Over the past few years, Bali has emerged as a magnet for global investors, particularly from Western countries, drawn by the island’s exotic villa lifestyle and the promise of high returns from short-term rental businesses. However, behind this attractive investment landscape, significant business risks remain—often underestimated or poorly understood by those involved especially to the local Balinese.
Most recently, a Balinese local entrepreneur has raised concerns over alleged non-payment for design planning and construction work on several large-scale property development projects in Bali. He explained that one of the projects that he had designed, planned, and constructed for the client is the XXX Bali although it is actually located on Jalan XXX Bali.
According to him, the professional relationship between him and this real estate investment company began with an initial meeting in December 2023. The initial meeting was followed by a formal work instruction starting in around January 2024 for the design, planning and construction.
During the design, planning and construction, he explained that the client had constantly made late payments to the invoices. Even if eventually made payment to some of the invoices, such payments were mostly small fraction payments to the amount of the invoices with the promise from the client that the full payment of the invoices would be paid after PT XXX completed additional works.
This pattern continues for several times and building up cost to be suffered by PT XXX. However, when PT XXX demanded for full payment of the invoices to XXX, he stated that XXX denied the invoices amount and even appointed another construction company to continue the works without settling the outstanding invoices of PT XXX. By August 2025, PT XXX was forced to halt all work due to build up cost due to the absence of payments for its services.
At the initial stage, the project was planned to include 15 villa units across Lot 1 and Lot 2, with a total budget estimated in the tens of billions of rupiah. During execution, the project involved more than 100 local workers, divided into multiple professional teams, as well as involving various of local Balinese suppliers.
As the collaboration progressed, the contract expanded to cover a total of 70 villa units. He stated that the average construction progress exceeded 65 percent, with several units reportedly reaching 100 percent completion.
Despite the substantial progress, he said the financial impact on his company has been severe. He estimates losses of approximately in billions of Rupiah from architectural planning, design work, and construction-related losses. These losses correspond to outstanding invoices that remain unpaid as of the cessation of work. He also added that client non-payment directly impacted the lives of many local suppliers and workers involved in the project.
Efforts to resolve the matter amicably were made. According to him, several on-site mediation meetings were held directly with XXX. However, these discussions failed to produce a constructive outcome.
Eventually, he on 6 November 2025 submitted a civil lawsuit against XXX at Pengadilan Negeri Denpasar (Denpasar District Court) under the case number 1536/Pdt.G/2025/PN Dps. The case is currently registered and awaiting further proceedings before the Denpasar District Court. He hopes that his case could be immediately resolved in accordance to the law and fairness. He also believes that his case should serve as an important lesson for local entrepreneurs, particularly when entering partnerships and/or cooperation with foreign investors.
To minimize the risk of property investment disputes, he emphasized the importance of thorough due diligence. This includes verifying physical project locations, assessing property conditions, reviewing the credibility and track record of the counterpart, confirming company addresses, and ensuring full legal compliance.
He also shared a message for fellow Balinese and Indonesian entrepreneurs:
“Do business with people who help you grow, not those who bring you down and take advantage of others for their own benefit. What my team and I experienced has been a hard lesson. I hope other business owners will be cautious and avoid entering business relationships that could put them at similar risk.”
