are spending $500 each week on a rental in Parmelia, in Perth’s south, as their would-be dream home sits half finished in the adjacent suburb.
The couple signed on with builder Nicheliving in December 2020 and four years later, only have the bare bones of their house in Orelia to show for it.
Mr Pray, 36, and Ms Pray, 31, say the wait has come at a huge personal cost, causing them to delay starting a family, hoping they would be settled in their own home first.
“I’ve always been slightly worried about being an older dad to a baby because my dad wasn’t very active in my life when I was young,” Mr Pray said.
“I wanted to have a child in my early 30s but now I’m mid-30s… we put off trying to have a child for two years [because of construction delays].”
Family face new challenge
As the white-picket fence dream slipped further from their grasp, the couple welcomed a baby girl, Athelia, earlier this year.
“We didn’t want to continue to put our lives on hold for these guys”,” Ms Pray said.
Nelson and Kirstyn Pray with their 8-month-old daughter Athelia. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
Living in a rental that’s hard to child-proof, in the midst of Perth’s rental squeeze, has been less than ideal, but now the family is facing another challenge.
Their landlord has decided to sell.
The rental was open for inspection over the weekend and the couple is hoping it’s purchased by an investor who’s willing to extend their lease.
Best-case scenario
Earlier this month, the state government handed more than 200 customers with unfinished Nicheliving homes a lifeline to access home indemnity insurance of up to $200,000 to complete their build.
In the bittersweet deal, Nicheliving’s directors, Ronnie Michel-Elhaj and Paul Bitdorf, would not be pursued for a hefty insurance bill after agreeing to relinquish the company’s building licence.
The deal has allowed customers to find another builder to take over, but there are still roadblocks in their way.
Nelson and Kirstyn Pray inspecting their unfinished Nicheliving home in Orelia. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
Mr and Ms Pray’s house has been at the lock-up stage since June 2022 — the walls are ready to be painted, the lights and toilets need to be installed and the flooring can be laid.
They have applied for home indemnity insurance and reached out to builders, but initial walk-throughs have raised alarms.
Mr Pray said one builder noticed several issues and wanted an independent inspector to visit the site.
Cracks appear in the slab of the home. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
The builder said if the company does take on the work, the earliest start date would be January, and it would take around four months to complete.
In this best-case scenario, the couple have to wait another six months until they can move in.
The ABC has been on site and been shown a crack in the concrete slab and several cracks in one of the windows.
A crack appears in the window of the new build. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
The couple has also been told two-thirds of the ceiling in the master bedroom is 10 centimetres too short to comply with building standards.
Building boom ‘like Christmas’
Four years ago, WA’s building industry boomed as customers swooped on the government’s pandemic-induced stimulus measures.
As home buyers signed up for builds with quick turnarounds, the pressure to keep up with demand increased and builders started to sweat.
When he signed up with Nicheliving at the end of 2020, Mr Pray was told they would be in their home 13 months after construction began, but their slab wasn’t laid until May 2022.
The couple is still in limbo as they search for a builder to complete their home. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
He said he met with Nicheliving management in November that year and was told his build wasn’t a priority.
“One of the [directors] makes comments about how it felt like Christmas for him when all of these houses were being signed up, then he blames the government for overselling,” Mr Pray said.
“You can’t have it both ways. To me, it’s kind of like a spoiled kid that eats too much candy and then blames the parents for being sick.”
He said they were given three options – wait for the new completion due date, pay more money for their build to be prioritised or have Nicheliving sell the unfinished home to an investor.
Mr Pray said he didn’t want to sell given the pair had taken out a first home buyers grant to build.
So he offered an additional $30,000 to expedite construction, but Nicheliving wouldn’t budge.
Another builder has told the couple the earliest they could finish their home is by the middle of next year. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
“We wanted the house done within six months of that offer and submitted that offer to them, but nothing came back,” he said.
“We just waited and waited and now we’re in this situation.
“It’s always urgent when they need something but it’s never urgent for us.”
Plan to sell
The couple is thankful for the government’s intervention, which has allowed them to look for another builder, but frustrated the directors are not facing financial penalties.
“But more than punishment or revenge, it’s about my family and moving on and I want to get into my house more than I care about that,” Ms Pray said.
The couple’s rental is up for sale while they search for a builder to finish their home. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
Like many Nicheliving customers, the memories of the past four years are too painful for the pair to want to live in their house when it’s eventually finished.
Their plan is to sell after a year and move on from the nightmare that has been Nicheliving.
Nicheliving declined the ABC’s request for comment.
The State Government said Nicheliving customers are “not restricted to a particular builder when choosing who they engage to complete their properties”.
It said customers should be seeking independent reviews and information when selecting a builder to takeover.
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