Pricing Report – Construction, Western Australia 2012

Market Overview

The pricing levels for WA construction lawyers remain strong and less “flexible” than other states (including the East Coast) due largely to a combination of a reasonably strong level of workflow and a comparatively lower level of competition than other major Australian states.  That’s not to say that the WA construction market isn’t competitive, rather that the number of market participants and the level of differentiation between them is substantially less than can be found in other Australian jurisdictions.

Western Australia lacks both the aggressive, expansionist national mid-tier firms and any sizable specialist construction firms to allow consumers an adequate level of choice and, as such, a construction lawyer in Perth is typically more expensive than they would be if working out of the offices of one of their respective firm’s Eastern states offices.

Perhaps because of these robust hourly rate levels pressures to provide fee estimates on both non-contentious and contentious matters were almost universal as were requirements of regular WIP reporting and assurances that fee estimates would be met.

 Partner Hourly Rates – Overview