Building & Construction
Mackay Chapman acts for builders, developers and construction businesses in disputes and advisory work centred on Domestic Building Insurance (DBI), regulatory action, insolvency‑related recoveries, and insurance/indemnity issues that threaten projects or business continuity.
Our approach emphasises upfront factual and legal assessment, assembling the right expert team, and using strategic negotiation and targeted litigation where necessary. The aim is focused strategies delivered quickly to make a difference when licences, DBI eligibility and project pipelines are on the line.
The Victorian domestic building insurance landscape is undergoing significant change. As of 1 July 2025, the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) became the designated insurer for domestic building insurance (DBI), taking over from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA). Strategic advice is critical during this transition.
Our experience includes -
- Advising builders on DBI eligibility, removing restrictive conditions, and securing DBI limit increases.
- Running judicial review and other regulatory challenges to restore or protect DBI eligibility where cancellation or suspension is an existential risk.
- Acting for builders in disputes with sub-contractors, including payment, delay, defects and security disputes.
- Acting for builders in disputes with government agencies and regulators, including investigations, enforcement action and registration issues.
- Acting for developers on Insurance Claims and for liquidators and subcontractors in recovery actions following building insolvency.
DBI Experts
Our strength is providing strategic, practical advice and assistance to businesses in the industry that helps them stay compliant and grow.
The clarity you need
Having a clear plan and understanding your position and strategy when dealing with the VMIA or in disputes is critical.
We’re not a big law firm
As senior lawyers from big national law firms, our Directors know that a small hand-selected team is much more effective. We give your matter the focus it deserves.
Why Mackay Chapman?
Mackay Chapman has extensive experience acting for both small and large construction firms on coverage problems, DBI eligibility challenges and related regulatory issues.
Some key/current matters include
- Acting for a domestic builder whose DBI eligibility was suspended and then cancelled because its director had also been a director of a separate development company that went into liquidation owing more than AUD 2.3 million to unsecured creditors. We argued that treating historical unsecured creditor exposure in another entity as determinative of current risk was legally and commercially unsound; BPC ultimately shifted its position and offered reinstatement on provisional terms, which we negotiated and refined.
- Acting for a domestic builder in a high-stakes administrative law dispute with the BPC over cancellation of DBI eligibility based on a director’s historical association with insolvent entities. We challenged the decision on grounds of legal unreasonableness and procedural fairness and, through robust negotiation and the prospect of judicial review, secured a commercial settlement that reinstated eligibility and preserved a AUD 3.5 million project pipeline.
- Acting for a medium-sized construction firm in a critical dispute with the VMIA after suspension of its DBI eligibility when it applied to increase its annual limit from AUD 25 million to 75 million. We negotiated an interim AUD 20 million limit and revised terms that preserved eligibility and trading continuity while capacity for a higher limit was reviewed.
- Acting for a builder in a post-completion dispute with the Victorian Department of Education over liquidated damages, wrongful recourse to performance security, delayed final payment and unresolved variations on a public school project under a construct-only minor works contract. The matter resolved through targeted correspondence and negotiation, allowing the client to finalise the project and release security.
Take a look at our case studies
Large Corporate Client Targeted for Preference Claim
How we can help
We can all be adversely impacted by regulators, that’s why it is important to get the right advice quickly. Some of the areas we advise clients on include:
- Financial services laws – licensing, authorised representatives, obligations (including best interests), compliance, AFCA disputes, Alleged illegal fundraising or unlicensed activity in financial services
- Corporations Act – consumer protection, fundraising, directors and officers’ duties
- Tax – ATO investigations, challenging amended assessments, high net wealth matters
- Capital markets - insider trading, market manipulation, compliance with listing rules
- Competition and Cartels
- RSE compliance
- Managed investment schemes and investment funds
- Professional issues – investigation and defence
- Building industry – licensing and insurance
Unlike other generalist lawyers we are specialists in helping businesses of all sizes strategically navigate their way through difficulties with regulators. We specialise in investigations, actions and issues concerning ASIC, ACCC, ATO and APRA.
We represent clients in Royal Commissions and Inquiries. We regularly represent clients in AFCA. We also act in discrete matters involving a wide range of regulatory bodies including professional bodies (CAANZ, IPA) and state regulators.