Building Company Reviews
Gable Roofs from The Design Guide 2017 ed. 1: ‘Fundamentals of Architecture’
From the Original Admin person:
“I was looking for home building companies, and came across a number of builders. However what I didn’t find was a review site, with customers providing feedback on different building companies. Does such a site exist? There are plenty of sites for restaurant reviews, and I would have thought deciding which building company to go with would be much more an important decision than deciding where to go out for dinner.
Anyone want to set me in the right direction?”
And then I got the gig…
For comments skip below the ads for my magazines (well, there has to be some reward for warding off spam, paying for the hosting and moderating the comments – and if you’re building or renovating, you really should buy them because they’re invaluable).
April 2015
Hi All
Cover shot: Livingstone St House, Dom Glamuzina architect, Sam Hartnett photographer.
For those who have been using the site regularly, you may have noticed that it went down at the end of March 2015. The owner of the site had lost interest, so I came to an arrangement with them to take it over as the moderator and editor.
You can contact me here if you’d like to discuss anything on the page.
I publish the Building Guide and Design Guide magazines and BoB (for Builders) magazine and websites.
The Building Guide is an essential tool if you’re building or renovating – this publication could save you a huge amount of money and it will definitely save you a huge amount of time. Learn more about it here…
And if you’re a builder, then BoB is for you. We supply these free for builders and tradespeople.
If you’re not getting them, let us know here and we’ll make sure you’re on our list to send them to…
3 Sept, 2015
Hi again
I’ve disallowed one post and edited another in an effort to keep the conversation here a positive one with posts offering advice and relating personal experiences. Please refrain from criticising other people and their comments. Anything like this won’t be allowed.
Mar 2017
We’ve just released our new Design Guide 2018-1 edition. It’s amazing and if you love architecture, you 
should buy one immediately. Check it out here…
This is such a stunning magazine – it’s totally worth getting your own copy… and there are packages with earlier editions of the DG and/or getting the Building Guide too…
NOTES:
October 2016
We have now been contacted by the lawyers for Landmark Homes Counties Manukau to remove posts. One was from someone who had reached an agreement with them which included confidentiality and there is one that may be from someone who is a disgruntled ex-employee. Others are still posted but there is also a response from the Head Franchisor of Landmark and the Counties Manukau Franchisee as well. Cntrl-F to find specific references…
April 2017
It’s been brought to our attention through posts we can’t allow on the site due to a lawyer’s letter, specifying a builder, Craig Paterson. We have removed the comments from the site as we can’t control the accuracy or inaccuracy of the information.
However, on investigation, Craig has had a series of residential construction companies, including a national franchise, which have gone into liquidation leaving a large number of creditors and some very unhappy customers. It is our strong recommendation that people do not use Craig as their contractor.
If you have used him and have had a problem, then we strongly recommend you can make a complaint to the Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) Board, of which Craig is still one, here… (or for any other builder, for that matter. Bear in mind, if you have any Restricted Building Work happening with your project, it MUST be done or supervised by an LBP. Make sure you are protected – your builder MUST give you the mandatory Prescribed Checklist and there MUST be a contract in place for all projects over $30,000.
July 2017 – Craig has a new company now, The Property Channel, where it seems he’s building for people again. Again – we strongly recommend against using Craig.
Does anyone have anything to say about GL Construction?
Hello!
We are building this year in Christchurch, have spent a good amount of time wandering showhomes and talking to builders.
The ones which we are leaning towards are generally David Reid (VERY expensive), Mike Greer, Peter Ray and Maxim Homes…..does anybody have any particular experiences or recommendations for any of those mentioned?
Thanks
Hi Stevo, I can personally recommend Peter Ray Homes. They are extremely good quality and very transparent when it comes to costs. We have built two houses with them and have been very pleased. Mike Greer are pretty good, the team there are great but they are one of the more expensive I think per square metre – if you do go with them I’d recommend going fo the traditional build rather than one of the Concision houses (have heard some people with problems). Two companies that I would also recommend (not sure if you have looked at these or not) are Paul McStay and Greenland Homes (Sean Zhao). Have personally built several properties through Sean at Greenland and he gives excellent value for money and is very trustworthy. He has won Golds recently at the Master Build Awards. Good luck with your build 🙂
Thanks Sarah! that’s very useful. It’s interesting you mention Greenland Homes and Sean as I have worked on a project professionally with Sean recently but hadn’t actually considered him! Cheers
Hi there – I am looking for recommendations on reputable building companies in the Rodney area for a Matakana new build. Would ideally like a company who does all-inclusive for fixed fee and we choose the plans that suit us. i.e. Navigation homes. Anyone had any good experiences with any of these types of building companies in the Rodney area? Thanks!
Hi, try Maddren Homes. Good rep and solid comments about them on here. They are also about he only building Company that encourage you to talk to people they have built for.
Agree with Richard – Maddren Homes have an awesome reputation 🙂
Hi,
can anyone supply a review for Rogers Residential building Ltd currently based in Mangawhai Heads?
Hi,
We are looking for a good relible company to build a second dwelling (3bdrm house) on our site in North Shore Auckland.
Hopefully we will get a building consent soon.
Hi, If you would like to give Gareth a phone from Manly Construction. We are a reliable building company that specializes in new builds, renovations and alterations on the Hibiscus Coast and North Shore. Most of our work comes from recommendations from previous clients who we are happy for you to be put in contact with. Ph 027 212 4484
Hi NZL
Have a look at our builder listings here…just select the region you’re in…
http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/builders/auckland-central/
cheers
HI there
Is it quite common to have some defects in a new house? What are some of the common defects? We’ve found some paint peeling off (very tiny), some loose seams in vinyl flooring and also water leaking our of the shower box.
Hi CJ
Yes – defects are very common, and paint is *the* most common. Water leaking out of your shower box is the greatest concern, so get on to that urgently. Builders have a 12 month period from completion of the build to fix defects, no questions asked, but it looks like the problems you have will be from sub-contractors, and they can be slack coming back, so make sure you chase them hard.
cheers
Hi, we are looking to build in the kapiti / levin area. We have read through the comments and picked up some good hints and tips. But does any one have some recommendations of reputable builders in our area? We are looking at engaging with A1 homes.
Hi,
Looking for advice or opinion of clauses 83-87 of the Registered Master Builders Association Residential Building Contract. These clauses relate to providing the builder with a memorandum of mortgage over the land should we fail to pay any money to the builder.
Our solicitor is adamant that the clauses should be removed, the builder (large franchised builder in the Wairarapa) is insisting that we keep them. Any opinion on the risks we accept if we keep them? Many thanks in advance.
This is a very dangerous draconian clause, trust your lawyer here. We had something similar in ours and removed it after it was explained to us what could happen and boy did we have problems with our builder, thank god we listened!. With this in your contract you are giving all power and control to your builder, its not to say that he would abuse this, but he could if things got nasty. See if you get away with putting a mortgage clause on him?
If something happens during your build for example damage to site or house caused through negligence via the builder or his contractors which might not be covered by insurance and started a dispute where you withheld money for work already completed, the first thing that would happen is the whole project goes on hold. And they will drag this out!
The building act will have you pay out any monies owed to the builder for work completed regardless of the situation as you would need to go to court to deal with the dispute issue if it cannot be resolved with the builder. This is where the clause becomes a problem. If you withheld money then the builder could cancel the contract (using the act) and claim the mortgage even though he was the cause of the dispute!!!!!!!!!.
Once you have paid up monies owed and unless you are prepared financially for the “unexpected” and the months of legal battles etc then he would have no right to use this clause and would be an idiot to do so,, but if he’s dodgy and knew you didn’t have the money to fight he could abuse it, turning a bad situation into an even worse one for you. Also, what happens if he goes under while you are going through the dispute process and hes used the clause and taken a mortgage out on you? What happens here?
There are alot of things that can go wrong in a build dont think it wouldnt happen to you its common place these days, and the home owner is the least protected!
Master Builders certainly wont be there for you that is shocking that that clause is in there! Find a builder with a good reputation who doesnt have to many builds on the go at the same time as they dont need to rely on clauses like this if they are good guys! Remember you are paying for expensive legal advice for a reason! Be warned re the home building groups, read this blog in depth!
Hi Kevin
Have a read of our page here – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/planning/building-contract/. We recommend against using the Master Builder contract and recommend the Building Disputes Tribunal contract instead. There’s a link to their contract here – https://www.buildsafe.co.nz/BUILDRIGHT+Conditions+of+Contract.html.
Has your builder given you the Prescribed Checklist? They must as it’s mandatory. If they have not, will not and aren’t prepared to use a different contract, you may wish to review your arrangement with them.
Hi Can somone please give me a price they have been charged for a kitset house to be built for a 2 bedroom
Hi Jack
It’s very difficult to give a price for any house, even kitsets, without knowing the specifications – bedrooms/size/etc. Also, there just aren’t that many kitset homes sold in NZ.
Hi, has anyone had experience (good or bad) with Classic Builders Tauranga? Looking to build with them on one of their new subdivisions at the Lakes. So far the comments on them here are all positive…
Hi,
Has anyone build with Golden homes in Stanmore Bay Auckland? Are they good? We’re seriously considering them but the price is a bit expensive.
Have you thought about not using a franchise company and getting plans drawn and using an independent builder ?
We used Golden Construction (not Golden Homes) to build in Riverhead. We were very happy with them and would happily use them again. They have a show home in Huapai and millwater I think, and I believe they do build in Stanmore Bay.
Thank you. That’s helpful.
No worries. You can email me at malhar_p@xtra.co.nz if you need any more information about our building experience. I can introduce you to the owner of the company if you want.
These are steel framed homes only. Once the build is complete to renovate or alter is a nightmare as u can’t cut frames easily and is very costly. Steel frames are noisy and crack loudly so see if you can contact some existing steel framed home owners first. Don’t be sold by the timber doesnt last or is inferior technique as Golden only offer steel and not timber. This means to install the roof is extra cost due to steel fixings required. Also they normally bring their pricing down by offering large garage space that do not require same as internal finishing. Ensure any contract you sign has the correct number of electrical fixings per room that would be required in a normal house build as group house builders short change on these and they are expensive variations to have to pay for. Just another ploy they use to reduce price upfont and then charge like wounded bulls for. Golden have a good name on the Shore and they have been in business a long time and are secure. Another franchised company that you are paying franchised fees to a head office and that’s why they are more expensive. If you want to spend time building the right way, get a known builder who has excellent references who project manages the build themselves and is controlling quality and the timeliness of the build. Best question to ask is how big is their team and how do they conduct a house build. Do they complete one project prior to the next? If they are small don’t use them. If they are committed to finishing multiple projects don’t use them.
Thank you so much so that detailed response. really appreciate it.
buld with sentinel homes.Im currently building with them, theyre on schedule and give me weekly reports with photos on progress. They also priced up very reasonable and economical. Highly recommend.
Thanks, they are our number two choice. The show home they have in Millwater is so good.
yes their show home is excellent, they strive on quality and customer satisfaction. Im halfway through my build and from the start they have been so helpful. Ive been able to contact them with every silly little question I had and they always responded asap.
I had a terrible experience with bella vista homes , i pulled out before money was spent there, sentinel homes knew of my scare with bella vista so they made everything as smooth and possible . When it came to signing the contract, they happily met me and my lawyers needs with no hassle as well. Really good natured people running the company!
Sentinel Homes secure and are great guys to deal with. You can be certain they will finish a good quality build and the owner is outstanding and his team great creds.
Hi, Are you able to tell me who you are dealing with at Sentinel? Thanks
hi danae im dealing with Isaac Dean the manager from the Bay ofPlenty region as im building in Tauranga. All Regions have their own manager and ive heard all are excellent. which region are you considering?
Are there any other comments or experiences building with GJ? We are looking at purchasing a house & land package or land to build in the Marlborough area and would appreciate as much feedback as possible. Thanks everyone!
Another franchise company. Do your homework as just because they are under a franchise group each company is run separately and their head offices do not take any liability for any franchisee going broke. I know of someone involved in a GJG branch failure where HO asked contractors/suppliers to finish off a number of builds at their own cost, eliminating any exposure to GJG’s. Each franchisee is different and builds their own way and are different in their communications. Some are good to deal with but do your homework and seriously look at an independent builder that comes with great references and even better referees as they will be so much cheaper than a franchise. Don’t be pulled into this, because we are big we get cheaper prices. You are paying a minimum of 2-4% franchise fees straight back to HO and then you will pay to support the huge infrastructure of site supervisors, estimators, sales people, admin and of course management. Also if you do go this way, ask if their site supervisor is a qualified LBP. These guys are running jobs and are not qualified builders and SUPERVISE your build. For a little bit of homework you can easily acquire a great builder. If you don’t want to do your homework, go with a franchise and pay the extra and don’t complain with the outcome. Good luck.
Note please. Double up with some comments changed as page came up not working so rewrote. My apologies.
Do your homework with the individual franchisee and ask for some addresses you can go and look at that they built. Then go door knocking to see what the previous clients think. Reviews on websites are mostly fake. Also if you have some time and want to do your due diligence get a referral from a local builder and ask for referees and do the same.
Franchisees such as GJ are not cheaper as you are paying for franchise fees -2/4% which is added into your build price and then you are paying for the massive infrastructure, including site supervisors that run the build but are not licenced building practitioners or even a builder. The people building are mostly contactors working for these franchisees. Don’t be fooled by their sales people advising they get better rates on product making them cheaper, as that is misleading by the time they put a double digit markup on you’re already paying more than the local guy you could build with successfully. The biggest problem you have between local independent builders and franchisees is the communication. Local builders were historically bad at communication and not sales oriented but most are getting better and will allow you to have more input into the build than a franchised coy would. Also to note, the good builders are not working for franchised coys but are out there doing their own thing and doing it well. The franchised coys pay their builders low rates so one should question the quality of the franchised build first and foremost. Our neighbour just built with a franchise – 42 week build time for a 200m2 simple brick clad house!!! Our neighbour (independent builder) just completed a 400m2 house (upmarket spec) in 20 weeks. Choose wisely
Any suggestions about Grove Homes?
Want to build a house in Aotea.
Hi we are looking to built in Wellington and suggestions about who to build with ??
GJ ??
Hi,
Does anyone have any recommendations on who to build with in the Wellington region please?
Thanks
Try Andrew Leslie at Progressive Homes (depends what your budget is)
Also try Hayden Rau at Sentinel Homes as he has been in the industry a while. New company but the guy knows what he is doing.
Please don’t go with Platinum Homes (Mass Construction), One of the worst building company in Wellington region.
Same. Ask anyone in the region about them. Do your homework before you use them.
For anyone looking to build in the Wellington region – avoid Navigation Homes. After being given the run-around for the past 12 months, we’ve been quoted a price significantly over our agreed budget and are having to walk away from the deposit we paid for our scheme plans to start over. We can’t comment on the quality of their builds, but based on our dealings with the team in Aotea to date and the increasingly condescending and unprofessional emails we received from them, we’re relieved we didn’t end up signing a building contract.
A learning from our experience – unless modifying an existing plan, do not get talked into using your building company’s architect. It seems like a great deal paying $3k for a custom design but in reality, you get what you pay for in terms of quality and expertise. And at the end of the day, regardless of how involved you have been in designing the house or what your agreed budget is, the building provider then owns the plans so can charge you whatever they like for the build.
In hindsight, we should have used an independent architect or draughtsman to draw up our concept plans and then approached building companies to take it from there. We realise there have been successful cases through the Disputes Tribunal where companies have failed to provide scheme plans that can be built within the agreed budget, but it’s not worth the stress of dealing with Navigation Homes any longer and we can’t get the past 12 months back. If someone else can learn from our experience, then it hasn’t been a complete waste.
Hi Rachel, You make some good points.
We’ve just recently moved into a new build, and the house is nice in many ways. But the whole process has been a very stressful disaster. Especially if you choose the wrong builder, as we did. Actually good build quality, but went into liquidation, leaving us and subbies in a very difficult position.
I’ve been in the construction industry (civil) my whole life, on the client (government) side, so I know all jobs have their problems. But when it’s your own money and life being affected, things look very different.
Some people obviously have a good experience building, but my impression they’re the exception rather than the rule. The building industry in NZ is frankly a disaster. I could write a book about it.
But just to give some advice about your point regarding copyright of drawings. People often don’t realise that before you pay or sign anything it’s all up for negotiation.
So just tell them that if you’re paying for drawings then you want to ‘share’ the copyright. Perhaps you can agree only for your own use. If they don’t like it then tell them to get lost.
Hi Chris – who did you build with?
Hi CJ, As I mentioned they went into liquidation, so not really relevant to anyone else now.
So I’m not trying to keep it a secret, but do you mind if I ask first why you want to know?
Chris is correct. Currently the NZ building industry is a disaster and unfortunately there is no quick fix. There are still builders out there building leaky homes, still architects designing leaky homes and still suppliers of compressed fibre cement product (biggest name on the market) promoting products they have no idea will or will not fail early in the piece. An architect told me that he can do what he likes as its councils fault and not his, because they rubber stamp the drawings. Their are people out there specifying wind zones for the wrong sites and its you the unknowing home owner that end up with the issues, no-one else. Its the suppliers who are promoting these products with architects for large back handers, sweeteners (call them what you like) and then when court cases appear, these individuals are never to be seen. See court case currently – Herald today –
Two James Hardie companies, James Hardie New Zealand and Studorp, lost their application to toss out a leaky buildings class action case in the Supreme Court.
The High Court is set to hear a representative action brought by leaky building owners against James Hardie alleging that leaks in their homes are attributable to inherent defects in cladding systems manufactured by James Hardie.
They also claim that James Hardie made misleading statements about the cladding systems in the technical literature.
James Hardie went to New Zealand’s top court after the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling allowing the suit to proceed, arguing among other things that the Appeal Court erred in finding that the respondents had the “same interest” in the subject matter of the proceeding as the class members it is proposed they represent.
And this company is a huge supplier to our NZ Construction industry. Our industry is a major mess and all that is happening is a joke and there is no way any government is going to solve our ongoing issues. The only way we have to go forward is for architects to design responsibly and take out insurance for any build that are involved in. This is what they do overseas and it works but my only issue is that architects consistently charge like wounded bulls and alot are severely lacking in their plan skillsets leaving the builder to work out what is required as detail is missing. No detail, no responsibility!!!! Back on the builder again. Only then architects will build as they take responsibility for the design and the build and only reputable builders will be utilised. The unfortunate state of our industry is that builders out there are choosing to not be LBP licenced (most don’t do complete building works in this area and only new home builds) as an LBP they take full responsibility should product like the aboves fail as historically these coys fed the builders to the wolves as the problem (and some were with installation but majority weren’t). The only solution is to not utilise any such product in our market. This statement is an old ploy to mislead and they pull all failing product off market including all reference to such failures: From Herald -They also claim that James Hardie made misleading statements about the cladding systems in the technical literature.
The NZ Construction industry is a joke and all unsuspecting parties need to ensure they use expert builders, not hammerhands, not unqualified teams, not builders who just stand new home frames and don’t know how to fully build a new abode. Such a web of deceit across all trades in the construction industry. Seriously disappointing to all of us who are in this for the longterm good.
Please Please Please do your due diligence on Navigation Homes prior to sign up in whatever area you are wanting to build. The master franchise owner has and continues to have a chequered past with his franchisees, came out of another Group Home Builder coy (court battle ensued after he misappropriated their plans – fact) . The majority of these guys unfortunately were stung by the master franchisee as it appears he only wants to sell franchises and is not interested in doing his due diligence on actual business acumen or credibility. This says a lot about how he operates his business and I believe he does not do due diligence to his network which unfortunately then affects good people wanting to build a forever home. A family member runs the South Auckland office. I am sick and tired of Jo Public getting caught with these guys and then losing money. Use a reputable builder peeps and lose those who use marketing ploys to drag you in, promise the earth and never deliver, tainting your opinion of our construction industry. For peeps sake do your homework first and foremost.
This is a most interesting find as we are also caught up with the master franchise owner and experiencing challenges. I would be most interested in past dealings with him and his company.
Also never build with Danny Cancian and any Bella Vista Homes company he has. He screwed people over big time in Tauranga, and by the looks of it, his next move is to Wellington, unless the liquidation of Bella Vista has (hopefully) stopped this from happening to more victims in other areas.
Unsure if true but have heard with Bella Vista going into liquidation due to worksafe issues. Bullshit. This guy has been shakey for some time as we in the industry have heard not paying his accounts and when we get a request to price from someone like this like we did recently we know they are have payment issues. This site should be a great medium for folks out there sourcing a businesses financial health position and hopefully keep the public safe from this scenario. My thoughts with those parties affected by this business failure. Note to those building – easy as to ask suppliers in the construction industry who they supply and which ones always pay their accounts on time and most of them know who are good and whose not. This way you know straight away who is in good health. Also they are the suppliers who will refer you to good companies although the only misnomer here is that they will probably always select their favourites. Sometimes not a bad thing.
Excerpt from Herald – 81 requests for information just with a building consent app. That’s unheard of.
BDO’s report revealed that a single building consent application by Bella Vista generated 81 requests for information by building consent processing staff.
BDO’s report revealed that a single building consent application by Bella Vista generated 81 requests for information by building consent processing staff.
”There is no doubt that TCC building department have learnings from their dealings with Bella Vista over the past 12 months.”
Comment was sought yesterday from Bella Vista Homes director Danny Cancian of Pyes Pa. He did not respond by deadline to messages, including a request forwarded through his accountant.
Update for the general public. Danny Cancian is endeavouring to start up a new housing company – oh so soon – and all the unsuspecting parties out there who don’t know. 101 Homes and Sierra or Sienna Homes. BEWARE. Apparently he has family fronting the new startups – BOP and Wellington way maybe. Lets stop him before he gets his hands on any other honest persons money. Disgusting he goes broke one week and initiates new startups the next. He was a bankrupt in Wellington so I heard through the grapevine.
Displaying 51 – 71 of 71 results.
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CANCIAN, Danny John
SHOWERBUDDY LIMITED (1533396) (Removed) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
CANTECH LIMITED (1467530) (Removed) – Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
OHANA HOMES LIMITED (4959260) (Removed) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
ROOF LIFT LIMITED (6253753) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
101 PROPERTY INVESTMENTS LIMITED (6309612) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
CANCONSTRUCT LIMITED (4219858) – Director & Shareholder
CANCIAN, Danny John
LAKES ENGINEERING LIMITED (6209687) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
LE CASA DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED (6232249) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
LE CASA DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED (6232249) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
BELLA VISTA HOMES NEW ZEALAND LIMITED (6010390) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
BRACING SOLUTIONS LIMITED (6133527) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
STRONG BUILD NZ LIMITED (4216018) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
STRONG BUILD PRODUCTS LIMITED (4308578) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
ACCESS HOMES LIMITED (4215838) (Removed) – Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
GROUND EFFECTS LIMITED (6219262) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
QUAKETECH LIMITED (6211367) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
PROPERTY BID LIMITED (6219227) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
LAKES HOMES LIMITED (6228425) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
BELLA VISTA HOMES LIMITED (5379301) (In Liquidation) – Director & Shareholder
CANCIAN, Danny John
RENT MY HOUSE LIMITED (6107871) – Ceased Director
CANCIAN, Danny John
RENT MY HOUSE LIMITED (6107871) – Ceased Director
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Jennian Homes Wellington – I would not recommend dealing with this company. We found them rude, unhelpful and a pain to deal with. They kept forcing us to pay a 5K deposit and sign a consent form before even discussing the house. They wanted to charge us full price for a house that was advertised as ‘negotiable’ and then put ridiculous mark up’s on minor changes we wanted. We tried discussing and negotiating a price even with their horrible service and they all of a sudden said its ‘not negotiable’ and told us to go elsewhere. My husband and I are young and I felt like they were trying to take advantage of that. I don’t recommend them at all! Disappointed to say the least, I would have expected more from a company of this status.
I think you will find as the market regresses, firms like this will start to change their attitude with customers, as they have had a boom period for quite some time now and have been maxed out and turning customers away. Enquiries from customers have wained and they are starting to pull their heads out and tout for biz again, which is good for jo public. Note though that build costs are increasing for all products incorporated and cheap is no longer. Land is expensive still and needs to readjust to bring house pricing down (contrary to what politicians tell you). It will not happen by endeavouring to cheapen the actual build price of the house, only the land.
We approached Jennian in 2016 and some other building companies. I think Jennian is more high end, and sells standard plans, rather than catering to customised /tailor fit requirements. The guy we spoke to said our budget was too small for a single level house, 170 sq m. and said we wouldn’t fit 4 beds in a 170 sqm. he was very dismissive and didn’t show any interest. it’s all about business at the end of the day, and I can’t blame them. looking for a builder is a challenge, but the build stage is way more challenging. We started building in March and the house is now due to finish 20th December. Every stage was a challenge because of the delays. The workmanship is good though. We engaged with a builder and an architect early on so we knew the cost implications of our decisions. The cost of our build is higher than our budget but we got most of what we wanted. And also we were able to upgrade insulation, doors, windows, etc and the overall price is still much much better than the big companies. It’s just the delays that we had to deal with because the tradies are all busy working for other bulk builders like Russell Properties, plus we had a lot of rains this year.
We have just finished building with Maddren homes in the Taupaki area. We could not recommend them highly enough! Seriously, go and meet them tomorrow if you are thinking of building in Auckland. You will not be disappointed. We found the entire process ran smoothly, we were kept well informed and consulted every step of the way. Everyone on staff who we met on Rodgers team from Nicolle our first point of contact, the office staff, architect, consultants, builders, tradies and our awesome site supervisor Shaun have been professional, friendly and available to help as needed. We felt that we became part of the Maddren ‘family’ during the build, it was personal and everything we could have hoped for.
From the moment that we walked into the Maddren show home in Kumeu we were impressed by the workmanship and high quality finishing and our own home has lived up to this initial perception. The high quality of our build is everything we expected and the whole process ran to time and budget. We love our new home. If you are looking for an innovative and experienced firm to build your new home we suggest you phone Maddren. Thanks team for building us our perfect family home!
Tony has a great name out there and is a stunning individual.
We are looking at some land in the Coromandel. In order to make it work we need to do this as economically as possible. 2 things:
Has anyone used A1 homes in the Coromandel?
How are they if I want to make changes from the plans – up front before building commences?
We currently have entered the design stage with Signature Homes CHCH and theyve gone out and purchased a bit of land for that plan – we havent signed a thing yet. We have now come across Online Design and Build who seem to offer plans better suited to our needs but if we jump ship now we will forfeit the design fee with Signature (not too concerned about that) but will have to find a way to secure another piece of land. Has anyone had any experience with Online Design and Build and them offering turn key packages? (i.e. we jump into the design stage and they help us find the land, and secure the land for our plan within our budget) … any + or – experiences with Signature and/or Online Design and Build CHCH
I believe online design and build is a part of orange homes I wouldn’t go for them
I’ve been looking in to building with Bella Vista Homes in Tauranga? Anyone have any experience with them?
Thanks
Ring me 021 850511 and we will discuss
DONT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi if anyone is having issues with SO Renovate, (previously Selah Construction) then please feel free to contact me on johnzcampbell@outlook.com
I might be able to help.
Apparently SO Renovate Ltd sold the business (not the company). SO Renovate (2017) Ltd that has new owners was set up on 19th October 2017. We hope the new company will do a better job but have concerns for the disgruntled customers of the original SO Renovate Ltd – will they be hung out to dry??
I finished off a renovation that Selah had started and the clients kicked them off site. Ive heard there were a few unhappy clients even back then.
Please no longer contact this e mail address, it has been closed. John
Hi John,
We are currently having a reno done by So and we are exeriencing some issues – is there any way we can understand more from your experience? Many thanks!
Ours used heater initially which did nothing. Then used dehumidifier which took maybe 4 days from memory?
Oh wow! Thank you! 🙂
Our builders used a big industrial dehumidifier…
Thanks! I’ll ask our builder. He used this big industrial diesel heater. How long did it take for your frames to dry?
Hi. We are building our house in Wellington. The frames got wet during the rainy season. Waiting for it to dry and bring the moisture level to 17% before they put the preline. is there a quick way to get it dry? thanks
Hello, looking for recommendations for a house renovation project in the Canterbury area please. Relatively close to Rangiora?
interesting to read. I have some problems with searchinggood building companies in Auckland, but now found a solution. My coworkers recommend me to contact with Max Contracts This building company will build my new café near sea. I hope all will be fine.
Hi Samuel, good look with your project, hope it runs smoothly.
We are hoping to find a reliable builder in the Christchurch, Rangiora area, if any one can recommend?
Hi Catherine.
My name is Chris I have a small building company based in CHCH I am a licenced builder and also a member of the Master Builders Association. We specialise in new house builds and renovations/extensions no matter how big or small. We currently have two large scale renovations in progress one the design was done by the clients designer the other we helped with design through to consenting stage.
If you would like to discuss my company further and discuss what you are looking to do please don’t hesitate to call or email my details are below.
Chris Magrath
021 129 2449
Chris@ctmc.co.nz
Hi All,
Just wanted make aware to not to use a Licensed Building Practitioner Jason Dragicevich from Dragicevich Contractors Limited from Pukekohe. He is a cheat and very unreliable person to deal with to $4000 and never finished a minor renovation. A big liar, always find excuses to escape the situation. The best one was “I DONT HAVE LADDER TO REPAIR THE FASCIA” even though it was 2.5 mtrs high. Avoid him…..
Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to the following…..We have just finished building and now find that our builder, without consulting us, arranged for an “affected person” sign off to overcome a council consent objection to the neighboring section – the objection was raised by the council because the neighbors plans adversely affected our section. Is this common in the industry?
To explain a bit more, our building company had 4 or 5 adjacent sections, and we signed up for one of them with a house and build contract. The neighbouring section (same builder) has a retaining wall/fence well over 2 meters high about 30 meters in length very close to our boundary. We have just discovered that the council initially did not consent to the neighbors plans because the retaining wall/fence was too close to our boundary and adversely affected our section. On the day that the council raised the objection to our neighbours plans, we settled on our section and took title. However on that same day our building company filed with the council a waiver (supposedly signed by the then owner of our section) and the council subsequently approved the neighbours plans. Is this scenario common in the industry?
Hi.
You may find that ‘legally’ the builder has got himself covered if he was the owner of the sections at the time of the objection.
Morally the builder should have shown you what was being built next door, but once again ‘legally’ if you didnt ask… buyer beware.
If you bought off the plans &/or the title was transferred into your name before the Building consent was applied for, then you have a case.
Hi there,
Possibly not the right site for such a question, but – due to a recent experience with a driveway company in Christchurch, I’m looking for sites to warn others about this company. Doesn’t seem to be any…? Odd. If anyone has come across such a site, be great to hear about it.
Thanks
By all means fire away! You can also try NoCowboys but you have to register and I think pass the job through their system first.
Can someone please provide some feedback for Homebuild Homes, Baillie Construction and Origin Homes in Palmerston North please. We have chosen to go with a local business. What’s important to me is – affordability, quality, sustainability, flexibility in design, and communication! This is our very first build and want to steer clear of sharks.
Home build were signed up to build and project manage our son’s house. It soon became obvious the builder was incompetent and Homebuild were asked to several site meetings to discuss the very poor workmanship. My son was fobbed off. Eventually he stopped the build by locking the gate to the property. A quantity surveyor was employed by my son to determine how bad the build was; his report was that it was ‘a push over and rebuild’. After almost 8 months of being ignored the situation was finally taken to mediation and a confidential settlement was reached. However it is obvious my son does not have enough money to pull the build apart and rebuild to an acceptable standard.
If you are seriously considering Baillie Construction, find people they have built for and talk to them directly. Don’t take the directors word for it, he is not a builder. Get everything in writing. Their site reads very well and seem to have good ideas but very difficult to make it happen in reality.
Homebuild Homes are the worst. Avoid at all costs!
We consider ourselves very lucky to have selected Maddren Homes to build our home from the myriad of building companies to choose from and recommend this fantastic team to all. The differentiators we saw initially in Maddren Homes when compared to others was a locally owned business with a tight-knit team and focus on programming their selected high quality subcontractors to deliver fantastic homes. Those perceptions became a reality as our build was a quick easy, stress free process that left our neighbours astounded as we moved in 4 weeks ago while they are all many months from doing the same. Many thanks to our site supervisor, Jamie for non-stop communication and also Rodger for swapping beer recipes on the way. Also to the team in the background Andy, Jacqui, Terena, Nicolle and the rest.
Richard and Mel.
Does anyone know roughly how long it should take to build a house that is around 350 sqm? We are being told it will be 9 months from start of construction which seems incredibly long. I cant quite ascertain if it is actually going to take that long, or if they are just beng cautious in their estimation. This is on the back of multiple avoidable delays with the consent process hence the frustration.
Glen they should easily be able to build a house in 9 months but there are many variables,it can take 6 months to get building consent,then weather delays they factor into it.
If they give you a date that is reasonably achieveable and they don’t finish by that date they leave themselves open to a damages claim against them under recent law changes.
Unfortunately they will tell you anything to get you to sign on the dotted line then come up with every feeble excuse they can to delay it.
There are a great many builds that are taking up to 2 years from start to finish.
Most of the reason is taking on too much work.
Hope that answers your question.
Thanks for this. We have already got building consent but they are saying 9 months just for build. I suppose we don’t really have many options at this stage – we will just have to wait and see.
Hi there, quite keen to understand where I can learn more about the options for “damage claims” if the work is not completed on time. Is there some materials that you could direct me to please?
Hi Geetha, I’m not a lawyer, but I spent my whole career writing and overseeing construction contracts. So I can tell you first that you could write a book (and people have) on dealing with delays in building contracts. So if you can’t afford a lawyer who knows about building contracts (not all do), try looking in the nearest library.
But to keep it brief:
I assume you are already part way into the build, so I assume you must have some kind of contract. The first thing obviously is to read what that says about finish date and delays in plain English. My understanding is that if the contract is over $30K, and was signed after Jan 2015, then by law it must give an expected completion date, and how to deal with any delays.
Ideally that method would state an amount the builder has to pay you in Liquidated Damages (ie a fair assessment of your actual loss, not a penalty) for each day of delay. After allowing for all reasonable time extensions, due to things like bad weather, and other stuff outside the builders control, or extra time for variations you have requested. This of course is where arguments can arise. In my view the builder just being busy on other jobs is not a valid reason, but if he can’t get subbies in because they’re too busy, or he’s inefficient and doesn’t order materials on time, so they come late, you tell me. But at the end of the day those kinds of delays don’t justify taking 18 months on a 9 month job.
If you have none of the above, then look for words like working ‘with due diligence’. Then start keeping accurate records (with photos) of when the weather is fine but he’s not working. That may not get you any monetary damages, but might at least help if you want to take legal action and terminate the contract.
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Hi, Sorry for posting on here. Its very hard to get clear answers from people on this.
If I ask my builder for proof of actual cost of variations, is he to supply subcontractor invoices etc? My builder is trying to claim a variation and with no proof of actual cost is trying to charge me an extra $20k. I have asked for a clear break downs etc, but he does not supply. We are now at the disputes tribunal over this and still have no proof of the variation. He has supplied a letter from his contractor which states original price was x, new variation costs 20k. But no proof via invoices. Is this allowed? Thanks so much for helping 🙂
Hi Charles. It doesn’t sound like you’re being unreasonable. Did he tell you up front what the cost would be or did he go ahead and do the variation and then bill you?
Hi Mark, We didn’t even authorise the variation. The builder just did it as he said he needed to lower floor level on build as the driveway would have been too steep. We did not discuss any price, nor did he tell us it would cost more. We have no idea what we have paid for as the progression payments he asked for were all very large (around the 80k mark), with no detail on them other than progression payment.
He billed us for this 18k. At the end of the build we had a number of issues and disputed a bill as we felt we had paid too much already. There are jobs not finished also.
The builder has now changed the price on this variation (and the name of it to “extra work required for building consent”). The price is now 15% more than previous as we made a complaint about some of his work. He says he is allowed to do this as per the contract.
We are at a total loss about this and a raft of other issues. Do extra work have to written? Or can just be verbal as that is what he is saying happened (which is didn’t)
Please read the following regs,clause 3 variations,the builder must notify you of the cost of the variations before he does the work ,end of story,just take it to the tribunal that’s what its for.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2014/0361/latest/DLM6322530.html
Good luck.
Hi Sam & Charles, I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve spent many years managing construction projects, so I know from bitter experience that contractors (ie builders) often see different interpretations in contracts, although the meaning may look obvious to you.
So regarding this one, firstly it seems to me it relates only to variations which arise from Council approval or consent in order to get the building consent. It says nothing about other variations.
Secondly, although it says the contractor must state the effect on the price, it does not say he has to justify that with any specific documentation (eg invoices or quotes). It just says you have the right to cancel the contract if you don’t like the figure.
Of course in this case you may have a bit of leverage, since it seems the contractor has gone outside the terms of these requirements, by proceeding before the variation was agreed. Hopefully that was pointed out in writing, the moment you could reasonably have become aware of it. Because if you knew, but failed to notify him, he could perhaps assume you did not disagree.
Lastly, I think these new regs may have only started in early 2015, so perhaps your contract would need to have been signed after that.
thanks so much for the feedback. I guess no matter what the contract says, you can not contract out of the building act? So these variations/extra work would need to be in writing? the contract was signed in 2016.
With the lowering of the floor height we knew of it as the builder said he was lowering the height. No consultation. No variation signed agreeing to this. We had to sign a minor variation form for council as the builder said he needed it for inspector.
We did not know the new floor height would change the price. The builder did not mention any change in price.
This among other changes he made without consultation. Which now have changed the price of the build.
We are very frustrated and not sure how to defend ourselves at the disputes tribunal.
The implied terms in the act cover this under building consents clause 1.3.
1.3
If any approval or consent is issued subject to any conditions that will require a variation to the building work, the building contractor must advise the client, by notice, no later than 10 working days after the date the consent is issued, of—
(a)
the building work that will be required to achieve the variation; and
(b)
the effect (ie, the increase or decrease), if any, on the quoted or estimated price for the building work; and
(c)
the effect, if any, on the due date or the estimated due date for completion of the building work.
1.4
If the terms of the variation are not agreed within 10 working days of notice being given under clause 1.3, either party may, by notice, cancel the contract.
1.5
Notices under this clause must be in writing, despite anything to the contrary in the contract.
Plainly put you the builder must notify you in the proper manner if you are to have any additional cost as it varies the contract terms.
Its very clear what the procedure is ,if they don’t abide by it then you would be justified in not paying for it as the “professional” you are using should have been aware of it at the least and in
turn should have made you aware of it,passing the buck onto you won’t work.
It would probably fair to say you would not have signed the contract if you had known this could happen.
Please check your contract to see if there is a dispute procedure in it.
Sounds like he is taking advantage of you.
I wouldn’t worry about the tribunal process as they are used to these sorts of things in a very simple and factual way,heresay is not a good defence ,so long as you have anything in writing to support yourself.Its a very inexpensive way to deal with these sorts of problems.
Hope it works out for you.
Thank you so much for this Sam. Does this apply to changes which are classed as “extra work”? Builder told me and the courts that a variation is a change that a home owner wants changed which needs to be in writing. But work classed as “extra work required for building consent” does not need to be in writing. Thanks heaps again!!
Sam thank you so much! you have basically sorted my defense :). Would just like to clarify one more question if you can help. That document you referred to states the builder must provide code of compliance before it submits final payment etc. However, my contract states its the owners responsibility to gain code of compliance. Does the document you refer to over rule this aspect in the contract? Thanks so much again! We are yet to be issued COC as builder will not supply any producer statements etc.
Schedule 3 clause 2 of the building remedies as follows,2 Code compliance certificates
2.1
The building contractor undertakes to obtain all code compliance certificates.
2.2
The building contractor must provide the code compliance certificates to the client before the building contractor submits its final payment claim under the contract.
Its fairly straight forward if he did the work he should obtain the code of compliance,I don’t believe you can contract out of that anymore.
This whole section covers it:http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2014/0361/latest/DLM6322530.html .
If he breaches this it opens the door for you to obtain damages for any losses you have incurred due to this such as rent and interest etc,to obtain this you would have to take a civil claim against him.
Put a complaint in to the master builder or whoever he is affiliated with.
This legislation was introduced to take away some of the “surprises” in a contract that people unwittingly sign.
Its clearly deceptive on his part.
That’s my grasp as I see it.
I would like to take a moment to express our gratitude of a job well done to Maddren Homes Ltd.
They set the bar pretty high for us and if we were ever to build again Maddren would be the one we use. We can’t express enough how delighted we are that their experience and commitment to deliver brought our build in on budget and not only that but ahead of schedule. I highly commend them for the trades people they use and the team they have in their company, they made for us what can be a stressful journey genuinely exciting and enjoyable.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to express to you and to especially thank Jake Griffith our site manager who’s communication, organisational skills, ability to be professional yet friendly and genuine desire to deliver the product I wanted, how I wanted it and to a quality of the highest standard really impressed me and gave me a lot of confidence throughout the build. He really is an asset to Maddren and I would happily have him managing a build for me again.
A big thank you too Kate, Hannah, Jucqui, Terena, Tony, Rodger and everyone who keeps the cogs moving in the back ground for the excellent job you do.
Michael and Anna, Auckland
Any guidelines of their pricing? Thanks
HI Michael, can you give us some ideas of their pricing? Thanks
Hi, we are new about to build our first home with Key2. Has anyone used them before and what has their experience with them been? the quality of the products (i.e. woods and etc) used by their builders?
Thanks
Hi … As others have said.. with this blog displayed on your screen, press CTRL + F then enter KEY2 in the pop up Window .. there are 17 occurrences of their name at present…
Hi, Sorry very random question. We employed a builder to do a new build in East Auckland. We got a few quotes/estimations before we started. We decided to go with Builder A based on his initial consultation and he included in his price a few items that were not on the plans. This was to fence the property at the end.
The builder was very eager to start and started the job without a contract in place. We kept asking for the contract etc. It was about 3 weeks till we got it. We signed it quickly as we trusted the builder etc and wanted to make sure we were covered by insurance etc. He did not give us time to get the contract checked by our lawyer.
Anyways the contract states the scope of works as “per drawings and specifications”. As the fencing of the property is not on the plans the builder is now refusing to do this. We all agreed this was to be included before the job started and it was on his original estimate etc. But he is now saying the estimate and contract are not related.
Any help would be greatly appreciated?? Please
Hi Charles,check out the following site for remedies http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2014/0361/latest/DLM6322564.html.
The fair trading act covers this as you are liable for what you tell people,easiest and cheapest
way would be to take it to the builders tribunal and represent yourself,take any evidence or
witnessesyou have to support your case.
The above site should give you an idea of what to do.
It depends on what is in your contract as how you remedy disputes with your contractor.
Give it a go and good luck.
Hi Sam, thanks so much for the reply. Is that link for building works that have no contract? Or does that link supersede what’s in the contract. We have a contract in place now, but the contract start date and sign date are after the actual building work start date. Ie. We signed contract March, but works started early Feb. Alot of work had already taken place between these times.
Hi Steve,so essentially you have a dispute over what the Builder told you he was going to do and what is in the contract.
If your contract outlines dispute resolution procedures then you are required to go to mediation
under its terms,if not you can go to the tribunal as they are there to resolve disputes so as not to involve the cost of litigation.
This is more the fair trading act we are talking about as it is a verbal contract ,which is just as binding as a written contract,sounds like he has enticed you to sign the contract with an appetizer.
You must put it in writing to him and give him the opportunity to reply.
If he doesn’t reply then take it to the builders tribunal.
In most cases when they serve the tribunal papers to him they reconsider their position.
Unfortunately Kiwis take everyone as being honest but some people will take advantage of that.
You do have rights and he isn’t leaving you any option.
Hope it works out for you.
http://www.businessdevelopers.co.nz/
Building a new house has the potential to be the most stressful thing you can ever do. It was our first time and we weren’t sure about how it will go. However, we’re really pleased to have chosen Maddren Homes as they made the whole process enjoyable and fun. The team at Maddren is quite prompt, honest and upfront with their communication. There were no nasty surprises and because we were happy with the quality of products they supplied, we didn’t feel the need to upgrade or change them which saved us time and money. Our Site Supervisor Jake was professional, kept us well-informed throughout the process and made sure that all questions were answered in a timely manner. He managed the build really well and that literally took out all the stress from the process. Things were on schedule throughout and the house was handed over to us well before the estimated completion date.
It’s a well-knit team at Maddren Homes and that reflects in their quality of workmanship. The house is just great and we’re loving every moment in it. We’d happily recommend Maddren Homes to anyone looking to build.
Hi Mayank and Shivani: This is good news – among the ruins! Would it be ok for us to have a chat with you? Please let me know.
Thanks
Can anyone recommend a good house company to build with in whangarei.I have bought a section in “Totara parklands”.Thanks
Hi Shannon. We have just started a build with Classic Builders and to date can not fault them. Definitely suggest you at least put them on your short list. We checked pretty much all the “group” builders plus a couple of independents before we decided.
Thanks for that Colin.We have heard classic builders are really good to deal with.Have you got any information or dealt with Barrett Homes in Whangarei me and my wife were interested in them as well.
Thanks again.
Sorry Shannon. We didn’t try Barrett Homes so have no idea where they fit. For us we had a section and needed a plan to suit. Plus we had a budget limit to stay within. We gave our requirements to a fair few builders and in the end it was Classic and Jennian who both worked hard to make it work but in the end the Classic home gave us a better living layout and we think best value for our dollar. Our build is just starting so we haven’t got the final result yet but we have seen quite a few of their builds and everything looks pretty good. Good luck with whatever you decide
Thanks Colin for your feedback much appreciated. A lot of good things to think about.
All the best with your new home, We can’t wait til we start that process as well.
Hi we have just paid our deposit on a section in East Auckland, title due Dec, looking to build early next year. First time building and are not sure which residential home company to go with. Do Maddten built East Auckland or any other recommendations please?
Hi Chris, I’m a Show Home Consultant for DW Homes and would be happy to have a chat to you about your build. My contact phone number is 021 515006.
Hi Chris
You can also check the 135 builder listings on the Building Guide website here for Auckland East: http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/builders/auckland-east/
Thanks so much Mark, it is my first time on here and am just navigating my way around so thanks for the link. I have also bought the Builders Guide.
It’s so sad to know that many plumbers do ill-practices. However, it largely depends upon the customers who should they choose. They need to better search the plumbers of gas fitters they are hiring, and try reviewing them on different portals, like one can post about them in here or Quora.
Hamilton Gasfitter
Hi 10% is pretty normal re consents/engineers/ landscaping if needed that the builder has to pay for upfront however paying in advance for the whole build you are asking for trouble. I would be weary of this builder he could have cash flow problems plus its an open ticket to rip you off!. No matter who you end up building with you should have a building construction lawyer go over any contract for you $900 – $1500 as you cant afford to enter into this blind. Look for finance companies like New build finance that take care of the progress payment side of things so builder doesnt get paid in advance, work assessed before payment etc if you prefer that option,
We are going to build our house in Auckland North Shore. The builder we are dealing with has asked us to pay 10% on signing the contract. He would only apply for the resourse concent and building concent after he recieves the 10% deposit. Is it a norm? It seems very risky. Can you please share your experience if you were asked to pay upfront or not?
Other condition is he would want money before starting each milestone. I thought builders ask for payment after they finish the milstones, and not before?
Any help would be appricaited.
Thanks
Hi
Peter Quinn from Quinn Homes in Christchurch.
In this day and age many homeowners have lost significant funds due to builders taking large deposits when these fund are not required by the builder and who generally pays most costs 20th of the month following purchase and then for the company you go bankrupt..
Some cost like permits and resource consents do require to be paid once processed by council so the request for a deposit at signing of the contract is appropriate. If the builder has organised the draughting of plans, soil tests etc he will have costs to pay.
We protect our clients by asking for a 5% deposit when the contracts are signed and no more payments until the subsequent stage of construction has been completed. I should point out that in our case there is nothing to protect our clients from, however it gives peace of mind.
if you take a look at our website you will see it is the first thing we highlight so you should do sifnificant due diligence or re negotiate the payment terms
Hi Yasmeen,much depends on your pain threshold for risk.
There has to be some “good faith” between the parties,can you afford to lose 10% of the build price?
What ability do you have to get your money back if they went under.
The initial costs are fairly minimal in the overall scheme of things 5% would be max,
you must not pay any money before the milestones,the fact that they are wanting this would put up warning flags,in my experience once you pay them before they do the work you end up waiting longer.
Use the rule banks do,on completion of the work milestones and to your satisfaction they get paid.
With builders being in short supply at present they can dictate the terms pretty much,but as you may have read on this site in recent days there is reason to be cautious.
The safest way is to put your money in an escrow account where someone else pays them on your instructions that the work has been done satisfactorily,which means they can’t use your money to fund other debts.
The down side is they probably won’t agree to it.
Make sure you have a guaranteed start date and reasonable finish date,with penalties if they can’t complete in time.
Your time would be well spent checking out the builders previous work and if possible talk to the owners to see if they were satisfied.
Good luck.
Hi Yasmin,
You need to be careful when paying the deposit because from the bad experience I had with the certified builder that I engaged took 8% of deposit from me ($60000) when signing of the contract. They refused to refund the money though the work done was only at the concept plan stage when they found out that the house could not be built at the planned site. They forfeited the whole sum and claimed that they have done work to that amount when nothing was done because there was no agreement at the concept plan stage. Now they have gone under voluntary liquidation and I am left with the lost. Don’t trust anyone with your hard earn money. This cheaters should rot in hell .
10% on signing is more than i would expect a builder to ask for. On the builds we have completed (3 in the past 7 years) the most we have paid on signing is around 5% of the build price. Is the contract a Master Build contract? If so then they will cover up to 5% of the contract price or $20,000 including GST, whichever is the lesser (or up to $40,000 if you go with the premium guarantee) should the builder go under. However, this is only if the builder actually completed the paperwork and pays Master Build for this service.
This is not normal practice except for “flyby night” operators. I would not agree to this as it gives all controls to the builder and is dangerous as you are open to him just walking if not properly done. Avoid that builder.
We have just been contacted by the lawyers for Build 7.
Due to the attached threat (link here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ft8scapm7mdbna4/17-04-27%20Build7%20Lawyers%20letter.pdf?dl=0) a number of posts regarding Build 7, Build Plus, B 7 Construction and AKL Construction, and their assorted Directors, Dean LIster, Alan Butcher and Craig Paterson, have been removed from the site as the publisher does not control the accuracy or inaccuracy of the information.
However attached is the link to the liquidators report which includes a significant number of unpaid creditors: https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/service/services/documents/04458FB5EF053E341B612DB2CD88601C
It is our strong recommendation that people do not use Build 7 as their contractor. If you have used them and have a problem, then you can make a complaint about licensed building practitioners (LBPs), of which Craig is one, can be made here: http://www.lbp.govt.nz/lbp/complaints/complaints-to-the-building-practitioners-board
I hired Gavin Laird (GML Builders, Langana builders) and Peter Stewart (Peter Stewart Ltd) to build my new house. They said they would be working together, hiring Peter Stewarts builders.
However from the onset I had only Gavin and an inexperienced apprentice. Gavin then built the steelwork in the wrong places and badly, the framing severely out of plumb and not level, the cladding so badly I had to get another building company to rip it all down and re-do it from scratch!
I am out of pocket badly as I had to fire him and find a new builder to fix all the bad workmanship. Please don’t hire these people as you will get very bad workmanship. If I had not fired them my house would have been an even bigger disaster, they are seriously cowboys!
Next I hired Craig Paterson, of Buildplus to fix my house and finish it. He was a friend and I thought I could trust him as I was so stung by liars and A-holes already. Craig came on our build and started the job without a contract, until I said he won’t get paid til the contract is sorted.
Over time I came to understand that Craig never actually scoped the job, time managed his builders, or cared about the budget. His method was to just go charge up and it costs what ever. His builder Greg Paterson was capable as a builder. Even when we stopped Craig about the costs he never offered to have a budget or scope everything properly. The amount of work that still needs doing is substantial!
Buildplus has gone into Liquidation owing a lot of money to creditors, however
If you hire Craig in the future you will also need to hire your own Quantity Surveyor, a project manager, an estimator, someone to watch the budget. Oh you will need to get all the contractor’s to bill you directly so they will get paid…
We are still trying to figure out what Craig is actually good at.
Not content with Build 7 (AKL Construction Ltd) and Build Plus Ltd going into liquidation I see that Craig Paterson has now re-surfaced with one of his previous companies the PROPERTY CHANNEL LIMITED.
He has a new 2017 website http://www.propertychannel.co.nz/
I’m sure that this posting should be OK as the information is publicly available.
I do agree with Mark’s comments that any complaints re Craig Paterson be forwarded to the Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs)
To all those that have been affected by the lawyers letter to Mark. I received a similar letter or threat from the same lawyer last week. I forwarded the letter to the liquidator because as far as I have knowledge of the law, when a company goes into liquidation, all of the affairs of the company shifts to the liquidator. The liquidator got in touch with the lawyer and myself confirming that Enterprise Law ( the sender of the letter) has not been authorised to act for AKL Construction (previously known as B7 Construction Ltd) . Therefore the authority stated in the letter is void.
Further Build 7 is not a company and therefore it does not have any directors. It’s just a trademark/logo. So, the characters mentioned to be directors of Build 7 is a musconception.
I just thought I let everyone know the status of the ‘threatening letter’ sent by Enterprise Law.
Hi,
I would like to know if anyone have any recommendations on good land surveyors in West Auckland area.
Thomas from A I Bates was excellent for our survey. It was going back a couple of years, and it was very simple, just to check site boundary.
Hey John,
Resene Integra is a very good product, its probably up the top of the aerated concrete products. There isn’t a problem with a plaster finish – although you will have to get it re-painted probably every 10-15 years or so to keep it looking good. The whole leaky building thing was mainly to do with direct fixing of claddings – with Integra we usually use a 20mm cavity and it is very strict now with using the correct flashings etc under E2 of the Building Code. Councils are very hot on it. I would happily use Rockcote on my own house (I’m an Architectural Technician). If you do like weatherboards then I would suggest linea over timber (as long as its fitted properly and sealed properly) there is a good guarantee period on it. Hope your build goes well 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Thank you very much for you reply truly appreciate it.
Cheers,
John
Hello everyone
An acquaintance who is finishing a build in Auckland said he finally decided to go with the one builder who returned his initial call and was ready to communicate. I had found that an unsatisfactory yardstick. But, now, I am increasingly convinced he was right.
Hi Everyone,
I am about to build our new home and was wondering which cladding is best? My current design is for a home with mixed aerated concrete (Resene Integra) and weatherboard cladding. I wonder if the aerated concrete would have a negative connotation if I sell in the future as this will have a plaster coating? Is AAC widely accepted in NZ especially the Resene Integra brand? Is it better to stick to timber weather boards?
Thank you and appreciate your feedback.
Cheers,
John
Hi Gerry, could you please let me know where you saw that because I need that evidence to give it to my accountant. I am going to lodge a police report against these people in a couple of days. Thanks for your help.
Hi All,
I would like to sell my rural section in Bombay, Auckland. Would anyone be interested?
Thanks
Jasbir
Hi Jasbir
Can you please email me through some details to nicole@dwhomes.co.nz?
Thanks 🙂
Saw your Builders Guide site – v good and lots of info..Including the Mortgage People. Will call them to see what they can do better than a bank.
Tell me, the builders that pop out on searching with a location on Builders Guide site are just a compiled list or are they the accredited ones?
Thanks
Hi Mark, that was addressed to you. Thanks
Hi Sanjay
Sorry – just saw this. Thanks for the kind words re our site. We set it up to provide people like you with good, useful and independent advice, so always nice to get good feedback.
Re the builders listed on our site, they pay to be there and there’s a mix of Certified, Master and independent builders. We don’t endorse any – you have to do your homework.
One key thing a lot of people miss is that builders now have to give their client a ‘Prescribed Checklist’ which is a list of items about which there must be clear understanding – the nature of the job, a contract if over $30k (we recommend one anyway), disclosures around complaints, financial backgrounds and insurance coverage, and more. It is scandalous that this checklist, which is mandatory, appears to only be used by less than half the builders out there.
Thanks Mark.
Looking at cases, scandalous is right. Yes, saw all the requirements and recent Act changes. What I am wondering is how all that helps the customer if builders can get away with it. Is implementation/ monitoring lax… and from whom, the Council? any other authority? Difficult for the owner to complain until something has gone quite wrong – a bit like complaining against a dentist or doctor as you can’t do that while you are still in their care.
Homefirst guarantees seem quite reasonably priced. Could anyone please share their experience with them or any other insurance for build? Mortgage People – any experience?
Many thanks
Has anyone built with The House Company recently? Im interested in understanding how the process went, how well they managed the project, did they stick to the original budget and time frame, was the quality and finish as expected, any feedback on their people etc? Thanks.
Hi Martin – I’ve not built with them yet but am in the process of doing so now – just started. So far, what I can see is okay and better than any of the other builders I’ve dealt with in lots of ways. Their people are always very friendly, competent and unlike some quick turnaround with plan changes and alterations at concept stage along with costings. They seem fair – and both my bank and the lawyer were impressed with their final contract and its inclusions and layout.
Regards
Marilyn
I
Thanks Marilyn. Are you doing a design build with them? If so they have indicated to me they use the standard master build contract, is this what you have been work on with them? Interested to hear how you get on once your plans are agree and priced. We have just started on concept plans with them and they are being very responsive and open.
Hi Martin
Yes I’m doing a design build – I’m not familiar with the whole building process but they’ve been excellent so far. They helped work the plans both to allow me to obtain what I could out of my “dreams” for the limited budget I had. I have changed a few things since then as Variations but I’m more than happy with their pricing so far.
Plans are almost out of council stage now and I’m working with their QS Supervisor who I can highly recommend and their Designer who is excellent also.
Hopefully you are on your way now and are happy also.
Hi Marilyn, How are things going with the the build? We have just signed with The House Company and are working through getting the engineering drawings done and hope to start breaking ground in October.
Just seen this – mustn’t have had it ticked to email on update. Its November now and my house is whilst not finished, well on the way. I can say I’m very happy with both the build quality, their suppliers (so electrical, plumbing, gas etc.,) though I used my own kitchen people – interior painting being done and all top quality so far. Project Manager is excellent too along with their QS people. I just want it to move faster but I guess thats normal – probably they’re working on yours too right now…..
I don’t think you’d ever get them to change the agreement in this way! They will never take increased costs on the chin or actually have a “fixed price” – I believe the only fixed price you will ever get is if you buy a house and land package on a standard agreement for sale and purchase and then literally don’t change ANYTHING! I have never known anyone on a build contract to ever pay the price they were first quoted! If anyone has then they have been very very lucky – its not the norm. I have in the past run contracts past lawyers who have tried to amend clauses, only to be told by the builder “no, like it or lump it” – especially in a busy market, they don’t have to please the customer in this way. Its no good for the consumer, but that’s the way it is unfortunately.
Thanks also been my experience with all the builders we have used in the past. They say “we offer a fixed priced contract” and out comes the Master Build agreement with all the clauses under the sun to allow them to increase the price. If im paying for a builders experience and knowledge i expect them to know what things will cost and manage these costs with their suppliers.
Has anyone been successful in getting a builder (using a standard Master Build contract) to include a sunset clause or remove any of the clauses that mean a “fixed price” isnt a fixed price (i.e. increases due to unforeseen ground conditions requiring additional excavations, changes to the plans and specifications required due to obtain Local Authority (Council) consent or increase in the costs of materials and labour following signing of the building contract)? It seems there is very little you can do as a customer to minimise the risk of going over budget when the builder has the ability to shift cost on to you.
Why should the risk of cost increases fall solely on the builder?
For things within the builder’s control, I agree that the builder should wear any costs. For things outside of their control, SOMEONE has to pay, why is it the builder?
If you do get a contract that covers such things, you’ll simply find that they’ve built-in those potential prices into the contract, so you’re guaranteeing that you’ll pay the higher costs regardless; if the higher costs don’t eventuate, then the builder will have gotten extra profit for free and you’ll have spent more money than you needed to.
Your right Lanthanide, and the flip side to that is why should it fall solely on the purchaser? My point is they sell the idea of a fixed price contract when in fact there is no such thing. Also if i am paying for the knowledge and experience then why should the risk of increases due to them not knowing what is required to gain building consent or that materials specified increase be born by me? If i order a new car and they dont have it in the colour i want, i can wait for months to get this, the dealer doesnt charge me more if the price of steel goes up during this time.
The price of steel going up won’t affect the price of the car because:
1. The car is (most likely) made by a large manufacturer, who has economies of scale on their side – they’ll have deals with suppliers for x amount of steel at $price, so the market price on any given day should not impact on the prices of cars made over the next quarterly period.
2. Similarly a lot of things go into making cars, and they would have big margins on the order of 30-50% (I’m guessing). Thus even if the price of some components goes up, they can take the loss of profit on the chin, sell it to you at the agreed price and put the prices up for subsequent customers to make up the price difference.
3. There’s a good chance your car already exists somewhere in the world in a warehouse, and you’re waiting x months to get it shipped to NZ, rather than it being made to order.
Those items do not apply to local builders. If roofing iron goes up in price, are you expecting the builder to take a hit on their profit? They aren’t major multinational companies, and they don’t have supply contracts sorted for years in advance. Do you expect the builder to charge their next customer a higher price? How is that fair to the next customer? Would you like to be paying extra to cover the builder’s previous job?
Now larger companies like Mike Greer Homes DO have economies of scale on their side. And that is how they CAN sell “house and land packages” at specific price points, as others have said in this thread. But generally builders in NZ simply don’t have the capitalisation to do that.
“Also if i am paying for the knowledge and experience then why should the risk of increases due to them not knowing what is required to gain building consent”
Buyer beware. Just like you shouldn’t buy a plaster-clad house built in 1996 without doing due diligence to check if it’s leaky, you should do due diligence to check if your builder is actually experienced.
” or that materials specified increase be born by me?”
It doesn’t matter how much knowledge or experience your builder has, if prices of roofing iron goes up by 40% overnight, what are you supposed to do?
So you’re comparing apples (cars) and oranges (houses) and then having a whinge. Not achieving much.
Are you a builder by chance?
No, I’m someone who is currently having a house built by a reputable builder who is standing by the terms of the contract – they have recently discovered a small mistake that was made in constructing the foundation, and they’ve now come up with an alternative engineering design that they are paying for out of their own pockets – because it was their mistake.
I’m also someone who has a realistic view of how the world works for 1-off construction projects undertaken by small companies, as opposed to mass-produced commodities such as cars.
Well good on your builder. If only the other 99% of kiwi builders were so good. But the reality (something i dont think you are familiar with) of most building experiences (you just have to read the comments on this site) in NZ is that the builders will take every opportunity to use the clauses in a Master Build contract to their advantage and the quality of work and experience is pretty shocking.
If you think the experiences on this blog represent the experiences for “most” house builds, then this industry would be getting pilloried every day by the media.
This is an open forum in a democratic society.
It maybe the problem is more widespread than you have experience with or you have a vested interest in making that comment.
As long as no litigious statements are made and they are honest and truthfull accounts then people have a right to know if a company is reliable or not.
All too often the threat of legal action is used against someone speaking out.
We don’t want to slander people,but if its an honest and truthfull account we can’t be guilty of that.
> This is an open forum in a democratic society.
I’m not sure what the point of that remark is. I’m not proposing communism, or that this forum be made private.
> It maybe the problem is more widespread than you have experience with
Or, it may be that Martin has read this forum, assumed that “most” (ie, over half) of all builds suffer the types of problems described, and that he is over-reacting as a result. The commercial reality is that when costs increase SOMEONE has to pay. The most equitable way of deciding who pays is that if it is things the builder is in control of, they should pay. If it’s out of the control of the builder, then the customer pays. You can try and write a contract that says otherwise, but all you’ll end up doing is baking-in those extra costs and paying them up-front regardless of whether any extra expense is incurred.
Are there gray areas? Yes. Are there too many cases of builds going bad, and builders doing shoddy jobs? Yes. Does this equate to “most” builds in this country? No. Is there a remedy available already? Yes – court.
Fundamentally no-one is forcing you to build a new house. You should do due-diligence on the building company. Ask to see their previous houses and talk to the owners. Any builder that refuses that is a red flag and you should move on. If you don’t want to take the potential risk of cost-overruns or having to take someone to court, then it’s simple – don’t build new, buy instead.
> or you have a vested interest in making that comment.
A vested-interest in dealing with reality as it is, and not making fanciful wishes that the economics that apply to mass-produced cars on an assembly line, would also apply to 1-off construction projects that last months, on sections exposed to the weather, where multitudes of suppliers and contractors need to be organised, that are typically carried out by small companies.
> As long as no litigious statements are made and they are honest and truthfull accounts then people have a right to know if a company is reliable or not.
I agree. I’m not sure why you’re making that statement, are you trying to suggest that I implied that? Any implication is in your own head, not my words.
> All too often the threat of legal action is used against someone speaking out.
Not sure what relevance that has to this discussion.
> We don’t want to slander people,but if its an honest and truthfull account we can’t be guilty of that.
Again, not sure what relevance that has to this discussion.
Around 26% of projects end with a ‘major problem’ between builder and client according to the BRANZ report on builder satisfaction. And the media won’t cover these problems for a number of reasons, mostly because one-off problems don’t make for an issue that affects many people. However, there are enough problems out there that it is a real concern, and while there are very good builders, there are terrible ones, too, and somehow they keep getting work.
So I’m correct, it’s not “most” builds.
And overall 85% of people had to call back their builder to fix issues. This report is also only a survey of 700 people when over 30,000 building consents were issues in the survey period. so 26% of people with a ‘major problem’ between builder and client could be almost 8000 people in NZ, granted its not “most: but is a damn site more significant than “a few”.
Martin, why have you put “a few” in quotes, when no one but you has actually said that?
Do you know the purpose of quotation?
Great catch thanks Lanthanide I appreciate the grammar coaching. If we are giving constructive feedback you might want to learn to spell truthful (its just one l).
Hey Martin, it seems you’re not very good at following conversations / reading comprehension.
1. I wasn’t giving you grammar coaching, I was pointing out that you’re trying to imply that I said “a few”, when in fact I didn’t say that at all. In other words, you’re setting up a straw man argument. That isn’t grammar coaching, it’s pointing out that you’re bad at constructive argument because you rely on misconstruing other people’s words in order to prove yourself ‘right’.
2. I never myself wrote the word “truthfull”. I was quoting Sam, you can tell by the way I started this section with “>” and that the words I quoted were originally in Sam’s response.
I expect this will be deleted by the moderator as being off-topic, but at least you’ll receive this email first. Hopefully you can reflect on my feedback and come better equipped to online discussions in the future.
Thanks again Lanthanide. Im sorry i don’t have the time to engage with you on this further but it’s obvious you are trolling and have a very big ego.
Hi Lanthanide
We are looking to build in East Auckland. We like your “reputable” builder, any chance of recommending us to your builder.
Thanks
My builder does not operate in East Auckland, sorry.
Hi Lanthanide: This blog has become my go to place and as I plan a build with increasing trepidation! your experience seems a ray of hope. Please can you share your builders’ contact? Thanks mate.
My builder doesn’t operate in central Auckland.
Its like your builder is fictitious? No wonder they are so good, it doesn’t sound like that actually do any building work.
So you’re accusing me of lying, then.
My house build is going quite a bit slower than I would have liked (3 months overdue currently), and communication with the builder hasn’t been as good as it should have been. I never claimed they were god’s gift to builders, I just gave my particular example of a builder who is living by the clauses of the building contract we signed, by paying for the costs incurred with correcting their (or their subcontractor’s) earlier bad work.
I don’t believe i accused you of anything? Your cryptic responses to people when they ask about your builder and the fact you have never actually named this “reputable builder” just made me wonder if they were a figment of your imagination? That’s all.
My comments have been related to my experiences building 4 houses over the past 10 years. Overall my experience of building have been negative, cost over runs, delays, poor workmanship, lack of communication and contracts weighted in the favor of the builder not the customer.
There have been some good sides. Some sub contractors have been great to work with, focused on delivering the highest quality of work, but these are few and far between.
Can everyone please keep replies civil?
we built with frame homes. They operate east and south auckland. Not a franchise builder, but decent quality and reasonable time for construction.
In answer to your question is probably not,read the agreement very carefully,several times.
You will find it is heavily weighted towards the builder and you probably find you have no rights at all.
What value does the masterbuild contract give to you?Very little,the claimable amounts are very
small in todays price market,the biggest problem is you have to adhere to the contract dispute
procedure,does the Master builder contract mean they are “master builders”that would depend on who they contract to do the work.
Run it past a solicitor ,I know what he would say?Don’t sign it!
But we do because we want to build a house and our emotion overcomes common sense.
Demand is so high for builders you don’t have the choice to dictate terms they seem to work on the take it or leave it scenario.
Good luck.
Hi Mark – Gppd site this with people active and with helpful responses. You, Sam and others mention escrow. Do builders agree to an escrow account arrangement? And do they agree to withholding some of final payment until defects are fixed? In the new amendment to the Act what level of insurance are builders supposed to have?
Thanks
Hi Sanjay Escrow is a great idea as it protects you and gives you some leverage if the job isn’t being done to your satisfaction,it would appear that many builders trade insolvently and rely on future payments to pay past debts and fund their show homes etc so they are unlikely to think escrow was a good idea.
I don’t think its legal to with hold payments in case of defects,the Building Amendment act gives you a 12 month defect repair time and a 10 year warranty,enforcing this can be a problem.
The builder is responsible for the contract price of the house and for the site itself,even to the point that you have to get their approval before you can enter the site(osh etc)It doesn’t become your property until fully paid for.
The Building guide is a wealth of information.
Good luck.
Hi Sanjay
Can’t say there’s a hard and fast rule. I do hope builders would be open to it as it means their payments are safely locked away for them until they hit the milestone that would trigger payment. I’ll have to come back to you on the level of insurance – are you talking indemnity or Construction Works?
PS – that’s for the kind words. 🙂
Hi Mark: I was exploring escrow for the whole build project. Will it work to have an escrow with BuildSafe and a HomeFirst guarantee? BuildSafe also has an insurance scheme with Stamford they call BuildSure. Apart from comparing the two insurance scheme offers (HomeFirst gets alternate builders to finish unfinished insured work), do you think a combination is a good idea?
Wd value any advice on this, Mark – or anyone’s experience with these escrow and insurance purchase please.
Many thanks
Hi Sanjay
I haven’t had specific experience with them but I’m sure it would. I’m meeting with BuildSafe next week and can ask them if you like.
Hi Mark: I missed replying – sorry. Did you ask BuildSafe anyway?
Sanjay
Hey there – just thought I’d add my two cents worth – totally agree with what Sam says about contracts biased in builders’ favour. Two suggestions I would have though is try an Architectural Designer to do your plans rather than an Architect as they are far cheaper! Also if you use New Build for finance (and one of their associated builders – although please don’t touch Golden Homes or Platinum) then they actually do keep your money in escrow and they have a far different payment plan than the usual stage payments. They go out and inspect the work every time and only pay if it has actually been done. Great if the builder goes tits up as well! They also build mortgage interest for about a year into your loan so you are not paying mortgage (unless you want to) for the new property until you move in – I found this great as was renting while build was happening. Anyway good luck with the build!
Just checked New Build. How much responsibility do they take? Some of their preferred builders seem to feature quite prominently and negatively on the site which for me is a concern.
Hey Colin – sorry I only just saw this. New Build take quite a lot of responsibility. They make the builders change the contracts so that instead of the usual 5/6 progress payments in standard building contracts there are about 27 payments instead. This is because at each stage of the build they go out and inspect the work and it has to have actually been done before they will make that payment. That way if a builder goes tits up you have only paid for work which has actually been done already. I have used them twice and been very pleased both times.
Hi Sarah, can you please provide me with more info why i should not trust Platinum. I have just asked then to provide me with an estimate new house build using my concept designs. Please advise me!
Hey Neville, I used Platinum to build a property and at the time they were OK (not great, not terrible but OK). One thing they did to me at the time was to make us pay for variations up front rather than at the end which is standard – was as if they didn’t trust that we had the money! Very offensive. The actual build was pretty good but the reason I mention them in the comment above is that I understand from all the other comments on here that they have since changed hands and that they are now very bad – I would have a look through here at all the other Platinum comments which seem to be about the company as it now stands rather than when I built with them. Which region are you in? I have seen on this site that the Canterbury and Wellington franchises are bad but I am not sure on other ones. If you are in the Canterbury Region let me know and I can recommend a couple of builders 🙂
Hi Sarah. Thank you for the information. I live in Auckland i have made contact with Platinium Homes, South Auckland Branch. This is my first new build…very nervous, anxious and excited. I have a limited budget and i cannot afford to be ripped off. I have had 2 quotes to date, Landmark and Genian Homes….very expensive. Really need someone that is reliable, but not overpriced. Thank you Neville
Hi Neville, What you wrote makes me nervous for you. I’m not saying Platinum are always a bad bet, as some parts of the franchise may be better than others. But if you check through this blog they have certainly had a lot of negative comments. Don’t just hope for the best.
On a more general point, I have worked on (and supervised) a lot of large construction contracts here and overseas. And I can tell you that the building industry has many uncertainties. Even on major government contracts, which have massive, very detailed, contracts, and gangs of professional staff supervising them, it is normal to allow for at least 10% ‘contingencies’. Meaning an amount on top of the contract price, for the unexpected.
So in my view anyone who enters into the often poorly written and poorly supervised house building contracts so typical in NZ, without access to at least that amount above whatever the builder tells them it will cost, is just asking for trouble at the end.
Unless you have a very tightly written ‘fixed price’ contract (and in fact most builders sneak in some inflation clauses somewhere), never alter a single thing during the build, and have a builder who can actually stick to a programme etc etc there will be extra costs.
Hi Chris. Thank you for your comments. The whole process is very stressful. Do you know of any reliable, honest building companies in South Auckland? Cheers
Hi Neville, Can’t really help you with any personal recommendation on builders on S Auckland. But I’ve noticed that Maddren (I think based in Kumeu) seem to have a lot of positive comments, and no negative ones.
But maybe all written by their friends and relatives!!
Good luck.
Hi Chris. Did get in contact with Maddren Homes. They do not build in South Auckland.
Hi Neville
Just a note – you say “…someone who is reliable, but not overpriced.” If Jennian and Landmark come in at a price that you think is expensive, and there’s one that is much cheaper, logic would indicate that the cheaper one is the outlier. Bear in mind, building is not a cheap exercise, and if it is, then there is often something missed in the quote, or they’re doing something wrong, or using products that may not be up to spec. I’m not saying this is the case here, but be wary.
And above all, remember, in building you usually get what you pay for. Is ‘cheap’ what you want?
Hi Mark. I just think that a quote for $3900 per/sq meter is a bit too much for a standard spec build.
I hear you, but it all depends on the spec and if both Jennian and Landmark are in the same price vicinity, but Platinum are way lower, it still suggests Platinum may not have priced properly. Too many people go for the cheaper price, then get bitten later when variations come in, or it’s realised that things were left off the quote. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but I am suggesting you be careful and maybe even get an independent QS to check the quotes.
I also build with Platinum Home Wellington (Mass Construction) and it wasn’t a nice experience. Bad communication, not delivered with in considerable amount of time period, etc.
Hi,
Has anyone here have recently built with GJ in Takanini to whom i can talk to about any issues and what we need to be aware of? Any information is much appreciated. We are at the early stages and would really appreciate it. Thanks
I am happy to commit fixed price contracts for a single build if you have consent.Also final payment on council signoff,and a detailed program but sundown clauses come at a cost.
Regards Tony 0274758445.
We recently finished building our house in Riverhead. Our builder was Golden Construction and I would not hesitate to use them again or recommend them to friends and fmily. However, I am not sure f they would build in Central Auckland as most of their sites are in Rodney. Out of curiosity, where are you building?
Our contract did not have a sunset clause or a penalty clause. Though a builder would give a “tenative completion date”, I don’t think they would commit to a date on contract as there are so many variables such as weather, etc. But we had the last 5% payable on receiving CCC, which we did just last week. This should be standard I think.
Good luck in your hunt for a good builder, which I think is the key to a good, stress free build. Let me know if you want my builders contact and you can ask them if they can help.
I need advice on the contracts that builders will sign please – from those who have had the experience of a recent build in central Auckland. Am frustrated that no builder has the time to commit to our project – and some who might wish to do three houses not one. We are still looking but want to know if builders, so hard to find, will actually sign a sundown clause, a penalty clause. Also, will any of them agree to have the final 5% or 10% paid after all Council approvals? Grateful for any advice.
I think you are in for a bit of a reality check.
Unfortunately with the huge amount of work around I would think it unlikely any builder would agree
to terms that you suggested,as they simply don’t need to.Take a look at the Masterbuilders contract,even with a finish date there is 15 clauses of how they don’t have to keep to the finish date with everything from weather to someone stubbing their toe.
And what are your rights?Basically nothing you can do as the agreement is 100% biased to the builders favour,if you do question something you are refered to their mediators,bit like the police investigating themselves.
The use of p sums seems to be widespread and where they make considerable margins from it,stay away from them,
Integrity and honesty do not seem to form any part of the contract these days and the major players in the industry are well versed in contractual matters.
Most usually command 10% deposit and as many houses are in the $1,000,000 range that’s $100,000 deposit that they can sit on and use free of charge,not uncommon to take 12 months
to start building the actual house,so if you have 10-20 houses there’s $2,000,000 gratis.
Then you will find they will require you to pay as you go leaving the $100,000 in advance making it impossible for you to cancel the contract as the loss would be too much.
Ideally we should put the funds in an escrow account whereby they get paid in instalments and to your satisfaction that the workmanship is up to standard,I would guess most would not be in business if this was the case.This is the biggest investment of your life it deserves carefull thought
and consideration.
Most group builders are nothing more than facilitators with their own flashy sales and design team to get you hooked in,then show you their beautifully finished show home that you may or may not get.Then they contract the work out to anyone that can hold a hammer.
Alls not lost as there is now a 10 year builders guarantee as long as the builder is still around,sadly most fail at around six years.
Go to an architect and get him to design and recommend a contractor,preferably one that is a bit older as they have a healthier work ethic and more extensive building knowledge.
Check out the building act 2004 and the Building amendment act 2013 for some guidance if you run into problems.
Hope I haven’t put you off and good luck.
Many thanks, Sam. That was really helpful in terms of the law. Went thru some of it. Looks like the provisions leave a lot of wriggle room for contractor – and, as you say, they don’t have to sign stuff that are not illegal. I am now quite diffident really.
It seems all the big firms Landmark Signature GJ have given grief to people reporting here. Like you, others have also advised me to go for a builder one knows – and who is experienced. That may be the best option when available. Not having such people in my network I am still looking.
Anyone with experience with good/trustworthy (oops) builders in Auckland city, maybe smaller firms, or architects that have such contacts please share. Many thanks.
Sanjay, try Maddren Homes. We found them both good and trustworthy. Certainly wouldn’t reccommend GJ ever under any circumstance.
Hi Richard
Does Maddren have a central Auckland franchise? Is that good? Did you build in Cockle Bay with them or was that another Richard on this blog? I saw a beautiful house on the North Shore that Maddren built with a lot of extras – the owner’s pride really – but was told they were expensive so did not contact Maddren. How did you find the prices with Maddren? Did you also find out about DW – how are they and do they do central Auckland?
Many thanks
Hi Sanjay
Maddren Homes aren’t a franchise and yes they are building in Auckland central. Different Richard. I personally don’t think they are expensive, you get what you pay for and with them you get things done right.
Thanks Richard. Makes sense. The North Shore one was extraordinary with lots of smarts too – and close to 5k per sq m. So I am keen to see anyone else who built with them. Did you? or did you go with DW who also look good with their designs and I plan to visit. If ok, would like to hv a bit more detailed chat if you hv experience with either.
Thanks
Hi Sanjay
I’m a home consultant for DW Homes and will be happy to talk to you about your build and also any queries you have regarding building contracts etc. My phone number is 021 515006
Thanks, Nicole
Thanks, Nicole. Am travelling, will get in touch.
Hi Richard,
Is there any particular reason you don’t reccommend GJ, especailly after the TV ads and the good reputation they seem to have?
Yes, it means they are in trust so that no one can touch them if they go under or get sued etc
Most business people do this.
Hi, I have also found the master builder contract heavily favoured in the builders side. You can use FairWay mediation services for free but both have to agree to use them.
I wondered what takes precedence the law or the contract,I couldn’t find I had any rights at all unless the builder “willfully disregarded the code,which would be hard to prove.
Whats there to mediate really ,you have to stick to the code and consent or fix it I would have thought.
What happens when the builder goes over the specified finish date by 4 months and doesn’t notify you?
Contract takes precedence then legislation.
Hi CHCH, I would suggest it’s not always that simple. Generally I believe that under ‘consumer’ law, which is what we are talking about here, there may be certain rights which cannot be contracted away. Also, if this contract was signed after Jan 2015 I suggest you look at the amendments to the Building Regs, which made some aspects of building contracts mandatory, or ‘deemed to be included’ for all contracts over $30K, irrespective of whether they are actually stated in the contract.
Of course you cant contract out of legislation, thought that was a given.
Hi CHCH, Please read your reply of 27/3 to Sam, which said the exact opposite of what you are now suggesting is ‘obvious’.
I really don’t want to prolong this, as unfortunately there are a lot of people asking questions, and responding to them, who seem to know so little about how building contracts work that they should probably not be entering into such contracts, or trying to oversee them, without expert legal/technical advice.
I spent most of my career overseas involved in writing and administering civil engineering contracts, and more recently employed a builder to build a house here. And I can tell you that the building industry in NZ is a nightmare, even for someone who knows something about building contracts.
Of course you need to start with a reasonable contract. So it helps if you know what that should contain. But frankly once you reach the stage that either party has to actually resort to the contract terms for satisfaction, it has already gone so wrong that it will not end well.
Your only hope is to find a builder who does a reasonable job, and charges reasonable prices, just because that’s the kind of guy he is. And then you have to be a reasonable client, who does not expect miracles.
Good luck with that!
We didn’t build with Whitehouse as they were too expensive. Not at all keen on Mr Whitehouse himself and a couple I know who did build with them (who are actually architects themselves) had to keep such a close eye on them and were not at all happy with the build process. It was only because they knew what they were talking about that it didn’t end up costing them lots of extra money. If I were you I would look elsewhere – I could recommend Peter Ray Homes as a group builder, but if you are after a smaller building outfit then I would also recommend Paul McStay Homes – have personal experience of Peter Ray who were awesome and a few friends built with Paul McStay and were very happy – a very honest person. Good luck with your build.
Can anyone advise me if you have a masterbuild contract if you are obligated to go by their
mediation process with regards to work not done to the plans or are you able to invoke the “Implied Warranties”directly to the contractor.
As I see it the Masterbuild contract actually limits your rights but gives the contractor every right to have a go at you,it would appear to be a “Unfair contract”.Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi, I read this comment and just felt like I should leave a note. I am a retired resource consent officer from a regional environment dept. After the earthquakes my house was essentially a rebuild and a very stressful period in my life. I dealt with several builders while waiting for an insurance payout. In the end, I went with Whitehouse builders because of the high quality I saw in the showhome. The price was not the cheapest of the quotes I got but Robert is a perfectionist and so I had confidence that the final product would be as promised.
My home was built on time and on budget. The team that managed the build were professional and the quality of workmanship excellent. I would definitely refer Whitehouse Builders, Christchurch to anyone building a new home. I have since referred Whitehouse to two people I know and they have had similar experiences. Just thought my experiences being my own and not third party might be useful. Hans T.
Anyone has experience of dealing with Whitehouse builders – Christchurch. We are looking at them for building our new house
A lot of the known names are here. I am wondering if anyone can share experience with smaller builders (not repairs people) or builders who are not discussed here yet please? The well known names are quick to jack up their prices and seem difficult to deal with. Thanks.
Hi
Are you building in Christchurch
Hi
Are you still looking for an honest builder in
Christchurch with outstanding testimonials
I wondered if you do link outreach for your personal blog?
Some friends say to avoid that anymore
p.s Stay away from the Warrior Forums lol
What do you think about reporting to fair go to make people know about them ? I tried lodging a negative comment on nocowboys against Craig Paterson but was disallowed because I was not dealing with buildplus but B7 Construction Ltd which Craig is also the proprietor.
Thanks Kelly. I look forward to your call.
Jasbir, I will call you after 5.30pm tonight. gives me time to prepare some next step processes “do’s” and dont’s” etc to help safe guard you via the building act through these nexts steps. Cheers
Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your response. My email address is sidhulaw@yahoo.com and my mobile number is 0210459116. I am desperately looking for some guidance. I was thinking of making a police report as well for cheating.
Thanks
Yesterday I lodged a complaint against NZCB for misrepresentation misleading in their adverts that clearly states that there is protection against loss of deposit period and without any provisos. However when I asked them about it they gave excuses.
Hi Jasbir,,, Ive been through exactly what your going through and can help you with some next step advice in dealing with CB, Arbitration is not the next step, Jason is clearly playing the same games.If you like give me your email address or contact number and I will call you. Its important when dealing with major cases like this that you have an understanding of the process around disputes. No surprises to see that CB have not assisted here. Cheers
Hi all
I was having a chat with someone today who was having a problem with their builder and we got cut off. Please feel free to call me back – 09 360 8885×2.
cheers
Mark G
Is there an easy way to sort through all these comments? We are looking for feedback on builders in the Manawatu- Wanganui area but there are so may posts.
Great idea though!
Hi Helga, I am also new to this site. Press Ctrl and F and type in Manawatu, there will be 9 finds as shown on the right side of computer screen.Click on arrow keys.
Hi, we’re looking at building a house in Palmerston North/Manawatu and have narrowed down our choices to GJ Gardner, Japac and Baillee Construction Ltd. We already have a section (a good one) and just looking for a builder. We are totally new to this whole house building thing and don’t really have any experience. This does not mean we have done a great deal of research but have just gone to what other people have said/recommended. We found Fowlers too expensive and have not gone through the likes of Landmark or Jennian as they be just as expensive. It’s just rather confusing for us at the moment to know how to go about building as some have said go to the likes of GJ and some have said get a plan drawn then get a quote from builders.
Really look forward to learning from everyone else’s experience especially for those around the same area.
Built in 09 in tokomaru with Brent o,neill
We are currently building for the second time in Ashhurst, this time ith Fowler Homes. We sought out many companies and the final two we decided between were Fowler Homes and GJ Gardiners. GJs was great and ive heard good things about them but Fowlers gave us exactly what we wanted which is how we made our choice. Japac to me has way too much going on and Baillie’s… well, let’s just say we built with him the first time and not the second.
Hi LM what didn’t you like about Baillee Construction?
Hi Rudi, have you chosen who to go with? How is it going so far?
Hi,
Quick question. If you have a registered master builders contract which does not give any values for Prime cost sums or provisional sums. ie kitchen cost $xx. Could you argue this is a fixed price contract and if the owner hasn’t requested any changes to taps, bench tops etc ie the builder just used what he initially was going to use,then this cost can not be increased to the owner? As the owner wouldn’t have know how much was allowed for the kitchen in the first place? Just seems an easy option for builder to argue increase in costs to build.
Hi Charles
I consulted for you! Here’s their response:
Nobody, when signing a contract should allow sums that do not have a monetary value (i.e. Kitchen Cost $xx) to be included in a contract UNLESS the client is vary aware of this approach and had the full ramifications of such an item explained to them – i.e. Kitchen have a cost and somewhere along the line the client will have to pay for what ever is decided.Unfortunately if that is the bases of a contract then you are stuck with it but it tends to be an open chequebook for the Builder.
Sometimes when generic contract forms are used, mistakes occur when some items that should be deleted remain in the contract. It’s not clear from your brief question if there’s any other details in the specification and on the drawing which could form the bases of establishing a cost for the kitchen, or if there had been any discussions between client and builder about the kitchen with evidence, such as an email, of what was agreed.
Under a dispute it may be ruled that such additional evidence over-rides or negates the specification sum of no value which could be seen as a document error.
Unfortunately some builders put unrealistically low “sums” in for items like Kitchens that result in quite horrific legally claimable price increases for the actual final installation.
It is also an area where clients should understand the consequences of PC and Provisional sums and be alert to their nominated value. This is especially important when comparing overall prices from two or more builders when there can be significant variances in such sums nominated by the different Builders.
Best Practise is for the Architect/Designer to nominate a realistic sum in the specification that is common to all builders.
Cheers
Mark G
Hello,
Has anyone dealt with Matrix Homes? My understanding is they build in a large Upper Hutt based-factory to good specifications then truck to site?
I am considering placing a small sleep out in the front of my section and having had dreadful experiences with traditional building, was wondering if these guys can help?
All thoughts appreciated,
Cheers
Evan
Thanks Maddrens
Well we did it! Building a home is not something to take on lightly and we did our homework and looked at numerous showhomes, magazines and spoke to a lot of trades people. Now there is a saying that “you only get what you pay for”. I believe this to be the case with Maddrens. Yes there are companies out there that promise they can do it cheaper and there is a reason for that “Quality”. The quality of our finished home is exceptional every little detail is perfect and anything we needed to change along the way was never an issue. They bent over backwards to make the process as stress free as possible and I can honestly say I enjoyed the whole experience.
There wasn’t a moment in time when I didn’t know what was happening we were well informed about every step. I have never seen such a team of people who are as house proud as the new owners. Not only did they come up with ideas to make things better along the way but they did it off their own backs and came to us with their suggestions even if it took hours of their time to find solutions.
I would like to thank the whole team at Maddrens and especially big thanks to our building supervisor Sean and also to Rodger and Hannah on an amazing experience that I will remember for as long as I live. Hopefully our home will go on to give other families great pleasure years down the track.
What they have created for us is a masterpiece our vision has now become a reality and my husband and I can’t thank them enough. But the best thing of all is I feel like they treat their clients like family. If I ever build again there is only one company that I would use and that’s Maddrens. Thanks again so much, Maria and Richard
bad experiance signature homes new plymouth
we stipulated we wanted to use an experienced concrete layer to place slab for polished salt and pepper finish.signature guaranteed there placer and come time to polish we have uneven floor to polish resulting in having to do full grind to salvage floor,now have uneven finish with vibration trails and foot marks.signature are trying to cover up saying we signed variation for full grind.
we also find there insurance company ril is part of signature homes so we see them as acting for signature not for the consumer.
garage floor was and still is dirty from contractors,signature do not want to remedy clean floor stains.
contract stated pink batt insulation all internal walls excluding garage, we assumed all walls would be insulated lucky we caught this on time.however signature made us pay extra for insulation.over all build was very poorly project managed and quality control was minimal with,no attention to detail.
guarantees not backed up.bullying stand over tactics used to minimise and not take responsibility for remedial work.
Hi there, anyone would have any suggestion for a building company re:new built in Raglan ? Any feedback / recommendation re:Sentinel Homes – K Built (seen a lot of their builts in Raglan) – Signature Homes ? Many thanks for your assistance and help. cheers, Fred
Thanks Alex. We looked at golden homes but weren’t a fan of the steel framing as it would make any alterations very difficult in future. We are going with Peter Ray and have so far found the process very smooth.
Hey Alex – just watch out with Golden Homes with any variations – make sure they show you ALL and ANY changes to price and get you to sign. If I were you I would get email confirmation from salesperson/manager that they will do this. I had a very bad experience with them where they whacked an extra $16K on the final bill for extra works that they hadn’t told me about or got authorised. That said – finished product is good – they have good tradies. Good luck with your build.
Hi
I am looking at using zb builders in Tauranga has anybody got any feed back on this company.
Kevin
Hey Steve – sorry to hear you are having this trouble – I know exactly where you are coming from as had the same trouble myself once. However just to put my two cents worth in, you have to be clear what is a variation – these are just where you actually change something or if something HAS to change in the build which adds extra cost then yes you do have to sign off, but any changes in costs of materials or labour aren’t variations and don’t have to be signed off and usually the RMB contract allows them to charge extra for that. If it was indeed variations that they didn’t get you to sign/agree then yes you can argue that. Good luck. 🙂
Heads up on a builder purporting to be a Licensed Building Practitioner. Blair Cole of Akoranga Constrcution, Albany, has just been convicted http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11792571.
Always check your LBP is registered: http://lbp.ewr.govt.nz/publicregister/search.aspx
Hi Mark
The LBP site says some practices/persons who are not on the LBP register may be on the other public registers such as NZ Architects, IPENZ, Plumbers/Gas fitters, etc. If an engineer builder is registered, say, on IPENZ and not coming up on the LBP site you mention, is that ok? Many thanks
Further to this if you are holding back money you need to understand the building act. You may need to prepare a payment schedule when there is a dispute this is to help protect yourself your lawyer can advise here.
A payment schedule is a response to a payment claim by the Respondent.
It must be (as per the Act):
Be in writing
Be addressed to the Claimant.
Identify the payment claim to which it relates
State the scheduled amount that the Respondent proposes to pay (even if that amount is $NIL)
Provide detailed reasons for withholding payment if the amount proposed to be paid is less than the claimed amount.
The payment schedule should be served:
Within the time required by the relevant construction contract or
Within 10 business days after the payment claim is served
Whichever time expires earlier
Please note, that the due date for the payment and the due date for the payment schedule may not be the same, depending on what is specified within the relevant construction contract.
Hi, I was hoping if someone could tell me how section 16 of the registered master builder contract works. The cost fluctuations part. Can a builder use this clause for justification of project blow out? For example, if the builder had been quoted 9k to get the electrical work done but was charged 11k. Does that mean the Ower is liable for the extra 2k? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Steve, Can you clarify which Edition and Clause of the RMB Contract you’re referring to. Because in the 2015 Ed (which I think is the latest) Cost Fluctuations is Clause 64. What do you mean by Section 16?
Hi chris, it’s on page 10 bullet point 16 on the rbc1 2016 additions and alterations. It’s also on bullet point 5 page 10 of the rbc1 2016 new build contract. Our build was over a 3 month period and builder trying to use this clause to justify 20k increase in price.
Hi Steve, Sorry to pursue this, but the latest version of the Registered Master Builder’s contract I can find is 2015. And if the one you’re referring to is RMB then your 2016 version must be very different to the 2015 version.
But anyway, based on the Cost Fluctuations clause (Clause 64) of the 2015 version my personal view on whether an increase of $2K on an original figure of $9K for electrical work could depend on a several things:
-Was the $9K an actual quote based on a detailed scheme layout, or just a provisional sum, with the intention that the scheme details be decided later?
-If the latter, did you ask for things that pushed the price up?
-If the former, how far in advance of actually doing the work were the scheme and quote prepared? Although the construction only took 3 months, maybe the quote was a lot earlier. I think most of these quotes are only valid for about 30 days.
-These days I think $9K would only get a very basic electrical system for a fairly small house. So if you finally got something satisfactory for $11K maybe that’s not too bad.
Thanks for the reply. If it matters the construction started the day we signed the contract. The builder should have put a contingency in place for slight increases in his prices?
He did not provide any provisional or prime sum costs even though we kept asking and asking. I know we shouldn’t have used him. We didn’t add anything extra to the electrical work.
The whole project has gone over by about 30k with a couple of variations which we didn’t know about or agree to some of them. Do all variations have to be signed that yes we would like to proceed?
Has anyone had any experience using Point to Point Holdings or Maddison Homes?
Hi – has anyone had any experience of Genius Homes based out of Washdyke, Timaru. I’m in the process of getting a quote from them
Hi, we are looking for a turnkey option home in Christchurch using Peter Ray homes. How have others found that company? Is it reliable and deliver to standard? What other companies would be recommended for fixed price turnkey in the marshlands area?
I would try Jennian Homes North. They are great to deal with and good honest builders
Hi Rebecca
My partner and I are building with golden homes in chch. They offer 0% deposit pay on completion for land and house which is what we went with. Building consent was issued 2weeks ago and they were on site literally the next day They have just completed the framing- our house is going up way quicker than any other on the st.
We did tons of research and the only other comparable company was mike geer they were around 70k more for similar houses and basically told us politely we couldn’t afford it (being a young couple).
When we looked at the packages advertised there was not a lot we liked but we made an appointment any way and they found us a section and suggested plans that would work. After meeting us at 8pm 3 times for 2 hrs each time we decided to go with them.
We dealt with Ethan smith at golden homes and found him really good/patient.
Alex
Hi all,
I am looking at removing my current house (Cockle Bay) to design and build a new double story house. Our section is narrow and on a small slope so it restricts what plans we can use.
Does anyone have any recent good or bad experience with Jalcon Homes or GJ Gardner in East Auckland? Or can anyone kindly recommend an established company they have used?
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks
Richard
Hi Richard
I’m a Sales Consultant for DW Homes Ltd. We have a standard range of double storey plans available (with base prices) on our website, http://www.dwhomes.co.nz/our-plans/two-storey/ and can also offer a custom design service. Would be happy to talk to you about your project – 021 515006
Kind regards,
Nicole
#
Hi Richard,
I am a local builder, LBP in carpentry and site 1,have capacity and keen to talk
It sounds like you need a specific design, I have undertaken numerous design builds in my past ,happy to show you what can be achieved..
Regards Tony
0274758445
Hi Richard
We may be removing an existing house also and would like to discuss its feasibility. Could you recommend anyone you found good to go with on this? We could do new build alongside as well as from where the house is removed.
Many thanks
Hi Chris
Thank you for your answers. We are rebuilding with a TC3 Ribraft foundation consisting of a bottom slab and a jack slab on the top. Our original build was only 3 months old at the time of the 2010 earthquake and after the 2011 earthquake became up to 100mm out of level. We fought for 4 years to become a rebuild which we have organised ourselves with a building company. This is our reason for checking for what is considered normal for new construction and we also intend to put a zip level through the house when the rebuild is a little further on (windows and doors have just gone in at present).
We went for TC3 ribraft so we would be able to relevel the foundation if necessary if there was a problem with further earthquakes.
Hi Janis, Thanks for the reply, but a pity you didn’t explain any of this in your original post.
Clearly in your case it’s not just a matter of discovering that your builder has constructed a house which is ‘out of level’, and wanting to know to what extent that is acceptable.
If by ‘out of level’ someone meant that the whole house had been constructed to a different level to that shown on the Council approved plans by 100mm then that might create slight problems with height to boundary or drainage issues etc, but quite possibly not make the house structurally unsound or unusable.
On the other hand if you mean a floor slab that is out of level by 100mm from one side to the other then I guess that not only would it be quite noticeable, but clearly would mean all sorts of tolerances on slab finish and framing etc would be exceeded.
Also a house being ‘out of level’ due to a builders incompetence is a whole different ball game to a house being out of level due to an earthquake. By which I mean in the first case it’s a question of whether you can ask the builder to remedy defects at his own expense, and in the second case it may be just looking at whether the resulting house is structurally sound and habitable.
But from your reply I suspect you already know most of this, so I’m not exactly clear why you asked the original question.
hi there,
currently building with Ideal Homes in Auckland.Has anyone built with this company? And have you had communication issues with them?
Also, if you get a quote for x amount and it ends up more, should they notify you? I got a quote for an amount which was more than the site builder or forman said it would be? New to building and this is only a minor dwelling. But finding communication hard and strained at times, and prices have not been accurate.
Thanks
Hi Nathan, Are you still having communication issues with your new Ideal building ? If you are or just want to get in touch, please feel free to email me Alex Styles Brand Manager Ideal Buildings
We are going to look at the show homes of Compass Homes and Maddren Homes this weekend (in North Auckland). Does anyone have any experience with these companies? Are they good or bad?
Thanks
Hi Yasmeen
Yes we can recommend Maddren. They are true to their word and great people to work with.
Hi Yasmeen
I will be in our Millwater Show home on Sunday 11-4 if you would like to come and have a chat about what you are wanting, i can help with concepts for your site and provide a reliable estimate.
I can also provide you with a list of clients for you to call if you want further confidence
Kind Regards
Kate Lawrence
kate@maddrenhomes.co.nz
0273091556
My wife and I built with Maddren last year, moved in on the 22nd December.
I cannot speak too highly of them, we were dealing with some extremely brutal health issues and Maddren made the whole process work for us and it was actually a nice distraction to what we were dealing with otherwise.
Our build was in Warkworth
Hi, We are looking for a good builder to build our brand new house in North Shore Auckland. We have visited many show homes and talked to their salesmen, but we are not fully satisfied with ony of them yet.
All the major companies like Signature, Landmark are very expensive. We have now narrowed it down to two companies – Key2 and one of the Chinese builders (they have been building houses from last 10 years and we liked the house they recently built), but we are still not 100% convinced with any of these.
We want someone who can finish our house within the set budget and price, and with good qulaity. We don’t want any in-between surprises. Can someone please recommend us a good builder/company from their experience?
Many thanks
Hi Yasmeen,
I am a Licensed builder with 35 years NZ experience and have availability in the new year.
I have a recled to to but it has been held up in the consent process.
Happy to supply fixed quote and provide references.
tonysonghurst1@gmail.com
Hi Yasmeen,
We are building our house with Golden Construct in Millwater and we’re happy with the progress. Golden Construct is one of the Key2’s builder. Our Building consent was approved mid December and now is in foundation stage. Happy to discuss if you want to know more.
Keep away from Key2 as you will be ripped off with delay after delay.
Does anyone have any experience with a builder named Point To Point Construction (CEO Steve Foley) who are based in Whangaparoa?
Hi Chris – just wondering if you found anything out about this Company?
I am looking at using them for a project but just wanted to find out anything about them good or bad also.
Hi Jackie, You’re the only person who has responded to my post. I was asking because, at the time, the liquidators were proposing to sell them the company I was building with, which had just gone into liquidation. Apparently that sale failed, so I was no longer interested in them.
But I spoke to them, and they seemed reasonable guys, who said all the right things. But then all builders do during initial meetings, or none of them would get any jobs. I got the impression a lot of their work came from picking up jobs from other companies who had gone under (like in my case), but maybe nothing wrong with that.
Feedback from others who’d done more investigation indicated some possible issues (you could try Googling names). But that was just hearsay, and most builders have some unhappy clients. I suspect sometimes the ones who don’t really understand how building contracts work. Sorry I can’t help more.
Hi Jackie,
Are you still looking for a team of builders. If so email ManlyConstruction@gmail.com. We are a local company on the Hibiscus Coast who specialise in residential work 🙂
Hi Jackie, I’ve recently heard that Point To Point Construction have gone into liquidation. This residential building game in NZ is a nightmare. If the Government wants more people to build it’s time they stepped in with more regulation to safeguard Owners.
The only thing I can say is that the builder that built our home was a well respected local Beachlands boy , he has to date now built two homes for Landmark out here the first one being ours so not the same guy that was used on your job. Maybe here lies the difference in customer satisfaction. I was not part of a propaganda campain , we were very pleased with what we got and still are, can’t say the same for the landscape guy but he was not throu landmark , hired by me , most useless twat ever had the mispleasure of dealing with. Was your home the one built down on first ave ? Atlanta plan ?.
Cheers
Russell
Matt must have turned over a new leaf as this was not the case when he was the GM at GJ Rodney Orewa. We have been battling with them for 3 years since our house was constructed in 2013. Good luck.
I’m also willing to share my build experience with anybody thinking of using GJ Rodney East. We have just finished a build with them and when I say finished they have our money we have the keys not that it’s actually finished yet. Email me smgodfrey@gmail.com if anyone wants to discuss further. The good the bad and the ugly!
Hi, I’m a pensioner and recently got a guy to build me a raised garden to make it easier on my back. This contact was made through Goodnest agency. Well this job has turned into a real lemon, I was told the timber was H4 but there is no markings on the ends, the capping around the top is only SG8.
He charged me over 2k which I’m refusing to pay, so he reduced the labour by $300 but I’m still refusing to pay due to the timber not being treated, what do you guys think my next move should be.The business is called ‘Betta Properties’
Hi Graham
Goodnest look like they take a commission, so you could go back to them in the first instance. You should also get a second price to ensure what you’ve been charged is fair.
At the end of the day, you have received a raised garden and even though the materials are not to the standard you expected (was there any discussion up front about this?), you have got something which has a value. I would suggest a fair compromise would be to pay the cost of the materials – ask to see receipts, and pay the tradie for his time.
Thanks Mark, I have been in touch with Goodnest yesterday, they seem to want to get this sorted. My main concern now is that I stipulated that the structure had to be tanilised timber, he has stated in writing it is H4 yet the end grain where it has not been trimmed has no markings stating the grade of treatment. The offcuts that were left behind had a very strong smell of pine where if it had been treated this would not be as strong and there would be a different colour to he timber. Not sure if one can put any pics on this site, but I do have a couple to show if that is possible.
Hi Graham
I’m not sure you can tell H4 by how it smells! Good to know Goodnest coming to the party.
Goodnest has now removed this cowboy from their listings and gave me as a goodwill gesture $100 NZ as a non expiry credit. I have not heard anymore from the builder and I hope I don’t. He was invited in writing to come and remove this mess from my property, but it seems he has chosen to ignore me.
Try ZB Homes- great company in the Waikato
I wouldn’t be so quick to write GJ off. Matt Lelean and his team were fabulous. Sure every project has it’s moments but we were able to sort these easily. We really appreciated the after sales support . 8 months down a couple of small paint touch ups , no problem. Controller on water pump failed resulting in weekend call out rates etc, again no problem with paying for it. Love the house don’t believe any other firm could have done it better.
Hi Liam, Concrete is funny stuff. Add ‘extra’ or more water in the original mix than it was designed for and the ultimate strength will be reduced. But wetting or even flooding it with water after it has been placed and started to set is called ‘curing’ it, and is required in most concrete specs, as it increases ultimate strength and resistance to cracking. So may depend on when the rain started, and how heavy it was.
Not sure what you mean by ‘soft’. Of course if you mean after 5 days you can still stick your finger in it that sounds like a significant problem. That can be checked by drilling a core or two (maybe somewhere to be covered later) and compression testing it in a lab. To see whether it’s equivalent cube strength at 28 days meets the strength in the design (usually 20 or 30MPa). If it’s OK then maybe it’s just a surface thing, and if you’re grinding it off anyway not a major problem. If it’s slightly under an engineer may say it’s still adequate for the situation. But maybe you can negotiate a rebate from the builder, or maybe not if he’s been good in other areas. If it’s so low it’s not adequate to do the job, then I guess it has to come out, unless you can come up with some kind of alternative design like putting another slab over the top. To my mind if you test and it passes you pay, and if it fails the builder pays for testing. But that may depend on what your contract says.
You need to immediately obtain an engineers report along with special strength test analysis of the poured floor.. BEFOR work continues. . and to tell the builder in writing of your concerns to mitigate loss..
Don’t build with Platinum. The director can not be trusted. There South Island branch recently has become insolvent. Look at the last reviews on them on here from Home owners who have built with them. It has caused a lot of stress to owners and contractors. A lot of people are out of pocket from them
Hi all,
Anyone have any experience with rain damaged concrete floors?
Builder poured it last Monday and it rained consistently for 24 hours.. Looked terrible.Once it stopped they got onto it with kelly floats and added cement to the surface. Looks ok but to me seems very soft even now. I feel it’s going to be sub standard and not a good surface.. Superficial fix.
Problem is most of the living areas are exposed and polished ( I’m planning to do this). Do I have a case for getting them to rectify it or am I stuck with a potentially inferior floor?
Hi Liam, we had a similar experience with our foundation when it was poured and due to the weather it wasn’t power floated enough making it soft and not suitable for grinding / polishing. The builder never told us that the contractor said we should reconsider our polished concrete finish and went ahead with job. The end result was a porous floor with aggregate that kept coming lose and making holes when it was ground. Took 2 different contractors and $14k to get an acceptable finish (although there are still issues we will have to live with these). I recommend getting an expert in. Let them test it and see if its suitable. If its not, save yourself the grief and do a wood overlay or something different.
The guy is still trading in Paraparaumu lives in a flash apartment on the water front drives a black mecedes and still splashes his money around town to be the big man
I can only agree with this post. Being one of Platinum’s Christchurch clients, after 4 years still waiting for maintenance to be completed. I have given up.
Hi all with reference to Platinum South Island.
Please call their Head Office to lodge your concerns (they are based in Tauranga) and they should follow up with getting these issues fixed as does hurt the brand name.
Platinum head office only do so much. Jason should be kicked out of the brand.
Hi Martin, A ‘standard’ form of contract (whether RMB or some other) is generally just that, so it’s not a question of ‘may’ have a clause that says the price is fixed. Either it does or it doesn’t. Unless it’s a sort of ‘pick and mix’ type of form, with alternative wordings that you or the builder can agree to use.
But I don’t think the RMB form is like that. And in the 2011 version (not sure if there’s a later one that’s different) Clause 54 ‘Cost Fluctuations’ means it’s actually the very opposite of a fixed price contract.
So unless you or your solicitor have put in a Special Condition to overrule or amend that clause then my understanding is you will not have a fixed price contract. Whatever the builder tells you, like ‘don’t worry mate, we never really use that clause’, at the end of the day you’re just relying on his good nature.
Of course none of this relates to provisional items, which by their very nature are intended to go up or down according to the actual cost of the work, and variations which you ask for after the contract is signed.
Hi Aaron, By saying you’d be interested to see a breakdown of payment schedules from builders other than the one you’re dealing with do you mean you want other people to find these, and post them on line here (hardly practical), or publish them somewhere? That’s really asking other people to do it for you.
Actually if you want these schedules you could first try looking at some of the standard forms of contract, such as the Registered Master Builders (RMB) form, which breaks payment down into about 15 – 20 stages, each between 2 and 10% of the total contract price, plus a number of other items for extras not part of the actual house. That’s reasonably fair, but as I’ve discussed with my builder I think that both you and the builder can agree to adjust these a bit (increase the number of stages, or the % in each) to more accurately reflect the actual way things will be done on Site. For example he packaged some items where one was done early in the build, and another done much later. So I could have withheld all the payment until the latest one was completed. But I agreed to pay part of the stage earlier.
I think in the RMB contract it’s just payment of a stage on substantial completion. I guess your builder has had problems with that in the past, so he has chosen to make it more favourable to him. But doesn’t sound too unreasonable to me.
Hi – I’d be interested in seeing a breakdown of some different building companies payment schedules (% at each stage) for comparison, plus knowing if ‘substantial completion’ (defined by our prospective builder as materials on site and 75% installed) is a standard trigger for a payment to be invoiced.
Thanks
Hi Daniel, If there’s something in your building contract that gives you the understanding that it’s ‘fixed price’ then it would be my assumption that it’s not a completely standard RMB Residential Building Contract. Because I have a copy of the 2011 form of that contract, and it would appear to me that Clause 54 allows the builder to charge you for fluctuations in the cost of pretty much everything (subbies, materials and services), apart from possibly the cost of his own direct employees.
I’d suggest you read everything in your contract carefully, and if other clauses contradict this, or it’s not clear to you, then consult a contract lawyer.
Hi, Looking for advise. Am currently using a registered builder. We have a fixed price contract of x amount. The builder has gone over his fixed price contract about 10% and he is making us pay for this. There have been no unforeseen expenses.
We have already given him 5% of the 10% he is asking for. Do we have to pay the amount above the fixed price contract? and can we claim back the 5% we have paid him?
The contract is a regular master builder contract.
Thanks 🙂
As per the other comment from Chis, a standard Master Build contract which most builders use may specify a fixed cost for the work, however, it also includes clauses that allow the builder to pass on any increase in materials etc during the build. Also if there were any items in the contract that were provisional sums then these are need to be finalised and could increase the contract price. Have you made any changes since signing the contract, i.e. moving walls, changing windows etc?
Nope no changes to the works. We are also unhappy with some of the work that has been done. Ie the finish is bad. He has tried to fix, and has said that the current state it is in now is the best it will get. We are not happy with it as the concrete floor has chips init through out. This was a newly poured concrete floor in garage. Builder is yet to pass another bill onto us and we do not know the amount yet. Can I with hold payment until concrete floor is at a satisfactory level? Thanks for any advise given
Hi Daniel
New regulations have a 12 month ‘fix-no-questions-asked’ stipulation but builders not coming back to repair defects is the number one problem identified by BRANZ with customer satisfaction with builders. You can make a complaint to the LBP Board or approach either http://www.hobanz.org.nz or http://www.buildingdisputestribunal.co.nz if you still have no satisfaction.
Hi Mark
Was not sure how to place a post on this site, so thought I would try this way to get in contact.
We are having our house rebuilt on the same site at present and would like to know how much a newly constructed house is allowed to be out of level please?
We have checked MBIE but we unable to find an answer on this.
Janis
This is a response to Janis Wignall’s question, about how much a new house can be out of level, as I can’t find the ‘reply’ point on her post.
Hi Janis, Not sure exactly which part of the house you think is ‘out of level’. Presumably the floor slab. For this you need to know the ‘tolerance’ on floor slabs.
I would have assumed this to be in NZS3604 somewhere, and if you search through you may find it. However certainly there are tolerances for Timber Framing (Table 2.1) and Masonry Veneer (Table 11.5), which would be quite hard to achieve if the floor slab is too far from the position shown on the plans.
MBIE document on Building Performance refers to their Guidance to Tolerances, which in turn refers to NZS3109:1997 (Concrete Construction). I can’t actually open this on line, but from info elsewhere I suspect the tolerance on the surface of concrete slabs is +/- 10mm from the position shown on the plans. Hope this helps.
Also, in the event of a dispute (eg arbitration) I assume the arbitrator as a last resort (ie nothing in writing) would fall back on what he/she considers is generally accepted in the industry as being a ‘reasonable’ tolerance. What amount of error do you have in your case?
Hi SJ, If you’re involved with one of the ‘good’, honest’ branches of one of these franchises that’s being criticized on this blog, and suffering as a result of bad practices by other branches, then I have a lot of sympathy for you.
I’ve said in earlier posts that when talking about a franchise builder people should always be careful to specify the branch they are talking about, as not all are the same.
Of course they should make their comments as fair and reasonable as possible, and also try to avoid what’s called the ‘halo’ effect in reporting performance. I mean to not let one or two defects blind you to all the good aspects. Tell the whole story, good and bad.
But at the same time remember that franchise builders presumably hope to benefit from trust generated by name recognition and national advertising. So of course you also suffer if the brand gets a bad name for some reason. You can’t have the upside without the downside. You need to put pressure on your franchise owner to get the bad boys in your group to up their performance.
If you or they can’t do that then get out of the franchise and use another name.
Hi Mark, I’ve added a number of comments to this blog at various times, so you know I think it’s a useful resource.
But one major problem is that there is now a huge number of posts, and they are not in chronological order.
For example, I clicked on ‘reply’ to your post today about someone else’s reply to someone etc etc, but as I’m writing this the first two posts I can see above are dated March 18th & 19th.
So I have no idea where to find your post, or any of the others referred to, without spending 10mins scrolling through all the hundreds of posts.
Maybe my ignorance of how the blog works, So I’d be grateful if you could tell me whether it’s possible to set all posts in date order. If not then I suggest it should be.
Hi Chris
It’s certainly something I’m aware of and to be honest, I’m not too sure about how to go about transferring to a better format. I’ve built several websites over the years but never really dealt with one like this. On top of that, I kind of picked up the baton when the previous admin dropped out and I’m reluctant to put too much money into this when I don’t have much to spare. I’ll have a chat with the web designer who did my http://www.buildingguide.co.nz site and see if he can come up with some ideas… Stand by (I don’t always work fast but I do get there eventually…).
Totally agree, perhaps you have a separate stream for different building companies. E.G 1 for GJ, 1 for stone wood etc so people thinking about building with a particular company can look at all the reviews about them. Or some way to do a search on the blog. i think this is one of the only review places on the net for NZ now that buildreview.co.nz has vanished.
For any web page (including this one) ctrl-F gets the search box up, put in GJ to get, for example, 206 references (at time of writing), then use the arrows to find each one…and read them! Sure hope there’s fewer to read for Signature!
Simple…file proceedings yourself in the District Court seeking to have the business closed down (non legal language)…that constrains them as to what they can do in a wider canvas…you may find they will pay rather than engage the costs of a defence..(if they actually have one.) Filing costs are nominal any you can write up and file yourself.. its not that hard.
I think this may be in answer to RJ, below, which is in answer to RB below, which is in answer to Pohuehughie’s oringinal post – scroll down for the thread…
I’m looking to build a 3-4 bedroom home in Omokoroa just north of Tauranga. Has anyone got experience with GJGardner, SandCastle, or Classic Builders in that area or region? Is a House and Land package generally as cost effective as buying section then choosing builder?
Any advice appreciated.
I am building with ZB Homes and its great. Go and see them in Lakes Boulevard before u make a decision.
Hi
We are presently trying to decide between Maddren Homes and Compass Homes. Can anyone advice on this – our primary concern is with regard to cost and timeframes. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Hi Glen
I have dealt with Maddren Homes and would happily recommend them. If you have concerns ask them for a list of customers and go and talk to them.
Hi Glen, where abouts are you looking to build? Happy to have a chat if you are building in the Auckland (& greater Auckland) region somewhere 021 515 574.
Which branch of Compass Homes are you thinking of using? We are currently building with Compass homes, Pokeno branch. Whilst the sales team promise you the world, they have taken on so much work, their timeframes are totally blown out compared to what we were told when we signed the contract. For example – we signed the contract on 22nd March 2016… it is now 1st Jan 2017 and the house is still not estimated to be handed over until 23rd Feb. We were initially told it would be an 18 week build 🙁 On the plus side, the costs in their estimates have all been pretty close so far (bar extra concrete we decided to pour).
Hi ap , how did you get on with compass? we are looking at building with them maybe. We would love some feedback on them thankyou! 🙂
Hi,
We built with Compass Homes and the only hold ups were the contractors we tried to organise ourselves. Apart from that, Compass Homes were perfectly on time even with my own personal contractors errors, with a quality product. Maybe something along your build time frame held you up? Did you have something you organised yourself or was your title late? We thoroughly researched Compass Homes and the word of mouth about this company the pros far outweighed the cons and they were competitive in pricing.
No one should feel afraid to comment on this website if you have the facts and evidence to back it all up. http://www.defamationupdate.co.nz is a helpful insight to defamation.
This is a review site of peoples experiences some good some bad and anyone abusing the site takes it upon themselves the risk of defamation.
Knowledge is power and this is a community of people sharing information and helping others within an extremely difficult and complex industry full of pitfalls and risks that the average layman unfortunately falls victim to in this country time and time again. If this site is rattling cages GOOD!
Don’t let these companies lawyers frighten ANYONE….the defence to allegations of slander or defamation is either honest belief or truth….and given some of the experiences recorded on this site.. either defence is entirely appropriate…let them sue is my advice.. and let the judge decide…just think of the bad press surrounding those companies that will result. The REAL outcome should be an improvement in their conduct.. not litigation.!
Hi Rob, I completely agree. There seems to be someone calling themselves SJ who thinks some of those commenting on this Site are exaggerating or being untruthful. But my impression is that most of them are not out to ‘get’ their builder. They are just telling the truth about what happened to them. And some of those tales seem to be horrific ones of lives being almost ruined.
I admit that, based on the evidence on this Site, there are probably a lot of people who understand so little about building and building contracts that they should never get involved in a build without expert independent advice. But having said that, any builder with an ounce of sense would soon realise that. The good honest ones would still steer their client in the right direction on likely final costs etc. The bad ones would rub their hands together, and start counting the profit.
Now Rob and all else concerned, I feel that some
People post reviews without thinking nor knowing the facts.
Nation wide building companies have different licensees in different areas.
There for what I’m saying is if one has had a issue it has nothing to do with the rest of
that NZ wide company, staff and family’s and clients all ready in the process.
Someone post on a site with bad comments about one DOES NOT mean the rest are the same
or that it has anything to do with the rest.
I work for a company that has nothing to do with the negative posts about another branch and these posts have cost me builds, thousands in commissions etc. Disrupts clients builds in process. I have a family and so do other in the same boat as me, with the company I work for or other companies. The same applies. All I’m saying is of course comment, but think about the impact your comments with make.
I can understand your concern. As a prospective client I look at the comments and have based a couple of decisions on them as to who I do/do not want to talk to. Suggest that if you are part of a group getting bad reviews then surely you can use the power of the group to force the renegade(s) into line either directly or through the master franchise. If you can’t then you have a problem.
Hi SJ
It’s good to hear from one of the companies criticised and sharing some of the negative implications for comments. It’s a shame your colleagues’ poor quality work impacts on you and it would seem that’s a matter for the master franchise to address.
I think there is often a case of letting things go in the building industry unless there’s an issue that’s slapping you in the face, and since the master franchises often don’t directly deal with clients they can be one step removed – this is not ideal. You should take these comments on this page to the master franchise because if there are franchises regularly appearing here and their work is impacting on you, it’s likely they’re impacting on other franchises too.
Hi there, we’ve bought a section in Gulf Harbour and are looking for recommendations for good builders in the area. We visited the GJ show home today, but after reading the comments here, I really dont think we’ll be considering them. Any advice would be much appreciated, we’ve never done this before and want avoid unnecessary rookie mistakes 🙂
Hi Annette, we would love to help you with your build project if you are still on the hunt for a builder, give me a call 021 515 574
Thanks,
Emma
Hi Annette,
Not sure if you are sorted for a building company, if you are still looking then send us an email to ManlyConstruction@gmail.com We have done a few builds out at Gulf Harbour in the last 6 months and are a well established building company on the Hibiscus Coast. 🙂
Erin. some advice for your meeting. Go to the meeting. advise the company you will attend by email. Advise your lawyer prior to the meeting about what your concerns are. Take photographs with you of the roof. Make a written list of your concerns and keep two copies. (one for your lawyer. At the meeting make sure you do not sign anything. Do not pay anymore monies until the work is completed. Advise the council and building inspection department. Your job will be under your local council.. Did you employ this contractor privately or is he an employee of the building company? The building company is responsible for all their tradesmen and sub contractors. He sounds like a cowboy. If this is building company do not let them intimidate or bully you. You have to give them a reasonable amount of time to correct the work. Timeline this at your meeting and if it is not done within that timeline make a complaint immediately to the disputes tribunal. Good luck
Just wondering if anyone has any experience dealing with disputes about a payment claim/payment schedule with their building company? Our story in brief:
– I found out that the roofer our building company was due to subcontract our roof work to had a reputation for poor workmanship (I recently started working for another building company that used to use this roofer and no longer use him due to poor workmanship that the roofer refused to fix)
– The roofing started a week later than we had been advised by our building company (no reason for the delay was given to us by our building company, and there was only 1 day of bad weather during that week) and has taken 4 weeks to date – all the sheets are up but the flashings and valleys are not finished yet. There is also a significant amount of remedial work to be undertaken – we have found 8 significantly dented roofing panels, one hole of about 15mm in length in one section and 13 roofing nails that have missed purllins and are showing through the inside of the roof.
– Our building company sent us a payment claim for the roof (we paid 50% of the roof payment prior to the roofing work starting, as per our contract), worth $19k, due within 5 working days (as per our contract) which was Friday 27 Oct. We went up to our section to check over the roofing progress on Wednesday and found the flashings and valleys still unfinished and no remedial work has been done. We sent a payment schedule to our building company on Thursday, stating we were paying 50% of the payment claim and outlining our reasons for not paying the full amount (work yet to be undertaken on the roof, as well as substantial remedial work outstanding).
– We received an email from the building company on Friday, requesting an “urgent meeting” as non-payment of the full amount of the payment claim is “unacceptable”. We requested a meeting on site, so we could show them the reasons we are not happy to pay the full amount – as we don’t think anyone from the building company has been up to our site all week. The reply from the building company was that it was not a construction meeting but a meeting to discuss our “contractual obligations” so the meeting would be in their office. The tone of their emails has been rude and arrogant, and we’re quite sure that we’re acting in accordance with the Constructions Contract Act by giving them a payment schedule with reasons.
– We’re not willing to pay the remaining amount until we have been advised how the remedial works will be undertaken and when. The 13 nails that have missed purlins need to be fixed, as well as the flashing fixed down properly, the dented panels and hole fixed and the valleys trimmed up cleanly (2 have been trimmed so far and are very uneven on both sides of the valley, and the row of nails either side of the valley are very crooked).
Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar, as we are wondering what we’re walking into with this meeting next week.
Erin,
Ensure you put all in writing and if they are a Registered Master Builder make a complaint to them as they do need to follow up. This is not to say they will do anything but as a RMB company that I would assume they may be, it is setting precedent for them to resolve the issues. DO NOT PAY the monies at all until resolution. Hoping by now that you have furthered the build and they have come to the party. This type of builder and shite communication is a slight on our industry and one that I deplore to the max. If they have not done so, name and shame. You have a contract and as long as you are within your terms of contract, full completion of the stages are required for payment (unless you have some independent part of the contract to complete) then they can demand payment forthwith. If you are loaning from a bank they will need to ensure completion of the stages anyway to release funding.
Good thing that you set this up. Many will love to visit this site to get advise in building their homes. Thanks for moderating this site and sharing your thoughts. For more info on steel building construction, visit us at: http://www.steelcobuildings.com/
Thanks for the nice words Frank. I’m sure if anyone is building in Oxford, Georgia, USA they’ll check you out. Go Hillary!
Damn…
Hi – We are looking at building in Auckland Central and were looking for recommendations for a good building company/project manager. We are Kiwis presently living in Australia so we need someone very competent in Auckland managing the project. I have received a quote of $2800-3500 per sq m from the House Company and upwards of $3200 from Property Partners. The quotes seem a bit steep – is this the current market value in Auckland now? Does anyone have any good building companies or project managers they can recommend? Thanks.
Hi Glen
If you’re looking to build an architecturally designed house that is reasonably straight forward, that seems about right for costs. Visit the Building Guide – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz – and read the cost page there in the Planning section.
Thanks for the advice!
Pleasure!
Hi Glen, do you have plans drawn up already? Happy to have a look and give you a quote, give me a call if you are still looking 021 515 574
Hi,
I am looking at building a house *My first home with Generation or Venture or DW Homes in Pukekohe area.
Does anyone has experience with these builders? can anybody recommend the builder?
Thank you!
You could try Richard 021996261
Hi Lee, if you’d like to chat please feel free to give me a call and I can give you some referees to speak with.
Sorry, helps if I give you my number 021 515 574. Cheers, Emma
Thank you very much Pohuehughie!
We are looking to build in Whangarei – either our plan if we can get it to budget or someone elses if we can’t. Who should we go to? Who should we avoid?
Mark, is it possible to put a search query in by district? While all comments are interesting, I am primarily interested in my local area. Other than that little quibble an excellent site
Hold down ctrl and F then type Whangarei. Or search for the different companies you have looked at so far.
Many thanks Mark.
Kapai
Hi, we are looking our first house in Wellington. The main companies here for what we are looking for seem to be GJ Gardner, Lockwood and Platinum. Any recommendations of people who have built with any of the local franchises? Thank you 🙂
Hi there. We built with Platinum (Mass Construction) in the South Island and had an absolute nightmare with them. The franchisee for Wellington is the same guy who held the franchises for the South Island. Platinum homes have withdrawn the franchise from this company for the S Island and have left behind a number of dissatisfied customers and sub-contractors, which surely speaks volumes. I don’t want to say too much except BEWARE. Speak to people who have built with Platinum in Wellington area before you commit to anything!!!
I am one of those left with a disgrace of a house built by Mass Construction / Platinum Homes. Avoid Platinum Homes and Mass Construction at all costs.
We are building a house with Mass construction/ Platinum Homes. If you need stress choose them. I have lost my sleep and health because of them. They never keep there promises. they do not guide you at all during the process. They reply to you at there own will and comfort. I am so frustrated with them I wonder if we could take some action against them. we have invested our life time savings into the house. I feel the builders have such a monopoly in NZ. I repent my decision of going with them every day. The journey of building our first home has been so painful. A few of staff members specially the administrator are rude and intimidating. The CEO never interferes. I am now looking for options to make a fromal complaint against the company. Please suggest
I am a contractor that is out of pocket with this company. I am keen for any legal advice on how to get my money back from them. They have closed their South Island branch but their north island branch is “going from strength to strength” according to the Wairarapa office. How come they can’t use their north island branch to pay all of those out of pocket?
Hi Kate,
Look for my comments about Jennian – You will need to see all of them as the build progressed, but we are nearly finished and happy with the outcome so far.
Cheers
Bryan
Have you considered Primesite? http://www.primesitehomes.co.nz ? I recently saw a recommendation for them and they are Wellington based.
Hi, do you guys here have any experience with Abode Homes in Wellington?
Please don’t go with Platinum Homes, worst builder.
How do we know you are “Mandy” and not someone wanting Mandy’s comments removed? No name appears with this comment and it looks suspiciously like a previous comment by someone else recently………
Could you please remove my posts under Mandy due to legal reasons. Thank you
How do we know you are “Mandy” and not someone wanting Mandy’s comments removed? No name appears with this comment and it looks suspiciously like a previous comment by someone else recently………
Apologies Sally (?) forgot to fill in the name part but I’m sure Mark (or the admin on this blog) will know that it was from me anyway.
All good Mandy
I can recognise the email you used when you made your first post.
Unusual to have people complaining about a building company and their difficulties and legal threats withdrawing their posts due to legal reasons!
We won.. I will never build with Platinum Homes ever again.. They had to pay me cash and repair what was in the maintenance list They were very nasty and used bully means to stop me taking them to court. They showed up for court and I would never have received the outcome I did without going to the disputes court. Regards Irene
Good on you, I am heading in that direction with them right now. Well done on your win!
Hello we are going through the same. Can you please suggest how to approach this. We are building with them but it has come to a point where I can not take any further stress. We have made 3step payments. The last one was for roof. If I had to take them to dispute court what do I need to do. Thanks
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Two things I’d like to make people aware of:
1. We’re just coming to the end of a build, and it is evident that ‘Practical Completion’ and handover will come before the Code Compliance Certificate will be issued by the Council. I believe this is a fairly common situation.
I did ensure that our building contract made the builder, rather than us as the Owner, responsible for obtaining the CCC. But I now realise that the Building Consent was issued in our name, so as far as the Council is concerned we are still legally responsible for applying for and obtaining the CCC, even if the builder does it on our behalf. In retrospect I wonder if we should have used the contract to ensure that the builder (or maybe his architect) acted as our ‘agent’ in both applying for BC & RC, and obtaining the CCC. Anyone have any comments?
2. Once you reach Practical Completion, and handover, I believe the builder’s Contractor’s All Risks and Public Liability insurance will no longer cover your house. So you need your own house insurance. But it seems ‘normal’ insurance companies like AMI (who we used before) will not give you cover until the CCC is issued. Has anyone found a way round this?
We are looking at building in Ashhurst, Manawatu and wondered if anyone had any advice on picking a building company in this area? Who are great and who not to touch (and why). We have built before (with whose name will remain anonymous) and didn’t have a great experience. Also, has anyone had any experience with Homebuild Homes? TIA
Hi Laurie, Seems a little unfair that you’ve asked other people to give negative as well as positive comments on builders, but you’re not willing to say who you built with before, who was not very good, and why!
The whole point of this blog is to contribute information as well as to obtain it.
Ours was more of a personal clash with ‘friends’ who had started a company and we were their second build in, so i don’t think it is fair to publicly slander them for what happened when they were very new. However, if there is someone looking at building in my area and wants to contact me privately i’m happy to talk lauzanne15@hotmail.com. I have already been contacted by them once when i put a comment online that didn’t even name them, but they knew it was about them – and i’m not going to go down that road again. I’m sorry if you don’t agree but that is how it is.
Hi Laurie, OK, I understand, and you’re forgiven.
But you did say ‘started a company’, not just helping you out as friends. So I hope that these people are not still in business as builders, and practising on other people’s houses.
Because ‘Oh, sorry, we don’t have much experience of doing this.’ isn’t good enough when you’re playing around with other people’s life savings.
Luckily heart surgeons aren’t allowed to use the same excuse!
Hi Laurie,
Yes I have and it wasn’t a good one. One of the most stressful times in my life.
They are the most un-proactive, unprofessional company I have personally dealt with, it felt like we were project managing, prompting and managing everything.
Can you say which company you had this experience with? Sounds like it wasn’t a great one?!
Hi Me2016, were you happy with the finished product thought?
Hi Laurie,
Was wondering if you got any comments back about Homebuild Homes?
Hi LK. I haven’t had personal experience with Homebuild but Me2016 did comment up a bit further ‘Yes I have and it wasn’t a good one. One of the most stressful times in my life. They are the most un-proactive, unprofessional company I have personally dealt with, it felt like we were project managing, prompting and managing everything.’ And i haven’t heard great things from others either. We built 5 years ago with the same people that now have Baillies construction. I believe they are a very different company now to when we built (they were just starting out) but to be honest again what i have heard from others isn’t great. Our neighbours-to-be were at contract signing stage with them and pulled out…. I’ve never heard of Origin Homes. Hope this helps somewhat. Its a very hard process to begin with and as nice as it is to ‘keep it local’ its not always that easy. You will often find some of the bigger franchises are also locally owned.
Thanks LM but do you know what exactly these people did not like about these respective businesses? Because if it’s things like the time the build took, or not communicating enough, then some people will be prepared to overlook this if they can deliver on the things like quality, affordability, energy efficient and sustainable.
We are thinking of building with versatile in Balclutha. Any reviews or comments on this company..?
Hi Dave
We have no issues with what we got, your wellcome to have a look if you wish, my contact phone is 0272040056
Cheers
Sounds like GJ. Pay your monies and they conviently forget you and take a long time to fix things.
Sentinel are buidling in Colonial drive Millwater.
What ever you do, do not use Sentinel Homes.
We have experianced nothing but delays, poor workmanship & disappointment. Our build was 6 months over on the build time & worse than that a great many faulty building works were found once moved in. Poor plumbing, poor electrics, top soil about 2cm deep, laminate flooring came up.
The worse part though is that they take forever to repair their shoddy work & no matter who you complain to it makes no difference. For example I am still waiting for a leaking toilet to be fixed after first informing them over a month ago. They are also no longer responding to requests from us to find out what is happening.
What ever you do. DO NOT USE SENTINEL HOMES
Hello Daniel,
Who did you have dealings with at Sentinel? Which area franchise did you use? We are in talk at the moment with Sentinel.
Thanks,
Nimfa
Hi Daniel,
Where area did you use Sentinel to build in?
Hello Daniel
We are thinking of using Sentinel, which franchise did you use?
Hi Guys,
I want to build a house in Wellington.
Some one please suggest the good Builder for design and build. I want to know the feedback of Gj Gardener Wellington,Urban Homes Wellington or primesite Wellington or any other good Builder recommended for design and build in Wellington Region
Anyone got any feedback on Bainbridge homes in Canterbury?
Hi,
Has anyone used or have experience working with Jalcon Homes in Auckland? Any feedback on this company would be appreciated
Highmark have built 2 houses in Old Mill Road and are currently building along Colonial Drive and I think they have a couple of sections on Wainui Road near Manuel Drive.
Hi all
Apologies for the spam that keeps appearing. Trying to get it dealt with. I will keep manually clearing every couple of days.
cheers
We’re looking at building in Millwater with Mike Greer, any feedback or advice gratefully received. We need to go with a H&L package rather than design and build. Was interested in The House Company as i’ve heard good things however they’re out of our price range – we’re looking at entry level for the area. Thanks!
Hi DS,
MG are currently building in Colonial Drive. They have a few sections on the go.
Wouldn’t buy their Town houses which are behind the Millwater shops as appear to be not value for money and are small for the price they are offered for.
Hi Mike, thanks for your feedback. Agree the townhouses don’t look like great value. We’re looking at a 3-4brm on Ormonde Dr or a couple of others around that area.
By paperwork, I suppose you mean going unconditional on the building contract? We signed the contract mid May, so it took almost 3 months before we got the resource consent from the council. But I think that was because the council needed a few clarifications over and above the usual consent details.
Thanks.
Anyone ever built with Builtsmart? based in Huntly they make homes in their factory and deliver these to the land site? Transportable homes. Thanks
Hi Leo, Valerie,
We are building with Golden Construction in Riverhead. The building process has just started last week, so it is pretty early to give feedback on the construction process and the quality. But so far they have been good to work with.
Where are you both building?
Hi Mal,
Thanks for that, we are building in Millwater. How long did it takes from the documentation up to the start of construction?
could be wordpress web site as has been hit in the past with spam
Yes – we moved to a new host and the spam filter doesn’t seem to be working as well. Trying to keep on top of things. Apologies all.
HI, thinking of building in Christchurch. Any one have any information positive or negative about Strategic Homes. Thanks
Please tell me about house and land package around Huapai or Kumeu, if u have around 850k
Hi Jim, we have some available. Please call me on 0276462233. Simon Wilson (Signature Homes)
Hi,
Has anyone heard of Golden Construction (not the same as Golden Homes). Any feedback, reviews, major issues?
thank you
Hi Valerie,
I’m currently in documentation stage for consent with Golden Construction, as of now so far so good. Where do you plan to build your new house?
Thanks steve and Brent
No haven’t signed as yet as had some concerns from a independent party
So will make more enquiries
Hi does anyone know what is going on with the buildreview.co.nz website? it has been down now for several weeks for “maintenance”.
Hi Steve
Not sure – we’re not connected with them, although I did try when they were first setting up to work with them.
I would say they are trying to cleanse their site of all the negative feed back about platinum homes or Mass construction, as they have gone tits up leaving home owners and contractors out of pocket and with unfinished homes.
Another company that’s taken taken and taken for the benefit of the owner Jason Strange. Rips all and sundry off then walks off to his life of luxury in Wellington.
So Mass construction South Island has been trading insolvent.
Platinum homes the master franchise are not much better …. Pretty much just walked away
Keep away from any of these franchises or the franchisor
Hope this helps
Regards
Russell
Russell. You have No idea what you are talking about. [Moderator has removed an insult]!!
Please note – happy to have anyone disagree with what someone posts but we’re not about insulting people here. Try Twitter for that. 🙂
Site shut down due to being sued. Which could quite possibly happen to this one as well.
I think you’ll find that we can’t be sued as we’re just a vehicle for comments. So long as what is said is truthful and doesn’t target specific people I think we’re okay. And should they choose to try to sue us, then we’ll make more publicity about it which will highlight the issues for them on a much bigger scale – I’m sure that’s not what they would want.
Can advise on how good compass homes are on the quality and pricing?
I was also looking at A1 and GJ to build on lifestyle land. Thanks lots!
Compass Homes are very good. Build in concrete so can be a little more expensive in some cases, but the construction is very good and the benefits of concrete mean lower ongoing costs.
Hi Chris, where abouts are you looking to build? If you’re still undecided, please don’t hesitate to give me a call to discuss what you are wanting to do.
Emma
DW Homes
021 515 574
Hi I am about to build with Cavalier homes in Riverhead on the north shore. Does anyone have any feedback on this company?
Thanks Phil
Hi Phil, If you’re still undecided, please don’t hesitate to give me a call to discuss what you are wanting to do.
Emma
DW Homes
021 515 574
Hi Phil, we’re building with Cavalier at moment and I have a few questions for you as you’re probably a bit ahead of us ( or anyone else that can answer for that matter. Were you charged over and above contract price for them to bring the water and power mains from the property boundary to the house?
Thanks
Given Maddren just won 4 golds in the House of the year award last night I’d build with them.
Unfortunately we built with GJ Gardner West Auckland and it was such a bad experience. They are great at doing the big sell job however the follow up is shocking. We found Tony Houston very difficult to deal with – this franchise is not interested in service. Also there is no support with the GJ Gardner head office.
Has anyone had a house built by Sentinel on North Shore , or Auckland area recently
Was it on time and within budget
And of good standards ?
Any major hassles
Still waiting on ours to be finished, would not recommend this company not organised and seem to have issue with every trade. Slab, issue, frames, issue, painter, issue brickie, issue roofer still issue. Build quality is ok if you keep your eye on them. It will likely be 52 weeks from start of build this was with us coming with a complete set of plans and council consent. The General manager Stuart doesn’t care as long as your signature is on the contract. also be careful they don’t sell you a package from investor homes and then up sell you on all the variations, This is is another company run by Stuart. They are over committed and under resourced. I hope this reaches you before you sign, stay AWAY.
I just finished building house with Sentinel and I do agree with Brent with all he said! Nothing but nightmare.
Hello Adam and Brent,
Who are you dealing with at Sentinel and which area? I like their house plan and they are on our shortlist of builder as recommended to us. And so far they are very responsive compared to other builders we also approached. Would you mind giving me your email add so i can PM you?
This will really help us choose.
Hi Morris,
If you haven’t already chosen a builder I’d love to have a chat with you. We build all over Auckland and are not franchised. Give me a call anytime for a chat.
Emma – DW Homes
021 515 574
I’d be interested to hear more about your experience as we are considering their land and home package at Hobsonville Point?
Tony and Terena are passionate about there homes and staff, they welcome anyone to ask to speak to any clients who have built with them, They superseded expectations, have firm processes and customer service doesn’t falter from the first client meeting through to the hand over
Hi Kate,
Saying that Tony is very ‘passionate’ about his staff sounds a bit creepy to me. Judging by this blog, unfortunately it seems a lot of his other ‘clients’ don’t have the same view.
PS I think you mean ‘their homes’ and ‘exceeded expectations’.
We have had the same issue with gj west .we just got lie after lie
Hi, we are currently in a contract with GJWest and would like to know of your experience with them. We are in the planning stages but have already noticed some warning signs and limited customer service. Would appreciate any feedback, thanks Tim.
Hi Tim, have you signed the building contract as of yet or just paid a small deposit to do concept drawings?
Hi Everyone
i am looking at building a new home in mosgiel Dunedin, i am looking at any feed back on GJ Gardner, Stonewood? or if there is a building company highly recommended. this is my first experience of building a home
Mayn Thanks
Hi Mayn
Make sure you get a copy of the Building Guide – it’s free from your local council.
http://www.buildingguide.co.nz
(should have said above ::)
I would recommend Compass Homes. We have built with them and Gary Shutterworth was such a great help. Fixed price and no extra costs, moved in on time, and that was the best thing. We are lookng for land know and will build with them again.
Cheers Lisa Mous
I would recommend Compass Homes. We have built with them and Gary Shutterworth was such a great help. Fixed price and no extra costs, moved in on time, and that was the best thing. We are lookng for land now and will build with them again.
Cheers Lisa Mous
Hi Tania
We built with Jennian homes in Dunedin and found them to be great to deal with and our dream home is everything that we could want, it was built on time and to budget so i can highly recommend them.
We did a bit of homework and asked around town and there was several building companies that we were told to stay well clear of.
Good luck on your build !!!
Hi Steve,
Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Jennian Homes. We are going to build in Mosgiel and considering our options. The problem is we are new to the place. If it’s not too much to ask, could you advise which companies in Dunedin better to avoid dealing with?
Thank you.
Yulia
yulia@outlook.co.nz
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comments, it’s not a structural wall, but I changed my mind not to do that purely because I don’t want to ruin builders schedule and get it delayed.
My worry is I have only 5.2m* 3.8m area for both my family and dining, we have separate lounge 3m*3.5m where we are planning to keep the TV
Hi
We are building a house in Wellington. Our frames are completed and also roof frames are onboard. Can I remove a short wall inside the house now? Does that cost a lot and take more time?
Thanks
Forgive me for saying it, Che, but that’s like asking how long is a piece of string. As to ‘can’ generally in building work all things can be done with enough time and money. But as to how much and how long depends on thing like whether it’s a simple partition wall, a structural wall (supporting the roof) or a bracing wall (to stop the place falling over), and then of course how kind and generous the builder is, and whether the work delays his original programme. But generally any kind of change is a reason (or excuse) to charge more money and take more time. Whether you’re in a position to dispute those depends on your building expertise. But depending on the contract wording the builder may be able to refuse to do it unless you pay what he asks.
Chris, charging for a legitimate variation and taking longer to complete the project is not an “excuse”! If you make a change to a design then the builder should (common sense and good business practice) reasonably charge and increase the construction duration. People need to understand that shit ain’t free and if you don’t change anything it shouldn’t cost amy more or take any longer. Your comment is like a mechanic doing an oil change and then you asking the mechanic to replace the gearbox for free.
Hi ‘A Builder’, Sorry to have upset you, mate. I’m sure you’re very good at building work, but perhaps not so good at reading what people have written. You’ll note I put ‘or excuse’ in a bracket, because I totally agree with you that most variations will be a legitimate reason for an increase in price and a time extension. I’m a civil engineer, and I’ve spent my whole career supervising major projects, so I understand very well how building contracts work. But at the same time it’s very easy to think of variations which save the builder both time and money. The honest ones will admit that. The less honest ones will still try to pull the wool over their client’s eyes, and think of a reason to charge more. If you take time to study the entries on this blog, you will read of many cases where it appears some builders (but not you I’m sure) are taking advantage of clients inexperienced in building work. And even cases where clients don’t change anything, but still find themselves being asked to pay more, or the project running over time. From his original question I assumed that ‘Che’ has very little experience of building contracts, so I was trying to respond to his request for advice.
Hi Sarah! No, we didn’t because a friend reviewed the contract and the payment terms is not very ideal. Our friend suggested that the terms is very one sided and pretty much just in favour of the builder and could be risky if the builder didn’t complete the project half way. He suggested 10% deposit and 90% balance to be paid upon completion is a better option. Hope this helps!
We are hoping 3 months to complete the build and then onto the landscaping.
Slab has just gone in and is looking good. The slab team were very professional and very pleasant as well.
We’ll know more in a few days once the framing arrives
Fantastic!. If you dont mind me asking are you building in Aotea ?. We are in Aotea. On the “drive”.
Remember – a fast build is rarely a good build! 35 Years experience in building
Thanks for your thoughts, some comments :-
– Electrical Faults – The complete steel frame is earthed in several places. So any shorts to live will immediately blow the fuse/Circuit breaker, and thus end any risk…
– Sally – I agree, the total lack of a “drying out phase” is a major plus. A friend just had 3 rooms in their 6 month old house, re-jibbed, re-sealed and re-wallpapered… because of drying out damage.
AXXIS Steel Framed House
Anyone built a Steel framed house using AXXIS Steel around Whangarei ?
Who was the builder, and any comments on the results?
I personally would not use AXXIS, unless it was reasonably cheaper than alternative systems.
I’m not a builder, nor have I built any houses before. The marketing for AXXIS talks about it being “dimensionaly accurate” – but so is the wooden timber used to build houses. Similarly they say it is tested for earthquake loading – timber houses as shown by Christchurch stand up well under earthquakes.
But the main reason I would use steel framing (of any kind), is that steel is a very good conductor of heat, whereas timber is not. So heat in your rooms will be more easily conducted away from them and outside your house. It’s entirely possible to design around this problem, but that requires a specific design for the steel framing.
Also, and this is a minor concern, if a live wire comes in contact with the steel framing, the whole structure becomes electrically live and can endanger your life if you come in contact with it – say, by nailing in a picture hook and hitting the steel framing, and having the electricity conduct through the nail and hammer into you. Yes, this, is incredibly unlikely and you’re very unlucky, but if a live wire comes in contact with wooden framing, it’s not going to electrocute you (although I guess it could catch fire and burn the house down – but that’s probably possible with the steel framing, too).
I am however a lay person, so talk to experts and make up your own mind.
Steel framing is used in many commercial structural partitioning around the world it new to NZ
how ever white rust can become a problem especially with high humidity and rust where the screws penetrate the steel to hold the jib. Its a extremely slow process but real.
Hi Andrew, now I haven’t built with steel around Whangarei so I wasn’t going to comment but I have to because, with respect, I completely disagree with the other reply to your message. I am trained as an architectural technican and I have also had four houses built, one of them with a steel frame. The steel framed house is great. It is not just about it being “dimensionally accurate” it is also about it not being damp. When timber framed houses are lined they nearly always have some dampness left in the frame and so when it dries out over the next few months you often get nails “popping” out of the GIB and also cracks where the GIB meets (particularly at ceiling junctions). This does not happen with steel. My steel-framed house has had not one nail pop and has no cracks in the paintwork. Timber framing is also not as dimensionally accurate as you would think. When all the frames are put up, builders often have to plane down frames to make sure all the walls are straight before it is lined.
My steel-framed house is no hotter in summer than a timber framed house. I agree somewhat about the steel being more of a conductor in fires but once you think about the batts in the walls etc it probably wouldn’t be much different with timber once a fire took hold.
I would think it extremely unlikely that you would hang a picture and get electrocuted! For a start with steel you would mainly hang pictures just through the GIB with anchor hooks and the way they put the cables through are through specially cut holes through the middle of the dwang (also called nogs) so you would have to drill in a pretty long way to get anywhere near the cables.
My house was built by Golden Homes and whilst I would not recommend them as a company at all, the actual building I am very pleased with and would have no hesitation in building in steel again. 🙂
My point about heat conduction is nothing to do with ‘fires’, or summer heat for that matter.
It’s in winter, when the heat in your rooms will conduct through the wall linings, into the steel frames and out through ‘bones’ of the house, in a way that simply does not happen with timber. Like I said, you can design around this, but standard methods of timber construction applied to steel frames won’t account for this heat leaking factor.
Actually no it doesn’t. If you do some research on steel frames they actually use timber thermal breaks outside the frame to stop this happening. You are always going to have some leakage out of your house – in fact the windows are the worst for the leakage and you also get it through the slab (unless you have used one of the new thermally broken slabs – which are good also).
When you say “timber thermal breaks outside the frame”, you mean around the outside of the house?
So in winter, if you are doing the typical NZ thing of heating only the room you are occupying, then heat is still going to conduct through the wall linings, into the steel framing and throughout the rest of your house, eg into your hallways and any other rooms you’re not actually occupying. This will heat your house overall, but it still means any particular room you’re trying to heat, will be harder to heat than if you used timber framing.
Also, I live in Christchurch and have daily driven past a row of about 10 steel framed houses as they were built. I never saw them put timber thermal breaks in.
In regards to inside your house, no it doesn’t spread from room to room. You have GIB lining the walls. GIB is also a break between the timber and the steel. I know for a fact from my steel framed house that you can’t feel any heat from the hallway from the lounge which has a wood burner in it. Also the “NZ way” of heating one room only is ridiculous in itself, but that’s a whole other story. In relation to the houses you saw, it depends what cladding they were using. If you are using a cavity system (which most do these days) then the timber battens on the outside are already a thermal break.
Hi Lanthanide and Sally,
Steel framed homes are thermally broken by using a barrier between the cladding and the framing system, such as James Hardie HomeRAB. There is actually more insulation within the framing, as it’s hollow, and the batts sit inside that.
Just thought I would clear that up.
Hi Sally: Reading your posts I wanted to explore steel. However, I am told by experienced builders there is little expert labour to build in steel in NZ. Would like to get your advice on who are the builders for steel in Auckland please. Many thanks.
Hi Sally,
I’m thinking of building with Golden Homes in Northland and I noticed you couldn’t recommend them at all but were happy with the house. Any chance you could tell me more about the issues you faced?
Many thanks!
Hi Mike, sure thing – it was mostly to do with PC sums. The guys in the Northland franchise might be nicer people which was a major problem I had down here but you do need to be careful with their agreement in relation to PC sums. If you want to leave an email address I will let you know privately the exact problems I had. 🙂
Hi Sally,
Thanks for the info and would be keen to hear more if that’s okay. mike.sco@gmail.com
Cheers!
Hi Sally. We too are considering golden homes so would appreciate further detail if you wouldn’t mind. DJ.riddell@xtra.co.nz. Thanks.
Hi Sally, could you send the same our way too? Thanks,
alex.
alex@ignitesport.org.nz
Hi Dayne, if you are looking to build Auckland/Waikato please feel free to give me a call to talk about your project.
Cheers,
Emma – DW Homes
021 515 574
Hi Sally, I’m considering to build with Golden Homes in Wellington so I would like to know further details. Thanks! vicky.pham1411@gmail.com
Hi Sally,
I’m also considering Golden Homes in Wigram area, would you able to Email me your concerns? Sorry I realise it is awhile since you originally posted. Caprico72@hotmail.com Thanks
We built with golden homes- built a large expensive house! communication appalling. Poor workmanship and when maintence finally completed over a year later (to there standard not ours) we were treated like we were a whinging big inconvenience. No care for what was promised and sold.
Hi Shelley, may I know which franchise of Golden Homes did you build with?
Hi there,
I’m looking for a builder in Lincoln Te Whariki, a new residential area in Lincoln. I new in Christchurch, can anybody recommend any good builder to me?
Thanks,
Houston
Hi Houston, I would recommend Peter Ray Homes, Paul McStay Builders and Que Homes. All good quality and fair pricing. Regards Sally
Hi Houston, we are just about finished our house build with Peter Ray Homes in Preston Downs. Top notch builders and tradies (all excellent and very approachable) and we are very happy with the quality of work and the fittings on the house. Unfortunately the project management by Peter Ray Homes was inadequate throughout and downright appalling at times. We are on our 4th project manager (they just keep leaving) – each one did not pick up gaps or things left undone by the previous one and then placed us under extreme time pressure to make decisions on the spot to rectify this very late in the build. I have had to spend the equivalent of a part time job doing our own project management and communicating with the tradies as otherwise we would have had a shambles. It has been more stressful than it should have been. If I were to build again having been through this, I would appoint an independent project manager to oversee the whole project – the extra cost would have been well worth the peace of mind.
Hi We are nearing the end of our build with Peter Ray homes in Rolleston.The builders were great and the tradies to deal with but I agree the management of the project appalling. Started with one person they left, then the GM fumbled his way in then passed to the Customer Service Manager, she left suddenly we are dealing with a Project Manager. No communication along the way as to the changes just happen to find out when you ring to talk to someone and you get the ” they are on leave at the moment” from reception. Some specs were changed by the GM and we didnt notice when we did the final sign up and now are in discussion about changing some fittings as not what we discussed with the original person. It seems once signed and money paid they dont want to know. Then they try to blame us for it. Has been very stressful for us.Fortunately time is not a pressure on us as we have another home to live in. I would never build with Peter Ray again and certainly will not recommend them to anyone. Workmanship seems good but the Management is a shambles. Agree with above employ your own project manager with them
Hi Houston,
Sorry to reply in your thread… does anyone know how to create a new post or a new account here?
Leo
Hi Leo
If you scroll to the bottom of the page there is a comment block there – that starts a new comment.
cheers
Mark G
Hey, Can you guys please suggest 5 good builders to approach in West Auckland?
Hi Alina, I cant provide you with a recommendation but can tell you to stay clear from Raymond (Ray) Lorenzen. He uses a number of different building company names.
Hi Martin, I unfortunately too have had the misfortune of dealing with the same lowlife Ray Lorenzen mascarading as a builder!
Would you believe his background is commercial cleaning! Personally I don’t think his skills in that field would enable him to even switch a vacuum cleaner on! Also beware of his brother who shares his surname building in the West Auckland area.
Hi Alina, can recommend Maddren Homes out West. Stay well away from Tony Huston and GJ Gardner.
Hi Richard,
What have your issues with GJ West AKL been?
Many and varied, but definitely not what GJ Gardner advertise. Design was week and unhelpful, their management was nonexistent and don’t even get me started on their attention to detail.
I can recommend Maddren Homes over GJ Gardener – I’m actually building or going to be building up North a way but I’ve spent a lot of time around a lot of different companies now and settled on only 2 that I would build with. The reason I’m going with Maddren are communication, great liaison between sales/design/consultant and myself, good solid design information and plans and the obvious use of great and tested quality construction materials. I’m an analytical freak and they’ve put up with my queries / questions / details etc., GJ’s I found great at the very beginning and then pushy after a while and intent on their own design rather than what I wanted. Other good quality builder I found was The House Company.
Hi Alina
It really depends on what style home you are looking for. I am a mortgage broker in Hobsonville and we finance a lot of builds for clients plus have just recently finished our own, so have worked with a number of the building companies.
We personally built with Jalcon Homes and they were excellent. The contract included everything and the build went smoothly and we were very happy with the result. The house we build was entered into the House of The Year and won a silver.
If you search the internet or this forum there are people that have had problems with almost every building company and I’m sure there are reasons, but I can only go on what I know and have experienced. Some companies have had delays recently with issues like concrete shortages and tradespeople being hard to tie down, but most are now quoting a little longer for the builds to avoid setting unrealistic expectations.
I could recommend the following;
Jalcon Homes – have built with ourselves and have a number of clients who have built with them too.
Platinum Homes – good contracts and have had good feedback from clients building with them.
Sentinel Homes – the contracts are very good and include everything and have had some very good feedback on the workmanship.
Compass Homes – they build in concrete and are very good.A little more expensive than some but have good contracts and tend to be faster than most due to construction methods.
There are others that we have worked with too that are good and some not so good.
You are welcome to contact me directly if you wish to discuss a specific company.
Platinum Homes is a disgusting company, just read the feedback.
Sorry I’m confused by your question, I was replying to the person whose house has been painted. It’s not my house.
When you say condensation do you mean in the bathroom or throughout the house? No it is not normal for the GIB to act like that if it has been properly sealed when it was painted. You should ask the builder to look at it. If you mean in the bathroom then I would suggest they have used the wrong type of paint – again builder should have a look. If it is their subbies who have not sealed/painted properly then they should go back to them and get them to sort. Good luck 🙂
HI Sally
Do you know who painted it ?. We are having problems with a painter in Christchurch who has used the wrong paint in the bathrooms trying to take short cuts.
Hi Guys,
We are looking to build in Levin on a lifestyle block thinking of using http://www.latitudehomes.co.nz/ they have been the best priced but still looking @ A1 allso has anyone used Lattiude Homes to build ?
Also which is the easiest Bank to deal with ? we have been told BNZ is good any advise much appreciated:)
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thermawise Homes is based in Levin and would be happy to discuss your build with you. We build use SIP (Structural Insulated Panel) construction which normally works out very affordable compared with traditional framed builds, due mainly to the faster build time (less labour cost). It also will provide a far better level of insulation than a standard build. Check out http://www.thermawise.co.nz for more info.
Regards,
Ed
Hi
I re build here in Christchurch, I have been in my house now for a year, I have had some small problems which are now being fixed by the building company that I used. How ever I have a huge problem with condensation, and I find that the gib used is very porous is this normal in a new home? you only have to bump it.
Do you know the name of the painting contractor as we are having trouble as well.
Looking to build in Ohope Beach, Whakatane. Any recommendations on builders or ones to avoid? Cheers
Sarah, good company is ZB Homes in Tauranga
Hi Sarah,
Not sure about a good company in Tauranga, but if a co called Consultancy Plus Construction Ltd, manager Ron Clarke, project manager David Hinds is still around, stay well clear. At one stage they were trading under the name RKK Construction ltd and were a franchise of David Reid homes. We had a home built by them in 2013/2014 and it was a nightmare. If I was building again, I would look for a local builder, may not have the buying power of a bigger co, but, does not have the overheads of the franchise co’s, no franchise fees, project manager, sales people etc. .Another site to view is http://www.buildreviews.co.nz.
Good luck, if I can help in any other way, just ask.
Owen.
thanks for sharing owen. greg, did u have a good experience with ZB Homes? I have been looking for a whakatane builder for a 2-storey in whakatane since most tauranga builders wont travel far but most local builders are fully booked till next year. Any recommendation or otherwise, even if i have to wait long?
Hi Sarah,
the other review site is http://www.buildreview.co.nz sorry, added an s to part of the site name.
Owen.
Hi Greg
Have you built with ZB Homes?
Hi All,
My wife and I are looking to build our first home. Currently looking at GJ Gardner Wellington and QualityNZHomes. It would be awesome if anyone can share some comments or experiences on these builders.
Cheers,
Bob
Hi Bob,
My Partner and I are building with Jennian Homes in Wellington. Whilst we have had a few disagreements and minor issues as we progressed, everything has been resolved satisfactorily and agreeably.
My only suggestion is that if you are wanting to build something that is not a standard build, then make sure that whichever company you build with can do a Bespoke build… Jennian claim to, but we ended up needing to monitor it very closely to make sure that they got it right.
In regards to Jennian, they are really busy at the moment with multiple builds on the go, but if you use one of their standard designs and don’t change too much inside, then you should get a good outcome.
Oh and if you find my other comments, you will see that I don’t work for Jennian, just like to be completely honest and fair.. well as much as I can anyway.
Good luck and send me a reply if you’d like to contact me directly to talk about our build. I won’t post my email here as it identifies me and my build is not yet finished….
Bryan
This goes for the Certified Builders Guarantee too, if your looking at that. I would never build using them or their insurance again its not worth the paper its printed on, I felt totally betrayed. Happy to take your money and thats about it!They were useless in our case of a serious problematic builder and extremely unprofessional to have to deal with. If its major issues and the claims are high then you will also have to get lawyers involved to deal with them and their insurer another wall to go through! I would suggest an independent insurer outside of these organisations as it does appear to be a tight network
Hi, anyone got feedback with Ashcroft Homes builder in Huapai?
Also, which is better loan method 10% deposit then 90% upon completion date OR land mortgage and construction loan fornightly during the building process? Also, any feedback with Master Builders insurance versus HomeFirst builders insurance? Thank you!
Hi Candice, cant help with feedback on Ashcroft Homes. With the loan it depends on how you want to manage the build and what your bank will allow. I took the option to mortgage the land and pay for the build through our capital. This meant i didnt have to wait for the bank to provide stage payments and also removed the additional costs associated with bank valuations. As far as Master Builders, i would never sign one of their contracts again as they provide very little protection for the customer. Almost all clauses are written to benefit and protect the builder. The guarantee also seems to be a bit of smoke and mirrors. I havent managed to get them to help yet in the build quality issues i have. Infact when i complained and asked them to help, they contacted the builder to tell him i had made a complaint and closed my complaint without informing me.
Any feedback on Ashcroft in Auckland please? Candice, Sarah, Debbie? Wanted to find out about their build quality and time/cost budgets performance.
Thanks
Hi Candice
Did you end up proceeding with Ashcroft we are looking into them now and not too sure if we should.
Hi Sarah
Did you go ahead with Ashcroft?
Hi!has anybody had any experience with Wildwood homes in Christchurch? Thanks in advance
south canterbury
Happy to discuss 0279114711. Call anytime
Hi there everyone
My name is Natasha. Partner and I are currently looking into buying a new home.
We are currently looking at the lifestyle blocks in Pokeno.
However after reading these comments I am officially scared, confused and dumb founded as to the building companies we should consider as a few of these companies are contracted to the build of this new subdivision.
We have a meeting with the bank today and I will express my concerns but I’m really doubting this process now
Hi Natasha do not be put off building your house I am sure there is lots of great builds out there i have found on the site it is often different from branch to branch.While our build was a night mare we would build again with another builder. There are the exciting things involved in building choosing your kitchen and the paint etc So if its a build you want go for it and be aware there is some cowboys out there
Hi Natasha ,
We live in around Franklin also and are currently building after researching vigorously.
So far we are very happy with the timeframe, communication and transparency of processes.
From our experience , I would say that the best outcome is to deal directly with the builder to communicate what you want- in our instance the builder is also the Project Manager.
This make for more streamlined communication and hopefully no mistakes.
Bear in mind that larger companies also have longer turnarounds and thus may sit on your initial deposit for longer.
Hope this helps.
After months of fighting with the builder to fix a significant number of defects with our new home, I found out today the company has been put into liquidation. My only recommendation is to avoiding Raymond Walter Lorenzen, trading under any building company name in the Auckland Region, he is dishonest, negligent in his supervision of his subcontractors and incompetent in his ability to manage residential build projects.
We’re in a similar boat. House is just over 2 years old and we’re still chasing up defects to be fixed and refixed, and refixed for the 3rd time. I want to name the company but defamation comes to mind, so wont go there.
Hi RR. I dont think it really matters. The law and contracts all support the builders and you are left with having spent your hard earned money on a home that “just doesnt feel right now”. Interestingly while i am trying to fix all of the issues the builder has left me with, I hear he is in Fiji on holiday.
Hi Martin, Just thought I would mention that in January 2015 the Building Regulations were amended to try to ensure that building contracts are a bit fairer to the client (or at least help the client to negotiate a fairer contract). Obviously you can Google details, but an extract of things now required are:
Prescribed minimum price
Prescribed disclosure information and prescribed checklist
Prescribed content for residential building contracts for prescribed minimum price or more
Prescribed clauses deemed to be included in oral residential building contracts for prescribed minimum price or more
Prescribed clauses deemed to be included in incomplete written residential building contracts for prescribed minimum price or more
Prescribed information and documentation to be supplied on completion of building work
It’s worthwhile to study this, especially the ‘deemed to be included’ clauses, which I assume would apply to any contract over $30K signed after Jan 2015.
Hope you work it all out. Which region are you in?
where to add new business?
Hi i have found by experience the supervisor is the main person in the build in our case it was the supervisor who arranged the contractors it was a night mare a painter who told me himself he had diminished sight and painted while the floor sanders were in.A plumber who did not read the specs and didn’t put the waste master. The builders had a row with the company and walked away leaving the supervisor to put up the range hood put in the waste master and finish the shower sadly we still have the chip in the bath and the wrong fittings. The company although agreeing with us it needs to all be rectified it has never happened. So make sure your supervisor is up to the job and the company is one who cares about their brand
Totally agree. $3,500 – $5,000 is absolutely ludicrous – sounds like they are trying to price themselves out of the job if you ask me! Even with landscaping it shouldn’t be anything like that (assuming you aren’t talking lifestyle block landscaping of course!!). 🙂
Hi . has anyone in Christchurch had a home built by orange. I found the initial consultation very encouraging but am new to building. What I liked was that they were happy to custom a design to our site and understood what I was wanting. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance 🙂
Do not choose Stonewood. Friends had their home in Whakatane sit for close to a year and still having issues getting it completed. Huge hassles with them all over the region from slow poor quality builds to no communication and lies.
Hi … we are looking at putting a house on a rural block in Kaiwaka. Has anyone used Advance Build, up Northland way? They do transportable homes – built in a factory or some such and trucked to the site.
We are looking at using Advance Build this year – did you end up going with them? And if so what was your experience?
Hello I had my first round of discussions with various builders out there and am planning to use Jennian Homes Auckland North & West. Any feedback or advice would be really appreciated.
Cheers
Tom
Is there a possibility this site could have a search box to search the companies already posted? There are so many responses to troll thru and takes forever
I think that would be a great idea RR Hope it could be looked at.
Cheers
It can be really hard finding a reputable online marketing company at the
moment, just going to do it in-house I think
Had to add you to my reading bookmarks, keep up the interesting posts!
Have you tried “The house company” they built ours and we love it. http://www.thehouseco.co.nz/ They have also been very helpful with the after build too.
Forgot to ask Karyn. How much was the average build $ m2? Are you able to share? Thanks
Hi
Am just beginning the build process with them so this is great to know – especially for after build as that seems to be the problem with a lot of builders.
Hey anyone use Signature Homes Kumeu, Auckland for their build? How was the experience and support? Went to GJ Gardner and it seems they very one dimensional and talking to them it comes across as very doubtful to pull of a design thats not from their catalog but a design that we sat and spent time to do with them. Heading for a meeting with the Signature Homes guys but thought of checking with someone who may have suggestions to how their experience was and any price indication for their per sqm? Thanking in advance.
Sorry I thought I replied to your comment but it may have gone through as a post. But I suggested you also talk to “The house company”.?
We also had a house built to our ideas. That’s maybe why I like it so much 🙂 It’s not from anyone’s plans.
Thanks Karyn, will try finding them. Yeah totally agree.. nothing like having your own design and take on how you want to live. We visited Signature today and we they sound better than GJ guys but still when it came to understanding their price indication they went over the top and suggested between $3500 – $5000/m2. At that rate I would rather go with any private builder.. and no this was us being minimalistic with design and things we wanted to be used were not even discussed. So not sure if its us thinking its expensive or the builders just ready to rip us off. Shopping continues..
Hi Cyrus,
My name is Simon Wilson and I work at Signature Homes West as a new Home Consultant. I have read your feedback with regards to pricing and I was surprised and very disappointed by it. The numbers you have stated (between $3500 – $5000/m2) seem incredibly high and are inaccurate – unless you are building a very, very high specification home. I am sorry if you were given this information and I would love the opportunity to clarify what the true costs are.
I’m sorry you were misinformed. I’m not sure who you spoke to and how or why you ended up with this information. It serves us no purpose giving ridiculously high pricing out (98% of those looking to build do not have that kind of budget so it’s self defeating).
It would be useful for me to understand how this misinformation has come about and I would also like to clarify the true costs you seek, so please feel free to call me on – 09 4129010 or email simonwilson@signature.co.nz
Definitely don’t use GJ Gardner. We just built with them and they definitely have no idea when it comes to design and build. If you are in Kumeu try Maddren Homes, they have a good rep and build in the area.
Thanks for that Richard. I shall check it out.. our visit to Signature was better than GJ when it came down to understanding the design and build knowledge but when it came to pricing they went over board and were so vague and quoted $3500-$5000 without even discussing the quality etc.. they did mention how it can be less for an average house would be around that. For us its hard to believe as a volume builder rates compared to an architectural builder should be cheaper. But hey we could be wrong.. will definitely checkout Madden Homes.
If you pay more than $2,000 – $2,500 per sq mtr, for a standard build on a reasonably flat section, you are being ripped off. I am in the process of starting a build and I have done a lot of homework. I’ve have decided to go with GJ Gardner (for reasons of my own) and have not had any problems with them changing and altering designs to meet my requirements. The figure I stated came from a number of private builders, builder clients and building companies. This cost includes site work and a driveway on a relatively flat section, but no landscaping, fencing etc. Obviously there is a lot of other factors involved, like the slope of the section, earth works required, drainage and stormwater, building materials, etc, so choose wisely.
Hi Mornay,
What was the rough cost of your build with GJ? Which franchise were you with? Was it on your own section?
Hi there!
I’m at the show home today at Maddren Homes until 4pm (248 Main Road, Kumeu) if you still haven’t chosen your builder 🙂 We are design and build so welcome any plans or ideas you have.
Nicolle
Hi, which builder did you end up using to build your house in Kumeu? I am also contemplating which builder to choose that is within our budget too. Thank you!
Haven’t decided yet Candice. After meeting Signature even though they quoted high and some of the things the design person was mentioning a little off we drove out to Signature out in Hamilton just out of curiosity to see how they dealt with the same queries we had and to understand the build costs etc as the Kumue franchise came across as they ready to rip us off and had reasons pre prepared to make it look legit. So after our visit last weekend to the Signature guys in Hamilton we found the Kumeu guys are indeed bullshitting about the costs and also the quality for the $ figure. It put us off for sure. We even ended up asking the Hamilton franchise if they could build in Auckland but sadly they don’t. We are are still hunting.. someone here suggested Madden Homes, will check them out too. So far GJ and Signature Kumeu are not convincing and coming across very unreliable. Please do let us know if you come across someone decent.
Thanks for the tips! I shall avoid GJ and Signature. Have you tried Universal? I have 2 friends who used them at Long Bay and Huapai. It seems like their experiences were good. I would like to buy their house and land packages but they are out of our budget. Also, the friend in Long Bay said that what universal quoted is what they paid for without variations or other hidden charges. Her only complaint was the after sales service took longer than she expected.
Have you tried Maddren Homes at all???? I’m talking with them currently and they seem to be okay however a little expensive………
Just finished building with GJ NorthWest (owned by same people as North Shore; Tony Houston) and it was a very drawn out costly process. We have built before (with Nautica Homes – who were amazing). Comparing the experiences this was an absolute shocker! If you build with GJ thinking you can always call the Head Office for support think again. They are not interested in helping.
I won’t say to much on this forum as we are considering further action however what I would say is – if you are thinking of building with this GJ franchise then get a good lawyer to push back on clauses in the contract before signing. Also be prepared for your move in date to be changed several times and for you to NOT be communicated with or fobbed off on a regular basis.
Hi HobPointOwner, we are currently experiencing a similar situation with GJ’s Whangarei franchise. We signed on with them at the end of April 2016 and were told our home would take about 8 months to complete. That was 15 months ago. They blame contractors and anyone else they can for delays. The owner, Peter Butler, is awful to deal with and has sent us emails with comments we feel are unprofessional. I contacted HO a few weeks ago and have found them to be absolutely no support at all – they just keep saying they’ve talked about it and will make changes in their training, which doesn’t help our current situation! We have also found the franchise terrible communicators.
Cyrus, may I suggest you make a formal complaint to the Owner/Director of the Signature Homes Franchise in Albany – I know him, his wife and family personally and know he would not like to hear this is going on. You may find he may very well give you an accurate figure for what you are wanting to build.
And Kumeu is over priced.
I wish I had gone with my gut and built with Madden homes, currently with Mike greer
I can understand that. We made the same mistake and even 3 years later still regret it.
Hi Jodie, where did you build with Mike Greer? We’re considering building with them in Millwater and would be very interested in your feedback.
Hi there …the price per sqm thing really does not come into it….
Get your own plans drawn up then present them to the different companies for a costing…remember to find out how much they have allowed for kitchen, carpet and tiles etc…some lower price per sqm companies can also mean low budget kitchen etc…by having your own plans you do not got locked into the deposit with the company…if you get them to draw your plans and then price it and you don’t like the price ….you have to walk away without your deposit and without the plans that you have spent many hours on.
You need to know what their PC sums are and ask to see the quotes from which they come up with these figures….PC sum blow outs at the end can cause you a lot of stress when you have budgeted for one amount and then owe them 50K more ….tell them you want all of your decisions that are made after you meet with color consultant electrical and kitchen not to include their 180.00 odd variation fee….ask for their best site supervisor and building team…the wrong supervisor can set you back weeks with late deliveries and unorganized subbies…Remember your building company has screwed down the price rate to the subsidies so they will go in and do just the bare minimum to get the job done…any errors that come up the housing company will be looking who to on charge the extra cost to…if that is not a subbie then it could be you…
check everything out…get kitchen and electrical quotes first before signing contract with them…get your contract looked at by a lawyer they are usually geared totally to the building company.
Anyway I could go on and on..
Strongly advise against building with Signature Homes. They call their guarantees the best in the business but they stand for nothing. Friends are living a nightmare in a leaky Signature Home in Albany which the company refuses to fix. Also suggest you do an online search for details of franchisees who’ve been ruined by Gavin Hunt and Signature Homes.
Any feedback on Sentinel homes?
Hey Adam, whilst we haven’t built with them I have had a lot of discussions with them via email and I must say I am very very impressed with them. Put it this way. They had a plan I liked, I told them what we wanted and they gave me a rough price that night which even stated what door handles would be used. I have done the same with A1 homes, and, well I haven’t heard back from them since March! And even then she kept dilly dallying around. So we’ve completely given up on A1 homes as their communication was utter crap.
Hi Carly,
Did you proceed with Sentinel?
Thanks,
Nimfa
Hi, feel free to leave your email address and or phone number and I will contact you.
Cheers
Hi all,
Any feedback on Landmark Homes Wanaka area sincerely appreciated.
Yes! Hope you got everything resolved 🙂
Hi, We are looking to build in Prestons Park Christchurch. So Far we have narrowed it down to 5. Horncastle, Orange, Peter Ray, GJ Gardner and online design and build. Any reviews on these companies good or bad would be appreciated. Orange homes look good as we can do some of the work ourselves and have heard good things about Peter Ray so far.
Cheers
Have you had any reviews on GJ Gardner North Canterbury?? Or Horncastle??
Hey there. Don’t have any experience with Horncastle or GJ Gardner (although there are some reviews further up this chain I think on GJ Gardner). Two friends built with Orange – one was pleased (private build) other was not (insurance rebuild). Think that the finish on both was good though. Have built twice with Peter Ray. Absolutely fabulous. Really nice people and one of the few companies that actually tell you about any extras up front and bend over backwards to sort out anything. Can thoroughly recommend them. Also have a look at Paul McStay – also very good. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Sally. Thanks for the info. We are down to 4 now. Gj Gardner is out as the consultant didn’t know what she was talking about, so didn’t get a good impression there. Others have been good with positive feedback and helpful. Plan ideas have been quick to be drawn up, so will be getting prices over next week and then make our decision. Consultant for Peter Ray has been very good and knowledgeable so is probably our front runner at this stage.
Cheers
Adrian
Hi Adrian,
We’re also in the same position. Have been impressed with Peter Ray’s team and the process looks good too. We’re down to Peter Ray, Today Homes and Horncastle with a possibility of Compass Homes and Online Design and Build. Today Homes and Peter Ray certainly seem to be good price wise, as well as having a good finish on their show homes. TH want you to pay to get it drawn up and priced though, while PR will do the whole pricing stage for free. Horncastle have been great to talk to, but we haven’t had the responses we’d expect when trying to find out how to get some pricing.
Maxim looks good, but we don’t have the budget to work with them.
Have heard good things about Paul McStay as well, but as we haven’t seen a show home, it’s harder to judge what they’d be like.
Cheers
John
Hi John
Thanks for your info. Keep posting here with your progress as I will. Linda at Online design and build has been very good and prompt and you get the feeling she is dedicated to you plan. It is nice that they are the owners and so you you know who you will be dealing with through the whole process. James at Orange has also been good but a little less prompt, however the ideas and plans he has drawn up have been good. Lastly Erin at Peter Ray homes is very good and is making a plan and pricing at the moment, she is knowledgeable and easy to work with. As I said before the GJ Gardner consultant doesn’t have the knowledge and seems annoyed when we have come up with changes and ideas for what will be our home. Mike Greer were initially good, however when the initial design was a bit expensive, we asked for some changes to reduce costs but haven’t heard back from them in 2 weeks+ ( I think we may be too small a fish).
Cheers
Adrian
Hi Adrian and John
We are looking at building with Peter Ray in Preston Park. We have been impressed so far with their showhomes and some positive reviews but recently some comments about the project management side of it are concerning. Did you end up using them? And if so, how did they perform?
Hi All,
We are now looking at Compass Homes House and Land package at Pokeno. Anyone who has experience with them Compass Homes Franklin (Auckland), good and bad?
Excellent. The build came in under budget and we were informed really well at all stages. Would definitely have another stress free build with them again.
Hi. Has anyone had recent experience with Wilson Built Homes out at Lincoln? Just had a good recommendation.
Also, would anyone have any thoughts about building companies using a different criteria for insurance rebuild quotes rather than just to a private paying customer?
Attic Installations Ltd are cowboy builders and i would not recommend them:
1. They turned up with wooden stairs after I had ordered steel stairs.
2. I compromised and agreed that they could install the wooden stairs to save them another trip.
3. They tried to rip me off with the price difference.
4. They then did a very unsatisfactory job and wanted to charge me extra to fix the installation to ensure a tradesman like standard!!
5. I can supply photos to anyone who doesn’t believe me.
We are in the process of building with Stonewood in Rodney. Chaos! The left and right hand are doing different things. They are sending us variations to contract with huge additional costs with a complete disregard for our finances or any form of consultation before making changes. Their policy is not to give cost breakdown for these variations but instead you are expected to sign off thousands of dollars with a one line explanation in a language that someone not in the trade will struggle to understand. We are pushing back but believe me it is not making for a pleasant customer experience. I have heard that this is the same of any building company out there….it probably is…but would it not be nice to be with a company who does not make you feel fleeced every day? PS…at the time of writing this we dont even have the slab down so it is a long road ahead!
GJ West Auckland, Tony Houston is exactly the same. Nightmare! I feel your pain. The left hand definitely doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. They work in silo’s and the only time they contact you is when payment is due. Have to say the workmanship is pretty average. Would never use these guys again. There is no customer experience – well not a pleasant one anyhow! Can’t wait for the market to change when they actually have to offer service to win business. Good luck with you build. Get a good lawyer.
Hi Anne, that is disappointing to hear. I hope the remainder of your building experiences improves and hopefully meets your expectations.
I’m considering entering a contract with the same GJ franchise currently. Would you be happy for me to contact you by email to discuss your experiences as well as things to watch out for?
Kind regards,
Peter
Hi I’m having a few issues with g j Gardner. The ccc is about to be issued and final payment is due however they committed to fix some issues prior to the ccc being issued. I contacted head office but they pointed me back to their franchise that I had contracted with.
Is there anyway of stopping the final payment until they fix the outstanding issues?
They will bully you into paying and promise to fix everything. Invest in a building disputes lawyer now, may cost you a couple of thousands but its the only way to hold money back and get action.
The sales process is slick, head office offer absolutely no assistance and GJ North Shore owned by Tony Houston say don’t worry we will fix it and you get fobbed off.
Did you know that Tony owns the North Shore and West Auckland franchise? You were right about head office.
Hi there.
Stick to it. It is very common these companies (weve built with Stonewood) to do this. The variation MUST be substantiated and justified. Do NOT pay for any variation that is NOT at your direction. It shows that they have made a mistake in pricing and is their risk, not yours.
You are legally entitled to hold back money if you need to. Don’t be bullied. You have backing in the form of the Building Act.
We had a very protracted process and are still awaiting CCC some 3 months later. We have held our final payment until we get the piece of paper in our hands. All variations they tried to submit we asked for detailed breakdowns .
Thanks I wonder if there is anyway that I can check that they only have taken the builders margin of 20% on the rest of the variations. But I really need to know how to put a hold on the CCC so they can’t get paid till I’m happy. I’ll ring the council tomorrow.
We are building with stone wood in the same area. What an absolute nightmare. Horrific customer service, no communication, no empathy, some shocking building errors and heavy unexplainable variations costing thousands
Do not touch them with a barge pole
We are building with the same stonewood outfit. Having the same issues. What a shocking company. Throughly regret ever going near them. Cowboys
Hi, am trying to do some homework on the two franchise we are choosing for our central otago budget build. Has anyone dealt with either Jennian homes or platinum homes for this area and how did they find the experencies? Thanks
All up jennian finally completed a good job. Only major problem we had was they never turned up every day to do the job. Make sure you give them a due date of completion if possible. Auckland build. We are about to build another home but not rushing to jennian but going by the comments here on this site where are the genuine good guy builders. We have no idea who to choose???
Hi, we are building in central otago area, we have narrowed it down to platinum homes or Jennian. There a some comments that don’t recommend Platinum but not much on the Southland Jennian franchise, anyone had good or bad experencies with these two? Thanks
My advice is to keep away from Platinum Homes. (MASS Construction) the noose is tighten with this company rotten service and bullying culture. I’m surprised the media hasn’t done a story on these guys.
Hi there. Is that in Wellington?
anyone have any comments on landmark whangarei???
We are currently looking at Golden Homes, Rodney, for our new build on a lifestyle block. Has anyone any experience with them? Mainly interested to know if they more or less stick to the build time and if there is much waiting time for sub contractors. Also, project management – good or bad?
Hi Marie, I did build on a lifestyle block with Golden Homes Rodney in about 2001, but I suspect it was a different owner/building company then. If it was in Chch I’d say don’t touch them with a bargepole but Rodney might be different (it was more about the people than the actual build you see). Some observations about Golden Homes though that you may want to take note of. When building on a lifestyle block you will find their PC sums in relation to electricity connections woefully inadequate. I have found all building companies only seem to include pC sums that would be for connections on a suburban section. We built in Kumeu and ended up paying about $3000 extra for the extra trenching and cable laying it required from the electrical point. The other thing with Golden Homes is that their “building guarantee” is not an independent one like Master Builders. It is provided by a company owned by the people who own the head franchise and doesn’t cover for a lot of the things a Master Builders would cover (e.g. bad workmanship/materials and loss of some moneys) it only really covers structure. On the good side I would thoroughly recommend the building with the Zog steel. The small house I had built with them has had none of the usual popping of nails, cracking of paint etc etc that you get with wooden frame. Just make sure you keep an eye on any build as it takes place as mistakes are pretty much always made and its good to nip it in the bud early. Hope some of these comments help – but hopefully someone else has built more recently with Rodney GH and can give more of an insight. 🙂
Thanks so much for your reply. Every bit of information helps with the final decision.
Hi Marie,
Please contact me. ricksone66@gmail.com
BUILDING COMPANY REVIEWS have been building the dream homes for a lot of families who got satisfied with the strong and durable homes he made for them that too with the creative designing.
Building Contractor in Pakistan
Any experience, good or bad, with any Whakatane builder?
HI Daniel, I too am wanting to build in Whakatane, can anybody please recommend a good efficient builder.
I would like to build landmark if possible.
please can someone out there help us
HI Barb
do u now have a builder?
Yeah….. cos we all want a building contractor in Pakistan! Very useful. 😉
Hi all. Well, I after reading many of the comments here, I am now VERY confused about choosing a building company!
We are in the process of purchasing a section of land in the Christchurch area. We would love to have an architect designed house, but worry about the cost. We are now thinking of going with one of the “Signature” type companies offering a fixed price, but with the option of making some changes (obviously with additional costs for that). We will be building in a windy area and worry that an “off the shelf” design may not suit our site.
Reading through these comments, I was crossing off the “baddies” from my list and have now ruled out everyone I was considering! I’m not sure if anyone can recommend a “design to build” company or an architect that will not cost a fortune, or do we just accept that we pay a fortune for an architect design and then try to find a reasonable builder?
Thank you.
Hi Nadia, what part of Christchurch are you looking at building? I’m about to start the process of building in Church Bay (Diamond Harbour) which is also very windy.
We are avoiding the larger building companies and going with a smaller company (Strategic Homes) who actually use Paul McStay Homes for the build. From everything I have read I would recommend considering some of the reputable smaller companies, and they can still offer a fixed price.
Hi David.
We are looking to buy a section in Loburn at the top of a hill with little protection, so don’t want wind to make our lives a misery. I think we may have to consider your suggestion. Thanks.
Hi Nadia, and others who wrote about windy sites. Just a brief comment on this. If you’re talking about windy in the sense of being somewhere (eg hill or clifftop) where you can expect occasional very strong winds, bear in mind your architect/engineer will need to design for this in terms of possibly special window flashings and stronger framing (ie extra cost). But if you’re talking about life frequently being made a misery by wind, then you need to design the whole layout to try to put areas for outside use on the sheltered side of the house. Unfortunately that can mean they don’t face the views. All things to think about before buying the section.
Thanks Chris. Good point.
Hi Nadia – I would agree with David and recommend using a smaller builder. I can also recommend Paul McStay – they are a trustworthy builder several friends have built with him and very pleased. Can also recommend Greenland Homes – we have built five places with them now – he uses a very good designer called Jeff Mason who can do all kinds of designs and has some great ideas. The other builder I would recommend who is actually a bigger one is Peter Ray – we have built with them before and they are very trustworthy on price – they always tell you if something will cost more and their show homes are up front with pricing too rather than you thinking you are getting something you are not. So hopefully that will give you something to think on. Good luck. 🙂
Thanks Sally. I have looked at a few of them already, so will have another look. I appreciate the advice!
well I have perused website, and found that feedback good and bad, is helpful. I have also picked up on a number of ideas re contracts, and that thing called addendum. so have never built before so sifting through info has been a little labour intensive however have found informative. one of my observations from this site is a lot of comments made upon building companies – does not always state which franchise, people are having difficulties with… I find it such a shame that one franchisee owner can have such a negative impact on the whole franchise… at this stage, we are looking at landmark in whangarei does anybody have any comments good or bad. which would give some insight thanks…
The guys at Landmark Whangarei asked if I would discuss my experience with them in reply to your comment. I moved in to my home in February 2015 and found the building experience with Landmark to be very positive overall. There were a few minor ups and downs but the staff were great to deal with and once the build got underway the house went up very fast and with few dramas. I love my home and would definitely recommend using Landmark Whangarei. I’m also happy to discuss the experience with you personally if you would prefer. Just ask Clint at Landmark for my details.
We are considering Landmark Whangarei. Was the build on time. Is there good insurance to cmlete the build. Did you get any nasty surprises with costs during build or was it fixed price. Thankyou.
I am thinking of getting GJ or A1 to build my place in rural Dunedin. Is it a good choice l? Any other recommendations? Thanks lots!
Hi Nadia, Did you end up finding a builder in North Canterbury? I would be interested to hear who you chose as there are a number of smaller builders around (and personally I’m not that keen on the larger building companies, too many horror stories and too little control over who you get as your contractor). Thanks, Kelly
Hi there,
Thinking of building a home with GJ gardner north shore franchise vs. signature homes (North Shore) currently. Its a big decision so we want to be careful. Lots of comments about GJ on this thread, but none specifically on the North Shore franchise. Can anyone comment on their building experiences with them?
Also, heard GJ north shore franchise (Team Build NZ) is currently up for sale .. can anyone shed light on the implications of this if starting a build with them?
Appreciate your help
Hi there,
Our building experience with GJ North Shore was dreadful. Several delayed move in dates, attention to detail is poor. They are all nice as pie and promise the world when a payment is due. In between these dates communication is poor. We are very under whelmed. Be prepared to project manage your own house and I felt that costs were not that transparent. They share with you what they want to.
Hi Anne, i am about to sign with GJ North Shore – and i am keen to ask you a few questions around your comments regarding costs not being transparent and their attention to detail. Do you have an email i can contact you on directly? Thanks!
Hi Anne,
We did not build with GJ Gardner because of the lack of details in their quotation and later on in their contract proposal. When asked for more details or specifications, they had refused to do so and we decided to drop them.
Most of surprises and cost increases will arise as a result of poor definition of materials and services in the contract you are about to sign. To avoid surprises you should, before signing any contract, define every specification in the contract (e.g flooring manufacturer and reference number, tile manufacturer and reference number, wall paper reference, tap brand and model etc.) in addition some budget items (e.g.) foundations, driveway etc. ) should be assessed to make sure that there will not be any substantial increase (keep in mind that if the budget included in the offer as “allocation” is below real cost they will keep the surplus money for themselves but not if it is the other way around).
Last, plan a good 10% of the build cost as a reserve as there will always be unexpected changes in specifications, some of them will be requested by you.
As you point out their contract proposals etc work in their favour and the detail isn’t always available. We asked on several occasions before and after signing and they say what you want to hear. We had built before (different company) and had a great experience in every way. In hindsight we should never have built with GJ North Shore/West franchise which is owned by Tony Houston however we thought that being a big company they would be professional, that there was the backing of the head office etc etc.
Yes we had a 10% reserve as we knew we wanted to upgrade things – little did we know we would end up spending some of that on lawyers fees.
We are in our house now, on going issues however we are thankful that we are almost at the end of the process and we know that we will never ever build with GJ Gardner again.
Hi Elena,
If you leave a phone number I can call you. Or an email address. Cheers.
We are currently building with Generation Homes in Hamilton. Although initially I found the planning stages a little rushed for my liking, so far everything else has gone pretty smooth. Our foundations have just been poured and I’m interested to hear from others if there are things I should be keeping an eye on.
Hi Sarah,
Watch everything. Generations only consideration is to complete the build in 14 weeks, regardless of what they hand you over at the end, then come back and finish the house properly under the guise of maintenance. Your with Hamilton, we were with Waipa so hopefully your build goes well, but we moved into our “dream” home and then spent the next 12 months having nearly every tradie back to fix up poor work which Generation missed (because they never looked) and we had to point out to them, and I mean two to three tradies a day at times. The maintenance in our case basically consisted of us finding a fault, reporting it to Generation whose only involvement from there was to pass on our contact details to the tradie involved. I see recently they have removed the review capability from their facebook page too , I wonder why. Anyway proceed with great caution, and like I said hopefully they have picked up their game or the Hamilton lot are better than Waipa.
Thanks for this feedback. We are looking at who to use to build in Te Awamutu and will stay far away from Generation homes thanks to this feedback =)
Have you heard anything about Davies homes?
Hi Anon
Have heard of them but not seen their work. If i were building again i would probably go with RPS, classic or if i had a bit more cash Vida, who have a show home on Cambridge Park.
Hi Steve,
Yes we have also been looking at rps homes, they are very reasonably priced. And A1 homes.
Davies Homes does a lot of the St Kilda builds I believe.
So many choices!
New here, is there anyone who could advise on what to do now please? i have a new house build which is 2 years old and still has no ccc. There has been a ‘notice to fix’ in place for the past couple months.
It took this company 1½ years to rectify things we werent happy with. Now, we feel worse off(damaged aluminium, paint on carpet, blotchy gib(even tho its already been level 5’d). We do not feel we should pay the final retainer held back (a minimal 5k). Where do we stand now please?
Hi RR, I’m sure there are others reading this blog who can offer a more expert opinion, but in my view you need a lawyer who knows something about building contracts to look at yours. Because I suspect that what you can now do may depend on exactly what that says, together with any correspondence between you and the builder, and records such as site diaries, and photos you may have taken. In fact I’d be a bit surprised if you didn’t respond to me, by saying you have had a lawyer working on it for many months. It would be very difficult to say what else you should do now, or whether you can withhold payment etc, without seeing all of the above documents.
Hi Chris, thanks for replying. At present there is no lawyer involved as finances are tied up at the moment. We have taken thousands of pics, and have a diary of events that have been happening. We are just sick and tired of the past 2 years and want to be left alone-not wait for people to keep coming and assess things
Hey RR, its a miserable place to be, I totally get you. If you can’t afford a lawyer then a good idea would be to try the citizens advice bureau to see if they can give you some help and point you in the right direction. Is the builder a Master Builder? Do you have a guarantee in place? Because that would be the next step if so. Good luck.
HI Sally, no not a master builder and we have the usual build guarantees in place. I’ve thought of going thru the disputes tribunal tho.
Has anyone in Christchurch had any experience dealing with Strategic Homes?
Is anyone building with GJ Gardners Christchurch South at the moment? Just wondering how you are finding them. What is their communication like? Is there any delays in the build process. What is the workmanship like?
Thank you
Quick comment, please don’t call my number regarding homes that you should or should not build in Nelson. Someone I know well is repeating things made in confidence. This will stop. Ian Durbin. This is the end of the matter!
I’m waiting on repairs for an existing house in Christchurch before I start my build (in Diamond Harbour).
This seems like as good a place to get advice on this as anywhere, but I’m interested in a two storey house with a living area upstairs along with a master bedroom, and then 3 bedrooms/kitchen/living area downstairs. I pretty much can’t find any existing plans online for 2 storey houses that have a living area upstairs unless the kitchen is up there too. Am I going to be stuck with a custom plan to get this, and is there a good reason this arrangement isn’t common?
Hi David – try Landmark. A friend is building with them up at Westmorland and she told me she had specifically chosen because they do a lot of 2 storey and she wanted a living area upstairs. She said they had plans she didn’t have to change much 🙂
In Nelson we have a company called The Orange Group / BQD, hearing quite a lot of negative feedback about them. Their sales tactics involve criticising other home builders methods of building and offering fixed priced contracts that turn out not to be as fixed as you may think!? They keep prices low by quoting very low coverage of kitchens / bathrooms etc. If you are building with them, please make sure you have images of everything you want and have them sign it / your specs may not match what you are expecting otherwise. Seriously, this is a company you should avoid from what I have heard. Milestone, and Jennian are company’s here in Nelson that have a good reputation, and stick with their fixed contracts. Their allowance for kitchens etc are higher so less chance of a variance. Good luck with your ventures. Joane ;o)
Have had a look at many of these comments and my comments as follows.
I am considering a new or major refurbishment and I have time to do considerable investigation. Some observations.
Most people do not read the contract before signing or if they do skim over it and any queries whitewashed by the sales team.
You cannot tar the franchisees of a particular franchise with the same brush. One might be useless in one area and good in another.
I believe its too much effort for a franchisee to change their standard contract, most likely supplied by the franchisor and perhaps a few extra mods/additions by the local franchisee.
While investigating a new build during 2015, Platinum Homes in New Plymouth would not change their standard contract. The contract is waited in the franchisees favour. The one post on GJ Gardener confirms my statement. Would be useful to hear from any one else on this aspect.
Contractors in general, not just builders rub their hands if you make specification changes during the contract. They make money out of this.
PC sums. You can do your own homework on this from a cost perspective. PC sums usually for kitchens, tap ware, bathrooms and lighting.
If you don’t have time to do any legwork then be prepared to pay extra on PC sums as what you select is likely to exceed the sum allowed by design.
One advantage with one of the bigger franchises is the possibility of them having tied up material supplier to get volume discounts not available to the small one man builder. This has to be weighed up against possible better service and lower overheads of the small builder.
Having lived in SA most of my life and in NZ for the last 18 years I’ve come to the conclusion that builders are opportunists and will take as many shortcuts as possible and more if given half the chance.
This is probably a world wide phenomena as well. As an Engineer I am glad that since the leaky homes debacle and Chch earthquake that the building standards have been tightened up and Licensed Building Practitioners are required to do building work. There are some people who call this red tape. I welcome it even if it adds $10 to $20k to the cost of a house.
Hi, We are about to start building in Glendowie and are trying to decide whether to go with an individual builder (who we trust) or a building company for simplicity (and maybe cost). What do people recommend, also has any one had experience with the company BUILD7 in south auckland. many thanks
Hi Amanda – we are in Kohi and are in the same dilemma. We are thinking of using Jalcon but have some concerns over unique design etc. I would be interested in knowing what you have decided? Cheers
Hi Di, my advise is stick with who you trust. If you go with these housing companies you’ll only end up paying more in the long run, oh and there is no such thing as simplicity when building. They are after all only sales people, not the actual builder, and the discounts they may get because they buy in bulk, are exactly that, low disc quality. If you already have a relationship with a good builder and an a reputable architect, then stick with them. You only need to count how many “againsts” on this blog alone. What this blog doesn’t tell you, is how many go through legal action!!
Hi Amanda, have you tried Cranston Homes? I learned about them from this site and visited their show homes. They even gave us a house tour and show us some amazing houses they designed and built in Orewa, Red Beach, Northshore and Auckland areas. Man, we are so glad we checked out this site for advice. Our house is not finished yet but we are very happy so far!!
Hi Rachel. Are you building with Cranston Homes in Glendowie?
Hi Yvonne no ours is on the shore, not sure if Cranston builds in Glendowie?
Hi Rachel. Just wondering how your build has progressed. Any significant issues?
Just a word of warning about Blair Cranston and Cranston Homes he has been kicked out of the Registered Master Builders organisation for breaches of its code of conduct. He is as dodgy as they come.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11772482
Talk about a hypocrite Nigel. “Builders are opportunists and take ….shortcuts…” have you forgotten who was at fault in the CTV building in CHCH, try telling the families of the ones who lost their lives in that building that the ENGINEER did it right! As a builder your comments are offensive. We are not ALL opportunists. We are tasked with converting pretty 1 dimensional pictures on a bit of paper into 3 dimensional 1:1 scale structure, usually a clients most expensive asset.
The work is physical and mental, if we could get even close to your charge out rate it woud be a great day.
Hi all,
We are currently looking to build in Redbeach, Rodney. We have read quite a few negative comments about various building companies like GJ Gardener. can anyone recommend a good design and build company that you’ve used and had good experience with?
Thanks!
1 week out from completing a reasonably large build with GJ Rodney, I can provide a further update here. Our build has been a roller coaster, we have had highs, we have had lows but I think with the best level of planning this is an inevitability. We have had our moments, but with constant vigilance, some necessary rework and calling things out, the result looks good.
One thing you won’t see with GJ is a delay in getting started, they are quick to get the ball rolling. That said one of the things I would recommend is being a lot tougher with the contract negotiation, specifically LD’s for delay, and a more equitable final payment and warranty period. Their contract is very much their contract and they need to wake up here.
In any project building or otherwise you have the delta to manage between sales and planning phase and then the actual delivery. GJ’s selling machine is pretty slick, possibly too slick and you will feel a bump when the post sale experience kicks in. Spend the time and be as specific as possible in the spec, it minimizes cost surprises later and also reduces ambiguity between you said and they said. Read it , study the plans and if you think there is something wrong or a deviation, call it out . Have an independent advisor confirm your concerns. Just don’t assume that everything that is happening is right.
If you don’t have confidence in their PM , demand they swap them out. You can’t set and forget a building project , you need to be involved. At the same time you need a PM that is approachable, takes responsibility, can manage pressure that comes with pulling a multithreaded delivery together and is on top of everything. The same applies to sub contractors proposed for the build. Where possible find out who they are, meet them and form your own impression.
Happy for you to come and take a look at the result. You can even see the state the property is left in at handover. Email me mjpowell@mac.com I know how big a choice of builder can be. You need to take the time , look around and talk to people who have been through the process with your likely shortlist suppliers. Show homes, brochures and media advertising do not provide a balanced view.
The big question would I use GJ again? With the learnings from this build, they would be on my shortlist for sure but with some definite modifications to the whole approach.
Your build sounds like how our build went with GJs Rodney – The sales man was excellent and very approachable. Then the build started off really fast (with some weather delays which were out of our control but what you’d expect building in Winter). They managed to complete almost everything and get us in before Christmas with the promise that they’d fix the remainder and sort out CCC after everyone was back at work – we believed them, paid all the outstanding money and now are still waiting for them to come back and complete work that was in the contract… They’ve been replying to our emails and stuff so I hope they’ll be back soon to complete everything but it’s a very frustrating position to be in… BUT we love our house, the finish is excellent and more than we hoped for. The design we picked suited us perfectly after a few modifications and everyone there is more than willing to help you. We would definitely build with GJs again but we would make sure the house is just the way we want it with everything completed before paying the last of the money and moving in
Hi
Thanks for your post here which is most informative. I’m thinking of building with GJ Rodney – sales machine is slick for sure and they’ve so far outdone anyone else for approach, helpfulness etc., however I’m only in early stages. Also considering working with The House Company who so far I’ve heard good things about. My first build project so any suggestions I’d welcome with appreciation.
Ian Do not use Platinum Homes Rodney as some friends of ours have had a terrible experience with the management and we lost all faith when we built in Karaka with them and would never recommend them at all
That hear say Irene. Could you be more specific?
It is not hear say Ian. It is first hand experience. We contracted Platinum to build our home and once the deposit was made we became irrelevant to their team. We were treated disrespectfully. with arrogance as if we didn’t know anything about building houses. My husband has been building for 50plus years and is now 68 years old. Due to ill health and little return on bank interest we got Platinum to build a home on a section that we not sell to us but could employ them to build after we bought it. The delays, the costing of variations for upgrades were on a average of 35% markup. The franchise owner and his son run the show and we had to take them to court for remedies to be made. I hope thus helps you decide never to build with Platinum Homes
What happened in this court case Irene??, i really want to know!!
I’m also having trouble with these guys. Would love to hear your story and advice. 021 1509 605
Megan you should really give Cranston Homes a call, they are very active in Orewa / Red Beach area. I have just replied to Amenda before I saw your question. We had a design drawn up by a draftsman we are familiar with and got a number of builders to price. Cranston Homes was the only one who went an extra mile – their pointed out a few thing that hugely improved the design and maximised the sun. We were so thrilled. Our house is on the shore. Shoot us a PM we are happy to show you the amazing work they have done for us.
Hello Rachel I was wondering how your house build with Cranston is going/ went. We are having some hassles with them as his cash flow seems to be very slow. did you have that hassle?
Hi Megan, we are a local design and build company and can provide local contact details from previous clients for referrals. We are based in Whangaparaoa.
Website still under construction 🙂 but don’t hesitate to give us a call moving forward.
Cheers,
Becky@duncanbuildingservices.co.nz
We built with GJ in Rodney.. Any building company that guarantees no surprises is smoking crack. The nature of the process will see unforeseens even with best planning. We are overall very satisfied . Happy to share the experience and what we learnt and would do differently next time.
Hi,
I’m planning to build a house in Christchurch. I saw couple of builders including stonewood & trident homes. My maximum budget is 500K for everything. I’m looking for a house around 240m2 size. Could you please suggest some good builders for me to approach.
Looking forward. Cheers
Hi JJ – you could always try our Building Guide website to find a builder. Go here for Canterbury builders – cheers
Mark
http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/builders/canterbury/
Thank you Mark
Hi JJ, when you say $500K “for everything” do you mean build/landscaping or do you mean including the section in there? If just for the build then great but if you are including a section then that would be very tight, even if you are buying in Rolly or somewhere. However, in the meantime some great builders with good ethics are Peter Ray Homes (have built twice with them), Greenland Homes (excellent pricing for the spec) and Paul McStay Builders. 🙂
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I’m trying to include section and home only. I saw some sections in Rolleston under 180K. So my actual budget for building house is around 320K only.
I’m looking at building this year and from everything I’ve read $2000 per m2 seems like a realistic budget you should be looking at. If you’re looking at 240m2 you’re likely going to need to up your budget substantially or decrease your house size (maybe 200m2 is achievable at that price?).
Yep, totally agree with dw. Was just about to type the same thing. 🙂
Hi DW/Sally
That $2000 m2 is a pretty basic, standard house. If you want an architect involved then you’re looking at starting at $2500-3000 and going up. The size doesn’t generally affect the $m2 price but obviously will to the overall cost of the build. There’s more information here…http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/planning/building-costs/
Exactly Mark, couldn’t agree more. Its getting pretty ridiculous for pricing down here lately. Have been doing a few house developments lately and we pay about $1800 ourselves (that’s for a fairly high spec – tiled showers, smart kitchen etc) but that’s developer prices, not “consumer” prices. Its way higher if you go to a housing company. Some are particularly expensive. JJ – There are some housing companies that build off-site now and seem a bit cheaper (saw one on a TV show recently) but it looks like they are mostly in the North Island and not sure if they “ship” them down here. Worth googling though??. 🙂
I disagree. $2k a m2 is actually pretty high spec. Your basic GJs is approx. $1400 a m2. At 150m2 house that’s $205k.
Which is what we paid a couple of years ago. Rates haven’t gone up much and I think it this house is now $1450 a m2 but you get a lot more built into the price.
$2k is a Stone wood or A1 at a higher spec or high spec GJ.
Planning to go and see couple of show homes this weekend and meet more builders to see the possibilities.. Will update you the outcome soon. Thank you so much for your suggestions.
Hello JJ – One option to reduce the cash outlay is to do some of the work yourself. Especially valid if you are not pressed for time. There are specialist jobs that require meeting standards, but a lot of finishing work can be done yourself with some simple tools.
there are a few websites to get these off too – intex.co.nz, buildonline.nz to name some
James is correct – you can elect to do some finishing work yourself, like painting. I wouldn’t recommend plastering unless you know what you’re doing as a high level of finish can be difficult to achieve. Just remember that there’s a time commitment here and exterior painting of timber weatherboards is needed for CCC.
Of course, you can buy the tools James refers to at most building merchants, too.
Any experience with the company online design & build?
Avoid Stonewood like the plaque. Good sales teams, appear to build nice homes but the actual end result and painful process are not worth it.
Just look at the Hamilton and Marlborough branches going under and SW Chch aren’t doing a thing to help those poor people complete.
I would recommend GJs, Classic and Signature however.
Hi, just a point about Stonewoods – maybe an interaction with them should been viewed through rose coloured glasses. Asking them wether they have enough money to pay their subbies to finish the job would be a good placd to start! Then the house buyer wouldnt be disappointed & the subbies would be able yo pay their staff.
Fairly naïve response. Just asking them to be honest wont work. They lied on their disclosure statement to us. So why would they be honest about paying their subs.
Eyes wide open. Run the contract past a lawyer, school yourself on the minimum information to be provided in the contract. I’m in the business and still got caught out.
If the information that is supposed to be provided was correct, we wouldn’t have gone with them. But you don’t know until you know and now we know. This will form the basis of our court case against them.
Hello. We’ve built with Generation Homes last year. No hassle at all. Our agent is really wonderful. She’s with us the entire journey and still checks up on us if we have any issues or concern. I am more than happy to share our experience with you regarding Generation Homes.
Hi which branch of Generation Homes did you build with? We are currently building with Generation Homes in Hamilton and although there have been some teething issues overall we are happy so far.
Hi Sarah! We built with Generation Homes Christchurch. It’s been four months since we moved in and our impression with Generation Homes has not changed. They have the 90-day build guarantee to repair defects and all. We can barely find issues with the workmanship.
Looked at Stonewood here in Auckland. Suffice to say, did not proceed.
Stay clear of Platinum Canterbury
worst mistatke i have made
They are Trouble and not worth the effort
Try anyone else but stay clear of this company
we are going through legal steps
I agree whole heartedly. They are rubbish. The CEO is full of it, talks the talk, but dosent walk the walk. They will take for ever to do anything, promise you the world – and deliver nothing short of pathetic. The CEO is driven by greed, with no thought to the multitude of staff he has gone through and he definately does not regard his clients as his business. Dont even walk in the door of Canterbury, Southland, Wellington, Manawhatu or Wairarapa, which are all owned by the same person and based on the Kapiti Coast. All the licenses are run remotely from there so the support is nothing, they virtually have no competent sales persons left or supervisors to manager your project. You will always be asked ahead of contract to pay each progress payment – but I hope you have time to wait if you are asking for a credit or variation request, absolutley no rush in this department. If you dont believe the numerous blog sites and very poor reviews this man/company has reveived – ask for some references from them, they won’t be able to give you any positive feedback from past clients.
Good luck with any building project that anyone is undertaking – just walk right past Platinum Homes and this man.
Also keep away from Platinum Homes Karaka (Auckland) and Pukekohe. There are comments on this blog about the way they have treated clients. The same franchise owner owns both branches .and I had to take him to court to get some action. I would not recommend Platinum Homes to anyone at all
What happened with the court case? did you win?
This is so true treats staff like they are dirt he has little man but thinks he has a big head I know what he has done to clients and staff and he should not be able to employ staff ,Total rude and puts them down ,does the big spill about going to pay you ex amount for the houses you sell and then doesn’t pay you shame on you ,one day this will come back to you when your not looking
Don’t go near Stonewood Homes in Christchurch. I went there and have rued that decision for the last 3 years. The quality of workmanship is appalling, the customer service non existent, the build time took twice as long as my previous build leaving me out of pocket many $$$$’s. Fixing the problems with the build will take years and if not fixed during Stonewood’s warranty period will have to get done under the Master Build Guarantee . I see they are restructuring and have brought in some heavy hitters but that will not change anything. They got greedy, took on too much work, employed below par sub contractors and instead of protecting a reputation with good customer service and a quality product ended up alienating a lot of people and lost a lot of potential clients.
Same as us. Do not engage with Stonewood Tauranga. Similar story poor poor poor quality from a sub that ended up walking after stuffing up framing to the degree its now not fixable. Stonewoods QA is non existent and although coming to an agreement with their GM the branch owner has reneged on that deal which leaves us in the position of them thinking they will get all of their final payment and walk away scot free. Unfortunately, they have struck the wrong people to battle.
Hi,
We are planning to build our first home in Wellington. We are thinking of GJ gardner or A1.
Does anyone have any experience with either of them ?
Also please suggest your recommended builder and why.
Thanks heaps 🙂
And Hi Manny
Here are our Wellington builders for you to check out…
http://www.buildingguide.co.nz/builders/wellington-1/
cheers
Mark
Hi,
We are in the same situation as you, looking for some (any!) feedback on Wellington builders, especially GJ Gardner, A1 or Estilo…. Russell Homes too.
Not sure if its a good thing I can’t find anything about pretty much any in Wellington?
Manny, coming to the end of s lengthy build with GJ’s, sadly the delivery experience has fallen well short of the sales pitch. Would be happy to provided you some pointers throughout the lifecyle, from moderating the sales pitch, pushing back on the contract (it is onerous and unfairly favours GJ with little willingness to budge), PM quality , Design validity, Communication. We have identified a number of learnings. Reality you are dealing with s large company focussed on closing the deals, not so interested in partnering with their customer during delivery. Don’t for moment be taken in by the ” we make it easy, end to end” pitch. You need to be all over the detail. Our experience with GJ Gardiner in recent has taken us from being raving fans to extremely disillusioned. Feel free to email me and I will share more
HI, We wondered which area of Wellington your franchise was based. We are wanting to buildout the kaputt Coast and GJGardner has been recommended but we have also heard of people in the Wellington area having problems. We are not sure how many franchisees act in the area.
Hi there,
MIke, what issues did you have with GJ? And who was your salesperson?
Hi Mike
Is that GJ Wellington that you refer to? hanks
Currently building with Generation Home Chch (just started) things are going smoothly at the moment. Is there anything I have to keep eye on during this building process.
Comments are highly appreciated
Thanks
Built with them in Cambridge so not a direct comparison but I would say watch anything and everything. Their 14 week build ‘claim’ means excess pressures on their contractors to rush a job to meet a target often at the expense of quality. Visit the site as often as you can and get straight onto them if there’s the smallest thing your not happy with. They chucked ours together and we’ve taken a year of fix ups to get the house to where it should have been when we moved in certainly way beyond anything you could have deemed “maintenance”. Target driven company rather than quality driven. Like I said that’s Cambridge not Chch so hope your build goes better than ours.
Built with them in Cambridge so not a direct comparison, but I would recommend daily site visits if you can and keep an eye on everything they do, they are a time driven rather than quality driven company and will do what ever it takes to achieve their 14 week build time often at the expense of doing a proper job. We have taken a year of call backs and reworks to get our Generation home even close to where it should have been when we moved in. Like I said not Chch so hope they are better than the Cambridge lot and your hope your build goes well.
Hi all
apologies for those who posted over the New Year break – I’ve been away around the East Cape and had limited access to the internet. All comments are up now.
cheers and happy new year (and happy house building).
Don’f forget to check out our new site design – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz. It’s fantastic (if we do say so ourselves) and for design insipiration – http://www.designguide.co.nz – there’s some absolutely stellar content in there around house design.
Hi,
Any suggestion for building in Hamilton, Waikato area? I’ve booked for an appointment with Urban Homes (Hamilton-base builder) but doesn’t seem to have any reviews on them when you look up on the net. Also wants to be in the loop on who to work with for my first home.
Hi Faith,
we have just taken possession of our house from Platinum in Cambridge. The level of finish was beyond our expectations and they did a marvelous job. More important was the quality of communication btween us that allowed a quality build. let me know if you want more details or a phone call.
regarea Thierry
Did you get any advice? I am also looking to build in the Waikato, Tamahere actually. I was wondering if you are going with Urban Homes as I was thinking of using them also? The guy I met with didn’t seem too interested, left the meeting for a while to chat with some other people, was supposed to get back to me three days ago and I still haven’t heard from him. I think this is because my budget is under $300k for the build.
I don’t know about urban homes in Hamilton, but in Wellington, I would not recommend Urban Homes / Competitive Homes at all. Our experience was; one where they did not meet promises, time frames and sometimes just flat out lying.
Hi there, we recommend not going with PRAGMA DESIGNER HOMES and wonder if anyone else has used this company before and would like a chat. We are very disappointed with the company and lack of communication and follow up. Would be interested in your thoughts. Thanks
Hello, I am going to post something might be irrelevant to the topic and I am very sorry about this. Can anyone please recommend a company or builder who does good/certified builders report in Christchurch? I am in the process of searching/buying a house and I know absolutely nothing about houses … Thanks very much in advance!
Chris Sinclair from Sinclair builders is fantastic
We are looking to build in West Auckland. We are considering Signature, GJ Gardner or Generation based out of Rodney. Has anyone had any experiences recently with any of these that they can share?
Mark, thank you starting this blog and also Building Guide. Seems like Godsent for people like me who don’t know where to start and who to contact.
Hi MP,
We are currently building with GJ Gardner Rodney West and I wouldn’t build with them again. The communication has been awful and their project managers seem overworked. We have caught a large number of things that they have done wrong or missed. We have a disagreement currently about the measurements of the kitchen deviating from the signed plan. The good thing is that there has been no price increases (so far).
If I have one piece of advice it is to ensure the contract has the right protection for you in it and when I build again I will have a communication schedule included as part of the agreement. That way I can ensure I know what is happening and can catch any issues before they become too big.
Totally agree , coming to the end of a large build with GJ. Having experienced what we have to date , I would not use them again. Totally agree re the comment from TS on contracting. Their contract is onerous, one sided and they refuse to move on any point. I raised this concern and was basically told we are big, we are the best, you have nothing to worry about. The reality, yes you do. Project Management is sloppy, communication is a challenge and all up a pretty dismal customer experience
Thank you TS.
Finishing a large build with GJ, Be very careful. Not out to bag them but happy to share our experience and the things you need to be aware of with GJ in Rodney. In short a slick sales engine but sloppy delivery.
Hi Mike we are in the process of building with GJ Rodney any advice would be appreciated 🙂 smgodfrey@gmail.com
I would suggest to not pay all money over and move in before you are 100% happy with everything – they managed to get our house ready just before Christmas with a few minor things which needed touching up but now almost 2 months after moving in we are still waiting for someone to come back and fix those things – we have no leverage, they have all their money so have no need to come back, we still don’t have Code of Compliance and it doesn’t really seem like they care or are going to do anything about it
Hi Mike, please could you give me your contact details if you its ok. We are looking to build our first home and our primary choice is GJ. Currently the land we have shortlisted is in Makarau further north from Kaukapakapa. A basic design in a rural land. Or please email me on pramodravi86@gmail.com
Thank you in advance!
Pramod
Hi Mike, currently building with GJ and would like to hear your experience please housebuildexperience@gmail.com
Hi, Can anybody give me feedback on their experiences of building with Signature Homes Northland as we are considering building with them? I have not found any feedback apart from their site.
My friends are building with Signature Homes in Rodney and they’ve had a whole heap of problems – majorly under estimating the PC sums and ending up with a massive bill – they screwed up 3 key feature points in the house and the big boss doesn’t care or want to try and find a solution
Major under estimating of a PC sum is a major problem for the Company and a small one for you. If the item is listed as PC Sum in the schedule then the final cost must mot exceed that amount by more than 10%. Contract law.
Hi Graeme, I’d be interested to know where you got that figure of 10%, because based on the meaning of PC (Prime Cost) Sum I do not see how it can be correct. It is usually taken to mean an allowance for materials to be supplied by the contractor, but on which the principal (owner) has yet to make a final decision. The actual price is to be substituted for the allowance in due course. So for example, they might put in a PC Sum of $1K for an oven, but if you decide you want an oven that costs $2K, then you have to pay the $2K. So the onus is on you to look at the PC Sums before you sign the contract, to make sure they accurately reflect what you might later choose.
Do not confuse PC Sum with Provisional Items, Sums or Quantities. These are for things like earthworks, foundations and drainage, where only estimates of quantities or sizes etc can be made during design, as the final figures might depend on things like soil conditions, or in some cases what the Council might require in the final design. In this type of case you’re much more in the contractor’s or engineer’s hands to make realistic estimates of what might come up. But of course in general the builder will tend to want to err on the low side, because if he’s too conservative it may actually put you off giving him the job. So most engineering/building contracts would include a contingency sum (allowance for the ‘unexpected’, and that’s not you choosing a more expensive oven!) of at least 10% of the total contract price.
Hello everyone
We are looking to build our new home in Hamilton
Does anyone have any experience with landmark homes or burns construction in Hamilton?
Burns construction based in Hamilton http://www.burnsconstruction.co.nz/
Cheers!
Mike
Having built a couple of homes in Nelson and knowing a number of people who have also built I wanted to share my knowledge. We chose Milestone Homes as we liked their approach with the showhome being standard and we knew exactly what we were getting. This isn’t common and friends have been caught out by misleading reps / companies. We dealt with Adam who we had a great connection with and was very helpful. They were upfront with time frames and had the house finished within 17 weeks from wo to go.
Orange were quick to put everyone down but have a reputation for poor quality and going over budget. Friends built with Signature and had a lot of extra’s through the process and as I’ve read on here there are a lot of unhappy GJ Gardner customers. Jennian have a strong reputation for quality & service and haven’t heard any negative comments.
Hope this helps potential builders.
Bloggers, why waste our time making comments on this type of blog!! GUYS WHO ARE WE? Mere homemakers, some first home builders and ignorant at building!! What good does it do to make less than favourable comments on a blog site like this – don’t bother!!! We need the government to sort these dishonest group building companies out.
Yes whatever it is that your company does, no matter how you do it, you make a promise to each and every customer that darkens your virtual door. You enter into a contract, even if the terms aren’t explicitly stated. The consumer pays you something, and you promise to provide a product or a service. There are pledges of quality and quickness. Customer service involves living up to your word on these matters, but it really gets to shine when something goes wrong – correct?
Here’s the thing. Mistakes are opportunities — golden ones. Here’s why. Studies show that a satisfied customer will tell 2-3 people about his experience with your company. A dissatisfied consumer will share their lament with 8-10 people and some will push that number to twenty and those twenty people will tell 100 people and so on. Is this bog site going to that many unassuming new home building families?
But here’s the opportunity. An unhappy customer will become a loyal consumer if you fix his complaint and do it quickly. Eighty percent (80%) of these folks will come back to you if you’ve treated them fairly. That percentage rises to the upper 90s if you respond immediately. Every day you have the chance to transform your mistakes into returning customers — the kind who will tell other people good things about you. Imagine that.
It is not so much the trades & suppliers who work for these group housing companies, (who, by the way are screwed down for the cheapest rate and then have to wait a month in Sundays to get paid), it is the actual group housing franchisees, who are making a killing in more ways than one, abusing us along the way.
What is happening to the 1128 comments on this site, are the housing companies even bought to task about some of the horrendous dishonest behaviour and shoddy customer service when something goes wrong? We say get together and petition the government. We have taken this to our MP and lawyer, maybe you should do the same, and then maybe we can get some traction on this site. Otherwise post this site to your FB page and make an even bigger fuss.
Hi Mandy
Great comments and well done for taking it higher. There are a number of us working in this area, trying to educate consumers and hold building professionals and the Govt to task for poor work. Notables are the Home Owners and Buyers Association – http://www.hobanz.org.nz, and my own Building Guide – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz.
It’s not easy, especially when there is resistance within the industry itself because they don’t WANT to be held accountable.
This blog site is useful in that it can warn people about specific operations that are particularly poor, so it’s more than just an opportunity to whinge. Hopefully people who are building will also look to educate themselves by using the Building Guide and hopefully prevent many of these issues from cropping up in the first place.
I’m always up for a chat, too. 09 360 8885 x2 or email me at mark @ aim-high.co.nz (gaps so the spammers can’t get me).
Thanks for your quick response Mark. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discouraging the use of your blog, but it needs to go a great deal higher and URGENTLY!!! Totally agree with your comment re warning people and the industry not wanting to be made accountable, (that’s obvious), however your site just isn’t warning enough people, as the whole debacle continues to be a nightmare and the housing companies are getting away with it because of the need for cheap housing. Perhaps you need to broadcast it more widely somehow or advertise it on Fair Go or the likes. Just an idea.
No worries – always good to have someone to share frustration with. I am currently trying to engage with MBIE who administer the Licensed Building Practitioner scheme as some research I have recently done indicates poor consumer awareness of new regulations and appalling administration by LBPs around certain new mandatory requirements. Going to the Minister (Nick Smith) is the next step and then the media if necessary, but that’s unlikely to get real change going – it’s more likely to a brief sensation and then the problem will disappear again. If someone else was willing to do that, however…
As I mentioned, feel free to call/email me to discuss. I will also forward your comments on to the senior person at MBIE I’m dealing with.
cheers
MG
Hi Mandy, I’m responding to you because Mark seems to read most of these posts. I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, except perhaps to point out that this blog is of course one of the ways that those happy or unhappy customers can express their opinion, and if necessary warn others of problems. There is also another site where they can put up reviews on specific builders. These should reach a far wider audience than just telling your friends.
Having said that, I remain amazed at how many people seem to come on this blog asking for an opinion on a particular builder, when a quick look through would tell them not to go near him. Seems once people have set their heart on using a builder they don’t want to hear negative opinions. But I guess that applies to lots of things.
One other point, regarding the Government doing something. Based on some horrendous issues, like the ‘leaky homes’ problems, I don’t have a high opinion of the NZ government’s ability to resolve this kind of thing. But to be fair they did amend the Building Regulations in January to make building contracts much more favourable to home builders. Mark might help us all by outlining briefly what those changes were. Since I doubt that many (any?) actual building works have started under those new regulations it will be interesting to see what effect they have in keeping rogue builders under control.
Hi there, is it possible for new home owners to move into a completed house prior to Code of Compliance being issued? Our new home will sit finished & empty for approx. 1 month prior to Code of Compliance so we’d love to move in ahead of schedule. Is this the norm? Guess I’m just wondering whether we’ll be covered by our insurance company etc and whether we’d hinder the Code of Compliance process?
Yes you can. Depends usually on your bank and your insurance company but we have found that most will now accept the final inspection certificate and will give you the final payment and insurance (we are with ANZ and they have accepted the final inspection) and we have insured in the past with Vero but I think most will accept now. You would usually have to sign a waiver for the building company. Enjoy your new home! 🙂
Concurr re insurance and bank. Another option is get the builder to issue a Safe and Sound through the council. This is basically a cert of public use and gives legal entitlement to occupy. This would be acceptable under insurance.
You can, but… Code of Compliance is the Council’s reassurance that the building complies with the Building Code. It requires statements from relevant trades and their registration numbers etc. for accountability purposes. Technically you’re not supposed to move in as it could be deemed unfit for habitation until Code of Compliance is issued. If your builder has used a relevant sub-trade that isn’t licensed then CoC may be refused (i.e. unlicensed electrician or blocklayer). That said, if you’re confident it will pass, then your local council is hardly going to issue an eviction notice within a month and most will usually let is pass.
It has become fairly common practice for building companies to hand over the keys on receipt of final payment rather than Code of Compliance.
Hi,
Has anyone build with either GJ/Horncastle recently in Rolleston CHCH, about to signed a contract with one of them, trying to decide with one is it going to be… Any pros or cons will be helpfull
Hi, this is a great web site, I would like to post comment on 3 different house building companies that we have had building our new homes over the last 6 years. how do I post comments?
You just did, Paul.
So…building with Stonewood Tauranga. I am a builder and project manager with no time to build my own home. Do i regret that decision now! 6 months before getting on site. A shift 3 times of end dates and still missing time frames. Very very poor quality build. Frames that werent aligned correctly and pinned down. Im talking anywhere from 9mm to 45mm due to not string lining bottom plates. I still have walls out 20mm and a bulkhead out 40mm. Holes in the roofing underlay. Frames not nailed off. Cladding not on but batts installed. Missing blocking for valley boards. They missed pre piping the gas! Ive had half the gutter on for a month with no sign of the rest. Changing plans without notice or confirmation or acceptance. No communication (until invoicing time then we get calls once a day). Poor poor poor company to deal with. A very unhappy process for my poor wife to have her dream home treated in such a way. We are still in the process and it will almost be 12 months by the time they finish. Ive taken some trades off them and managed them myself with no problems so they havent even had to manage the entire build and still cannot get it right. Kevin Norris….you run a very bad company trading in shoddy workmanship and i have had enough.Time to speak out and warn others off your company.
Anyone have any comments on Wildwood/grove homes in Christchurch? Thanks!
Hi i can tell you we built with Keith Hay 3 years ago and are still living the memory
Helen .. are you still reliving the nightmare of Keith Hay Homes. We moved into our Keith Hay Homes last October .. It would be fair to say they virtually threw the keys at us. I fought them every inch of the way on issues ..we would of been considered hard customers and while I was in their Drury showroom I overheard one of their sales representatives talking to another about a contract and whether the customers would be hard to deal with .. so I suspect they word there contracts as to the personality of the customer if you get my drift.
We moved in without a CCC because we had stuff to finish ourselves.. The inspection went through with out an issue but there were three pieces of paper Keith Hay had to come up with to get CCC. We are still waiting after 10 weeks for them to come up with them… getting close to our 60 days. We had paid our final settlement date and now they are asking us for more money.. ??? interesting as it was all signed as final settlement. Grrr I personally think the buck stops at the top.. They are mean’t to be a Christian organisation with good values.. haven’t seen any of that.
Hi we had a dreadful experience with Keith Hay Builders. I would go with a private builder next time
We are looking to build in Kerikeri – can anyone recommend a good house build company? Or warn us of who to avoid?! We’re after a 4-5 bed home for a family with possible self contained unit / second dwelling on site also. We like Box Homes but not sure if anyone has dealt with them in Kerikeri (or elsewhere in NZ)? We also like Platinum, but the reviews on this site have put us off in a big way!
For the person looking at building with Platinum in the Rodney district. Please I recommend you do not go with Platinum. If you wish to talk about it I am on trice.kings@xtra .co.nz.
I would recommend using http://www.doyourhomework.co.nz . It will help you a lot.
Further to Skilled Builder above, this is the new MBIE site. To be honest, I’ve found the new site incredibly difficult to navigate. We link to it off the Building Guide website so have a look at both – here’s ours – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz. And Skilled Builder, have a look too and let me know what you think.
Has anyone had experience with Platinum Homes Hamilton/Thames/Whitianga
Hi again
Just an update to let you know our new Building Guide website has gone live today and it’s fantastic. Jump in and have a look – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz..
cheers all.
Mark
Very nice Mark! As a new graduate of Architectural Technology I am really impressed with your site and its information for those who don’t know about building a new home. I really like the Design Guide website too. Lots of nice ideas to incorporate into a new home 🙂
Awesome! thanks for the nice words Sally.
Any one in Christchurch have an opinion about Contract Homes ( used to be called Canterbury Homes) and Trident Homes? Please help….
Be very careful as they keep changing there names to avoid ????
Hi! We are planning on building in Christchurch, on a sloping section in Lyttleton, any recommendations? Thanks!
Hi. We are currently building with Collective Construction and it is working well. I know they have built in Cass Bay. Their website is collectivenz.co.nz. Phone 379 7846. They are a new company but so far (we are up to the lining stage of a two storey house) we have nothing to complain about. They are all very approachable and seem to be focused on making sure we get exactly what we want. Glenn and Daniel are the Directors.
I am new to city & looking for new house build.
In Wellington Region, is it possible to build a house for $400k including section?
Hi Sandhu
It is. It all depends on how big a house you want to build, whether you use a group home builder and a standard plan with little or no changes, who are generally cheaper than a bespoke design and build project, and your choice of materials. At a rough price of $2000 per m2, that will get you a 100 m2 house if the section costs you $200,000, however, that price has to include all the fitouts, compliance costs (Building Consent, Resource consent (if required), etc., and design costs, engineering, drainage, and so forth. Smaller houses cost less to build, fewer materials and less engineering requirements. There are companies who offer house and land packages, too, but realise that if you want to build cheap, you end up getting what you pay for. Check out http://www.buildingguide.co.nz for some critical information around building. Our new site launches in a week or so, too.
A question around the $2000/m2 price that is often quoted. If I am looking at a 200m2 house including an attached double garage, say that garage is 40m2, should I still be expecting to pay $2000 x 200, or $2000 x 160 for the house, and a lower price per m2 for the garage?
That’s a good question. The problem is each house is so different. The $2000m2 is a very rough guide – it will depend on whether you use concrete slab or timber floors, what claddings you use, the kitchen/bathroom fitout, lights and everything else. While the garage may well cost less than the main house, you’re then looking at the level of fitout in the garage – insulated doors, garage carpet, laundry/workshop fit out. A bare uninsulated garage with exposed framing and manual pull up garage door doesn’t really cut it anymore so you may well be surprised at the cost per m2 of your garage!
$2k a square is a hell of a price for a house. I would expect level 5 stopped walls, grade 3-4 carpets and top quality hardware and tall stud. To answer your query about the $2k into the garage…yes it purtains. The reason is the square metre is a fairly accurate way to work out the average cost against the build. $1400-1600 per square will get you a very nice house these days. $2k should be top of the line but its not just the house. $2k should get you the best experience with your builder money can buy. And i say should loosely.
Great to see comment from a builder in here but I do think Skilled Builder is on the light side of the costing exercise. In large part it depends on your build approach – you’ll be very lucky to get an architecturally designed house for anything like the price they mention above, but if you go with a low-cost builder like Keith Hay or A1 then it’s possible. But, as they say, you get what you pay for.
We paid close to $2,700 per sq m for our home and we sure didn’t get what we paid for. Still having major issues 3 years after building, and the people responsible for this and who charged us a 15% management fee, have just one a Master Build Award. Honestly, something should be done about these builders who take people’s money, negatively affect their lives and take no responsibility. And as for the Master Build Association – appalling.
For a group home $2000 a sqm is plenty. Even architectural that indicative cost is getting up there. I would expect $2000-2200. Remembering, the work in a house is down to the finishing, BUT, the taps and shower boxes and toilets are much in a muchness that a group home builder will install. In fact, more than likely the exact same, its the buying power of a group home builder that makes them cheaper for those products.
Now remember, group homes are about speed, money in money out. You will find the typical margin on a group home build to be approx 20% of the build value. Your $400k dream home makes them $80k gross profit. Obviously remove franchise fees, overheads, salaries etc. 20% is huge compared to the market whereby you might find a typical builder will charge 10% but the point is, that builder wont have the buying power on the finishing items so the 10% left over from the margin is quickly eroded into the end cost items. Especially if you like the $300 tap vs the $100 tap for example.
At the end of the day, the more research you can find on the builders building the home rather than the franchise itself the better. Get the bank to back you on the contract and help protect you and above all else, read the fine print.
Quite often they put the contract in front of you and dont show you the project addendum. The addendum supersedes the contract. Get your lawyer to re-do the specifics of both and add in goals like milestone dates with financial implications for not hitting them. Liquidated damages are a good one to add for a completion date. Point of experience from two group home builds, dont take the contract at face value, once your in, your in. It is so so hard to get out.
Once your in the build push for weekly site meetings and weekly updates, hold them to the time frames and basically be a pain in the arse. Hold payments if things are not complete and / or get independent evaluations of progress (hence the bank backing you). Be a bully as they will bully you first. Happy to advise people free of charge if your local in Tauranga and have questions re quality (I can site visits to aid you) or problems with contracts etc.
Wow ..love those comments. You are right about being a bully first.. We have just moved into a Keith Hay Home. The builder they contracted was awesome but he was pretty much beholden to their building schedule .We just had to keep at them and at them.. they delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed … took us 16 months from start to finish to get into our house which was a 115 sqm basic house . The price per sqm was well over the 2000 and that was before we paid for the balustrade and septics. The interior is pretty cheap to be fair but that is keith hay. Good on you for your comments.. keeping at them and being a pain in the arse is the best way to go.#
20% margin – You’re Dreaming…
Hi Skilled builder, we are looking to build with Classic Builders at their Kennedy Ridge new subdivision at the Lakes. Are they someone you would recommend? Thanks~
Here is some further clarification regarding m2 pricing. As Mark said, $2,000 is a rough guide only. The industry standard figures fluctuate quite a bit for each major city but the QV Costbuilder and Robinson rates (industry standard rates based on statistics and inc GST) are as follows: “House 100-250m2 with Concrete Slab, kitchen, bathroom, WC, ensuite, Coloursteel Roof, Medium quality fittings, Linea Weatherboard; Auckland $2,041-2,271; Wellington & Waikato $1,926-2,156; Christchurch $2,099-2,329; Dunedin $1,869-2,099; Palmerston North $1,984-2,214. Quantifying and Estimating. Generally speaking, the smaller the house the higher the m2 rate as economy of scale comes into play. There are certain fixed costs in every build you cannot avoid and these get “diluted” or spread out in larger builds. If you half those figures you get a rough idea for a kitset which still includes kitchen, plumbing fittings and supply & install of roof, spouting and floor coverings. Should also point out that margin calculations are <10% and our turn around is about 40 houses per year.
Hi, does anybody have any experience building in Diamond Harbour area? Currently researching build options, after reading through here I contacted Peter Ray Homes but they do not build out there, I have also contacted Today Homes and Signature Homes who confirmed they will build, but have read mixed reviews on this page for both.
Thanks
We built with Today Homes in 2013 and are very happy with our built. You can contact me on 0274966210 if you would like further comment.
We are currently building in St Albans with Collective Construction and they have been excellent to work with. Their main focus seems to be building us exactly want we want which we have heard is not always the case with group home builders. I am pretty sure they would build in Diamond Harbour and would highly recommend you contact them. http://www.collectivenz.co.nz phone 379 7846
Hi,
has anyone worked with Homestead Concrete Homes, I’m planning having a house built and would prefer to use concrete, if anyone on the forum has already contracted them and worked with them your feedback would be most helpful. btw, the build would be in Wellington
Its incredible to see all the un happy folks out there that have fallen victim to the “Big boy” franchises. Unfortunately the larger you get the less customer focused the company becomes as the owners of the companies have to delegate more and more.
I run a small project management business where transparency is the key, all invoices are provided direct to the client so they can see exactly what costs have been incurred and I run off a cost plus 10% basis not 20% + like others.
Check out Precision Built on trade me and face book if you want the very best house at the very best price that has the entire project over seen by the owner of the company
Hi I am thinking of building with Platinum Homes in Levin however I have learnt that the owner of that company also owns other areas in the lower north island and south island and that he does not have a good reputation. Does anyone have any experiences with Jason Strange?
Hi Jenny, we built with Platinum Kapiti/Levin and it was not a good experience. I wouldn’t recommend them.
Hi Jenny, same guy owns Christchurch franchise of Platinum Homes and we had a horrendous experience with them. I know of others in Christchurch who’ve had the same. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole if I was you. I’ve posted on here several times so I won’t go into great detail suffice to say I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it.
Keep away from this guy hes bad news
I am sure Jason Strange was up in the North Island and he does have a very bad reputation. Do not go near any Platinum franchise. I would never deal with them again after building a home in Kaeaka Auckland. I had to take them to the disputes tribunall to gain satisfaction with regards to their shonky dealings. and I won after 12months of communication with them to no avail
Stay away from Platinum Homes, it will be the worst financial and mental well being decision of your life if you build with them.
Looking for a builder in Wellington, need to know who to avoid and who comes highly recommended? Any advice is so helpful!
We are in the beginnings of finding a builder in Wellington, all these reviews are terrifying!
So I understand it all depends on the actual franchise for places like GJ/Stonewood etc so I’d be so thankful for any recommendations/warnings for basically any builders in Wgtn area….
IN NEED OF HELP
long story short im 24yrs and mum and i are looking at subdividing.
builing new at the back for us and fams. renovate current house and rent it out.
I was hoping to get some help/suggestions of good, fast reliable companys ?
Im looking to build in the manukau area, south auckland.
any help will be much apreciated
quite like platinum homes plans
thanks
Check out Fowler Homes. My friend built with them in Karaka & is very happy with her home.
I am looking to build next year in Pokeno & will definitely give them a go.
Hi all,
I work for McRaeway Homes 2015 Ltd. Technically a new company since February this year, we have over 50 years of history backing us. We’re 100% a new team and have positive feedback on all the projects we’ve completed to date. While we cannot operate in Christchurch itself, we have numerous builds happening throughout the South Island. We’ve made it our policy to work with our clients and make the process as transparent as possible. Our ‘quotes’ are in fact a schedule of works and nothing proceeds until our clients are satisfied with what they’re getting. We also have an active follow-up and remedial policy. Full House Builds come with a Master Builder’s Guarantee.
Just putting it out there. You don’t have to put up with poor communication and sub-standard finishes.
Just a word of advice, before signing any specs, ensure you have seen images of all things you are receiving. This even includes the mixers, sinks etc that you believe you are getting. Many wonderful and friendly building company reps know exactly what to say to get you to sign on the dotted line but can downgrade the specs. We had this happen to us with Orange Group here in Nelson. Check carpets are what they say they will be and anything to be changed on your plan to be changed as you sit down with them and sign for that and ask for a copy or they may just say you didn’t ask for it and the owner will take the reps side. These fixed price contracts often involve downgrades to anything you might see. Saves legal action and frustration later down the track. Good Luck on your build. One of the best companies on the market that I am aware of is Jennian and Milestone. Most of the others I have heard horror stories from. John
Just a heads-up to anyone looking to build in the Christchurch region. McRaeway Homes in Christchurch are no longer operating under the McRaeway name as this has been revoked. I understand they are continuing as ChCh Home Builders. I would also point out that we at McRaeways have no association with ChCh Home Builders and are pleased to be the sole users of the McRaeway Homes name. Their contact details have been removed from our website.
Anyone have a good recommendation for building in Kerikeri
Hi. Has anyone had experience building with Signature Homes in Christchurch recently? I am considering to build a house in Wigram or Prestons. Thanks.
Don’t go with them I have heard terrible things about there lack of quality and unfinished work
Hello Liz! I would certainly recommend Generation Homes. Our build started first week of July and we’ll be moving in to our house on Oct 23, a week earlier than the target move in date. Our agent, Project Manager and Sub contractors are easy to deal with. If you want to know more about our experience with GH, just let me know.
I’d suggest you read all the reviews on GH before you go anywhere near them. I wouldn’t recommend them to build a letterbox.
Hello,
We are looking to build in New Plymouth. Can anyone recommend or has experience with a reliable builder or company that we can go through? As well as this if you know of any builders or companies we should avoid please advise.
Thanks so much!!
Hi
Just wondering who you ended up going with? We’re looking at building in NP too so it would be great if you could pass on any information you found out.
Thanks
Hi everyone,
Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with Signature, Jennian or Stonewood homes in Nelson? Just trying to finalise our building company decision.
Cheers
Hi, I am a window cleaner in Nelson and hear all the good and bad experiences in Nelson. The best to my knowledge is Jenian homes. Orange group, Signature, Endeavour, and Stonewood please avoid. G J Gardner is the worst of the lot. Don’t get too dissuaded on price. Most of these companies state a fixed price offer but you will find the specs you sign for may be downgraded, follow up service is pretty poor also. When signing the specs make sure you know what everything looks like. You don’t want any nasty surprises. Milestone, the sister company is a cheaper version to its sister company Jenian. Adam is a good man I believe. Inhaus is good. And don’t leave out Versatile homes. Good group of people keen to please. Don’t listen to the sales talk of Orange and Signature many people have been very dissatisfied. Peter Ray Homes, pretty good a lady called Kathy works there and is on the ball. Hope this helps. Cheers John
Hi we have just bought a section in Nelson & looking for a building company. Our top choices were Orange,Gj & Signature but also an afterthought Jennian. However readings comments here ( & heard today not Orange or Gj from a tiler friend) it seems Jennian are one of the better. Is there a small reputable local builder or any other company (? Peter Ray) to approach. Any other help / info would be appreciated.
Hi, would like to know if anyone had any experience building with “NZ Homebuilders” in Auckland, we are planning to build with this company, any comments would be much appreciated
Hi there,
Can anyone recommend decent and reliable building company in Auckland?? Many thanks
Happy to recommend Maddren Homes.
Is there anyone knows can we move into our new house before we are receiving the code of compliance? AMI agree to insure us and we do not have a problem with the lending.
We’ve been living in our house for five months now and we are still waiting for our code of compliance. Hopefully it’s on it’s way as council consent was given almost four weeks ago. We are fully insured so my understanding is it’s fine.
Might be an idea to check with the local council as well, surprised the Insurance co would agree.
Also building co will probably require payment within days of moving in. We did this and it created problems. Under our contract, moving in constituted the beginning of the maintanence period, even thought there were outstanding items requiring finishing which took 3 months to complete, hence no maintainence period. Get the building co to approve your move in writing before you move in.
Hope this is help full.
Hey, yes you can move in. Usually you will have to sign some kind of disclaimer agreement with the builder and of course they will want paying in full. From personal experience, most banks and insurers these days are happy to lend/insure just on the final inspection certificate from the Council rather than the CCC. As for the maintenance period, that is something you might want to check if it will be affected. If you signed your contract for the build after 1 January 2015 then you are actually covered by the new law under the Building Amendment Act which gives you a full 12 months maintenance period (this doesn’t apply though if your contract was signed before that or if work was done before that). Hope you enjoy your new home! 🙂
Thanks BWT
You should jump over to http://www.buildingguide.co.nz and have a read.
cheers
Mark
It’s nearly impossible to find knowledgeable people
in this particular subject, however, you sound like you know what you’re talking
about! Thanks
We are about to go to contract with G J Gardner Rodney (West Auckland) Franchise.
we have been seriously impressed with the support and professional advice so far. Very responsive to our communications, fully listen to our requirements, looking forward to the build.
Hi, re the comment about builders getting fed up with clients seeing fixed price and then not doing proper research/not understanding bespoke designs…Some of us are reluctant new home builders, having lost our original homes in the Christchurch earthquakes. I knew absolutely nothing about building. Why should I? My occupation and background do not require it. Yet, over four years on, I am dealing with the complexities of an architectural rebuild. I think it would have been great if the building companies I dealt with had looked out of their own bubbles and realised that in this case, their clients’ ignorance is not something to be disdained and exploited. It is just normal, and so just realise that things need to be explained really well. For example, I never knew what a Variation was, never knew there was the margin I had to pay for anything after contract was signed. I did ask the BC, now is there anything I should know about extra costs, and they said no, assuming I suppose I knew about Variations and GDT. Hence i blithely signed the building contract 3 years ago, and now face forking out nearly $100,000 in variations, including margin fee and GST. Stuff like carpets and better wooden flooring, and upgraded bathroom fittings (the contract ones were underspecced, i later learned) I would have organised to be in the contract had I known…..
Anyone there have feedback about GJ Gardner Homes Whangerei?
Hi there, We intended to build with them until we started the process but didn’t sign the contract as the sales person is the only point of contact you are allowed to speak to.She knew nothing about building. They took 3k to get a quote and told us that it would be for conceptual drawing and if we didn’t go with then that the balance would be refunded. Try getting any back!!! Very disappointing and anyone intending to build with GJs Whangarei, Beware. The devil is in the detail. Went with A1 homes.Totally different experience. You can speak to anyone in the company and these people ARE real builders.
That seems odd. Just finished a build with GJ. We had a very good sales person, knew her stuff, some useful suggestions and a great sounding board. The contract signing saw the sales person back out and the slab PM take over. At this point estimations of total build plan are provided, but it is a completion date , not a sharing of the plan. A mistake push them for this.
Secondly make sure you gave independent advice around drainage and rain water collection design. We had a near miss here.
Once the slab is down, there will be a change in PM to the build completion. Insist on weekly meetings , insist on the ability to inspect before accepting stage payment claims. If it doesn’t look right, sound right don’t be frightened to ask questions.
We are pleased with the finished result. They are an honest supplier but you owe it to yourself to manage progress closely.
Thats really odd. Seems in contradiction to what you posted 28 Feb 2016. Just an observation. 🙂
Sorry Jan 28 🙂
Hi, would like to know if anyone had any experience building with “NZ Homebuilders” in Auckland, we are planning to build with this company, any comments would be much appreciated
Just a word from a Tradesman, I have worked with nearly all of the group builders as a sub contractor and yes, on occasion seen some terrible work.
BUT;
Generally most of the group builders do try hard and turn out a good product, with the best bang for your buck, do your homework and see what your square metre rate comes out at….
Go to one of there work in progress sites and see the finishing detail and ask about the timeframes.
If you have good prompt correspondance and transparency with the builders representative you
should not have any problems as these guys do actually value there business and do not want it to go down the pan.
Just to give you the heads up I built with Platinum Homes under 2 different franchises, Once in Puhoi with the Orewa crowd and now up in Kerikeri with the Northland/Whangarei franchise.
I still live in my Kerikeri house and 5yrs on we are still very happy with it.
I would build with them again tomorrow…
I’ve actually made an inquiry with Custom Homes so your input has been really useful.
Has anyone had any experience with eHaus anywhere in the country?
Hi has anyone had any experience with Trenz homes in Canterbury ?
Hi, Just wondering if anyone has any experience in dealing with Classic Builders (Queenstown)
Has anyone got any advice regarding builders in the Queenstown area? Anyone had any good experiences?
My husband and I have a block of land there and are hoping to start building our first house towards the end of the year. We like plans from Stonewood and Platinum, but after what I’ve read on here about Platinum I don’t want to use them. Not sure what the franchise in this part of the country is like though.
Hi Jodie
These guys are friends of mine and I can recommend them. They’re lovely people, too…
http://www.dunlopbuilders.co.nz
Thanks for your response Mark, much appreciated. I will have a look at Dunlop Builders website and send them an inquiry.
Hi Jodie,
Check out Custom Homes – Greg has built a few houses in Queenstown, Wanaka, Cromwell etc and he is fantastic to deal with!
http://www.customhomes.co.nz
Hi Kendyl, thanks for your response. I’ve actually made an inquiry with Custom Homes so your input has been really useful. Great to know Greg is good to deal with throughout the building process and that you’ve seen some of the houses he’s built.
Has anyone had experience with Trident Homes Chch? Can’t really find much in the way of comment or review…
How did you went on with Trident Homes?
Hi everyone.
I am not sure it is right platform to ask question about building up home in dunedin otago. We have approached G.J. garden. If some one can suggest us like what we need to look mainly when get estmated cost from company. This will be our first home so wanted to know what basics we should look for before the construction like drainage connection & all. . can anyone guide me for this ?
We are looking at using Platinum Homes in Whitianga, but are concerned with all the comments regarding other Platinum franchises has anyone used the Whitianga group
Hello,
We are wanting to build in New Plymouth. Can anyone recommend or has experienced a reliable, honest builder or company to go through?
Thanks so much!!
Hi Charlie. A few years back I used an independent builder – John O’Connor for an extensive and exhaustive renovation of my house. I found him knowledgable, reliable and rather economical. His work is to a very good standard and I have found him quite ready to come back and do minor repairs free of charge even if at the end they were found not to be due to the renovation. But be careful with the original contract as any change (including minor ones) becomes a Variation with the all the cost involved. Try to get everything in the contract and quote up front.
Selim
Hi Charlie
Got the name of the builder wrong – It was John McConnell of Axiom Construction who did the renovation for me and who I am willing to act as a reference
Selim
Hi Homebuilders
Just a general enquiry… would anybody be interested in seeing a website where you (as potential clients) can supply all of your details (i.e. base home spec, wishlist, budget etc.) and wait for building companies to contact you?!
This way you get to vet building company offers as they come in rather than having to do the running around. A bit like a TradeMe for the building companies.
Let me know if this is something you’d be keen on… any and all feedback appreciated.
Cheers
Torekun
Hi Torekun, It sounds like a nice idea, and assuming you would set it up, thanks for the offer. But based on my experience (and I think many others, to judge from comments on this blog) the problem is not finding a builder who says he can build to whatever spec/wishlist you want, and initially even do it within your budget (unless your budget is just totally unrealistic).
The problems come later down the track, when after spending money on concept plans, you start to get into the details, and it starts to become apparent that they can’t do what you want within your budget. Or when you spot things in their contract you don’t like, but they refuse to change it. Although that will be greatly helped by the new Building Regs introduced in Jan 2015 (I’m surprised the screams haven’t already started from builders on that).
Or even worse, you pay the deposit, and then later find they produce shoddy work, or you realise that things you wanted are not in fact included in the spec for your house.
So much fun and games!
Can anyone recommend a reliable/good builder in Christchurch? Have land in Aidanfield and want to start ASAP. Was considering Platinum and GJ Gardner but have been put off by a lot of the reviews here. Any advice for a fresher?
Hi – I would recommend Peter Ray Homes firstly and also Greenland Homes. Have built twice with Peter Ray and they were very good. No fake pricing and nice people. They have great project managers and I also have other friends who built with them and had very good experiences. If anything ever goes wrong they bend over backwards to help the client, unlike others I could mention. Also Greenland Homes – Sean is chinese and most of his clients are chinese but he is very good and knows exactly what he is doing and is like a walking spreadsheet of pricing and products! He has built a few in Aidanfield and I think is currently doing a two storey there so if you have a walk around and look for his boards you can see what he’s built. We are building with him at the moment in Prestons. 🙂
Thanks Sally, appreciate the reply. I was actually considering PR Homes as they had a design we were interested in and had heard positive reviews about. But after contacting them I found it quite laborious to get a reply or any proactive action from them… so eventually just gave up. It didn’t help that when I visited their showroom in Wigram, the saleswoman with whom my wife and I were in discussion with immediately fobbed us off when someone else came in, and didn’t bother engaging us again even after that person had left.
We were looking at Platinum initially but were put off by them after they failed to disclose some costs. I then sent out a blanket email to many building companies and have had the best follow up from GJ who have been obliging and considerate… just hope the same goes for the build as we are leaning toward them.
May have a look at Greenland before we sign anything.
Thanks
Hi Torekun,
Who did you end up going with? We about to signed with GJ. If you went with them any last minute warnings?
Hi
Did anyone has recently build with GJ/Horncastle in Rollestone, CHCH? About to signed a contract with one of them trying to decide which one to go for.
Hi, has anyone had any experience with Landmark homes Queenstown? May look at using them to build in Cronwell.
Hi Vanessa,
I am the New Home Consultant for Landmark Homes Queenstown I have asked a couple of clients to give you some feedback but not sure if this has been done. I thought I would email you as I can give you a couple of clients numbers so you can talk directly with them and see how they enjoyed working with our team.
Many Thanks
Justine McCall
Hi,
I have no experience with Landmark Homes, but I would say that with any company, you should speak to as many clients as possible, not just the ones they want you to meet! Seeing as many of their houses as you can will also help.
Anybody has experience building house with Navigation Homes? especially Tauranga… seems like run by a nice chap albeit looks newbie.
Hi, did you ever build with navigation homes, wondered what the experience was like?
It worked out at around $1950 per sqm I think.
We are thinking of building with Trident Homes in Chch…does anyone have any info on these guys?
How did you went on with Trident Homes?
I’m thinking to build a house with trident homes in Christchurch. Any experiences to share? I met them in their Christchurch show home.
Thanks
Hi
I am in the process of organising a house build in bethlehem Tauranga with dj Gardner, has any body had any
House builds with this company feed back would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
sorry, not with this company, but steer well clear of a company trading as Consultancy Plus Construction Ltd, they were trading as R K K Construction, they were trading in the Tauranga area. a disaster of an outfit. Have a look at the site http://www.buildreviws.co.nz
Please be very careful about the contract details, have them perused by a lawyer.
Good luck, Owen.
Hi there. Thought to give you an update to our nightmare with Platinum Homes.
After long negotiations between lawyers, we managed to move to our new home on 21st March. Hand over was originally scheduled for 17th March. They couldn’t do it…postponed to 18th….That was supposed to be the walk through and hand over…both same day!!
As we had no option as sold our home, we agreed to. Had walk through while many contractors were working around, so will leave it to your imagination how frustrating it was. Heaps of work to be completed.
Jason Strange, MASS Construction CEO would not accept us moving without FULL FINAL payment while we don’t have Code of Compliance for the house. Bank was hitting their head against the wall frustrated from his ridiculous unreasonable stubborn request. It is well known if there is no code of compliance, the bank holds back $10k. Apparently, it is well known rule in the building industry. Anyway, after long negotiations, Mr Strange agreed to $5k.
All variations were paid in full and full contract amount. Despite, we have no electrical certificate as yet, nor gas certificate. Code of Compliance failed three times….electrical variation for extra charges were for around $10k. Half of the list not there….not only that but electricity all over the place!! Entrance door lights switch control in the garage (other side of the house)
Gas fire been charged around $7500. not framed….
Feature wall paper damaged by contractors still to be replaced….
Guest toilet, tried to hang the toilet roll on it….fail off
Dishwasher falling out when opening….
Insinkerator installed with no switch button..can’t used.
Painting and wall paper to be fixed
All these have been paid in full….the list goes on.Nearly over two months and nothing has been done. Contacted everyone in Platinum….nothing. All we received is will attend to it as soon as we can!!!
They have arranged for the house to be insured….but when not having gas or electrical certificates which insurance company will cover!!!
Not to be trusted at all. It is not the workers there. Huge issues with MANAGEMENT….Shouldn’t be in business.
We sincerely do not want to see anyone in our situation. If you want to know more please don’t hesitate to contact me please. 021 231 0242
Platinum Karaka /Pukekohe demanded from us the full payment of variations even to know we had not signed for one and had to pay in full on handover day or we would see our home locked up and we could not move in. There is no negotiation with them and they are demanding about money even to know it is in dispute. The problem with the electrical extras are that we asked for an electrical plan in the beginning and we were told No. We would go for a walk thru with the electrician when the home was half built. We then found that what they allowed in the costings was well insufficient for any home.Our electrical variation was so expensive just to have normal amounts of lights and switches in our home. They are not up front with many products put in the houses, but all I can say is steer clear of them. If you want to talk contact me on iandrkingsford@gmail.com.
If you are purchasing a NEW house, suggest you INSIST on minimum Cat5 conduit being fitted into all rooms, central point being easy access to router, maybe garage. Look at Chorus website for recommendations. Otherwise retrofitting is a big job.
Builders are numb nuts on stuff like this
Called BRANZ they were surprised by my call, no idea, still nothing on their website
Hi John, Thanks for the advice, but what’s the big difference/advantage with this type of conduit, and any idea of the rough extra cost for typical 4 bed house?
I think you mean CAT5e cable not conduit. However, you will find CAT5e to be the old standard and if you are building for yourself and looking to stay in the place for a while you should use CAT6e to future proof. I do agree that you should cable back to a central point for audio and video distribution also.
Suggest you have a look at http://www.buildreviews.co.nz
May not be on the list, but it will give you an insight into some of the problems people have faced, and also, who not t use. Look very carefully at the contract before you sign, get a lgal opinion, we did not to our disadvantage.
Good luck.
Owen.
Hi everyone, I’m just wondering if anyone has feedback about Classic Builders (Cambridge franchise) and Cambridge Homes? Thanks
We’ve seen a few of classic builders houses going up around us and they look well built, a few of our neighbours built with them and haven’t heard any negatives and one of those is a retired builder so probably has a better eye for detail. The guy who runs classic in Cambridge seems to keep a watchful eye on his contractors and we’ve seen him regularly checking their work as the build progresses. If I was building again I’d certainly consider them.
We are total newbies to the building business and are looking to build a new home on the North Shore in Auckland.
We are considering Signature Homes, Kumeu. Has anyone had any experience, good or bad with Signature Homes?
And who would you recommend that we consider?
Do not know much about signature homes, just please please do not go with Platinum Homes Rodney. If any one is thinking about building south do not go with Platinum Homes Karaka/ Pukekohe either. Bad experiences that have still not been sorted and some friends of ours built with Rodney and the stress nearly distroyed their marriage. Be careful
Recommend you talk to Maddren Homes if your looking at building anywhere on the Shore or Kumeu.
Hi Andi,
We used Landmark Homes Albsny and they were great! Just moved in 10 weeks ago on time and on budget. Ask for Steve!
Hi all, one thing to remember on this site is that various people or companies would love the opportunity to ‘blow their own horn’. Be careful. Some of the comments on these types of sites may be from people or companies trying to steer work in their direction. Landmark Homes have employed people from the now liquidated Lasque Construction, which was basically Signature Homes [ North Shore ] wearing a different hat. This company was put out of their misery. Be careful.
Hi Simon, I don’t actually work for any building company and I’m not trying to ‘blow my own horn’. If you would like to make sure, you are welcome to give me a call to find out more information. I am giving my recommendation based on my experience with Landmark homes who were fantastic and they did not ask me to comment either. I just think good work should be recognised and this site doesn’t need to be all negative comments. I can’t say the same about any others and I meet with 3 companies including Signature Albany. You could also mention that other companies might be on here to put down their competition…
0212422888
Hi Katie
I’ve just stumbled upon this blog and spent the good part of 2hrs reading through. I am astonished at the number of negative comments in this blog. If a prospective new home client got here, they’d be scared stiff to build a new home!
Note this is a general comment, and I’m sure the the many negative comments are quite valid/appropriate etc etc.
We def need more positive comments and the other site mentioned above http://buildreview.co.nz/ will hopefully get some good traction as well.
Not all builders are nasty. Construction is a tough game. It has been left to its own accord for many many years and cleanup time is nigh. It won’t happen overnight…but it will happen ~ Rachel Hunter 🙂
Top points to Mark, Chris and some others putting some solid responses through. Luvin it.
Thinking of building with Signature Homes, Kumeu or North Shore? Maybe best to ask Steve Garvey at Landmark Homes, North Shore, what he thinks……if you ever get a reply…..Steve was with Signature Homes, together with others who were shown the door…..
You might want to check your information.. No top sales person gets shown the door. Weeks after we signed the contract and were going through show homes I heard that he was a top sales person, been doing it for years and very good. This was coming from his competition too not from him or Landmark!
Yes this is exactly what this is all about sales, sales and more sales, no integrity, no customer service, not taking care of a person/family’s biggest investment and certainly NOT building to any top standard/care.
I find it disappointing that someone shares a positive experience they had trying to help others who may be thinking of going down the path of building their own home, only to be shot down. Not all building companies are evil and out to rip off every customer they come across. Don’t let negativity put you off finding that building company that will build your dream home. Just do your research and speak to lots of people. I feel sorry for Simon and others here. They have obviously had bad experiences which lead to a depressingly cynical outlook in life. Cheer up buttercup!
We were unfortunate enough to engage with a private building Company called Homebuild NZ. Peter May is the owner and manager. All you need to know is that I would never engage him again, i never had a truthful word from him and by the time the whole saga was over. We had no home, 18 months had gone by and were $30K out of pocket. Dont trust a word he says.
Hi Phil, suggest you put up the company name and your comments on http://www.buildreview.co.nz
Hi Phil,
We are thinking of going with Homebuild for our first build and wondered if you could tell us a bit more about your experience with them?
I was buying a house and land package from Golden Homes in Warkworth. I was talked out of the package and into building it as a ‘normal’ build as it was to be better for me and better for them. Great for them, disaster for me.
I signed the agreement in March 2014 and it was estimated I would have my new home by October 2014. What a joke. Title didn’t come through till January and I am still waiting for resource consent. (noone will tell me why) There is obviously a big problem up there which noone is admiting too. They have happily taken my deposits for the build and I have had to pay for the section in full.
Currently I am paying out a lot of money for rent which I should not have to be doing.
The stress is affecting my health.
Is anyone else having the same problem in their woodcocks subdivision?
Hi Marlyn
Have you inquired with the council? If not, make an appointment to see the consent officer, they will have details on file as to whats going on. Depending on what your council is like you mite be able to access their computers available to the public at their office and search your property file by typing in your address (sometimes LOT number) and you will find a wealth of information here as to the goings on.
If not you may have to request things as some files cant be opened so they have to pull them from the office for you.
we have the same but have found that resouce consent held up build.your house should be underway now or maybe nearly ready we new at the outset that no building would happen until developer had finished subdivision and titles were issued and then if any changes to the plan for the site was changed delays were going to happen, we built with golden 4 years ago and are really happy with them but you do need to understand how the new reg’s have changed things, our new house at lot 226 has just started and i would expect it to take about 14 weeks to complete. i trust them and am sure that you will get a great house,just sorry you have had to wait so long,
regards jack
Sorry, missed the name of the site, http://www.buildreview.co.nz
This is easy to follow, lists building co’s in order.
This is the best site I have found.
thanks!
Hi Mark, Many thanks for drawing our attention to those new Building Regulations. Very favourable to anyone planning to build. But I took a quick look, and although they came into effect on Jan 1st this year, I couldn’t find anything one way or the other on whether they are retrospective. Do you think we can assume they now apply to all current contracts, irrespective of whether the contract was signed, or the work started, before Jan 1st?
They’re not retrospective, however I’m sure the spirit would be taken into account on any legal hearing.
We have built with Platinum Homes Karaka Pukekohe auckland. We would never recommend building with PLATINUM HOMES> They are all over you until you pay your deposit and then it is all downhill. Moved into our home and the 60 Day maintenance has been a battle. Could not get a meeting. to discuss issues as David Watt the franchise owner refused to meet with us. He was hoping we would just go away. .At last we have movement because I went to the CEO myself. Many issues thru out the build caused so much stress and we would please say to steer clear of Platinum Homes We have spoken to other people who have built with Platinum Homes Karaka/ Pukekohe and they have all had sad stories to tell.
I’m sorry to hear that Irene, we had our rebuild here in Christchurch done by Platinum Homes. Same story, we’ve been in our house for 6 weeks on Friday and it’s still not finished and we have had no inspection for council consent yet. These people have made our lives miserable for 12 months now , which is how long it’s taken them to build our home. They are completely incompetent and I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy. We are not the only ones here in Christchurch to have a sad story to tell where Platinum Homes is concerned. Advice to anyone building DO NOT BUILD WITH PLATINUM HOMES
Did anyone build with Platinum in Hamilton?
My only advise to people is NOT TO BUILD WITH PLATINUM HOMES KARAKA/ PUKEKOHE
Hi Vanessa & Irene, I think it would good if you (and anyone else with negative or positive comments on a builder) put their comments on the site recently recommended by Mark, http://www.buildreview.co.nz/. This blog we’re on now is very useful as a way to put out enquiries on a builder, but it requires a lot of trawling through to actually dig out information on a specific builder. Whereas with the site mentioned above you can actually look at all the comments on one builder listed under the builders name.
But by the way Mark, in case you have any influence on how that site is set up, it would be even better if the builders were listed not just under name (eg Platinum Homes in this case) but also under each city/area in which their franchises operate. Because I’m sure that the same franchise in different areas mat have different standards of operation.
Hi Chris
I don’t actually have anything to do with that site. I did reach out earlier to see if they’d like some help but they never came back to me. I’m still working out the framing of this site, too, to see if we can make it easier to follow the assorted threads. Stand by…
Hi Chris
I’m the creator of http://buildreview.co.nz and I agree there is a need for breaking down franchises so it’s clearer who the good ones are versus the bad. I’m working on this split out and hope to have something in place soon.
Mark, I sent you a mail when you reached out but heard nothing back, if you want to get in touch please send a mail to info@buildreview.co.nz any feedback or advice appreciated.
Hi,
Yes it would be a good idea to have a franchise area for the building companies. I would dearly love to leave a review on the build review website, but before the people who built our house would do what they should and fix things, we had to sign a legal document stating we would not comment on them. So wrong, but after two years of fighting we were exhausted and took their paltry offer of getting some things fixed. Some things will never be right and we paid a huge amount of money for our home. There has to be a way where this stops happening to people.
Wow builders getting clients to swear to silence before they will fix things that they got wrong. That sounds like black mail doesn’t it? But I understand your frustration and concession to signing it, it is a long hard battle to get what you paid for.
Interested to know your thoughts on this Mark, surely a very worrying sign for the industry. It seems like an acknowledgement of fault from the builder, but conveniently swept under the rug so no one will ever know.
Hi AdaFrankBox
Yes – I would question the legality of that action. The new regulations that came out January 1 state that builders MUST come back and fix defects for the first 12 months no questions asked. I would strongly suggest checking with your lawyer as to whether they are able to do that, and there is nothing to say you cannot make a complaint to the Licensed Building Practitioners Review Board.
Master Build Services also gave us a small payout, took away our Master Build Guarantee and said we couldn’t say anything. They way we were treated by them and the building company was so wrong and affected my health and marriage. We paid close to one million dollars for all the grief and some things in our house will never be right, but they just carry on regardless.
WE HAVE BEEN SENT A DEED OF SETTLEMENT FROM PLATINUM HOMES KARAKA saying that they will fix an issue ( 1 out of 3)( but with the condition that we don’t mention on any media format/ personal format or by any possible correspondence that there was ever a issue with their remedying any problem with our new build.Also that we will not hold any contractor or staff member or management responsible with no warranty on work to be done. We did not sign, Please do not build we these people what they say and deliver are two different things.
Hi am looking at building in New Plymouth with Jennian Homes – Taranaki franchise. Has anyone built with these company before. Please mail me with any suggestions/recommendations. My email is tahernz@yahoo.com
Hi Hussain, Hope you get some useful responses to your enquiry. But since the whole purpose of this blog is to spread information on builders to lots of people I hope people will reply via the blog, rather than directly to you by email, at least initially.
Has anyone had any experience with Haven Homes in pukekohe?
Try this sight, is fairly new, but is the best I have found, if you have problems finding it, leave me a message.
Owen.
Hi owen, no site is showing up?
Put this in as a search, otherwise put in the company name we were dealing with, RKK Construction Tauranga, this should show up the web address.
Owen.
Hi Owen/D
The site you’re looking for is http://www.buildreview.co.nz/. There’s not much up there yet, but I’m sure it will grow.
Hi
Anyone built with Today Homes in Christchurch recently. We are new to the area and looking to build in Darfield and struggling to find a builder. We haven’t heard anything good or bad about them – seem ok but am aware that things are not always what they seem 🙂
Thanks
Hi Julie,
We built with Today Homes in 2013 and were thoroughly impressed. Would be happy for you to call on 2601781 or 0274966210 and you are more than welcome to come and have a look if you like.
in 2010 TVNZ asked questions to major building companies in NZ to understand what liability they had if one of their franchisee failed to deliver. It is rather interesting to read the responses, follow the link below and go to the bottom of the page where is says “Check out the survey of franchise home building companies”, click on the right hand side of this phrase to download the document.
Copy this link in your browser: http://tvnz.co.nz/fair-go/home-sweet-franchise-3736893
.
Does any one have the experience that the build is found not built to plans and spec. after signing off practical completion? Is the practice in building sector that builders build what they feel comfortable or cheaper? Can I claim back the loss in this case?
Hi Jaqual
If your builders haven’t built to spec you have some serious grounds for complaint. You can complain to the LBP board as a starting point. The council should have been checking to ensure the build was according to plan. If they haven’t done their job, then you can sue them. Builders must build according to the plans and specifications. Hopefully you have a contract with them and hopefully you withheld final payment. I would recommend getting a lawyer or contacting the Home Owners and Buyers Association – http://www.hobanz.org.
good luck.
Has anyone built with Jennian Homes in the Wellington region that can advise me how they have found them?
Hi there, We are trying to build with them now.
They seem to have good quality and know what they are doing, BUT make sure that you lock down everything you want into the design, from types and quantities of plugs to taps, flooring… everything and then get them to quote. Once you sign the contract, any change will really cost you. Don’t use their Mastercraft kitchen guy, we are using Bastian in Petone instead as their design was much better and better priced.
Team at Jennian are keen and happy to work with you on any changes additions etc though so that is a good thing.
I will keep updating as we progress
hows your build going on Bryan. We are building as well.
Well so far not so good.
Problems with council trying to get a resource consent, finally got a resolution that we are not happy with, but assurances from Jennian that it will all turn out OK.
Next thing, don’t have your pre-construction meeting until you are 100% happy with all your choices as that is really your last chance to make changes without causing major problems.
Be aware that any change you want to make, irrespective of whether there is a difference in cost, will attract a cost increase.
Check that everything that was agreed verbally is also included in writing or it didn’t happen.
Make sure that you keep a good eye on the build as it progresses as they may miss that something isn’t in the right place until too late.
Most importantly, make sure that you have a very large bottle of whiskey or other strong liquor on hand at all times to stop you from exploding.
Oh and if you can use only their people for everything and then just accept the outcome, then that will be easier.
Thanks Bryan,
Hope things turn out well for you. We just had our first meeting with Master craft kitchen designer today. He will come back with quotes and cad designs, lets see. Hopefully it is not too over the set budget. I have heard stories of all the fun that comes with building from my friend he is in the same boat but with other builders. So far I have found Jennian team helpful. I think we got all the details documented in the spec.I understand Kitchen and electrical design details are more flexible. Given your stage of development how long do you think Jennian would take to finish the house for you to move in ?
And I think i will get some Baijiu if i am about to explode.
So just to add to the ongoing.
Build is progressing well so far with a few annoying holdups. Firstly the joinery was delayed due to powder coating being delayed, then when it arrived, they hadn’t installed the security stays that we had ordered and paid for.
Next the front door finally turned up, but I think they thought he house was being built for leprechauns as the door handle and the dead bolt were set way too low. My partner is much shorter than me and even she had to bend down to reach the handles. Not sure how this could be considered acceptable. We will need to wait and see if they are going to continue to duck and dive or actually resolve the problem. More delays.
The other issue you need to check is that the contract you will need to sign is very onerous on you and limited to no comeback on the building company. When you go back to the contract to find out your rights, you find that you don’t have any. Your only option is to take them to court and hope to get a sympathetic judge.
Hi Bryan, I think I may have mentioned this before on this blog, but it’s probably worth saying again. Many people who go into these house builds seem (in my opinion) to put the cart before the horse.
So they get virtually to the stage of signing the contract, having wasted a lot of time, and paid out several thousand for concept designs etc, before even looking at the building contract.
I would suggest that very early on in the process, before paying out any money, you should ask to see the contract form the builder uses. Best show it to a solicitor with expertise in building contracts (which most claim to have, but in fact don’t), but if not at least read it, and ask yourself if it looks fair to you as the client. I mean does it make you responsible for things you cannot reasonably be responsible for, such as mistakes by the builder, his architect, engineer or subbies. Does it contain such basics as a completion date. Does it say how variation costs are valued. etc etc. Also, take a look at the revised provisions on building contracts in the building regs, which came in in Jan 2015. Some things protecting the client are now mandatory.
Of course we all know that once you get into serious dispute on a contract things have already gone badly wrong. And the contract is a desperate attempt to get out with minimum damage.
But long before that, the attitude of the builder on whether he’s prepared to make reasonable (to you) changes to the contract, will tell you a lot about how things are going to go further down the track.
If he resists all changes I’d suggest you run a mile.
Well I figured time for the next update.
Build is fully enclosed now. All outstanding issues are either resolved or waiting on replacement parts.
Very excited to be nearing completion.
So as you may be aware from some of my previous comments, we have had a few hiccups, but to date Jennian have resolved them all satisfactorily.
So to answer your question, would we use them again? Most likely, especially now we understand them and how they work.
Hi there,
We are looking at GJ Gardner Chch South (JNF Construction), has anyone built with them? We are at the signing of the contract phase (Have a lawyer involved) and what our sales consultant says and what is actually in the contract is different… should we be going to the manager there instead? As you can tell first time builder
I have no experience with this company, just make really sure your lawyer checks the fine print.
Look for clauses with the “right” to place a mortgage on your property, this gives the company in the event of a dispute to do this to force payment in the event of a dispute. The David Reid Homes contract has this clause, much to our disadvantage. Cost us several thousand dollars to get an unsatisfactory resolution, but the costs out way the disputed amounts. Seems to be a common practice by some of these franchises. Suggest you try and find a small local builder willing to allow you input, you deal with as much of the contractors direct. Overall, we do not feel you save money by using these franchises, too many people “clipping the ticket”. Good luck.
Hi, we are also thinking of building with GJ Gardner (in Aidanfield). Would be keen to hear if you went with them and if not, why? Also first time builders.
Hello. May I suggest Generation Homes? We were ex-clients of Williams & Co. and had to find another builder. We met Lindy of Generation Homes and she’s fantastic. So far, everything’s great. We are just waiting for our construction schedule to be released next week.
Cheers. Must admit I hadn’t considered Generation. Leaning toward GJ at the moment because they have been quite obliging and considerate… but just unsure whether the same will apply to the build after reading some of these comments. Haven’t signed anything yet some see what Generation has to offer.
Thanks and all the best!
Online Design & Build have been amazing through the planning process with us. We are about to start building with them and we’re just waiting for Council consent. Linda and Pete have been absolutely fantastic to deal with and have gone above and beyond.
Hi Kerri,
On the web their houses plans look rather nice. Can you indicate what price per m2 you achieved for your house?
Hi Thierry,
So sorry I didn’t get a notification of your reply and just saw it now! With our plans with Online Design and Build we didn’t actually use one of their plans but we told them what we liked and they went away and designed a house for us to fit in exactly the budget we had. They were awesome and just told us which areas we could save money on and which we could have exactly as we wanted. It was a bespoke plan tailored to what we wanted from pictures we had shown them.
Hi All,
If you are looking for reliable, honest and friendly builders in the Auckland region contact Craft Construction.
Craft has worked on a number of homes though out the city, with great customer satisfaction. We have a young an energetic team that consistently delivers project on time. The team is communicative and will take you through the whole process from start to finish.
Email: info@craft-construction.co.nz
This is the feedback I gave Generation Homes after our build in Te Kauwhata through the winter last year… 6 months on we are loving being in this wonderfu l’village’ of friendly, helpful people.
My husband , Mike, and I have just taken possession of our new home in Te Kauwhata, built by Generation Hamilton on a section we had previously bought.
Shortly after the land purchase we were despairing of ever being able to build on it, as we had discovered the Living Zone 21A regulations of Te Kauwhata with more onerous building regulations and boundary restrictions than we had previously been aware of.
We heard about Generation on a blog of home builders and I fired off an enquiry on your website one Friday night….and had a reply from Alana half an hour later!!
That was the start of her wonderful efficiency, helpfulness and problem-solving skills.
A week later she met us at short notice in her own personal time at the show home in Dixon Road, and from then we were hooked.
I would also add that the staff at the Pataumahoe show home were also immensely helpful, even though they knew we wouldn’t be building in their area.
A custom plan was produced by Alana and the architect within a few days of us indicating the plan we liked, but which was too big with rooms in the ‘wrong’ place. It was at a price within our budget with so many extras included that we were just about speechless!
We found this amazing after worrying that our ‘dream home’ would never actually exist on our little piece of land.
We were so impressed by the company’s openness about prices (shown on the variations list) as we had some money to spend on a wish list of extras, but needed to weigh them up against each other. Believe me, we couldn’t get that information easily before.
We were living an hour away from the build , but Alana was in prompt, constant contact when we had lists of questions and requests.
She was always patient, professional and friendly and we have therefore been recommending Generation as a building company to all our friends, family, the Sky man, the Chorus man, our new neighbours and everyone we meet in TK.
Our new neighbours commented during the build how tidy the contractors were, and how impressed they were with the safety standards. And everyone (including us) was amazed at the build being on time…in the winter!
We cannot speak highly enough of Alana and Dave the Construction Manager and can hardly believe that we are now enjoying our lovely new home.
You certainly have been lucky there Mike and Ann. Built with Generation Homes myself (not the Hamilton team) and its been horrendous. House riddled from head to toe with faults and slap dash, poor workmanship they certainly managed to take the ‘dream’ out of our home. Wouldn’t trust them to assemble a shed, and would recommend anyone thinking of using them to run away as fast as you can.
Steve, where abouts did you build?
Cambridge
Hi Steve, we’re ready to build in Cambridge and have narrowed down possible companies to build with as Classic Homes, Platinum and Generation….it seems we’re in for one scary ride based on some of the feedback I’ve found today. With Generation have they admitted to the faults that you’ve highlighted and have they agreed to remedy?
Hi Jane,
Of the three you name, I would definitely build with Classic, their project manager is on the ball and keeps tight control of his contractor teams. Generation have attempted to get the faults with our build corrected, more often than not made them worse and corrected again, I certainly wouldn’t say they admitted anything and they at no time have ever felt the need to apologise or compensate. Their problem is their 14 week build time, it is their be all and end all and in our case at the expense of care and quality. 7 months down the line we’re still getting faults fixed and I mean ones we found at day one. They haven’t abandoned us by any means, but the “dream” part of our house has certainly been removed, I don’t want to list the faults we have had to get fixed (which Generations quality control missed) but lets just say that it shouldn’t have been handed over to a customer, you wouldn’t buy a new Ferrari with dents in the doors so to speak. We looked at an awesome home on lilac avenue in Cambridge near the high school built by RPS, it is very up spec to their standard build and the show home isn’t built where I would want it, but is certainly worth a look, great design and the quality I was hoping for, a lovely home.
Enjoy your build and I hope it goes well for you, keep a watchful eye, and stand your ground on issues your not happy with, your never being too fussy. good luck
Hi Has anyone built with versatile homes,looking at a 3 bedroom house.My garage did well in the earthquakes.
Hi guys
Can anyone recommend a builder in the Wellington region?
We are thinking of using the Wellington/Kapiti GJ Gardner franchise (Wells Construction Ltd)… does anyone have any experience dealing with them? I haven’t been able to find out much about the quality of their work (either positive or negative).
Cheers
we are looking to building with them as well Wellington/Kapiti GJ Gardner franchise (Wells Construction Ltd)..but couldnt find any reviews for them.
Hi there,
we are actually using the G J Gardner franchise in Rodney to build our house and they have been fantastic (we are in our 14th house so done a bit of this).
We live in Wellington so dealt with the local Kapiti franchise but just to deal with them for information re their homes. We found them most professional and helpful (despite we were not building with them). We certainly would have been happy to if we were building here.
The whole GJ philosophy is customer service and they listen to what you want but are also not afraid to give the occasional necessary reality checks, highligh recommended
Thanks Harold…….
Can anyone suggest a great builder for the Karaka area – working to a budget and time frame is important. Thanks
Has anybody got any experience with the new building company ‘Online Design and Build’?
Yes we are about to start building with them and we’re just waiting for Council consent. Linda and Pete have been AMAZING through the whole planning process and we absolutely love dealing with them. I would recommend them highly!!
Thank you for your reply! Hope your build goes as smoothly as it has gone so far! I would love to hear any updates whilst your building. Thanks!
Hi N,
Our build started a couple of weeks ago and while the architectural stage took a while now that Online Design & Build are in control we are full steam ahead. The concrete was poured last Tuesday and by Saturday when we popped out for a look all the framing was up and it looks like we have a house taking shape.
hi guys
Have anyone dealt with Brant homes ? Please advise.
regards
saif
Hi does any body have good or bad feed back on Signature Homes, Nelson. Or any other builder in Nelson. I am looking at building soon, they all say they can plait fog?????
Hi. We are a rebuild in Christchurch and two companies have been suggested to us. They are Collective and Corbel Construction. I had never heard of them before. Has anyone got any comments about them? Thanks in advance.
Hi Lyn. Corbel construction are not your typical home building company (ie mike greer, golden homes stonewood) which potentially isn’t a bad thing going by some of the stories on here. I assume you have enlisted an architect to draw up your plan as I don’t think Corbel has this service. Corbels have traditionally been a commercial construction company. May have branched out into residential. have not heard of the other crowd you mentioned. Good luck.
Hi all,
Has anyone had any experience with Faye Homes in Christchurch? I don’t seem to be able to find any feedback on them, their quality of work, how easy or difficult they are to deal with or their final build costs or timing. Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Anita
Hello,
I write about property at the NZ Herald in Auckland. I am seeking someone to photograph and talk to who has a new leaky rebuilt Christchurch home.
Also seeking anyone whose repairs have failed, or has built a new home elsewhere.
I am 379 5050 ext 98657 or anne.gibson@nzherald.co.nz
regards,
Anne
Hi guys,
I am looking to build with Homes By Parklane Christchurch or Today Homes Christchurch.
Parklane seems to be more cost efficient and have just as good reputation as Today Homes.
Any thoughts on either company would be much appreciated.
Platinum Homes !!!!!!!
Please anybody considering building with this company think again
they are the worst company to deal with
they are always late and cock up anything they do
they call themselves a building company but in reality they are not.
they are a group of people that while youre in the driving seat and havent signed anything they promise you the world.
But once youve signed everything slows to a snails pace.
their project managers are all bui;lding industry rejects and couldnt manage a good s##t
The Shareholders of the company are people who would lie to their mothers just to get an extra dollar.
we have been going through the trauma of dealing with this company since August 2013…signed the contract 3 january 2014 and will not be in our new home till after 1st April 2015 if not longer. Yet when we signed up they promised to have us in by September 2014 (reasonable i thought )
So now there is a family of six having to find alternative accommodation as our current home has been ssold and the new owner wants to take posession.
unfortunately our contract did not have a completion date (pre legilation)
Our plans sat on the salesmans desk for two months till we enquired how the consent was going (sorry forgot to send them to the council)
Once they had laid the floor it became apparent the house was not the correct sizeand this had to be driven home to them as they initially refused to rectify ( house was 800 mm short in on direction)
Then we had a pipe for the toilet in the middle of the laundry and the vanity waste in the cuboard next door (800-1000mm out in the other direction)
they design things with any regard to other parts of the house (lighting no being able to be installed because a truss stops any recessed lighting to be installed.)
They issue variations for everything they cock up and when you turn them down for a better solution they credit you back with their buy price and keep the markup.
so all in all they are the worst company i have ever had the misfortune to have had any dealings with.
Just for your information
two of the directors are Jason Strange and Angela Swain with Alan Snowden as construction director….Useless Useless Useless and useless
incidently Jason Stange is the franchise owner in the lower north island
Any one who wishes can join my partner and I as we stand out side their showhoms and advise all people entering not to bother and they would be better going to another company.
Russell
Hi Russell, I couldn’t have said it better myself, we have been through the exact same thing with Platinum. I am so stressed by this whole situation I’ve actually had a breakdown. I’m unable to continue with work and I am on medication.
Both my husband and I would be more than willing to stand by your side to have Platinum Homes held accountable for the misery they have created. We met Angela Swain and began our rebuild process in February 2012. Our house was demolished in March 2014, and the only reason we will be moving into our new home on March 13th 2015 is because I have given notice on our rental house and booked the movers and told Platinum it had better be finished because that’s when we’re coming home. (It’s still looking very unlikely that it will be finished). We have had all the same issues that you’ve mentioned. I met a couple last week who told me they were in talks with Platinum and I felt compelled to tell them about my experience and warn them to run a mile in the opposite direction (I hope they heeded the warning as I would hate for anyone else to go through this). We have decided to go through the arbitration process.
please reply to my email address with a contact number so i can chat with you regarding this
cheers
russell_t1@yahoo.com
Platinum Homes Disasters
Just another thing
If any other owners that have had the misfortune to have anything to do with Platinum Homes (MASS Construction) Please contact at this email as more numbers with issues will help us remove this parasite company
russell_t1@yahoo.com
Regards
Russell
Hi. We are looking at a house and land package from Mike Greer ChCh. House due to be finished in May 2015. Anyone had good or bad dealings with Mike Greer ChCh?
Would have to be the worst company out there. My parents are 53 weeks into a 24 week build .They couldn’t even manage to get there engineer to hold the plan around the right way when they dug out for the foundation…. avoid these muppets at all costs. So many mistakes have been made ..too many to list here.
Has anyone had experiences with Jennian Homes – South Waikato?
We are building a new home in Cambridge
Has anyone had any dealings with Cambridge Homes – Waikato?
We are building in Cambridge
Hi Tony: did you build with Cambridge Homes? Any advice on them? Thanks
Sanjay
I feel sorry for your contributor having had exactly the same experience with STONEWOOD homes in Millwater..who walked all over our site. .trucks.. soil.. rubbish etc. . never once did they ask or apologise.
I cannot recommend STONEWOOD to ANY person. …how such companies can survive with their level of management incompetence remains unclear.
To whom it may concern at Penny Homes,
I note nothing has changed in the last 5 months, it is my understanding that you have been asked by the owners at xxxxxx to face the fences toward my property as they were when you pulled them down.
I resent that I have to deal with you, I didn’t employ you, you have nothing to do with me except that you are building on my neighbours land. I have been accommodating now for 1.5 years, letting you utilise my land extensively for materials storage, parking your vehicles, concrete pours and more, often blocking my access onto my own property ( not on any of these occasions have you asked if you could utilise my property)
And you have left concrete, tailings and general rubbish all over my section, dug meters down and into my land without asking, left piles of rubbish on it for months at a time, replaced soil with compacted hard fill where I want to plant, damaged a bath which meant I lost $100 on it, ignored emails and requests to address these matters for months (all issues except the rubbish which you removed yesterday remain unaddressed)
I am very very sick of having to deal with you.
Should you, your staff or sub contractors wish to come onto my property for any reason I expect an email a minimum of 24 hours in advance confirming the day, the time and the reason and if it is reasonable ( i.e. replacing the fences you took out ) I will allow you access. Should you not adhere to my above request you will be hearing from my lawyers.
Hi Kate
my understanding is that Penny Homes is facing bigger issues than this. If you’re looking to take legal action, sooner rather than later would be a good idea.
Hi, has anyone here had any experience with GJ Gardner Rodney and negotiating a contract?
Their standard contract is one of the most biased legal documents I’ve ever read. I informed them that we need to make changes and they have told me that they don’t make changes. Once I told them that I wouldn’t build with them under that contract they suggested a meeting with their lawyer to talk about the clauses I had an issue with. Has anyone managed to get them to change their contract?
Hi Sam, we had issues like this with our contract altho it wasnt with GJ’s. Its complete nonsense that they are telling you they cant alter the contract! I would take that as early signs of bullyboy tactics and what you may be up for in the future should you go ahead with them.
We would all be up shit creek if this was the case. Our builder was extremely pissed that we had a lawyer force them to alter things as our contract was so full of legal loop holes you could drive a truck through it and did spit the dummy over it but we did pushed on and unfortunately it was the worst decision we ever made.
Take it from someone with alot of experience here that this could be a warning for you as to what may lay ahead should your build not be a smooth ride. You have every right to protect yourself and all contracts are negotiable. If they wont budge I strongly suggest you quit while your ahead. There is plenty of competition out there. I would actually stay away from the home building groups, find a reputable independent builder whose not afraid to give you the contact details of his last 20 clients and see how he compares. Take care of all the earthwork engineering, surveying advise and costs yourself before you start so you know what your up for as in no hidden surprises. Your contract need to have every single issue and cost nailed down.
Speaking to their lawyer will be of no advantage to you.
Well said Kelly. You may get a home that is possibly cheaper to build through one of the big building companies, but you will also have bigger problems. Much bigger, together with general useless staff and contractors.
We signed a contract with GJ Gardner Rodney in January but we made sure to get a lawyer who is familiar with building contracts to look through it first and he was actually very happy with it and said it’s definitely one of the better ones he’s seen. We did add one amendment to the contract and they were quite happy to let us do that too. I’m pretty happy with how our whole process has gone with them so far
Hi Lauren, Do they use a standard Master Build Contract or one of their own? What was the clause you added to the contract? Thanks
Hi Martin, I’m not sure if it’s a standard Master Build Contract or not sorry. The clause we added basically said we aren’t going to pay the final payment or move in until after the Code of Compliance Certificate has been issued.
Thanks Lauren. That’s pretty standard and we also have the same clause. However, its not helpful now our landlord has sold the property we are in and we need to move out, as the builder will not allow us to take position of our house until final payment has been made, but with there being a number of issues I am not happy with I am worried that the issues will not be resolved once the payment is made.
I agree with Lauren, we have been dealing with G J Rodney and have been super impressed.
We (Us and solicitor) contested several contractural so statements , we won a few, compromised on some and didn’t get others, part of negotiations
We are very happy with this company
Hi Everyone as I am in the Trade I always recommend to people to engage a quantity surveyor at the early stage of any building project. A quantity surveyor is the person responsible for figuring out just what a construction project is going to cost. They have other roles too, especially making sure that construction costs and production are managed as efficiently as possible…
Hi has any had any dealings/experiences with golden homes Hamilton?
Hi I have short listed my building companies down to three, I am in the Canterbury area.
Today Homes
Contract Homes and
Homes by Parklane.
Any comments on these above?
Hi – has anyone had any dealings/experiences – good or bad – with Highmark Homes in Millwater?
Just wondering as I’ve heard they traded as Gateway before this – and wonder why the change of name?
I am pretty sure Gateway was Millwater homes not Highmark.
Hi all, Has anyone had dealings with or built with Onyx Homes in Christchurch
Does anyone have any experiences (good or bad) with Ruyi Homes in Auckland? They’re completing a series of houses in Takanini at present. All I can find out about them so far is that they were first listed as a company in August of 2014, which raises a few question marks for me. The irony is that the size and spec of the finished houses looks attractive, but it almost fits into the too good to be true mould for my thinking. Thanks & regards, R
Hi Rob. I have not had any interaction with Ruyi homes. But I was wondering if you have any information since the last time you had posted this message here. I am also planning on a new build and was wondering for some input about these developers? Thank you.
Has anyone had dealings with Ruyi homes in Auckland?
Does anyone know or have experience with New Homes Direct in Auckland? Any information would be appreciated. Regards…
Has anyone had experiences with Signature Homes, to build a new home in Cambridge?
Hi Tony, have a real good poke around re Signature. See if you can find other/any happy customers. See if you can find independent customers, not the dollied up conned customers who they use as an example.
My friends had built with Signature homes. Took them two years to finish the house after engaging a lawyer. Very bad communications. things aren’t done as per contract and specifications…….
Thanks for comment Samar. Would it be possible to contact your friends to discuss? Txt me on 027 283 2157, thanks Tony
Be very careful with Signature. Built with them in Auckland, North Shore and yep, nothing but problems.
Hi Tony, if I were building in Cambridge I’d go with Classic Builders, stay as far away as you can get from Generation Homes.
Has anyone had experiences with Jennian Homes, to build a new home in Cambridge?
Has anyone had experiences with the ‘PACIFIC HOMES LTD’?
currently considering signing with them for building in Whangarei,
Has anyone had experiences with the ‘PACIFIC HOMES LTD’ ? currently considering signing with them for building on the Whangarei.
Has anybody built with Mike Robson, of Canterbury?
So far, my experience has been an absolute nightmare, I do not reccommend him at all.
Details on request!
We signed on with Platinum Tauranga in April 2014. It is now nearly the end of Jan 2015 and there is still no progress. Does anyone know how to get things moving? Any help would be great. They just give us a different excuse any time we ask them a question and these change daily! HELP!!!
Anon, have u paid any deposit ??
If not then would be happy to chat with you 021 850511
Cheers, Greg
Great website. Thanks to everyone for their comments, good and bad, as it all helps. We have visited Mark’s site and read thoroughly! We are looking at using Jennian in Manawatu. So far on here there seem to be no bad reviews about them. Does anyone know someone who has built with them? TIA.
Hi Fifibear
hope you found it useful.
cheers
hi
has anyone used summit builders in pokeno? if so what was your experience like?
thanks
This blog is the best thing ever for those looking at building their own home (land and house package) – THANK YOU all and certainly who ever started it. In the good old kiwi way, we buyers need to protect each other, because no one else will and there is a lot of money at stake.
Was wondering if anyone had experience with KEY2 homes (particularly in the North Shore, Millwater area). Any feedback/comments greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance. Felix
Hello There – We are looking at building in the Nelson/Tasman area – Can anyone advise of Good Building Companies and also advise of any companies that we should be wary of??
Good luck with building. Do your homework and don’t let the companies/builders just show you the houses they did right. Stay away from Hybrid.
Thanks Barbara – Your prompt feedback is appreciated
Hi,
I could write a book on the terrible experience we had with Hybrid Homes & Living so avoid them.
Lots of you guys are writing in to this blog with comments (generally unfavourable) about builders. But I can see you’re not following up on Mark’s advice, and putting your comments on http://www.buildreview.co.nz. Which is a much more user friendly site for other people to benefit from your comments, as it lists them under the builder’s name. But if you do put anything there, please note which area or actual franchise operation you’re talking about. As it would be unfair to criticise all the franchises operating under a particular name, just because one of then does something wrong. Unless of course you’re talking about something that affects all of them, such as problems with their headquarters, or their TV advertising.
And not just share on Buildreview.co.nz but also make sure you read the Building Guide or similar and PREPARE yourself by educating yourself around the build. Poor builders get away with bad stuff because their clients abdicate responsibility instead of learning, watching and participating. Take some responsibility for your own build – start here at least – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz...
Just a heads up, I’ve just made a change to the http://buildreview.co.nz so that if a company is a nationwide franchise (or servicing multiple regions) someone adding a review must select the franchise (or region) they built with.
The franchise or region is then clearly shown along with the review.
We are going to build in Richmond area soon. Just looking at building companies. Who did you use & any suggestions as to protect ourselves.
For me personally, I would recommend Milestone, Jennian, Peter Ray Homes and Versatile as my top suggestions for the Nelson region. One of our neighbours built with InHaus, and were extremely happy too. Best advice for building, get pictures of everything you plan to have in your home and have it signed by the agent. Then there will be no miscommunication and disappointment. Right down to the mixer your going to get. Good Luck!
Thanks for that help. At least I found this site before we have started. At this moment we are meeting with building companies & now have an insight on who’s the better ones to look at. Will definitely take photos etc & get a fixed price contract reading the fine print & lawyer approval.
I looked for a review site today and couldn’t find one. I’m renting a home in Nelson just for the summer. I’ve had workman in the place every week! Tenancy services says this is legal with notice. Worst holiday ever! Will never be holidaying in NZ again. A builder was here, making a terrible mess. I asked him to put down a dropsheet because it was being blown everywhere and white paint chips and dust were getting through all of my things. He said, “Are you a builder, are you?” in an extremely confrontational way. I said it was going everywhere and I didn’t need to be a builder to know what a dropsheet was. He told me to “bugger off back to Australia”. I told him to get out. He refused ans told me I had no right, I didn’t own the house, the owner had sent him. He continued verbally abusing me until I eventually rang the police. Disgusting! This man needs to be blacklisted.
Hi
I am looking for a builder with positive reviews – they would need to be in the Kapiti/Horowhenua/Manawatu area.
Does anyone have any feedback on Homestead Concrete Homes – Levin ?
Does anyone have any feedback on Homebuild Homes – Palmerston North ?
Up front I say that I believe in protecting specification and design and preventing changes/substitutions with a good contract that incents the right behaviours of the involved parties (me and the builder) to perform their roles with performance and quality clauses and retention, late penalties/incentives, escrow, inspections, QA etc and taking an interest and being involved.
I know that I care most about my build and therefore I need to show interest and stay on top in the best possible manner.
I am the employer and need to lead according to the effective ability demonstrated. IE if they demonstrate they are competent and on top of everything then it’s a light touch, praise and friendly questioning of whatever concerns me in writing. If they are lacking in areas it’s coaching and slightly firmer in writing, onsite meeting etc and formal with a view to get back to a light touch situation because whatever is fixed and back on track.
I believe if anything nags in my mind in the initial engagement then I am not going with that firm – trust my intuition, but conversely I won’t be choosing someone because of how well they smile etc. If they don’t demonstrate efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and organisation in the engagement process then I will walk away also. Why would you keep going if they are slack in the engagement process ?!
I don’t believe in Master Build Guarantees or their contracts or any other organisation type guarantees per se. The guarantee can be of value as in an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff if you prepared for the long battle to actually invoke them and most people will not have the stomach or funds to do that.
I would love to find the builder/foreman who actually is on the job day in day out. I would love to find that builder who has the same team that does everything and has built house after house that is great on that basis.
Any suggestions on who to look at for Kapiti/Horowhenua/Manawatu are welcome.
Thinking of using a company for a property in Tauranga – this blog was helpful – I have been able to cross lots of companies off my list!
You can search for a company name or region in this blog – and the relevant comments come up. Platinum, Jalcon, Hybrid, Landmark, Greenstone, Fowlers, Stonewood and Earthcube (probably more but this was the start of the list as I didn’t read the entire blog). you need to clean up your acts – won’t be going near you.
Cheers to the people who have taken the time to comment.
Do not use a company called Consultancy Plus Construction Ltd from Mt Maunganui, or the previous trading name for the same 3 directors, RKK Construction Ltd. Originally a David Reid franchise, then a Palladium homes franchise, wise companies, both gave them up as franchisees.We had them build a house for us & there organisation is terrible. Ended up with the lawyers to settle there “final account” Book keeping skills were terrible, charged for not supplied items, not crediting progress payments etc.The project manager lived 250km from the job so things were very disorganised, contractors worked off thru lack of payment, some sub contractors would only deal direct with us. Took nine months to build, even then when we moved in, house was not finished. Be very of the contracts from David Reid Homes, (probably similar clauses in other building contracts,) some nasty’s as we found to our disadvantage, the right to place a mortgage on your property in the event of “non payment” of the final account within 3 days of possession. We disputed the final account, so they placed a mortgage over our property, threating “mortgagee sale if not paid within three days. We were disputing their figures, but were forced to agree to monies in dispute to save the mortgagee sale. Get a “good lawyer to check the contract before signing, sadly, we did not to our disadvantage. We now of others who have had similar problems with this company.
Hi
We are looking at building a new house in the Pokeno region. We are not sure which builder to go with?? We have never built a house before nor have any of our family our friends hence the question. We will have a fixed budget approved by the banks and don’t want any significant overspend (we understand there is likely to be some).
1. Generally what is the overspend figure like (% or $)? Is it covered off in the contract?
2. Is there any specific builder we should avoid?
3. Does the slope of the land matter?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Regards
Sam
Hi Sam, You’ve been very honest about saying that you don’t know a lot about building a house, and without wishing to sound critical your questions make that very clear. So my first suggestion would be to talk to some unbiased (ie not the builder) person who knows a lot more than you, or (unless you get very, very lucky with your choice of builder) you could be stepping into a minefield. Can’t help you on builders in that area, but briefly on the other questions:
1. If by ‘overspend’ you mean the amount by which the final contract price exceeds the original contract price when you sign the contract, this depends on how much detail you tie the builder down to in the original contract, so you know exactly what they’re going to give you for the money, and how much you let them put in for provisional or prime cost sums. Simple example: contract says they’ve allowed $15K for your kitchen or for electrical fittings, but is that going to get you the kitchen you want, or the lighting and power points etc you want. Or when they say the contract allows for 30 m2 of driveway, or $5K for earthworks, are these enough for your particular house. Most builders will tell you it’s fine, and sure it may get you a very basic kitchen, or 1 light and 1 power point in each room, but almost certainly you’ll find you want more. If you change things then it won’t be covered by the contract. The stable door is then wide open for extra costs.
3. Of course the slope of the land matters. It can affect the final cost a lot, for extra foundation costs, retaining walls and possibly more complex framing etc. But many builders get you sign on a contract that says it is subject to a flat site.
Sorry for being blunt, but if you don’t understand a lot of this please find someone who does.
Hi Sam
My website is designed specifically for people in your situation. We cover off the legislation and regulations, the design process, construction process and the product options you have.
website is http://www.buildingguide.co.nz
hi, has anyone had any experience with MH builders hamilton?
Can anyone recommend good builders (or builders/companies to avoid) in the Cambridge area?
Hi Tony,
Can only say stay well clear of Generation Homes. Terrible, their quality would be around the Sunday DIYer standard at best.
Anybody have an dealings with Dave Middleton Buidling in Dunedin? I just recently spoke with him regarding some building and he was extremely rude and racist. He is not a suitable builder or a master builder and I would not recommend him to build a bird house let a lone something for me. Do your research before choosing him, he is not a trustworthy builder.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/64260478/Court-gives-a-little-breathing-space
WILLIAMS AND CO HOMES
Has anyone had experiences – good or bad – with Fowler homes North Shore/Rodney? And any tips?
Hi there Liz, i was wondering whether you ended up using Fowler Homes? We are currently considering them to build our new house and would love a feed back/review. Thank you, zuzana
Do not use Signature Homes Northshore! Nightmare from the moment we signed the contract (amazing before we signed of course). We got notification of a 10% overspend 2 days before we were due to move in (with no earlier indications of any overspend). Please note I was 8 months pregnant at this stage! So much for their fixed price guarantee!!! It took 18 months of constant follow-ups to get the code of compliance and almost 2 years on we still have issues that need fixing up as part of our guarantee and the Project Manager doesn’t even return my calls or emails. I tried to talk to to Gavin Hunt early on and he didn’t want to know. There were a couple of good staff during the design phase but they have both now left. Building with Signature was the most stressful experience in my life and it isn’t over yet unfortunately. I can’t wait for these issues to be resolved so we can go our separate ways.
Hi Brooke,
As per our email as the new General Manager of Signature Residential I apologise for what on face value seems like unacceptable communications.
As you are aware from our conversation I have notified our Construction Manager who oversees all our Maintenance Works to investigate your complaint and I will personally be overseeing the concerns raised to ensure a speedy resolution. I expect to be able to come back to you in the next day or two in regard to completing any applicable items.
Regards
Brad Smith
GM Signature Residential
Forgot to put the link to the LBP page – http://www.business.govt.nz/lbp. You can check whether your builder or tradesman is licensed here.
But who would know it’s there if you didn’t know it’s there?
Hi Mark, Thanks for the responses about LBPs, and all you say about the system not working as it was originally intended to, or LBPs finding ways to get around it, surprises me not at all. Loopholes were designed to be wriggled through after all!
But my concern was more to do with the Homeowner (ie person engaging the builder) possibly being personally liable if he allows restricted work to be carried out by a non-LBP, which is what the DBH leaflet ‘Build It Right’ seems to say.
The good news is that I had an email from DBH, the gist of which seems to be:
1. The homeowner is only in trouble if he KNOWINGLY uses a non-LBP.
2. If you engage a builder to run the whole job for you, then you should put a clause in the contract to make it clear he is responsible for taking all necessary action regarding LBPs.
But anyway I understand Council inspectors will not sign off on restricted work unless an LBP has first signed off on it. Although as you said it probably doesn’t necessarily mean the LBP has done, supervised (or maybe even seen) the work involved.
I have worked in both local and national government engineering departments, so I know it’s not always about ensuring good work. Sometimes it’s about feeding the filing system, and allocating responsibility for bad work.
Has anyone had experience with Design Builders, Auckland Franchisee?
Has anyone had any experience with Design Builders (Auckland)? I think the head office is based in Havelock North (http://www.designbuilders.co.nz/)
Thought everyone may be interested in this Consumer article on Building Guarantees. Interesting the difference between NZ Building Guarantees & Australia.
Article reads…………
Building guarantees are supposed to offer you peace of mind if you’re building or renovating a house. We assess the major guarantees available – including a new product that covers remedial work on leaky homes – and make the case for a government-backed scheme.
Legal protections
There are legal protections which are supposed to guarantee that any building work on your house is “fit for purpose”. But they don’t always help if your building project goes belly up.
Implied warranties
All residential building work is covered by the warranties set out in the Building Act.
The most important of them state that building work must be done competently and completed within a certain timeframe.
However, it’s difficult to enforce these warranties for shoddy building work. You can:
File your dispute with the Disputes Tribunal (but only if you’re claiming for less than $15,000 – or $20,000 with the agreement of both parties).
Opt for adjudication or arbitration (but fees can range from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars).
Lodge a claim with the Weathertight Homes Tribunal (but only if you have a leaky home built or altered within the past 10 years).
Take your case to court (but this is costly, time-consuming and stressful).
Licensed building practitioners
You now need to hire a licensed building practitioner (LBP) to carry out or supervise work that influences the structural integrity or weather-tightness of your home. The licensing scheme is meant to ensure that major work is done by competent tradespeople who can be held accountable if anything goes wrong.
Under the scheme, you can make a complaint to the Building Practitioners Board if an LBP has done a sub-standard job on your house. The board can cancel the practitioner’s licence and impose a fine – but it can’t award reparation. So you’ll still be out of pocket.
Private building guarantees
Private building guarantees are designed to plug this gap in consumer protection.
The Certified Builders Association of New Zealand and the Registered Master Builders Federation (see below) provide the main guarantees available here (although some independent companies, such as Signature Homes, also offer guarantees to cover their own work).
The Department of Building and Housing estimates 50 percent of new builds are covered by guarantees from 1 of the 2 main suppliers.
Builtin New Zealand guarantees
Builtin New Zealand administers the Certified Builders Association of New Zealand (CBANZ) guarantee, which is called the Homefirst 10-Year Builders Guarantee.
It also offers the Homefirst 7-Year Builders Guarantee and a WaterTight Warranty for remedial work on leaky homes. The guarantees and warranty are underwritten by CBL Insurance Limited.
A Homefirst 10-Year Guarantee is only available if you’ve hired a builder who belongs to the CBANZ.
The Homefirst 7-Year Guarantee and the WaterTight Warranty don’t limit your choice of builder as much. You can apply for one of these if you hire an independent builder – but Builtin New Zealand will have to approve your choice of builder first.
The cost of these Builtin New Zealand guarantees depends on the cost of your building contract and your level of cover. Each guarantee has 3 different levels of cover:
Full Contract covers the entire building project, including materials and subcontractors. But you must let your builder manage the project on your behalf.
Carpentry Labour Only covers only the builder’s workmanship. You’re responsible for the work of the subcontractors and the quality of the building materials.
Kitset Loss of Deposit covers your deposit on a building kitset if the builder goes bust and you don’t receive the materials you’ve purchased. Builtin New Zealand assures us that rot and fungal decay will be covered by the Homefirst guarantees if it’s caused by a defect.
For a building project worth $350,000, a Full Contract Homefirst 10-Year Guarantee would cost between $1000 and $1200 (see “Guarantees compared”, below). It’d cost between $600 and $700 if you opted for the Carpentry Labour Only option.
Master Build guarantees
Master Build Services provides the 3 guarantees offered by the Registered Master Builders Federation:
Master Build 10-Year Standard Guarantee
Master Build 10-Year Classic Guarantee
Master Build 10-Year Premium Guarantee.
A Master Build Services guarantee is only available if you hire a Registered Master Builder to work on your building project. There are no exceptions.
Each of these 3 guarantees offers a different level of cover:
The Standard covers loss of deposit, non-completion, and both structural and non-structural defects in materials or workmanship but not rot and fungal decay. You can reduce the cost of this guarantee by opting out of the loss-of-deposit and the non-completion cover.
The Classic covers defects in materials, workmanship and structure, plus rot and fungal decay.
The Premium is basically a combination of the Standard and Classic guarantees. It covers loss of deposit; non-completion; defects in workmanship, materials and structure; plus rot and fungal decay.
The Standard guarantee costs a fixed price of $1200 (or $900 if you opt out of the cover for loss of deposit and non-completion).
The other 2 Master Build guarantees are based on a percentage of the work you’re having done. The Classic costs 0.55 percent of the work ($1925 if the contract’s worth $350,000). The Premium costs 0.70 percent ($2450 if your contract’s $350,000).
The Classic and Premium guarantees offer cover for rot or fungal decay up to a maximum of $500,000 for a period of 10 years. The hitch here is that your house’s design must score 12 or lower on the Department of Building and Housing’s “Acceptable Solution E2/AS1 Risk Matrix”, which puts numbers on the risk of a house leaking:
Low risk = 0 to 6
Medium risk = 7 to 12
High risk = 13 to 20
Very high risk = over 20.
So Master Build Services’ rot and fungal decay cover is available only for low- or medium-risk houses – which already have a reasonable chance of being weather-tight. (See “The risk of leaks”, below, for more details of the “risk matrix”.)
Guarantees compared
Prices quoted here are based on a building contract worth $350,000. The basic cover listed is the maximum offered by each guarantee and depends on the limitations stated in each guarantee.
Builtin New Zealand
Homefirst 7-Year Builders Guarantee
Price: $1000-1200
Loss of deposit: 20 percent of contract price or $50,000 (whichever is less)
Non-completion: 20 percent of contract price or $100,000 (whichever is less)
Defects (non-structural/structural): $100,000 (2 years/7 years)
Rot and fungal decay: Covered if result of defect
Homefirst 10-Year Builders Guarantee
Price: $1000-1200
Loss of deposit: 20 percent of contract price or $50,000 (whichever is less)
Non-completion: 20 percent of contract price or $100,000 (whichever is less)
Defects (non-structural/structural): $100,000 (2 years/10 years)
Rot and fungal decay: Covered if result of defect
Master Build Services
Master Build 10-Year Standard Guarantee
Price: $1200 (fixed price whatever the value of the building contract)
Loss of deposit: 5 percent of contract price or $15,000 (whichever is less)
Non-completion: 10 percent of contract price or $30,000 (whichever is less)
Defects (non-structural/structural): $100,000 (2 years/10 years)
Rot and fungal decay: n/a
Master Build 10-Year Classic Guarantee
Price: $1925
Loss of deposit: n/a
Non-completion: n/a
Defects (non-structural/structural): $500,000 (2 years/10 years)
Rot and fungal decay: $500,000 (10 years)
Master Build 10-Year Premium Guarantee
Price: $2450
Loss of deposit: 5 percent of contract price or $25,000 (whichever is less)
Non-completion: 10 percent of contract price or $40,000 (whichever is less)
Defects (non-structural/structural): $500,000 (2 years/10 years)
Rot and fungal decay: $500,000 (10 years)
Limitations and exclusions
These guarantees have some common limitations and exclusions. These include:
Consequential damage
The guarantees don’t cover consequential damage. So your leaky roof will be fixed (provided it falls within the scope of the guarantee) but your water-stained curtains won’t be. However, Builtin New Zealand’s two Homefirst Guarantees will cover the cost of alternative accommodation, and the removal and storage of household belongings for up to 30 days.
Damage covered by other insurance
The guarantees don’t cover damage or loss that’s already covered by another insurance contract. However, the Homefirst Guarantees will pay excess costs if the “first-resort” insurance contract doesn’t fully cover you.
Variations to the building schedule
The guarantees won’t cover variations to your building schedule unless you clear the variation with the guarantor first.
Remedial work
The guarantees won’t cover defects if you take repairs into your own hands (for instance, if you hire a second builder to clean up the first builder’s mess) unless you clear the repairs with your guarantor first.
Emergency repairs
The guarantees won’t cover damage to your house caused by a defect unless you’ve taken reasonable steps to prevent the damage. So you can hire an after-hours builder to plug a sudden leak in your roof – but you must try to notify your guarantor first.
The onus is on you
A building guarantee doesn’t free you from your responsibilities as a building owner. You still need to:
Agree a contract with your chosen builder.
Get building consent from your local authority.
Monitor your progress payments as work is completed.
Make sure council inspections take place as scheduled.
Sign a Notice of Practical Completion with your builder.
Apply for a Code Compliance Certificate from your local council.
Not carrying out any of your responsibilities as an owner can limit your cover.
No guarantee is a substitute for carefully selecting your builder. Check your builder’s licence (www.business.govt.nz), qualifications, past projects and testimonials before signing a contract. Visit the Companies Office website to see if the director of the building company has gone into liquidation in the past.
Making a claim
To make a successful claim under your guarantee, you’ll need to be well-versed in its fine print. Make sure you understand the process for notifying the guarantee scheme of any defects (always in writing) and any time limits for lodging a claim.
The Queensland system
Queensland has a system of home-warranty insurance that acts much like a private building guarantee. It covers loss of deposit, defects and non-completion of work. And (like other guarantees) it won’t cover damage or loss that’s already covered by another insurance contract.
But in Queensland, builders – not consumers – are required to obtain warranty insurance from the Building Services Authority (BSA) for residential building work worth more than $3300.
The BSA is also a statutory authority, rather than a private outfit. As well as the insurance scheme, it’s responsible for disputes resolution and mandatory licensing of all contractors. Among its powers, the BSA can:
Record instances where a builder has failed to rectify a defect (the records are publicly available).
Revoke a builder’s licence.
Recover costs from the builder if it has to pay insurance cover to a homeowner.
Fine dishonest or incompetent builders $2000 and pursue further penalties (up to $25,000) through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
New South Wales has also moved to a form of statutory home warranty insurance. NSW Fair Trading offers a free building dispute resolution service. If the service fails, the state’s Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal can hear building claims up to $500,000.
In 2011, as part of the Building Act review here, the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) mulled over the regulation of building guarantees. One alternative was a government-run surety product that could compete with the existing guarantees.
In the end, the government decided against regulating guarantees until other Building Act reforms had “bedded in”.
It also recommended that the DBH develop further information and guidance “to help homeowners understand and manage the risks associated with the current suite of guarantee products and services in the building sector …”. The guidance hasn’t been produced yet.
Our view
A government-backed home warranty insurance system (like Queensland’s) should be introduced here. It would provide better consumer protection than private guarantees.
A statutory building-disputes tribunal would give homeowners a better chance of having poor-quality building work rectified. Building disputes are often complex and technical – there should be a specialist body to deal with them.
Report by Luke Harrison.
How about in Dunedin -anyone have suggestions/reviews/comments about reliable and quality builders in Dunedin?
Hello, we are currently looking for builder in Chrischurch. We are choosing between Generation homes and Today homes. Can you please give me any good/bad feedback regarding these two builders? Thank you!
Can thoroughly recommend Today Homes, we built with them Aug – Dec 2013. Happy for you to call 0274966210
Hi has anyone built with Jennian homes in Auckland?
Hello,
Has anyone dealt with Penny Homes and Hallmark Homes, Christchurch. These are the two options given to me by my insurer.
Regards
Hi. We were dealing with Penny Homes via our insurance company and had no end of problems. In the end with the backing of the insurance company they were sacked. I know our insurance company were having a lot of problems with jobs turning to custard with Penny Homes so I wouldn’t go near them. Haven’t heard anything about Hallmark.
Hi Lyn,
My parents are currently in this exact situation. They too are dealing with Penny Homes via their insurance company, and have had no end of problems with their professionalism from the start. Sadly, while the expression of their concerns has brought promises of improvement by the Christchurch manager of Penny Homes, his word has been fruitless – even when has been on paper. To make matters worse, every time they have contacted the company to discuss their worries, they have faced a visit from their Project Manager, who has verbally harassed them for daring to say anything. They are now highly fearful of retribution, while also fretting about what will become of their home. It is a vile scenario, in which Penny Homes should have no pride. The people of Christchurch deserve better, it is such a pity that a North Island company is not only taking advantage of their misfortune, but is seemingly taking pleasure in adding to it. Shame on you PENNY HOMES!
Hi. I feel for your parents so much. We were very lucky to get out when we did as the intimidation had started with us at a very early stage. I got promises from the owner John Penny which were worthless. The insurance company assured us there were repercussions happening for Penny Homes in the background but obviously not enough to change anything. I agree Christchurch deserves much, much better. Our thoughts are with your parents for this to be over soon.
Just out of curiosity what help did you get if any from the Master Builders Organisation that these guys are members of? Appears that 95% of the complaints on this blog site are members of these building organisations! Its disgusting whats happening to people!
Hi Kelly,
I agree it is disgusting but this the price/risk that one has to pay/take if one lives in a country with zero cunsumer protection. Abroad , in some countries, the initial deposit is protected by Law. In fact builders are required to undertake a sort of “surety insurance” prior to commencing any work. This isurance will have to cover much more than the initial deposit Somewtimes it covers the damge caused by failing the delivery (such as rent etc). Owners, if they wish, can extend the insurance to cover any subsequent finance so that if the builder goes bankrupted the money is protected.
Unfortunately New Zealand has a long way to go before becoming what’s called a first world country.
Hi Kelly/Anonymous
We do have consumer protection but it’s different when it applies to home building. As I said earlier, there are different contracts available and it pays to read them carefully and ensure you have a good one and not necessarily the one you’re given by the builder.
We recommend the one offered by the Building Disputes Tribunal – http://www.buildingdisputestribunal.co.nz – who you can also go to if you have issues like the sounds of yours.
We also strongly recommend insurance and you can get contract works insurance, which covers you for damage/theft and fire whilst building, and third party builder insurance, which covers you for builders going bust or not finishing your job.
As we say earlier, it’s important for home owners to do their homework before going with a builder. This forum is excellent, but you can talk to their clients, inspect earlier work, do Google searches for comments. And please! Read the http://www.buildingguide.co.nz or the magazine. There is a wealth of information in there that is incredibly useful for people who are building and it’s important that you are prepared before you spend upwards of half a million dollars building or renovating a home.
Hey Mark, that reply got me thinking – with the houses we have built we have always had contract insurance, once we arranged ourselves but usually the builder will arrange and some builders I know have a “blanket” insurance policy which covers all their builds and I believe if they are a “Master Builder” they are required to do this. So for example in the case of the people with Williams & Co wouldn’t their deposits be covered if W&Co had contract insurance? 🙂
Hi Sarah
It can get a bit confusing.
You, the home owner, take out Contract Works Insurance but that covers the actual work – so if there’s a fire, or theft of materials, or damage by a digger, for instance, you’re covered for the replacement and/or costs incurred.
The deposit with Williams & Co. won’t be covered by this.
This could have been covered by a Third Party Builders guarantee, such as offered by Homefirst (http://www.builtin.co.nz/homefirst).
An alternative is to use an ‘escrow’, also offered by the Building Disputes Tribunal. Here your monies are held in an independent trust. You need to have the money for everything but it doesn’t go to the builder straight away. So, the builder has the confidence his bills will be paid, but he must do the work beforehand and to a satisfactory level. You, the homeowner, know that you haven’t paid for something you haven’t got, and you know that you only pay when the work is done and if the builder goes bust, you haven’t lost your money. We recommend this approach.
Above all else, we cannot stress enough the need for homeowners who are building the need to educate themselves about their responsibilities, about the processes, about their builder and about their options around product selection. The Building Research Association just did a report that showed that those who participated in the design and build of their project had much higher satisfaction rates than those who did not.
One final note, the single biggest issue that came up with builder satisfaction in this report was that builders didn’t come back to fix defects. It is almost guaranteed there will be (hopefully only!) minor things to fix after the house is finished. Some builders are less than satisfactory at coming back to fix these. You are within your rights to withhold a portion of the final payment until all defects have been fixed.
Hi Mark – Gppd site this with people active and with helpful responses. You, Sam and others mention escrow. Do builders agree to an escrow account arrangement? And do they agree to withholding some of final payment until defects are fixed? In the new amendment to the Act what level of insurance are builders supposed to have?
Thanks
Hi Mark,
Your final comment about builders not coming back to fix things is the exact situation we are in, some of those things are stopping CoC being issued.
We are dealing with a franchise builder and have no money held back and seem to be getting no progress, the issues are work not completed as per plan and poor workmanship.
Any advice on the best way forward to get these things resolved would be much appreciated.
Hi AdaFrankBox
This is pretty difficult as you have almost no leverage. It’s a lesson to retain a final payment until everything is fixed to your satisfaction.
You can make contact with me and I can call on your behalf if you like – mark@aim-high.co.nz – or you can start shaming them on social media – their FB page and Twitter – that’s worked with other companies I’ve had customer service issues with. Alternatively you can contact the Building Disputes Tribunal – John Green (see link above). They’re superb to deal with and while may cost you a little bit of money, should be able to get things sorted for you.
If they’re a member of Master Builders or Certified Builders then you can also go to them and complain. They are very protective of their brands and should get on to them immediately.
good luck.
Have you not seen both Campbell and Fair Go on the review of Master Builders and Certified Builders Guarantees. Not worth paper they are written on and only seems to protect Builder and not customer. Others have mentioned in previous Bl;ogs.
Hi Mark,,
I see your comments about CB and MB, Unfortunately, CB and MB are very difficult to deal with, not sure what your association is with them?
The last thing they want is having to get involved with problem members, clients have to go to great lengths to get assistance from the organisations, I know a lot of people like me who have experienced dealing with them, the complaint process is a complete waste of time and is designed to wear the client down even further because things are not dealt with timely enough and in some cases clients are completely ignored, they know time is money for the client the longer they can ignore people the better, heaven forbid they assist the client towards a claim with the insurer!
I have real issues about this as this is not how they promote themselves. Lenders and insurers dictating to people who they can build with when there is no value in it for the client! Half the complaints on this site are about MB and CB builders who will be in breach of their code of ethics, something these organisations hate to be reminded about. The problem is, if they got tough on suspending members who breach these ethics (for serious issues) the organisations would fall over by the looks as there wouldnt be enough of “the good guys” left to keep them running!
Your right in that alot of the problems are the maintenance clause in not coming back to fix these issues! But there is also the conduct and behavior side like the bullying tactics they use delaying completion of builds etc forcing people to accept the conditions of the homes because they are desperate to move in, and dragging end dates out and this just shouldnt be tolerated by the organisations but it is unfortunately.
We did everything you said, re financing to safe guard ourselves (thank god) insurance you name it, but it doesnt stop terrible things happening and to be honest, your contract isnt worth the paper its written on when you get a particularly nasty builder it costs money to fight for whats rightfully yours we are lucky to have such funds and are prepared to go the whole way out of principal but alot of people cant and this is where these organisations need to play a tougher role!
What a sad and disgusting state this industry is in,,, full of criminals! And thats my whinge!
I totally agree with your comments Kelly about the CB and MB and all the builders who use bullying tactics, do not finish things, do not honor the finish date given in writing etc etc. There are so many problems. The other thing that builders are still getting away with is, close the company down, sack everyone and start a new company if they get too many complaints etc. Oh, no, we can not fix that. We have closed the company down etc.
Wow – I knew there were issues out there and they’re really starting to come through.
Certified Builders and Master Builders are clients and I have a good relationship with them and generally see them as being genuine and well-meaning, but understand when individuals have poor experiences.
As much as anything, going to the organisation is a box that must be ticked off first as if you do get some response from them it can save you time and money later. If it doesn’t work, then it’s time to escalate your response.
You’re right that there are some very poor builders around, but there are also good ones. And yes, there are real issues in the industry but because only those who have problems out of a relatively small number of people who build or renovate each year, the issue doesn’t resonate with the wider populace (unless it’s an individual case shown on Campbell Live or Fair Go) and therefore the politicians can ignore it.
My advice, again, is to go through an escrow service so your money is protected, and get the best contract you can – again, I recommend the one provided by the Building Disputes Tribunal. You can also contact the Home Owners and Buyers Association – http://www.hobanz.org.nz – which can help you out with legal action, contracts, etc, and are really good to deal with.
Once again, I lament the fact that so many people rip into their building project without doing any upfront homework about the quality of their builder or understanding the processes they’re about to go through – if you’re spending upwards of half a million dollars or more, you’d think it wise to get some advice so please! – check out the building guide website as a starting point – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz – it’s independent advice (because we are), it sets things out in easy to understand fashion, and it will help you prepare for the project which, as you all know, is much bigger than you think when you first go into it.
And tell your friends who are building so they don’t have the same issues.
Hi Mark, A new one for you give your usual helpful feedback on.
I understand that Owners are required to check that the people designing and carrying out Restricted Building Work (which basically includes any new house) are Licensed Building Practitioners (LPB). Sounds like a good idea in theory, but the road to hell is paved with those.
According to the DBH leaflet ‘Build It Right’ it seems Owners are supposed to check not only whether the building company owner, or his permanent employees, are LPBs. But they are also required to check , before signing the contract, whether every subcontractor (plus their employees who will actually do the hands on work on site), are LPBs. Plus if there are any changes in personnel after work starts they have to check them too.
To follow this to its logical conclusion they would need to ask for proof of identity, to make sure the people who come to site are the same ones they have checked before.
And if they fail to do any of this correctly they as Owners can be held personally liable (and possibly fined). This seems to be a totally impractical and unreasonable requirement.
What happens if the Owners are people who have no knowledge of the building trade, and just want to employ a main builder to take care of, and take responsibility for, all this? What happens if the Owners are not always around on site to check this kind of thing, or perhaps not even in NZ while the work is going on? Are they required to employ a LBP as Project Manager to do this on their behalf, and if so are they still responsible for their PM’s omissions or mistakes?
Hi Chris
this is an area with which I’ve been dealing with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which now incorporates the old Dept of Building and Housing.
Firstly there has been a completely inadequate education campaign to consumers around restricted building work and licensed builders. I would venture that most consumers don’t even know what a licensed builder is.
As far as LBPs go, there are different categories of restricted building work, mostly dealing with weathertightness, and consumers need to know that LBPs must undertake this work, or if the tradesman is not an LBP, then an LBP needs to sign it off. So far as I’m aware, a building company owner does not need to be an LBP – but builders doing restricted building work either must be or the work needs to be signed off by an LBP. This means that turkeys can work for an unlicensed building company owner, but if they have an LBP come by to inspect the work and sign it off, then council will pass it.
Bear in mind that the LBP signing off that work becomes personally liable for that work for ten years from completion, and under the latest regulations MUST come back, no questions asked, within the first year to fix defects. If there are issues with this, then people can make a complaint to the Licensing Board and they may take away the license from the LBP.
Here’s where it gets silly – in spite of around 20% of new builds having a major issue (so on the approx. 20,000 builds per year, that would be 4000 serious issues) just 3 builders had their license removed last year. Go figure.
Hi Mark
When you say only 3 have had their licence taken from them do you mean that out of all the complaints filed only 3 have actually been dealt with since the new law came in or do you mean out of all the complaints filed only 3 lost licenses? Do you know re your dealings with them how many actual complaints have been filed since the new law was passed and how many have gone through the system?
How long can one expect to wait to see some action through the LBP after filing a complaint do you know why it is taking so long since this new law? Also as another blogger (Simon) stated, what happens if the builder shuts up shop and starts another company (as they do) before the claim goes through the system? What would happen there?
You are correct in that alot of people dont realise they can file a complaint against a builders license here.
People should do this just anything to try and get these #!!!!!!!##! As they can loose their license and be fined. Its surely worth a bit of effort even if it does take a while. Our council were great at informing us of everything we could do, this was one of them.
Thanks Mark, appreciate your advice and willingness to help. And yes big lesson learned regarding the final payment, funny how much better prepared we are to build a house having now built a house.
We are working through a last ditch effort to get things going amicably, obviously that will be best for all parties in the long run.
Unfortunately they are not members of MB or CB and have no real social media presence, guess I can see why now.
I note somewhat amusingly that “Good Faith”, “Compromise”, “Co-Operation” and “Private” are key words in their dispute resolution clause.
Will let you know how we get on.
Cheers
Hi Guys,
Has anyone had experience with Compass homes? Looking to build with them in Pokeno.
Regards
Did you end up using Compass Homes?
Hi there,
I’d like to know if anyone has had any experience building with A1 homes in Kumeu? We are looking at building, but would like some feedback. We’re pretty fussy (like anyone else I guess) and A1 homes look like a good home for the price tag. Too good if I’m being honest – hence the question.
Cheers.
Not sure about A1, but if you are building in Kumeu talk to Maddren Homes.
Thanks for the kind words as we have very good client testimonials
If you are going to take advice, take it from me. I’m an ex Builder, Draftsman and I have been a new Home Consultant for 15 years. I’ve had a total of 26 years in residential building.
Getting to the point, the state of the residential building industry is appalling.
I find it horrific that group builders allow inexperienced, unqualified staff to advise clients on decisions worth hundreds of thousands dollars.
New home consultants, franchise owners and construction mangers with little (or no) experience will generally complicate a project. There are so many things that can and will go wrong, without experience these traps cannot be seen.
When you first meet a New Home Consultant, speak boldly; ask what experience they have and how many years they have had in the industry. Ask for the addresses of their last 20 builds then spend a day knocking on those doors and ask the owners about their builders. This is the only way to see past all the “smoke and mirrors” Doing this could save you potentially tens of thousands of dollars. I wouldn’t dream of dealing with anyone without doing this first.
Forget about the brands, fancy brochures, guarantees and empty catch phrases. It’s about the individual franchise and the individuals you work directly with.
Too many purchasers are consumed with shopping on price and don’t ask the important questions. over the years I have seen literately hundreds of clients choose other inexperienced builders or a franchises with a bad reputations because they appeared to be $10k to $60K cheaper (only to have these extra costs added later) If you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a build you have the right to ask the hard questions. Be ruthless about it, demand transparency or walk.
I’m happy to answer any questions any one has, I give honest answers as I have nothing to gain other than re-installing some integrity and faith back to the industry.
I endorse what Bob has said above. Don’t be fooled by a price that seems cheaper up front as you will often be stung down the path and be careful about who you pick as your builder. As I said earlier, make sure you check earlier projects to learn about who you’re dealing with.
Hey Bob – that is awesome advice – I wish I had done the door knocking thing before I built the last house. Really good idea, most people should do that. I come into contact with quite a few people now who ask about building/recommendations and I will definitely pass on that advice – cheers 🙂
Hi Bob,
Great advice ! really good, thank you !!! Just want to know of what you think of Brant Homes in general ?
Hi there,
We are looking to build a house and land package in rolleston near christchurch through stone wood homes. Till now our experience is very good with the sales person. Hope the same continues till the completion of the project. Didn’t sign yet. Any suggestions before signing the contract Plz?
Hi there – we didn’t build with stonewood, but pretty much all of the companies are the same with regards to getting you to sign and then wacking on huge charges for extras. Try to tie down every last thing including kitchen and bathroom before you sign. They won’t like it… but it could save you a fortune. Electrical is another big one… make sure you think about every light fitting and plug socket you want and make sure you get a price included in the contract. Look at everything they put allowance against and try to pin it down. We did this and only went $3000 over contract in the end. Also a friend of ours had a sunset clause which really incentivised the builders! They didn’t want to put it in but our friends insisted it was a deal-breaker. Hope this helpful and good luck!
DONT DO IT!
DONT DO IT!
I’m fascinated by people on here who go to the trouble of having two profiles & actively promote a particular building company, yet appear to be the same person when the email address ties the two profiles together. Affiliations perhaps?
Has anyone used the services of ‘Shore Homes’ on the North Shore of Auckland to design and build a house before? What are they like?
Hi there helpful people.
We are contemplating to appoint Landmark Homes-North Shore & Rodney franchise to build our house. We are inquiring from any one who got any experience dealing with them or have heard any positive or negative stories about them. Any response would be highly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi there,
We built with Landmark North Shore – Rodney, and moved in end of Feb this year. We found them amazing, right from concept to design, and right through the build, our project Manager Mike was AMAZING, as was our project supervisor Susie. Communication was awesome, I really couldn’t fault them. Our new neighbours to our left built with them also and said the same (like you we did a little research first). At the end of the process my husband and I did a reference for Landmark (without being asked), you are welcome to ask them to see our feedback.
Good luck – I can genuinely say we love our home, and loved the process (except perhaps for having to pay for it! :))
Thanks
Thanks for that insight Andree. It is very much appreciated 🙂
Hi Kerry, give me a call if you’d like to discuss Landmark North Shore.
We’re nearing completion of our home and would like to tell you about our experience with Landmark before you go ahead with them.
Lachie
021440819
Just to clarify, not a happy customer.
Thank you Lachie for your good advice. We will certainly take the points you raised into consideration. Regards, Kerry
Hi Kerry,
We are currently building with Landmark Homes – North Shore. During our design process we dealt with Steve and Wendy who we found to be a fountain of knowledge and a great team. Their level of personal service (i.e speed of response and contact-ability) was exceptional We were very detailed in our planning process and both Steve and Wendy were happy to meet with us on Saturdays and speak with us after hours. Any small changes we requested to our plans were done within a day or two.
We looked into 3 other well known building companies and don’t regret our decision at all. We now have Mike and Susie as our construction managers and communication is great.
They started on site mid September and we have a timeline where major things will be completed with a move in date of early March. (Windows and roof were completed today!)
You are welcome to call me if you have any questions. 021 2422 888 All the best, Katie
Thank you for your elaborate response Katie. We will certainly be in touch if need more clarification. 🙂
Hi there, we are wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with the building company Shore Homes/Auckland? We have never built before, and are a little nervous We havent signed a contract……yet and look forward to hearing from anyone else who has built with them.
Note – A draughtsperson friend has also informed me that Kaipara Council have just been audited and are now ‘ticking boxes’ to the ‘nth’ degree eg asking her for detailed product specs like which lighting brand/fixtures along with pictures/brochure etc – ridiculously picky considering the vendors had not even chosen light fixtures – grrr councils!
OMG this IS food for though – having scrolled through most of the above posts! We have just purchased land in Takahoa Bay which is part of a farm estate so has ‘rules’ lol. We were just going to live in Totalspan barn (as hubby works for them) but he says council are getting more and more picky with engineering as to make them habitable buildings. So I am currently researching kitsets etc – anyone with any experience of Builtsmart Homes – otherwise looking at the House Company maybe. Also looked at new transportable homes but not sure if house truck would fit through gated entry – could be an issue if ya house can’t fit through the gate! Thanks in advance!
Hi Linzi,
Did you finally go with Builtsmart homes ? Would love to know what feedback you have found out. We are looking for a kitset / transportable home – looking to be build in Kaipara.
Also no one seems to have commented on A1 homes ?? Any feedback anyone ?
Has anyone had experience with David Reid Homes South Canterbury?
Sorry forgot to add we’re in Auckland.
We are embroiled in a High Court Case with Signature Homes. All in all as horrific as indicated on this (archived) website run by support group ‘Just for Us’ helping homeowners, tradespersons and franchise holders alike. http://web.archive.org/web/20130316011356/http://justforus.co.nz/
Hi
We are looking at doing a remove and rebuild project on our property. Has anyone used Jalcon Homes? Loving all the comments, very very useful.
Yes, we have built with Jalcon, send me an email with any questions you may have. paul_paul110@yahoo.com
I’ve just been trawling through the comments as we are about to start a build with Golden Homes in the north.
I really just want to make a point that the majority of your comments are useless unless you are able to stipulate who the franchise it that you built with, where, and when.
Otherwise it is scaremongering.
I have my fingers crossed my build will go well – so far so good. We haven’t got that far though!
All PC sums (there are only 3) are charged at cost without builders margin, I think thats a pretty good start.
All the best with your builds, stressful yes,but so is buying a home in general.
Hey Jadilla. My comments re Golden Homes above specified that it was Golden Homes Christchurch Peak Construction. Where in the “North” do you mean? You will see some comments above about Golden Homes Albany. As for the PC sums you mention, yeah mine promised that too at the beginning!!!! Didn’t work out that way. I would be surprised also if their contract was any different than the one I signed. Their PC sums usually fall well short but good luck and I hope you have a better experience than I did. 🙂
Hi Sarah, did you have all this in writing? Did your builders contract that you signed say specifically that PC sums would be charged at cost? Ours does, in black and white, which both parties signed. In any unfortunate circumstance that is needed, I hope that means something! Although it sounds as though this might not be the case……… 🙁
So sorry to hear you had a crappy experience!
We are dealing with the Whangarei franchise. All is going well, all to schedule and great communication. Dealt directly with the Director from the start, no flashy salesperson. Friends of friends are local builders and went with GH for their home so we knew that would be a reliable recommendation.
Still, can only hope, and keep a close eye on the build!
Hi Sarah & Jacinda, I understand that in interpreting the term ‘PC sum’, a NZ Court adopted the meaning of the term that is generally used in the construction industry. It held that the PC sum is only an estimate of the cost of items that could not be determined at the time of the contract.
If the actual cost of the items selected or approved by the owner turn out to be more than the value of the PC sum, then the contract price has to be adjusted upwards to reflect the increase between the PC sum and that actual cost (and presumably down if it’s less).
So the main point is not whether the change is based on the ‘actual’ cost (rather than a sum dreamed up by the builder) after perhaps allowing for builders margin and GST depending on how the contract is worded, but whether the original PC sum is a reasonable estimate of the final cost of what the owner is likely to want. That’s where you need to be careful, and realistic!
I know of at least 4 people that have built with Golden Homes in Albany. Unfortunately, I spoke to them after my signing with them. All said that the company is not honest at all. The franchisee does not front up and they just try to pull the wool over our eyes when we built with them. They try to gloss over the details e.g. tapwares, fittings etc. It is amazing how consistently dishonest they are with the people that I talk with and including me. The quality of the build is not good either so do not deal with this builders. Do not touch Golden Homes Albany. You have been warned. Once the contract has been signed, they are not easy to talk to anymore.
Hi Jane,
Did you continue building with Golden Homes? My husband is seriously considering them even though I have mentioned all the reviews here. Would you be able to message me about your experience? my email is vawtan(at)gmail.com
(Replied to first post but in case it gets missed)
I’ve just created a site for building company reviews. I too was looking for a building company review site and found nothing.
The site I’ve created is simple so far and is forum-like in that you can reply to reviews and ask questions/place comments.
Have a look, feedback welcome.
Forgot address: http://buildreview.co.nz
Hi Buildreview
keen to talk – email me at mark@aim-high.co.nz. I think I might be able to help drive this.
cheers
Nice attempt and good start but I guess it will not reflect the true reality as Franchises were not subdivided per location. I think it is fair to remind that a franchise are locally owned businesses, and that the business owner’s behavior can be totally different among different locations. The way the website has been structured(it looks like it’s been rushed out) could seriously mislead people who are looking for a genuine and honest builder and ruin the business of honest entrepreneurs cos the score is assigned as overall .
My 2cents
Just finished a built with Golden Homes Albany. If you like being bent over and violated this is the place to go. These guys will fleece, thieve or otherwise every cent they possibly can from you. To the point of constantly re billing items you have paid over a year ago.
Points to note which probably have been covered above, the good and the bad:
1) PC sums totally inadequate, if you are on a budget be very careful. Electrical in particular substandard. Sparky is a good tradesman but very pricey.
2) Very poor communication, site manager was a totally moron. When things go wrong nobody wants to take responsibility to fix, just run and hide.
3) Not quality control from GH, you need to be on there case to get a good finish otherwise you just get the quickest easiest finish. In particular painter was average, when he came back to remedy left paint splatter all over flooring, basically could give a shit.
4) Will charge you up front for travel, then charge you again.
5) Builders were great, kitchen people were great, external plasterer was great.
6) Drain layer ripped us off, charges twice the going rate for fill removal and never took the amount he claimed.
Basically the subbies are screwed by GH and will make up there poor rates when they do something extra for you, plus in most cases GH will clip another 10% on that also.
Like most of the house companies they have usually got the customer by the balls, as they need to get in the house, so basically they just get worn down and except what is given.
All in all a great house, just poorly managed process and costs way more than you plan. Its all about getting signatures on contracts and that deposit.
Yep, seems that Golden Homes are the same everywhere then!! I have to say that their tradies were good. I got a good job from all of them but the hidden costs are amazing and as you say they have you over a barrel as they lock you out of the house.
OMG Yes we are on the same page we recently finished having Golden Homes from Albany build our house and I could’nt agree more…. just glad the 5 months that turned to 2 years is finally over, they were corrupt rip off artists who don’t give a shit, had to watch them like a hawke and they even breached all our signed off plans constantly without consultation to save themselves bucks. We payed top dollar for a high spec and their tradies were ripped off just as much as the clients. Really don’t know how they sleep at night and hope they burn in hell as you can see it still makes me so angry!!
Hey Furious, yes I totally get where you are coming from!! I too hope they burn in hell because unfortunately that’s the only place where Karma is going to get them – I get angrier each day when I see them raking in millions of dollars down here in the rebuild – they are building these small homes and churning them out faster than you can say “rip-off”. Makes me angry that these people are making such a lot money when they are such b*******. I built with GH Albany way back in 2001 but it was a different franchisee then and although the work was a wee bit slack and we had to keep an eye on them for mistakes, they didn’t rip us off financially too much but I see the new franchisee is more of the GH “type”!!! I love the way they market their “Goldstar Guarantee” which is actually all owned by the same people as own the head franchise company here!! Hardly independent is it? Also I note that unlike some of the other franchise companies (Stonewood etc), the head franchisors do not seem to want to know about complaints etc with franchisees – they just seem to hide and keep out of the way. Its almost impossible to get contact details for the head franchisor. My sister told me to send them a poo in the post – might just do that one day – lol 😉
Hi,
i have left a comment to another post here, but thought if you would be able to contact me regarding your experience please? my husband is seriously considering a build with them despite my mentioning the reviews here. He has been meeting with Paul. my email is vawtan(at)gmail.com
We were fifth time new home builders and had the extreme misfortune to award our latest contract to Earthcube Homes of Tauranga. After the Christchurch earthquake, we thought a container house would be a fast, durable and robust option for us. Worst building experience ever! The problems, excuses and delays started as soon as the contract was signed. After 12 months, we had paid the full contract price, but didn’t have a house that we could move into! It took over 12 months to not even come close to finishing a 191 m2 home. It became apparent that if we wanted to move in at all, we had to terminate our contract with the builder and engage new subcontractors ourselves. We did this and it was an extremely expensive and hugely stressful experience for us. We are not aware of anyone who has had a satisfactory experience with this builder, so would like to warn others to be very wary when contemplating dealing with Earthcube homes. Do your due diligence. It would be interesting to know if there is anyone at all who has had a good experience with this company.
Can anyone give feedback on signature or benchmark homes in christchurch please?
Signature being building my house 21 months now. We still have no kitchen. Lights. Carpet.
Full of broken promises
Hi. We built with signature homes last year. The main issue we had
Was poor communication. There project mangers to which we went thru
4 during our build of 5 months are by far overworked. Trying to mange too many builds leads to poor project management. Happy to discuss further ph 021 499 834
Hi there,
We are looking at purchasing a land and build property at the new hobsonville point sub division. It is my impression that a particular site can only be built on by the particular construction company?? is this correct? Has anyone got any experience with this?
The site we are looking at is being offered by Jalcon Homes, which I have read the negative comments about earlier in this post. My problem is I don’t think you have a choice if they are the allocated company for the site you are interested in? Would be really interested in any feedback about houses in this sub division and/ or Jalcon Homes.
Drop me an email at paul_paul110@yahoo.com, we have built with Jalcon at Hobsonville point. I’m more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
We built at Hobsonville Point with Jalcon. A really tough process during and after settling. If you have already signed keep a close eye on all contractual commitments, plans vs what is actually built, timelines, regularly inspect the site for quality and put all requests and feedback in writing. Ensure all your concerns are settled prior to settling. Jalcon will take advantage of any inexperience.
Can anyone recommend a good builder in Tauranga. Considering Signature, Fowler or G J Gardner. Cheers
Todd sounds as though you are attracted to the gloss and glamour of what these Companies offer rather than the substance. But no franchise will deliver on their promise as it is not them that build your house. Find houses you like, approach the occupant and ask who built it. You need to know who the builder was not who the franchise was. Be wary. A Company like GJ’s say they build 1,000+ homes a year. They do not build one. Signature give a price guarantee and a completion date guarantee yet there would be 20 or 30 complaints above that say they do not honor them. The reason. They do not build your house!
Hi any feedback on GJ Gardner christchurch please?
Hi Gary
GJ Gardner South has had three owners in two years. First into liquidation, second failed as well now on third franchisee. Doesn’t build a lot of confidence in their quality builder candidate selection. GJ North are rated badly in this review (above) as uncommunicative, poor quality finish and poor time and promise keeping. GJ’s advise they are experienced builders in their own right but it is not rue as they do not build any houses. They are purely and simply a marketing Company promising things to engage you. You are not afforded any financial or corporate pre-start protection on design, costing and preliminary work so get written confirmations of what they ‘entice’ you with. No contract no obligation. Your deposit to engage them is not protected. Your house deposit when you start to build is, once you sign a contract and take the insurance! Associated design work (landscaping, geotechnical and valuation) is unprotected. Right now the franchises are quite expensive per meter and a lot of it is profit take based on demand. As they build their teams you get to see their show home built by Team A but Team D turn up to do your work and some of the time it is at Team Z by the time you are getting into your build proper. Check them out thoroughly and don’t believe what they say only what they commit to in writing. Remember there is no such Company as GJ Gardner, Stonewood or Jennair. They are all independent franchisees you have to investigate yourself.
We are looking at building a transportable home and moving to site for a holiday home. Has anyone used Big River Homes in balclutha or Genius Homes near Timaru.?? Any feedback would be appreciated.
..Genius Homes..top notch prefabricated Homes…go check out their set-up in Washdyke at 65 Racecourse road…….and the website……South Island only I presume at this time..
DONT USE STONEWOOD NORTHSHORE. Had been dealing with Stonewood NS for over 18 MONTHS regarding a house and land package in Schnapper Rock. Because of the site shape(triangular) and us needing a Home and Income (elderly folks) we required a custom build. After the stonewood architect failed to respond to our several requests we got our own architect to do a pre-purchase inspection. He spoke to NS council and was advised that we could build within 10 m of foreshore because of the reserve in front of our section. Stonewood representative was very excited about this (as it might have applied to his other sections along side) Asked us to pay a deposit. Told us we could hire our own architect for the concepts who designed a suitable home based on councils suggestions. Set up a meeting to discuss building costs with Stonewood and the director stormed in and said he would not build our home and wanted the section back. He refused to even apply for consent to build in the foreshore and said a H&I would block the view from his property alongside (despite our plan being within council regulations). He did PROMISE to refund our deposit and pay the architect….but 18 month wasted! We were crushed! No section and no build….8 weeks on and still no refund and now the director is renegating on his promise to pay architect. So much stress and heart ache. Would have thought a big company would be be honest and try and keep their word! :(((
That sounds like a good one for Fair Go!!
jump on the band wagon much???
Hey everybody.
If anyone is looking for a good building company in Christchurch I would recommend Peter Ray Homes. My husband is a tradesman who has done work for them and has been so impressed with how well they treat customers that he chose to build our own house with them back in 2011 (just after the earthquake). They were wonderful and having seen through his work how they build and how good they are we would thoroughly recommend them. They bend over backwards for customers to make sure they get what they pay for and also don’t pay any more than agreed. Any difference in price is documented and discussed with the client. You will see from a comment I made above that I made the mistake of building with Golden Homes in 2011/2012 – which I did because I had already signed up with them just before I met my husband. Very bad timing as otherwise I might have built with PR and been happier! Lots of people are asking on this site who is a good builder and I haven’t seen their name mentioned, so thought I would put it out there. 🙂
We nearly two years into a build with signature I Canterbury. Run!!!!!
We are building with signature homes at the moment. Nearly two years of incompetents and excuses. So much for “Gauranteed completion date”” we have four of them now. But still no plaster. Paint or even a kitchen??????? Nearly two years!!!!!!!!!
Shame on signature homes or Rem homes in Christchurch as Gavin Hunt himself has corrected me????? Wtf??? So much for “your home. Your way” it means shit!!!! And they dont care. They have my money. And they dont care!!!!!
Hi Neville, We know how you feel. We had a letter from Signature giving us a completion date. We eventually moved in nearly a year later!! Been in the house 2 years and 10 months and still waiting for them to sort things that should have been done before we moved in and during the so called 2 year maintenance contract after we moved in. Will let you know how we get on with all this. We have quite a story to tell.
It is not suprising you are having problems. Why did you contract an accountant and an electrician to build your house? You should have got a builder. This lot arrived from outta town to get rich on the back of the earthquakes.
Hi Kathy, We built with Landmark Homes Counties who are also closely associated with Landmark Homes Eastern, and we’ve had an atrocious experience – read our previous comments. When we finished with our build, Landmark’s Head Office rang us to ask us to rate the experience – ha!!! Overall we gave our franchise a 1-2 mark, which was the lowest rating. Now you would think there would be a reaction to this from their Head Office, but we have heard nothing in response to this bad rating. It would be reasonable to think then that maybe they’ve had this FAIL before, so it was no biggie to them obviously. It appears that many of the group house building companies, are tarred with the same brush, as you can read in this huge blog site. In essence they are just a sales company who employ the builder for your job, but are also meant to project manage the job. Our project manager was almost never on site (our neighbours informed us of this), plus he had no idea what he was doing. The LBP (“License Building Practitioner” – a joke title) has too many builds on the go at the same time, as does the project manager, so they leave the job up to their Lackies and only come back every now and then to check on the job (as is required by the Building Act). Often this is how things get missed & if you don’t get the foundations right, the structure correct, it is then a huge deal to correct things later. We could go on about the huge list of defects, some major, but we would be identified and at this stage we have it with our lawyer and Master Builders. The SHOW HOME is just that, not what you end up with, for sure.
Our advise: It may pay you to read Mark Graham’s blog on this site and others before you make a decision. May we also suggest perhaps, that you employ just a stand-alone builder, one who has a reputation to build or uphold, rather than these Group Housing companies. Mark Graham also puts out a book called The Building Guide. Although it doesn’t review builders, it does have a great deal of what you need to know before you actually start building. Get a contract that says what you want it to say as well, how you want to build, the standard you expect, what & how much communication you need. When things go wrong what process you need, who you will have involved. Our contract was, for the most part, all about the financial aspect. Together with the contract may we suggest you take your time and look CLOSELY at all the plans thoroughly and if you don’t understand any particular design or aspect, you seek advise from another builder as to how a certain part will end up looking like. The original plans Landmark Counties gave us were the basic plans not the ones that go to council, not the site plans. We didn’t realize this at the time because this was the first time we’d actually built a home. Insist on being able to see the full plans before you sign anything!! Talk to friends who have recently built and ask them about any pitfalls they experienced, so you are well aware of what to expect. Don’t just go with the personality of your sales person; check out the builders work WHILE he is doing it, not just the end product.
In the end analysis, what is needed in the building industry is an experienced “jo-blog” (no pun intended) type of person (not lawyer), who can advocate for the average “jo-blog” during the whole process, especially for novices to the build process.
Good luck but our one piece of advise ………….. NOT LANDMARK HOMES!!!
Regarding the one from Frustrated to Kathy above, a lot of good points there. But the advice about examining the detailed drawings which go to Council (not just the concept plans) is a nice idea, but has a problem. Most of you will have found out that getting a franchise builder to do concept plans (ie basic floor plans and exterior elevations, plus a specification and build cost) costs about $2-4K. Usually at that stage they want you to sign the building contract, and hand over 10%, before they proceed to detailed design and Council submission. So it’s not really feasible to ‘insist on being able to see the full plans before you sign anything’, because the builder probably has to pay the architect/designer something like $15-20K (plus geotechnical report, topographical survey and usually some engineers fees, all adding up to at least another $5-6K) before he can produce detailed plans, ready for submission to Council. Obviously he’s not going to do that unless you’ve at least signed something to say you’re up for all those costs. And of course none of that includes the actual Council fees of many thousands more, plus the architects time to oversee the submission, and respond to Council queries etc.
The alternative to using a franchise builder to do all this as part of the build ‘package’ is to get an architect/designer to do it all before you approach a builder. Total cost is going to be in the $40-50K range, but then you can give your finished design (and maybe Council building consent too) to a few different builders, and get competitive quotes.
If anyone has found a better/cheaper way to do all this I’d like to know.
Oh that’s interesting Chris – thanks. Much more advisable thing to do – get an architect and a builder, DON’T use a Group Housing company anyway!!!
We didn’t see any geotech report at all (yet we offered one through a Geotech friend), but still they took more of our section than they needed to and then had to bring back fill. PS cost another …… $20 – $30k cost approx and rising!!! Virtually zero communication on behalf of LANDMARK HOMES during the build – THE major problem!!
Thanks for your clarification on the full plans, but gee that is almost smoke and mirrors on behalf of the group builder. The reason we state this is because, in comparison to the entire cost of the building, $26K you say, are nothing, when they can afford to place TV ads and properties on these ads (show homes), that don’t resemble anywhere near what many people end up with. The concept (an idea) and the actual site plans, are two different things. We should have the opportunity to inspect & sign the site plans as well before they go to council. This way ensuring they are what we understood we were getting, BEFORE the building commences. At that stage it may be a good idea to meet with the actual builder, to see his standards, and then the possibility of any doubt or assumption or his (or his lackies) interpretation of the plans. It was just assumed we had a Queen sized bed when we have a super king and windows are now almost in the middle of our bed. Yet we told the sales person we needed the gap between the windows to allow for a SK head board!!! Just one example.
TRANSPARENCY!! HONEST COMMUNICATION!!
Sorry to hear that Phil, but if it was their mistake in excavating and removing too much material, why are you paying to bring it back? You’re supposed to pay for the finished work in accordance with the plans, not their mistakes. Or are they claiming they removed ‘unsuitable’ material, and replaced it with ‘suitable’?
Also, although it seems common for people to sign up to the building contract based on just ‘concept plans’ (ie the ones that generally cost around $2K to $4K to produce), I don’t want to give the impression those plans are just rough sketches, or generic plans from the builder’s brochure.
They should at least be based on a topographical survey of your site (ie an accurate site plan showing boundaries, contours (levels), and main features like big trees), so the house position, and floor and roof levels, can be fixed by a designer/architect. How else can they check boundary set backs, and height to boundary requirements etc?
The concept plans should also show the floor layouts, with accurate room sizes, and 4 elevations showing what the outside will look like, with window and door positions and sizes.
Doing a topo survey, and preparing concept plans, shouldn’t take more than a few weeks, even with the current state of building in NZ. No one should sign a building contract with less information than that.
If you had such a concept plan you could have checked whether things like beds (or swinging cats) would fit in, before going any further.
Unfortunately the contract probably says somewhere that nothing you discuss with the sales person means a thing. All that counts is what’s in the contract and the specification, or on the drawings.
Thanks Chris appreciate the clarification you’ve made to the mass novices on this blog including us – the naive novices that we are, who still believe in basic human honesty and above all, communication. However, are we permitted to even entertain the idea that the so called professionals might’ve actually listened to our requests and added them to our plans (concept or otherwise)? When you employ a project manager, an architectural designer, a “licensed building practitioner” an interior designer, a kitchen manufacturer, etc etc, you expect them to design, build and manage the building with the correct instructions you gave them in the first place – RIGHT? As novices, how do we know what to look for or how to measure what or where? We are led by so call professionals who have supposedly listened, taken notes and agreed with us, so it just should be done. Certainly if it was not able to be done, then at least communicate with us, BEFORE just assuming it’ll be OK, then make up an excuse as to why they have to do it another way, which will of course always cost us more money!! How often should the project manager communicate with the client? We shouldn’t have to check that a certain thing is on the plan, and double check again when it’s not, then make sure it’s actually put on the plan that went to council, then actually built correctly, when we’ve already told them to do this certain thing in the first place. HOW DO WE KNOW THESE THINGS or where to even start? Those poor people who’ve had their bedroom mucked up with windows in the middle of their bed were led to believe that the measurements they gave for their particular size bed would be there, and that’s what the plan should’ve naturally read, otherwise they’d be doing the professional’s job, wouldn’t they? Should us novices even believe the professionals will give us the turnkey product we asked for or are we just crazy people to believe anyone would do an honest job in this day and age? If these people had had a topographical study done as you say, then why didn’t they find out what was under the top surface, if they even slightly suspected a problem. You know why, because betcha anything that would’ve been a PS on the contract!!
Hi Susan
Not sure which council you’re at but the Building Guide is a very good place to start and your local council should have handed it out to you. Except Auckland. They feel that there is enough information on the internet for people to go find rather than being given something that has the kind of information you’re after.
Hi Chris
Some very good comments. I’m loving this site. In fact got quite frustrated as a builder with these common theme issues. So much so that I’d written some light hearted articles about this, which I’m happy to share. http://keola.co.nz/why-you-have-to-pay-a-building-deposi/
Hi Frustrated,, I would like to get in contact with you to discuss something that may interest you, but not on this blog site. Any chance I could have your email address so I can contact you? Cheers
Hi Sam,
We can be contacted at mandysmith1878@gmail.com. Thanks
Good morning “Gene” and “Frustrated”
My name is Paul Clarke and I am the Franchisor of Landmark Homes NZ Ltd, a company which has 14 independently owned Franchisees throughout New Zealand.
Firstly I express my apologies that you have got to the point where you are feeling frustrated with the building process of your new home in the Counties area.
We take customer satisfaction very seriously.
I am also sorry that you felt “fobbed off” when you called our National Office.
I would really like to meet with you to discuss your concerns & see what we can do to rectify the situation.
My phone number is 07 5782295.
Paul Clarke Franchisor Landmark Homes NZ Ltd.
We are currently building with Landmark ( Eastern Homes Ltd ) in Beachlands East auckland , To date we have found them to be very professional and a pleasure to deal with, our house started mid January and it looks like the roof will go on in the next week or so, we have no complaints. We did, I believe, talk to you prior to signing the contract as you had just finished with your build., your comments did give us some concern but I know Landmark have employed people to work in with the subbies and client and this seems to have aliviated maybe what you experienced . The subbies I have talked to also hold them in high regard so that in itself says something. When it’s complete I will post again on here but to date we are very pleased and no regrets.
Hi Russell,
This post is a bit late but we are thinking of building with Landmark counties and I would just like to get your opinion of them based on your experience please?
Cheers,
Dave
Hi Dave have left you a reply with a contact number but this site seems to have a mind of its own now. .
Trying to keep on top of the spam – hope I didn’t delete your earlier post.
Nope – still there – scroll down…
Hi All
Can someone recommend good builders in central Auckland? I’ve narrowed it down to The House Company,Landmark Homes and Fowler. All opinion are much appreciated!
All of the previous feedback on this blog about landmark homes is horrific, so i wouldnt touch them! The house company feedback is good
Donna, LANDMARK HOMES is horrific – we agree. See our response to Kathy below.
Someone needs to categorize this blog now into areas and group housing companies perhaps, as it is getting so long and out of control now, that it’s hard to read them all and then for anyone to make a qualified decision.
Cranston Homes build Auckland wide and are def worth a good chat with!
Has anyone used Signature Homes, North Shore, Albany? What sort of results did you get?
Has anyone used A1 homes in papakura please?
Hi we are trying to choose between Penny Homes and Hallmark homes in Christchurch for earthquake repairs/rebuild – anyone comments good/bad?
hi there – we are looking at building new here in Wellington – in the
Point 360 sub division in Newlands – this website is amazing – and glad we came
upon it before we start – can anyone point us towards a good builder here in Wellington ?
We built with Primesite homes and can’t recommend them.
Looking at the comments on this board it looks like most people experience od design and build companies is pretty negative.
As you are building in an upmarket suburb you might be better off engaging an architect as they can also assist with choosing a builder and with project management.
hi there
I publish the website http://www.buildingguide.co.nz and the Building Guide magazine (handed out by every council around the country, except Auckland, and the Home Ideas Centres) which is there to help educate the home owner around building projects.
BRANZ just released a report which showed that home owners who actively participated in the design and construction of their home had the greatest level of satisfaction, and the biggest issue with the build was builders not coming back to fix defects – which is really stupid when you consider that most builders rely on word of mouth to get new business.
There are many really good builders out there so before you start with anyone, get references and check their previous work. And then educate yourself around the building process – it’s incredibly complex and expensive and since you’re spending so much money on your project, it’s important that you don’t just abdicate responsibility to your building professionals.
And then make sure you visit the site to see what’s going on – how are materials stored, what’s the quality of workmanship like, looking out for issues so you can be there to participate in the solution while they’re being solved, instead of finding out later.
And then, once it’s done, withhold final payment until everything is fixed to your satisfaction (make sure you’re allowed to do that in your contract).
In the next couple of months, contracts for work over $30,000 will become mandatory. Do your homework and make sure you have a good contract that will protect you and not just protect your builder.
Yes, you have to do a bit of work – but better you spend time here getting good builders and tradies, than extra time on picking a tap or tiles that are more cosmetic than structural.
In fact, if anyone would like to email me directly at mark@aim-high.co.nz I would be delighted to send you a copy of our Building Guide for free which we normally sell through Pak n’Save, New Worlds, Paper Plus and our website for $10.
hi Mark
many thanks for info
will email you now to get my copy !
Just reread my post and to clarify – you can get the BGs from Councils, except Auckland who refuse to hand it out because we have advertising, and you can also get them from the Home Ideas Centres if you’re going through.
Hi Mark, we truly wished we’d known about your book before we commenced our process back in 2011, with the handing over of keys in MARCH 2013. Yes, it took that long, AND we are still waiting for our 90 day list of maintenance (mistakes) to be rectified, replaced or refunded under the consumers guarantee act & our contract!!!! Really, there should be honesty and integrity on behalf of these building companies this goes without asking, surely. Yes, educate ourselves, yes, be involved in the design and construction process. We did this, and yes, all you say is acceptable, but with these building companies, like Landmark Homes Counties, you pay for a project manager to do this for you, don’t you? The reason for a project manager in the deal is that you can’t possibly be there ALL the time (work commitments and distance etc). We, the owners, need to rely on the building company’s reputation and their basic human honesty, and then their commitment to rectify things in a decent time frame, just as Countdown/New World do, to name a couple of companies with integrity. When you take something back that is not right, these supermarkets refund or replace it, WITHOUT QUESTION and straight away!!!! If the customer is not happy with how something is presented or how it has been installed during the building process, when clearly it is not what they paid for, or what they chose in the first instance, then it gets rectified to the customers satisfaction – right? The industry, not only in NZ, but also all over the world, appears to be shady at best and straight out corrupt at worst, where honesty & human decency seem to be non-existent. This needs to be seriously investigated/monitored more closely, by not just the Building Act or by Council inspectors (who by the way, are already inundated with work it seems), but with advocates who act on behalf of the owner throughout the entire process. What can one do after the last payment has been extracted from you, (the gate’s now shut, the horse has bolted), but make comments on a page like this or start a legal process.
Hi Frustrated
You are completely correct in almost everything you say. It’s a scandal that much of the building industry talks about the need to do quality work and yet so much is so poor – and much of it by Group Builders who should know better.
There are new laws coming into place right about now that will mean all projects over $30,000 must have a contract between builder and home owner, but it’s important home owners make sure the contract protects them and not just the builder – some a better than others.
Also, the new licensing scheme means you can complain to the Licensing Board if you have an issue but it will take a while to weed out the bad guys.
The Ministry concerned – MBIE (the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) see themselves as the policy/rule setters, not enforcers of the rules, and certainly with a limited role in educating home owners. Their support for my efforts over the years have been minimal, although there seems to be some new blood there, so I’m hoping things are changing.
Councils are not responsible for the quality of work, however, by your builder. Their job is to ensure that the work done is to building code standard only.
And, if all else fails, we recommend getting in touch with either the Home Owners and Buyers Association – http://www.hobanz.org.nz – or the Building Disputes Tribunal – http://www.buildingdisputestribunal.co.nz.
Please let me know if there’s anything we can do to help. I’ve linked to this blog from the front page of my site and I’m considering opening up a similar forum on our site and a chance for people to rate their builder and building experience. It seems from the comments here that this would be a good thing.
All the best.
This is a comment on Mark Graham’s entry on 19/9/14.
Hi Mark, You mentioned getting a contract that protects both client and builder. Obviously essential, but it appears that a lot of people inexperienced in building work firstly don’t actually know what a good contract (from their point of view) looks like. You can advise going to a solicitor, but to be honest (as someone who has spent many years dealing with construction contracts) I feel some of the solicitors I’ve spoken too are not very good with building contracts either.
Of course you can look at the MBF document, which is not too bad as a starting point, but still very poor for the client in some respects. However, I recently came across the ‘NZS 3902 2004 Housing Alterations and Small Buildings Contract’, which very few builders seem to suggest when you ask them what document they normally use. Perhaps when you read it you’ll see why. I won’t say it’s perfect, but it seems to have quite a lot to recommend it. What do you think of this one?
Hi Mike
Yes – that one is pretty good but I’ve found the one offered by the Building Disputes Tribunal to be better – you can find it here… http://www.buildsafe.co.nz/BUILDSAFE+SERVICE/BUILDRIGHT+Conditions+of+Contract.html.
They also offer an escrow service which puts moneys into a trust fund while the build is happening, meaning the builder knows there are funds there to pay him, and the home owner can still hold onto funds until the work is completed to their satisfaction.
Hi Mark, Sounds interesting and promising, thanks. I think it’s very good to get a conversation going around which contract document to use. Because I get the impression a lot of people spend all their time thinking about the design and the price. So the contract comes as a bit of an afterthought, perhaps when they are already more or less committed to a builder, having spent months and $Ks getting plans, specs and quotes. In my view the first thing they should ask the builder for is a copy of his contract.
I tried the BuildSafe website, but it seems you can’t actually open the C of Cs from there, so up to now I can’t comment in detail.
And unlike the NZS document (which I assume anyone is free to use without infringing copyright), I guess you can only use a BuildSafe one if you pay the fee for their overall service.
One other snag might be that many builders would consider it unreasonable to withhold all the payment until the whole job is finished, and would insist on some kind of progress payments, which seems only fair.
However, perhaps I’m misunderstanding the way it all works. So I’ll email them to see if I can get a look at the documents.
Hi Chris (sorry for getting your name wrong earlier)
There’s a charge of $70 to download the NZS contract, only portions of it are free. Not sure what the Buildsafe charges are, but given people are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their build, you’d think they’d be will to spend a little to help protect themselves!
The Escrow thing can be a bit tricky for people to get their heads around but I’m a fan of it. You can make progress payments, but the builder can be confident the money is there and the homeowner knows that they don’t have to approve payments until they’re satisfied with the work. It’s a win all around as far as I can see.
Hi Mark, No problem about the name. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you have to pay something for the NZS document, and from their website the BuildSafe fee depends on the value of the works, up to about $600+ for a $1M job.
But it seems for that you get their service, not just the document. So, as you say, either way not a lot for a good document and increased security on the build. And anyway you would pay around that just to get a solicitor to look at a document, and tell you what you already know (or even worse, not tell you).
Amazing reading this, we just finished a build with Landmark Counties. I told the Landmark guys I should be taking a salary as the project manager as it seemed I was the only one watching what’s going on. If there was a problem with the plumber/electrician/drainage they called me not the project manager, and I work full time! When I let rip over their lack of organisation and absent communication they made out that I was the only customer that had ever complained. They are well aware I found them disorganised, unreliable and would never use them again. They now offer $2000 if you entice your friends to use them, I would pay $2000 to stop my friends going through the experience we had with Landmark Counties/Eastern.
we are considering building with primesite, please tell us why you would not build with them. would like to know before we go any further
So cranston homes I am looking at about $2100 per m? Am wanting 2 storied Linea board house. Already have plans, so could be slightly cheaper maybe?
Hi D. Did you go ahead with your Cranston Build and if yes, did it come in at expected budget?
Have any of you checked out the Building Guide website or magazine? We found it really useful for our build.
We have seen various posts about Building Companies on this page, I would just like to say that we built with Cranston Homes Auckland Ltd and they were fantastic to deal with. From the Owner through to the service staff they were awesome. We are one of those families that loved the whole process, so much so that we are doing it all again and building our second home in Millwater. We have chosen to use Cranston Homes again, highly recommend!
Hi
any good /bad experience with Golden homes waikato recently ??
Wow! Some of you people purchased at hot prices! I find it so hard to compare. We spent quite a bit more with Cranston Homes in Auckland – close to $2100 per square meter. A rural site but septic and water tanks were on top of that. In saying that, our design and spec are well above average. Cranston have access to some top architects so I am really happy with what we got for our money. The service and the building quality we got were hard to fault. If anything, we felt they contacted and updated us a bit too often, but I guess that is a good thing. having read some of your stories Cheryl and I feel very fortunate to have built with Cranston.
We built with Cranston Homes too and they were outstanding! My husband is a Plumber so works in the industry and they were his top choice. I agree, the service and quality would be very difficult to fault.
Hi, has anyone had any recent dealings with key2 in Auckland? We are currently considering a house and land package for our first home and had a meeting with key2 today. The guy we met sounded really straightforward and honest (but they all do..atleast in the initial meetings !!).
Any feedback/opinion is greatly appreciated
am considering that too…if you have any progress with them,,please write back and share your experience…good luck
I haven’t used Key2, but did speak to a land owner when they were marketing his land. The mark up Key2 took on the land value was quite a bit so just be aware of that. As a business they obviously want to make money, but sometimes buying the land direct can work out less expensive. We backed out of the S&P contract we had through Key2 for that reason.
Just to add to this and to declare my interest, I work with KEY2.
Not sure the land owner Jacqui would have spoken to re KEY2 putting a large margin on as we are licensed real estate agents and only charge a typical real estate agents fee. We are governed by the Real Estate Agents Act and corresponding authority. Buying land and or a house and land package through Key2 is no different in fee structure than doing similar through a local real estate agent other than we specialise in new properties only rather than existing. Hope that makes sense. Cheers
Has anyone had any experience in pulling the pin on a building contract halfway through?
Did you lose much money?
End up in court everyday?
Thanks.
hi there
Has anyone had experience building with A1 homes wellington or Jennian homes? Your feedback would be really appreciated. We are considering building with either one of them. Thanks
Do not build with WILLIAMS and CO , they have no idea what they are doing, full of lies and excuses. They threaten if you don’t pay your money to them when it’s due that “work will stop” – ironic when no work is happening anyway. Saying our experience with them has been a nightmare is an understatement, I would not wish what we are giving through with them on my worst enemy.
It might get worse… they’re not paying their bills and I’ve heard their subbies have withdrawn services (bins)
could you please remove all of the comments (3) from Will, cheers.
Those of you that have built in the last year or so, what did your finished home work out to cost wise per sq m?
$1,700 / m2 with Generation Homes….although this will vary quite a lot depending on the quality of finish you get. If we’d just gone with the standard it would have been $1,650 / m2
Just over $2,500 and we had a lot of problems.
We spent $1514 p/sq metre with Platinum this included water tanks and septic system and a few extras but not many (lifestyle block). I haven’t included the $30k to get electricity to site, as this skews it a bit . Overall our final build has been good quality. We still have a few outstanding issues, but fairly minor. I think the sales side of platinum has improved. Their admin is shocking, but subbies generally excellent. If you are prepared to painfully lock down every cost before hand you will feel much more confident as it goes on. But I think this applies to all of them … The add ons are where they rip you! You also need to monitor it all like a hawk! Again, probably need to with all of them! On build quality and time to actually build, very impressed and happy. Still waiting for them to sort out our water tank issue (they didn’t sink them and they are too high to get full use) … So I will update when we see how they deal with things now they’ve had their cash! Hope this helps
Very interesting, and remarkably different, build costs mentioned above. Seems James and Amanda got a bargain in today’s market. The cost Barbara gave is much closer to the estimates we’ve been given, and that’s before we’ve signed anything. In fact as much as $2800/m2 to get what we want, and that’s just w/board or brick, not masonry, and rib-raft foundation, no basement or lift! So is that the Auckland price, or are we asking for too many ‘extras’?
Really grateful if you guys could clarify what you mean by ‘standard’ and ‘extras’. Assume your figures include for the whole house, from the ground/foundations up, with all Council consents. But how about stuff outside the house, such as driveways? Are they 1 or 2 storey, and what cladding (w/board, brick) and roof (steel, tiles)? How about stud height, heating system, tiled/glass showers, timber/tile flooring, glass balustrades, gas fire, balcony, deck?
Single storey, brick cladding, metal tile, 2.4m stud, wood burner, glass showers, laminated timber flooring & tiles & carpet. Included driveway 80m2, decking 40m2, fencing 75m, enhanced rib-raft foundation (thicker steel), all council fees and inspection costs and geotech signoff. Extras were upgraded showers, glass splashback, wallpaper feature wall, kitchen modification, coloured vanities, gable over garage in brick, higher stud height for garage and entrance. Some additional tapware. Note that we could have gone cheaper than $1,650 / m2 if we’d gone with the basic package which I think has carpet, tapware and a few other things in a lower range. Also instead of laminated bench tops we got stone in the $1650 /m2 with two bathrooms and three toilets).
Gosh, sounds like you got a great price, wish there wasnt such bad stuff said about platinum on here!! I am in south auckland, so not sure how many platinums there are in auckland
Hi Chris, we raised the stud height in lounge, family room/ dining / kitchen to 2.7m from 2.4m elsewhere. This made a big difference to how the house feels, but the bedrooms still feel cosy. We have polished concrete in all living areas and halls (included), we paid extra afterwards to carpet the bedrooms ourselves (cheaper and better quality than we were offered). We have blown air heating to living areas and halls, and also a log burner (all in price). We opted for two ovens instead of standard one, as really I wanted a double oven, but that was more than twice the price of two good singles (go figure!), no driveways or landscaping, but council stuff included. Rib raft standard. We also went for the upgraded insulation to South Island standard. We changed very little to the bathrooms or kitchen, and what we did was net neutral. We did order our bath taps and bathroom sink ware from light in the box and got glamorous light up ones for a fraction of the cost of the methven ones which were standard and we got credited. We have data cabling, and a ceiling speaker system in the lounge and family /dining / kitchen, and under the covered area at back of house (this ended up being less than it should have been due to mispricing /errors by platinum and subsequent wrangling – but they were fair enough in the end and I can’t argue with that. We added quite a few lights (about $3,500 ish extra electrical not including the data, and we didn’t go mad with it and supplied quite a few light fittings ourselves). I was miffed that the covered porch area and back covered area were not concreted, and also that the step out of the house was more than 19cm, so building control made us put steps in to pass it (not included!). We didn’t make any changes to the fundamental layout other than a hall cupboard which backed onto a bedroom switched to being a wardrobe. No curtains or tracks, no fridge freezer. We tried to think, “what do we want that we can’t easily change later” and did that stuff as a priority, anything else was just a bonus. Hope this helps. We have had our project on the go for a while, (we had problems with a land slip early on), so maybe prices have gone up? A friend completed his build with Primesite a couple of weeks before us, and they have been pretty good too, still need to watch that everything is right along the way though! His build was a bit more expensive per sq metre than ours and they have gas heating but pretty much no other extras. Quality good, but to be fair Platinum have beaten them there. Good luck!
Hi Amanda
We are currently building with Platinum and having similar issues. Do you mind to get in contact with me.
My cell phone is 021 2310242
Amanda you have put us to shame our Platinum build ended up at $2077 p/sqm, we also required water and septic tanks so not sure where it blew out for us. Up spec’d on a few things but I didn’t think that much.
As per your experience our start was poor through planning and consent phase, but once the building started it got better and moved along nicely, issues sorted easily etc.
Once handover approached that changed for the worse again. To the point that painter and electrician were working on handover day, garage was full of rubbish , various items were not complete (but paid for) and a number remain incomplete five weeks later.
The finish appears rushed in parts, some of the painting not of a great standard. Possibly too many houses on the go, resources spread thin and no quality control of subbies work.
We have bitten tongues and sucked it up but now they are now asking for a decent sum of money for work that was missed from our specs and contract. Oh and until it’s paid they will down pens on our COC application, obviously no good faith earned even though we just finished paying them for a new house! Oh well that’s building I guess.
Hi AdaFrank
Just done a quick recalculation and we came in $1641 actually! But still not bad! We were lucky with our subbies apart from the electricians (Laser electrical) who were a nightmare and still finishing things off now! Painting was amazing! Very impressed with that! We only went $3,500 over contracted amount / planned expenditure with variations, so pretty pleased with that for a 284 sq metre house. Did they dig your water tanks in? Just curious if not doing it is standard with them?
Hi Amanda, our tanks are half buried but this was a requirement of our land covenants and an extra cost in the install, so not standard.
Still blown away by the cost variation in our builds with the same company, our house is just a little bigger than yours, must be Auckland pricing.
We also had Laser and also need some of their work sorted, had an outside light we couldn’t turn off, just makes you laugh!
Hi, water tank burying is usually in relation to the house position. It is based on water going downhill. So if your house platform is higher than the tank base, you usually don’t have to bury them much or at all because gravity will take care of the water flow. If the tank is placed at the same height as the platform, you then have to bury the tanks to make the base of the tank lower than the platform so you get downwards flow to the tank.
Like a pool being lower than the entry point of a hydroslide. If the pool is at the same height as the entry point, you probably aren’t going to have much fun.
Has anyone used David Reid homes Christchurch interested in feedback
Hi,
We are in the early stages of working through build plans and options for our section in the Selwyn District. Have visited showhomes and gone through many websites / plan books etc. Have been inundated with communication at this stage by all the salespersons which is getting annoying as we have no intention of signing up with anyone until we have found out more about the quality, experience and qualifications of the contractors they plan to use. We’ve been looking for objective reviews of house builds and this blog is excellent as we have been unable to find much else out there. I’d greatly appreciate any feedback on both good and bad experiences with franchise builders for Selwyn builds. Thanks
Built with signature homes this year. In Selwyn district Overall a pass mark just. Give ne a ring if you would like more info. 021499834.
It was great to talk to you, many thanks for the feedback Scottie!
We built with Today Homes, finishing December last year. Good quality finish and no hassles through the build. Call on 0274966210 for more info.
Great to get your feedback Dally, many thanks!
Had a disastrous experience with GJ Gardner South. The planning phase and investigation of who the sub contractors and builders actually are or will be was just a complete pack of lies. An orchestrated litany of lies. We pulled the plug, lost a lot of money but went with Jim the Builder. They were great.
Thanks Dave, after this kind of feedback not inclined to go with GJ!
Our experience in Selwyn with Mike Greers was, to be kind, most unpleasant.
Thanks for this. Starting to narrow down the choices; so far Today Homes looks good. Has anyone built with Generation Homes or Devon Construction in Selwyn area, as they are other possibles we are looking at.
Hi Helen we are a Selwyn based building company that offers a full service in new builds where you deal principally with the builder who manages the entire project. Please contact us via richie@elkresidential.co.nz and all the best for your new build. Kind regards
Hi,
Has anyone had experience building with Signature Homes, Auckland North Shore branch? Your feedback would be really appreciated. We are considering building with them. Thanks
Hi Pipa. Don’t, There are better builders out there.
Has any had experience with Brandt Homes in Auckland? Or Harmony Homes?
I found Brant Homes (Karaka) not very transparent. Initially they sound friendly and helpful but as design process went along and reached costing stage, they became quite cagey and avoided some direct questions.
Hi, just wondering if anyone has built with A1 Homes and what their experience has been like – good or bad. We are looking at building in the Waikato.
I had a run in with GJ Gardner Head Office. More rightly called Deacon Holdings. What I found is that in the building industry franchises have no legal obligations. It is all marketing spiel. GJ Gardner for instance do not legally exist in NZ. If you like their plans assess the individual building Company for viability but don’t rely on those marketing statements or ads you hear. GJ Gardner have never built a thing in NZ
Hi Dave,
Can you please enlighten me with reason(s) why you contacted GJ Head Office?
Hi Mike,
We’d been promised some things by the local franchisee. They didn’t deliver and we were in prestart so we wanted the franchisor to hold them to account. Three things commonly offered deduction of the engagement deposit, standard form inclusions for costing and a finish date were all missing from our building contract. Value of about $20,000. By the time wwe had a response the franchise had gone into liquidation and GJ’s HO Deacon Holdings simply advised “no accountability, no liability our fault fro believing their statements and the ad ‘build with confidence’ the building Company you can trust’ was advertising puffery because they don’t exist as a Company.
Hi Dave,
We have not been given the decency from HO of getting a response from either them or GJ Rodney.
Our complaint is now 7 months old and looking to be longer if we do not get any further communication from them.
Yes the ads say you can trust them but you cannot trust them to give you what you paid for. They will not take responsibility for their lack of quality control regarding their subbies.
They hide behind their keyboards (provided you get a reply to your numerous emails) or do nothing hoping you will give up and go away.
HO has stated to FairGo back in 2010 that customer service is a priority and will work with customer and franchisee to try and resolve problems. This has certainly not been the case with us.
Dave,
Forgot to ask you what Franchisee company of GJ were you dealing with prior to them going into Liquidation?
Hi Mike
We’ve just signed up with GJ Rodney to build a home for us. Can you please let me know what problems you have faced and is the end build of a good quality?
Hi Lauren,
I wish you well with your build. Poor painting and stop gapping. Poor grouting on floor tiles.
Very poor concreting of driveway and paths. Still have to fix goughing in garage floor.
Overall poor quality control and lack of communication to address and fix repairs.
Who were you dealing with at GJs? – we are building rurally so not bothering with a driveway for now – just concreted patio areas and a small path from garage back door to laundry so hopefully they cant screw that up… But we have a lot of tiling and painting to be done, I guess I’ll have to inspect it carefully
Hi Lauren.
Due to our lengthy dispute we have been dealing with General Manager Matt Lelean. Have had one visit from Glen Horobin (Construction Manager) and spoken to Jake Griffiths (Construction Administrator.
Have also included HO (Grant Porteous/Mike Fraser) and Elaine Morely.
You could also save money by getting the driveway and paths poured by a different subbie as did
a neighbour down the roadwho does GJs foundation work. Lanndscaping is another issue and better to get a different landscaper as you will get a much better job done.
Mike,
Yes we originally were going to get all concrete work done by someone else after the build but when we were getting quotes from Signature Homes they told us we had to have concrete in front of every door that opens outside to actually get a CCC so we’d decided to include it for now.. Yes landscaping is going to be a large cost later on once we’ve saved up a bit more, all our money is going into the land and build for now. We are saving a bit of money by getting the earthworks and septic tanks sorted ourselves but the bank said we can avoid having to get progress valuations done if we get GJ to do everything else
Hi Lauren,
No doubt you will give your Lawyer their Building Contract prior to signing anything, like we did,and get any alterations agreed “in writing”.
Another thing that happened to us that we had to have the kitchen bench/stove top and pantry bench replaced as they installed the incorrect one as was the waste disposal. Again no quality control. The main thing we found was the inconvenience of taking time off to get the repairs done.
Hi Lauren
I hope I can make a small recommendation regarding your landscaping – don’t leave it all to later. If you have an idea of what your plan is and there are larger trees to put in, do it before starting the build. Firstly, you have easier access to the site, secondly, and more importantly, it means they have a chance to bed in and begin growing while the house is being built, so you move into a home with foliage around it. Believe me, it makes an enormous difference, And buy the biggest specimens you think you can afford – trees take a long time to grow.
All the best with your build.
Yip we will – lawyer bills are creeping up every day (but definitely something you don’t want to scrimp on)… Still waiting for the plans back from CAD right now so we haven’t made it to the contract stage yet, hoping it wont take too long as we already want to make more changes.. Ok so I need to keep an eye on the painting job, concreting, tiling, kitchen benches and cupboard.. anything else?
Hi Lauren,
Obviously you are on a tight budget but try not to skimp on some fittings as you only get one chance and to do it afterwards is more costly. We had upgraded interior doors and window handles (same colour as framing) which looked better than black on silver and had extended the sink bench and reduced overall size from a four bedroom on the plans to a three bedroom. Moved house back on section which gave us extra space to accommodate a walk in pantry and study. Interior door handles could be a pain if you only get basic ones. The other thing we had to get repaired was the extractor fan in kitchen which had a broken blade inside. We only turned it on twice. We also found it a plus to have rounded corners on the walls. Choose the lighting and site of electrical plugs although you get a walk thru with electrician.. We actually had someone else look at interior and gave us their opinion of where things should go seeing they had built a GJ @ Omaha and cost them more to extend bench top. Pity we didn’t allow for a bigger oven as the standard F&P is only 600mm wide and you cannot cook a roast and veges @ same time as there is not enough height. We also put in a wood burner.
Hope all this helps you.
Christchurch South. I have referred my complaint about GJ Gardner on to the Commerce Commission as the response from Deacon Holdings was ‘no liability, no responsibility’. Their customer support is seemingly linked only to where they can get advantageous publicity. They are right on the fringe of the law. They hold themselves out as a building Company but they are not one. They are an administrative facilitator for a bunch of franchisees who are completely independent. That means their representations, financial status and integrity is the only thing on the line, ever. As I said in my other blog:- investigate thoroughly the building Company you are choosing. Credit check them, ask them in writing about their trust account and progress payment protections, ask them in writing for a list of their subbies and their qualifications and make sure they have to notify you if it changes. The A team are often touted but the D Team usually turns up.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for info. Yes you are right about the publicity side. Built that couples house in CHCH which had the dry rot/borer.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your suggestion! I hadn’t even thought about the landscaping but I think I might have to sit down with my husband and figure out what we want to do there – I know he wants to put in a lot of fruit trees so it might be worth doing that while GJs is getting the council paperwork and stuff sorted out…
Re Building in Christchurch on TC2 land considering Golden homes interested in any feedback.
Don, I would definitely not recommend Golden Homes. I had a hideous experience with them. They lied to me from the outset and, knowing I had limited funds, added $16K onto the final invoice which had not been cleared by me beforehand or any variation signed. Then locked me out of house until I paid them (had to borrow money from family member). Took them to Disputes Tribunal to get some money back (and won). GM is a horrible man in my opinion (and I’m allowed to have one!!). IF clients complain they just don’t want to know and end up getting nasty (and threatening). I had looked at Peter Ray beforehand but thought I couldn’t afford them, turns out I could have done seeing as I ended up paying GH so much extra!!! GH just give lowest price to get the contract. They also ask for a huge deposit – $30K (which they had for about 10 months!!!) as opposed to PR and other house companies asking about $5K. Also I know for a fact that PR never ask for any extra money without doing variations so client knows what is what.
Just to confirm, by GM I meant the General Manager of Golden Homes in Chch. Also another comment I have about GH is that their “Goldseal Warranty” is rubbish compared to Master Builders. MB covers defective workmanship and materials for 2 years, GH warranty does not. Only structure. And they say that it is a “third party warranty” when in actual fact when I looked at Companies Office it shows that the people who own that company actually own the NZ Golden Homes head franchise. Not really what I would call “third party”.
there is better out there, just be careful for they all have faults. we are a tc3 build to budget, chose these clowns because of their so called features. they then tried to delete these. all nice as pie, tell you what you want to here, sign you up, then the shit hits. every change or extra will cost you a arm and leg. questioned them on some suspect building practice, only to be told no we wouldn’t do that and we have the best tradesmen, yea right. choose someone else and make sure you know exactly what you are getting before you sign up. good luck
I would really like some comments from experiences with New Plymouth franchisees/ builders- e.g.. Hassall, Platinum, Stonewood or GJ Gardner – or any others please.
Ruth
Firstly you are not dealing with a franchise when you sign up for GJ Gardner, Stonewood or the like. You are dealing with the individual building Company, the franchisee. There is no legal protection or obligation on GJ Gardner to build or support your choice of builder. They do not even legally exist. Choose a local builder. Ask for homes they have built. Visit the client. Check their financial health before you give them any money and ask about how they protect deposits and progress payments. Get an accountant, lawyer or credit agency to check them out because you have no protection until you get to contract and get a copy of the guarantee.
Hi Dave,
You are dealing with a franchise if you build with Stonewood Homes. Each contract that Stonewood Homes “individual franchise” does is underwritten by Stonewood Homes “head office” which means if the individual franchise goes bust head office steps in and finishes your build. This is something that many other builders do not offer – good job Stonewood!
We are about to build in Christchurch and are considering Landmark Homes and Fowler Homes. We are looking to build a single level 300m2 home. Has anyone had recent experience with either of these two companies?
Hi Judy,
Have just discovered this blog site so trust my/our reply is not too late. We, (wife and I), used Landmark Counties here in Auckland to build our new home and they were a disaster! We intend to post our very bad and ongoing experiences with Landmark Counties on this blog sight very soon, but in short, beware. Can’t make a personal comment on your particular Landmark franchisee, but we had dealings with their HO in Tauranga too, and they were no better. Biggest problem? Total lack of communication and a ‘take the money and run’ attitude. All the best..
Are you able to delete the comment made to Judy from Gene please.
Hi Judy, We’ve just found this blog and hopefully we’re not too late at informing you about our experience building a home with Landmark Counties in Karaka Auckland. Among the many major problems we had with this housing company, was the serious lack of communication on their part and their ‘take the money and run’ attitude. This was our first experience in building a NEW home, as in the past we’ve only bought existing homes. We commenced the process in November 2011 but we didn’t take possession until March 2013. We even contacted Landmark Homes in Tauranga (their Head Office) about our many issues and ongoing problems, and we were basically fobbed off. We can’t comment about your franchisee in CHCH, but with our experience, with both Landmark Counties and their Head Office, we would advise anyone to tread very warily. We intend to post a full blog on our experience soon, as something seriously needs to be done about the cowboy attitude of these group housing companies. We now know we would’ve much better off going with an architect and an small independent builder who has a reputation to build/uphold. We very recently got Master Builders involved and have briefed our solicitor on the matter, so watch this space.
We are about to build in Christchurch and are considering Landmark Homes and Fowler Homes. We are looking to build a single level 300m2 home. Has anyone had recent experience with either of these two companies?
Has anyone had an experience with Venture Developments in Tauranga. Thinking of building with them
Anyone had any experiences building with key 2.
We are new to the build process.
Thankyou.
Hi there,
I’m Russell Benshaw, the Owner/Director of KEY2. I saw your post and thought I would let you know we have a number of recent testimonials on our website http://www.key2.co.nz or you can have a look at our dedicated testimonial site which houses many of the testimonials sent to us over the past 8 years as well as case studies, a gallery section and some of our recent developments http://www.key2testimonials.co.nz/
Feel free to contact me directly if you wish to discuss anything further.
Kind regards
Russell
Anyone had the experience with Progressive Homes or Aramus in Wellington? Need some advice. Thanks in advance.
Those of you that have recommended Cranston homes – what was the cost per sq m?
Hi Donna, I recommended them above. I think they are fairly flexible around sqm cost as they design to the spec you want and budget you have. Probably best to go and have a chat with them. Hope this helps.
Hi Donna,
My house being built by Cranston Homes is a 230sqm of mid to high level specs. I compared the quote to two other builders, Cranston isn’t the cheapest but I reckon they have given the best value. I think generally the larger the house is the lower average sqm rate is (as it still only contains 1 kitchen etc costly items). Their sales person I recall told me they have built houses from $1800 to $3800 per sqm, depending on the size and spec but I checked out they won a lot of master builder awards in the range of $500 to 1mil houses. They are quite different from standard design builders as they really spend time and effort in drawing out what suits you and the section the most, and they work hard tailoring the design to suit my budget, that was the part I really like.
I find visiting their show home quite helpful as they have different spec features to show so you know what you get for your dollar. In short if you want the cheapest, they are not for you but you want the best quality and service, I highly recommend them!
Anyone had any experiences building with GJ Gardner in dunedin. We are new to to the build process and any cooments would be appreciated
I am in the process of trying to get a house built in dunedin at present.before contacting the company we are currently dealing with i spoke to a number of sub contractors,people in the industry,and new home builders.the same two names of companies came up not to use.1 was stonewood,and 1 was gj in dunedin.i must say i have had no personal dealings with these companies myself and only offer these observations,from what i have been told.dont know if this helps,but be weary.
found this site by chance. And I did not expect to see comments on this private company we just signed up with – Cranston Homes (Orewa). They are not large franchise but I think they have been around for a long time. I posted some good comments about them on No Cowboys so thought of sharing here too, so you know it is not all bad in building! well, hopefully!
At the early design and costing stage I contacted GJ, the Housing Company and a local builder, all came back with something very superficial, the best was an A4 paper (and believe or not the local one-man builder actually prices the highest!) Cranston homes’s proposal however was very professional. They’ve got great details in their estimate. I can tell they spent a lot of time in studying my site and reading through my design requirements. I have seen a few work they did in Orewa, Gulf harbour and Albany, they all are rather substantial. I always therefore thought that they would be quite expensive but looking into the proposal I see VALUE. For the good level of the spec I think I’m paying what is worth. After their in-house architect did a good design (and that was another great service too, I am really impressed with their communications every step of the way), I have signed up with them. I can’t wait for my house to be built!
will post again when it is all completed!
We had a different experience – GJ Gardner was the same – a few scrappy bits of paper and prices – scary when we spotted a huge sum of money (we were not supposed to see) lumped on. Golden Homes were also bad and their building around here has been cr**. But The House Company put in front of us a most professional document within 5 days of seeing them right down to a breakdown of payments that were due at 90% completion of each stage. By the way both Golden Homes and Gardners would have cost us a whole lot more – probably about 30-40000!!! Remember Gardners bring in there frames from OZ and we are surround by GJG homes that have had problems with incorrect measurement some shocking. Also The House Company use a much higher grade of insulation. We have only just used a heater for a couple of days this whole winter and its been down to 3C ourtside at night!
Hi Angela
Just wondering how your build with Cranston progressed as we are looking at them also
I built with Fowler Homes in Christchurch and they were fabulous, Today Homes are also excellent.
Fowler Homes must be pretty good as they were voted top New Zealand wide builder in the 2014 BRANZ customer satisfaction survey
Hey Everyone have seen one comment on the House company but are there any more people out there that have used them?
We have a tricky resource consent to get over the line, but have been looking at
Signature
Landmark
The house company
All on the north shore but am open to great recomendations or not 🙂
Thanks
Michelle
Hi Michelle Not sure if it was a comment by me? We built with The House Company and they have been brilliant and seem to have good relationships with Council. By the way THC has entered our home in th Master Builders Awrads this year. Judging has been done and I think they were pretty impressed. Will report if we win the regionals!
Or the comment by me, But we also built with the house Company and we love ours too. We have been in ours for 10 months now and it’s the best thing we did. I’m so please we did use them after reading everything here. Good luck in the awards I hope your house does well. I know Chris was thinking of using them I wonder if he did and how his build is going.
only at concept stage with THE HOUSE COMPANY MILLWATER< RODNEY. anyone built with them or any `the house company` branch? any problems? how did your project do? i am first time builder.
Brilliant experience with The House Company. Highly recommend them. They do NOT have any franchises and the owner is very hands on so great attention and customer service and their contractors are of a very high standard.
I presume you are finished with your build. How is your house holding up? We are almost finished our house with The House Company and I must say its been a breeze and they have been excellent!
We live in the North Island but are looking at building a holiday home in the Otago region. We have had discussions with GJ Gardiner in Dunedin. Has anyone had any dealings with them. Any feedback would be appreciated. ?
Hi all
Have to build a new house on TC3 land in central ChCh. Am considering using one of the following builders; Lawson Homes, Today Homes, Fowler Homes or GJ Gardeners. If anyone has any direct experiences, good or bad, warts and all, of any of these companies, I would be pleased to hear from you.
Thank you.
Hey Everyone
I know this is an old post, just wondering if anyones had experience with groups on the shore.
We are looking at Landmark, Signature Homes Albany and GJ Gardner.
Very green when it comes to this kind of thing, however family has built with Landmark no issues but different franchise and location. Thanks very much in advance
Hi Michelle
If you are still looking for a builder please do your self a favour and don’t go near Keith Hay we are still living the nightmare.
Helen
I would avoid GJ Gardner Rodney like the plague. we are surrounded by them and so many problems. – try The House Company main office in Silverdale – they are not a franchise. Our house built by THC just won Silver in the the 2014 House of the Year Master Builders Awards in its category. Wonderful people to do business with.
Hi Gilly
Congrats on your house and the award your house is beautiful and your landscaping and front fence set it off I watched it being built and wished I had gone with The House Company.
Hi Gilly,
We built with GJ Rodney last year and have quite a few problems with them. Poor communication and poor after customer service. Can you please enlighten us with what problems you have found with them.
Hi Mike/Gilly
We’ve just signed up with GJ Rodney to build a home for us. Can you please let me know what problems you have faced and is the end build of a good quality?
Dear Ms Porter
Would you be willing to advise which Keith Hay Homes (KHH) branch you have been dealing with / dealt with? Also, if we provided you with a contact phone no. would you be comfortable with having a chat with us directly about your experiences as we have been having less than favourable, rather stressful experiences as well and are wondering if ours might be similar, or how similar they are, to ours.
In general is there anyone else reading this who has had a difficult time building a house using the services of KHH? If so, please advise. Thank-you very much. Yours sincerely.
Hi Michelle
We are in Millwater and we are still waiting for Generation Homes (GH) to completely finish our build! This despite:
“Our company is underpinned by two promises – we build for a fixed price and we guarantee the delivery date”.
Our move in date was the 14th of March and it was a very disappointing day with broken roof tiles, dirty black hand prints on the kitchen ceiling, the garage door not opening properly, terrible paint finish, shower doors that were catching, cracked floor tiles, water getting into the garage, lawn is part bogy and our carpet will need be replaced due to delamination!
We emailed the CEO with our complaints but no response at all!
Our neighbours built with GJ Gardner and had to have their concentre driveway and shower tiles done again with the long wait and poor communication.
Hi Todd,
Where abouts are you in Millwater? Be interested to find about your GJ Gardner neighbours as we built with them at top of Silverdale and have major issues with our drive and paths.
Hi Michelle, who did you go with in the end? If it was Signature, how did they treat you?
Hi guys, I am looking to build and already have a section on flat bush, east auckland. wifey and I are pondering to either go with SUMMIT homes or GJ Gardener east auckland branch.
any advice or info on any of these builders?
Hi We are thinking of building with gj gardner botany but have had some unpleasant surprises like the price of the section increasing by $20k from the original documentation we we’d given 2weeks ago. Had anyone built with them? We’d love to know if this will continue into dishonest chaos if we sign up.
Hi. If you read my replies to Lauren and Dave you will be amazed.
GJ GARDNER NORTH in CHCH are TERRIBLE. They would have to be the worst communicators ever, they are rude, incompetent and do not care about their customers. I would not recommend these guys at all. Try any but them I guarantee youll be disappointed
Hoping to build with Jennian soon in Dunedin. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Hi Helen,all i can say is i hope your not in a hurry,and dont expect communication on what is happening,you will need to ring,and if you are given a time frame or date you will hear from them,get used to waiting well past the date you are told you will here from them.i am agast that im looking at spending 450k to 500k on the house only,and dont seem to get alot of service.delays ocurr,which i understand but i would think a phone call or explanation is not to much to ask for.i have spoken since to three people who have built with fowler homes dunedin,and all have said nikki fowler has been great to deal with,and is constantly contacting them on progress.we have paid for our working drawings and i will have to decide wether we continue with them on receipt of them,or we cut our losses and go somewhere else.
Hi i have been working out who to trust. We have looked at Signature , Westmoreland, gj and jennian whangarei. So many pitfalls. It has already started with the excavati40. Theon costs…some say 6 thou another 40thou. They have all been to the section but have such variousi views. The proposed designs are all similar. Who do you trust???
They all want a depsit before details can be worked out
. Help clarify who to trust
We’re intending to build in Ashburton. Builders in the mix at the moment are Stonewood, GJ Gardner and Today homes – anyone had any experience with these guys in Mid-Canterbury?
We’re looking to build in Ashburton. Choices are Stonewood, Today Homes and GJ Gardner. Anyone has any experiences with these guys in that area?
Golden Homes Albany is utterly useless don’t even bother… no communication, lies and deceat, 5 months turns to 2 years, p.c sums become double, they change agreed and signed plans to cut corners without owners consent which ends up dragging the time out to have them fixed and then they brush you off if you even mention penalties when they clearly don’t meet their agreed timeline.
Hi Tingtong we have had the same experience with Keith Hay Homes
This article in the Herald is interesting http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11263511
What suprised me is only 73 percent required callback for fixes, so 27 percent were absolutely perfect? Don’t I wish we were one of those.
Considering the volume of fixes we had to have done on our place and the number of things that could be affected by sloppy or rushed workmanship or lack of qa.
Has anyone used Selah Renovations? We are desperately wanting to finish our build, but finding out whats happening is like getting blood out of a stone. We are already 2 months over a 3 month contract.
The only reliable correspondence is their fortnightly bills.
I haven’t but we were thinking of using them, what were to main problems with dealing with them and how did it all finish up?
Was it a cost plus margin job? We are concerned at their estimate being quite a lot cheaper than the others..
Poor project management, They outsourced the builders – paid them $18p/h for their hammer hands and charged us $42+ GST + Margin. Our original quote was 150K, total build came in $100K over that. ($70K just in labour) (some of it was variations to the tune of $13K). They had a contingency of $3.5K which was gone in the first few days.
If you use them, get a FIXED PRICE CONTRACT with a variation clause, or refuse to sign. That way you are both covered. Ask for actual quotes as opposed to PC sums. These were all grossly underestimated. Also we sourced our bathroom gear and flooring and were able to get better prices than their suppliers.
After all that, we are happy with the quality of the build, and CCC was fairly easy to get.
If you like you can email me directly susan_amundsen@Hotmail.com
Wow, thanks for the heads up Susan, my concerns were there already due to their price being so much lower than the others..Looks like they are guilty of underpricing to get the job and holding you to the fact that its an estimate.
Thanks again
Oh and we got verbal reassurance that we were on track with our budget throughout the build, only to get a final bill of $53K when our estimate minus payments was $4k. I work as an analyst and asked for all their paperwork relating to out build and found that they had “accidentally”overcharged us by $14K before even going over costs.
Hi Greg. We had the same type of problems with Selah that Susan had. ~75% over the estimate. We are one of many I am aware of.
FYI they just changed their name to ‘SO Renovate’.
Would you mind sharing how much lower they were to others?
We’ve just ended our contract with Selah t/a So Renovate. We’re 6 months behind a 3 month build with a further 6 weeks to go. New builders have found So many mistakes, that it’s looking like another 20k to fix there faults. There is actually a victims Support group set up for this company as there are more and more people out there that have been ripped off by this group. Some can’t join as they’re forced to sign Non Disclosure agreements when they settle. Seems to be a pattern of Selah’s. Avoid them at all cost! Even if you’ve just signed with them, you’d be better to cancel now and walk away.
Hi, we are having the same problem with SO Renovate right now. Does anyone have the web address for the Victim’s Support Group. If anyone is interested in joining forces, then please e mail at johnzcampbell@outlook.com
Sorry to hear you are having problems John. As non disclosure agreements and legal threats have been common practice with SO you may find that the Support group is tired up. All the best!
*tied up*
Hi John, I’ve got a similar situation with a family member and I’ve sent you an email. Regard Dave
Hi Dave, I haven’t received your email. Please try again. john.gray@hobanz.org.nz
Cheers,
John
Has anyone had dealings with Brix Homes in CHCH please?
Hi. We are planning to build a lifestyle home in the South Head/west auckland area. Can anyone recommend a reputable builder/building company? also has anyone had any experience or feedback on Maddren Homes based in Kumeu. We are also considering Platinum Homes (Rodney). Any feedback would be greatly apprecited.
Hi there, we are considering building a new house with Box Living, has anyone built with them? Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks very much. Linda
Hi Linda
We are thinking of a Box Living house. If you’ve had any experience with them, would appreciate your comments.
Regards
Jane
Built what was to be our smaller retirement home and went with Keith Hay Homes they seemed to have been around for ever and we thought they must of by then got it right.
Sadly no they told us all we wanted to hear smiled took our money and the stress started I spoke with David and Mathew Hay who blamed the supervisor I then told them I signed the contract with them not the supervisor and we got the on going promises they would fix it. Sixteen months in the house we are still waiting with nails coming through in the interior walls gaps not filled even an exterior wall crooked I could go on and on.But my best advise to anyone thinking of building is not to trust KEITH HAY HOMES you will end up feeling very ripped off
We have just finished building with GJ Gardner in Waikato/Hamilton.
Disappointed with the end result.
GJ are good on the sales side, however once the build started it was one mistake after another.
Very poor workmanship and communication.
The quality of our house is nothing like the show home! (was same spec)
We will not build with them again.
Hey everyone, don’t forget that some of these builders could be members of the Masterbuilder or Certified associations and you can lay complaints when having problems. Has anyone done this?
We have had an on-going battle with Master Build Services to get help to fix our house. They are now threatening to cancel our guarantee even though we have done nothing wrong. If you read the guarantee carefully you will see that it excludes lots of things and says that decisions will be at their sole discretion. We have found that it is a guarantee of nothing.
I would say to anyone stay clear of any certified builder contracts as certified builders DO NOT stand behind the guarantee they have with you, they will do anything at all not to pay out, they work only for the builder and themselves, not for you as a client at all. I have had no dealings with Master builders so can’t comment on them.
You can complain all you like to certified it gets you no where at all!
Hi Liz good comment but it is not always as simple as that. We looked into that with a lawyer but it was going to cost us more money Some of these companies have the finance behind them and after a while the stress gets to you and they just wait until you go away. If I could I would take a big front page add in the herald to make these people listen to us. We are getting on in years have several Grandchildren and Greatgrandies I just want to enjoy whats left of life.I just do not want ayone else to get caught like we did with KEITH HAY HOMES
Hi Liz good comment but it is not always as simple as that. We looked into that with a lawyer but it was going to cost us more money Some of these companies have the finance behind them and after a while the stress gets to you and they just wait until you go away. If I could I would take a big front page add in the herald to make these people listen to us. We are getting on in years have several Grandchildren and Greatgrandies I just want to enjoy whats left of life.I just do not want ayone else to get caught like we did with KHH
Yes, Helen Porter, I think you would have to have plenty of money and sheer determination to take them on. I hope it gets resolved for you.
My experience dealing with masterbuilders is they are difficult to get someone on the phone to talk to, reply yo email, or acknowlege your claim.
I think they did give my builder a hurry up to action issues outstanding from the warranty period.
I don’t doubt that if it came to a dispute with the builder they would protect the interests of the builder above the client, the masterbuild guarantee is about marketing more than anything.
Yes, tingtong, I think you’re right. Did you see the Campbell Live programme (or possibly Fair Go, can’t remember which) on Certified Builders? That was an eye-opener, and their guarantee appears to be useless for the client.
We are supposed to have an agreement with MBS so that we won’t go to Fair Go, but haven’t received it yet. Supposedly Fair Go are doing a story on MBS now. The guarantee is just a selling point. Yes you pay for it, but everyone is covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act so the guarantee is a moot point really. If you read the guarantee it excludes so much and tingtong is right, it is very hard to contact them and they make everything very difficult for you.The ads especially make our blood boil when they say if you build with a master builder you get ‘peace of mind’. That sure hasn’t been our experience and we see it as false advertising.
I had to ring them regarding paperwork they had got wrong (not actually a complaint regarding builder) and they didn’t bother ringing back despite several messages. Eventually got through …but still not sure if they dealt with it!! Can’t imagine what they would be like if you had a real problem!
Jennian homes dunedin?anybody?
Just curious as we are looking at building near Dunedin. Did you get any feedback on Jennian homes dunedin, did you use them and if so were they good. Did you use someone else. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Hi Jim.we are currently dealing with Jennian,see post july 22nd.We have had some improvement with our dealings of late.We are currently looking at going with them,as we have paid for working drawings,which we now have,we now have had clarification of some questions on parts of contract,and viewed by lawyer,some small bits to sort out,but hoping for build start,late September.We met the builder we want to use on one of their other builds,and we are happy with him and the work he has done on that other build.We have also stated we wish to use our own electrician which is no problem at all.From off to a racing start in December 2013,to a miandering 7 months,for reasons i,m not sure of,,and now in the last month,racing forward again.We are using them as Stonewoods and GJ dont have a very good name down here,and Jennian have a two storey option which we have only had to altered 20% which suits our needs best.As i said in other post,to me,communication is the key,and in the last month this has finally improved.I also run a business,and was very surprised of a lack of this up to this last month,especially with the value of the investment we are making and the amount of other building companies out there.So hopefully the sudden surge of action continues,and we are back on track?
Has anyone used Selah Renovations? We are currently in the process of renovating – nearing completion, and have been really disappointed with both their time management (non existent) and sticking to the budget. I would be keen to hear about other peoples experiences with this company as they assure me that all their other builds are going smoothly – to the detriment of ours it seems. They can’t even supply their own builders and had to contract out the job.
Has anyone had any dealings with the “Certified Builders Association” in regards to problem builders? Id like to hear from people who built with a “Certified Builder” and had problems who filed a formal complaint. Id be interested to hear what the association did and what your experience was like dealing with the association.
Just get an Architect and be done with it. I’m a builder and I hate all these cookie cutter houses that are going up. Seriously I’ve got plans from GJ where you could place a average size dining table in the allocated space as the door would open onto it. No design thought no care. Its always please pay more to adjust plans…Please pay more to alter….Please pay more for extra costs. Please pay more. 90% of my builds from these “build companies” result in unforeseen extras to the client. I conclude that any decent house should be designed to the site. In which case Architects know best.
We moved into our Generation Home (Rodney, Auckland) in March after months of planning. Our excitement was soon dampened on handover day as the Generation Home sales consultant showed us around we encountered several embarrassing moments when the garage door wouldn’t open and close properly on demonstration and we found grubby hand marks on walls and ceilings from tradesman despite cleaning being done before the move in day. In fact there were tradesmen still at the house half an hour before the handover.
On our move in day a builder backed into our car outside the house before our movers had even arrived! We have spent the last 6 weeks compiling a maintenance (defects!) list instead of spending our time enjoying our new home. We still continue to find faults each day and feel the quality of work has been compromised. The whole process has been stressful and considering the hard earned money we have paid, we feel very disappointed and drained from this Generation Home experience. We have not had any response back from the Generation Home CEO and request a meeting with Rodney director and construction manager scheduled for this Monday.
Ww will have been in our house for two years in July and are still fighting with Master Build Services to get our house fixed so we have never been able to enjoy our house even though we paid close to 1 million for it. The original builders (Hybrid Homes & Living) refuse to come back. Our blood boils when we see the Master Build ads stating they are about quality and that you can trust a Master Builder. Plus beware that their guarantees don’t mean much and they will fight you all the way.
Exactly the same thing happened to me in Cambridge. Wouldn’t trust them to assemble a garden shed properly.
I have been monitoring the comments on this blog and note that some of these builders maybe members of the “Certified Builders Association”. I would be interested to hear from people who lodged formal complaints with “Certified” regarding problem builders who are members of CB to find out what your experience was like dealing with this Association?
Hi, this is a great collection of comments. I have been following for a few months now. Does anyone have any comment on Signature Homes Whangarei? Thanks
Has anyone built with Jennian Homes in the Wairarapa?
Looking for feedback on the ease of the build, quality etc.
There have been a couple of comments about Generation homes, but just wondering if anyone has a good/bad experience to share? Generation seems to have the most positive feedback online so far. Looking at building in the Riverhead/Kumeu area if anyone has a good recommendation. Ta
We are building with benchmark ChCh. So far v good consents almost in. Think their may be a holdup with firth foundation design. We are blue land new brighton. They used my plans entirely and allowed us to go with fair dinkin sheds rather than skyline which is their subcontracted for unattached garages. Thought this was very flexible. Also provided our own lights and quality shower arm for plumber and electrician to fit.
Experiences/feedback with Epichomes Wellington, anyone?
Here’s the latest blog:http://www.tumblr.com/blog/nzhomebuild
At the start of this blogging journey, I had always stated that we hoped to be fair, honest and reasonable with our blogs.
On that note we had started this journey on quite a positive note until we were treated quite poorly by their sales consultant (read previous blog).
Even that this stage, our hope was that the error lay with just a couple of sales consultants, and that Stonewood would put things right. We promised to bring you good news if it did happen.
Stonewood head office and the owner of Stonewood Tauranga have come to the party to put things right and we applaud them for doing this.
After a number of conversations, we have decided to proceed with Stonewood and are confident that they will do a good job.
We had always thought the quality of the Stonewood homes were good and now we look forward to working with Kevin Norris and his team.
We’ve always held that mistakes do happen but its how organisations/ people put things right that makes a difference. We are happy that in the end Stonewood did put things right.
For those of you with any concerns about your local sales people. do ring the owner or the Stonewood head office.
Our family has attempted to gain the assistance of both STONEWOOD HOMES NORTHLAND and SIGNATURE HOMES franchise in Auckland…both in our opinion proved beyond useless….lost us some 10 months of time in total, with no outcome WHATSOEVER, and a massive increase in building costs. The only advice is to avoid them at all costs in our opinion… SUGGESTION…DON’T PAY FOR PLANS OR QUOTES..would you pay BOND AND BOND to tell you how much they want for a washing machine?…yet all those so called specialist home builders want 2500 dollars to spend a few hours drawing the OUTLINE of the kind of home you might like, usually taken off a standard plan!.
WE have never witnessed such incompetence…sheer greed…and in some cases willfully misleading conduct in all our lives, with a list of e-mail promises and apologies that would choke a billy goat..
SUGGESTION…many building designers are short of work…ask around for quotes and draw your own home…then get quotes from the same builders who are normally screwed down by those companies, and deal direct with them….you will save tens of thousands of dollars…PAY THEM WELL and you will always come out on top….
Hi Rob. Did you actually end up with building with Signature, Albany branch? Hope not.
Thank you for setting up this site
I am in Nelson
I have been searching for a cookie cutter home builder in Nelson because I thought the build would be price controlled as Glen from GJ Gardner said “priced right down to the last nut, bolt and screw” well they certainly tried to price most of it and even did so without forcing me to sign the usual commitment papers. Problem is the more I analyse the building costs the more un priced, unknown costs start appearing. Eg the infrastructure fees and consent fees, the drainage costs and soil removal etc etc. so I have learned, GJ s Nelson are trying to price things but without that commitment to pay $1000 for full drawings and council investigation fees I won’t get a tight fixed price.
Please bear in mind here I gave them the council consent report, the drain layout for laterals,the geotechnical report, the covenants and a very clear I plan of my land and the exact house I needed. I am left with a great experience of dealing with their excellent sales rep and lovely draughtsman, but a sinking feeling that the contract which reads to me as an all care no responsibilty contract, will inevitably throw some extra costs at me as soon as I commit .
I find it odd , but then I am a lay person not a builder, that a building company can’t examine these reports and knowing their team, builders, specific nuts and bolts costs, put hand on heart and promise this house will not cost more than $x . They have years of expertise so I feel they should be the ones to make the commitment to build at a, no more than definite price and within a no longer than definate time . If they don’t then they should take the risk not the lay person. I have been looking at stonewood, orange, and milestone homes. GJ Gardiner seemed the most able to meet my specifications until it came to the contract. It basically says if we have made an error on the costings you pay, if we discover anything different to what we thought we were facing you pay, if we don’t like working with you you pay, and we want you to give us complete authority to order engineering works, soil reports, geotechnical reports and charge you for whatever we deem fit.i am very wary of this contract. Yet no one has spoken here of a bad experience with it.
Milestone had the most professional manner and Orange were very quick to warn me of the other companies faults,stonewood were very friendly and I even met the builder, which I thought would have been essential for any company to do. I didn’t choose stonewood only because the house plan and materials were not what I preferred.
So far I’ve not committed to a company and I would like to know if the builder Ross is in Nelson, as if he is I think I know him and should give him a call.
Hi.
As a builder who has contracted for several new home companies in Christchurch, I feel my insight into this whole situation may be helpful to many of you.
A new home company operates by securing builds using competitive pricing strategies. They then screw down every single subcontractor and materials supplier to the last cent. This results in a margin that allows them to to operate an office, several staff and make profit.
The builder who actually constructs your home is left with an equation that makes no sense. He carries all the liability and has to work extremely hard to make even a slight profit from the job. This is the basis of the breakdown.
My advice?
Get yourself a reasonably small building company (10 or less employees) with good references. One that you know you can trust.The client builder relationship is one based in trust. You trust him to do a good job, and he trusts you to pay him. Remember this always. You may feel very financially vulnerable during your build but remember that your builder is just as vulnerable. At any one time, he can have tens of thousands of dollars worth of materials on credit – enough to bankrupt him if you don’t keep up your end of the bargain. New home companies blur this relationship with salesmen and project managers. Neither of which has nearly as much incentive to keep you, the client, happy.
Be patient as to when he can start the project (if he’s good, he’s probably busy).
Cost-wise, there shouldn’t be much in it. If there is, you might wonder how this other company intends to do it so cheaply and how long it will take… Your builder is far more likely to deliver you a product you’re happy with in a reasonable time frame when he’s being fairly compensated for his good work. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
Of course, no advice is foolproof. There are sharks out there. Be weary. However, if you want a quality finish on your job, this will help. Try to remember that sometimes its more down to making sure every last nail is in than than saving every last dollar, especially if you’re planning on owning it for the next 20 years!
At last, a real builder commenting. We were coerced (by our insurer) to go with the group builder/project management type company due to our insurance rebuild through the earhquakes in Christchurch. We wanted to use someone exactly like yourself – a smallish company who would be hands on and who used tried and trusted subbies. Instead we ended up with Genesis Builders (now in liquidation) who were, in fact just (poor) project managers who clipped the ticket on all the subbies working for them, and went to ground when things started going wrong. I think that’s how most of the other, bigger, group builders work too. Before Danny Hunt and his disastrous Genesis Builders went into liquidation they had no idea who was going to turn up do work, as it had been sub, sub, sub contracted. Find a good, small, hands on builder. It may mean having to employ an architect, or draughtsman, but, believe me, it will be worth it.
Although, based on our current experience, we wil never build again. And don’t start me on builders’ insurance who make Southern Response look like saints.
Hi DJWB, Thanks for your advice and you as a builder have said it all. We will be building in Prestons Road, Christchurch, and would really appreciate if you could recommend or suggest good building companies.
Cheers
Hey there, if you want a small builder I would recommend Paul McStay builders – friend is building with them and very happy or Vector Construction – we built with him and he’s a great builder. if you want to go bigger then the ONLY company I would recommend in Chch is Peter Ray who don’t rip people off and the customer always comes first. Good luck with your build. Prestons is an awesome place, we are going to build a new house there in the not too distant future!
My advise to you being a builder, is use a private builder they will take greater pride because its there name at the front of the site
11 years ago Penny Developments (now known as Penny Homes Ltd) built a house that has been discovered to have major building faults requiring thousands of dollars worth of repairs. A recent conversation with John Penny had him denying any liability as the company name had changed, hence his reasoning for releasing himself from all financial reparation.
The director remains the same, the Penny’s promise and policy remains the same yet a change in company name means John Penny can avoid all responsibility which clearly lies in the lack of quality building materials and lack of expertise in construction at the time.
Where is your integrity Penny Homes?
A message from my blog:
Thanks to all of you who have sent us personal messages about this matter. Also, to those from http://nzfvtg.org.nz/building-company-reviews/#comment-3075 who gave commented.
We are truly overwhelmed by your understanding.
It is reassuring to know that on the whole most people are honest and that they have the capacity to find out the true nature of arrogant sales people for themselves.
Thanks also for your emails requesting updates. Unfortunately, Stonewood being the professional company that they are, and being a company that always do the best for their clients, are yet to come back to us, to:
– Apologise for their oversight
– Apologise for the lack of maturity on the part of Jo and Wayne Philips to accept responsibility for their oversight
– Apologise for Wayne Philipps’ arrogance and bullying tendencies
-let us know who is going to be taking care of us
– find out what the best way forward will be.
To be honest, we’ve given them fair time to put right their error.
Soon Tui shd be fling an advert on “Stonewood: we always do the best for our clients – Yeah! Right”
FINAL VERSION
Oh my God Chris – It’s only been a month and Stonewood have already stuffed things up. I was looking forward to writing good things about them. I’ve never come across an arrogant sales person such as this one.
We sorted everything out and went on holiday. Prior to going on holiday we organised everything including a valuation. The valuer, Boyce James McKay had clearly told us and Stonewood that if the matter was not urgent they will get the valuation done in 2 weeks.
While we were on holiday Jo Philips from Stonewood rang to say that they have found another valuer. While we were initially hesitant, since they seemed to insist, we asked them to make sure (twice by email) that the first valuer was cancelled. They promised us that they had cancelled the first valuer.
We come back home to find two valuations and the fact that Stonewood can provide us no proof they have cancelled the first valuation. According to the first valuer they hadn’t. The first valuer has given us enough proof that the Valuation was not cancelled. They were professional and treated us with respect at all times.
Stonewood wanted us blog positively about them and negatively about the valuer, because they were a professional organisation that looked after their clients. Earlier this week, I sent Stonewood an email with my view that while not intentional, due to an oversight they had forgotten to cancel the valuation, and hence they must take responsibility and pay the second valuer. But Stonewood were keen to email the second valuer that the “client” i.e. “us” will pay for the second valuer. They also never got back to me.
I sent the following email to the second valuer Property Indepth Rotorua.
“Hi Mike, I hope Stonewood have been able to update you on the circumstances around the non-payment of the invoice. Just in case you haven’t heard, unfortunately Stonewood had forgotten to cancel the first valuer – Boyce James McKay – we have a signed agreement with. This has left us with two valuations.
At Stonewood’s insistence, we had given the okay for them to proceed with your services, conditional upon them cancelling (Beyond all doubt) the first valuer.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence that this was done.
We have continued to indicate to Stonewood that until this matter is sorted no payment will be made by us. Of course, given that Stonewood is a professional organisation who do the best for their clients, I am sure they would do the right thing and pay you for your work.
Hope you are able to sort the matter out with Stonewood.
Best regards”
Lo and behold they managed to ring me a few hours after the email was sent. Apparently there was some “Dishonesty” issues going on that needed sorting. They didn’t seem to have an answer when we asked who was being dishonest, just that it wasn’t them.
I asked Wayne Philips if he had proof the valuation was cancelled, all he needed to do was show it to me. I am yet to get an answer to that question. He was more interested in (I paraphrase) “explain the sequence of events”. His wife Jo had already done her version of it to us in an email on Wednesday. I told him I was happy to speak with him as long as Stonewood can take responsibility for their oversight, bear the cost so we can move on, which he seemed hesitant to do.
He seemed more interested in rehashing his version of events without taking responsibility for this actions.
He has stated that he did not want to deal with me because the relationship was broken and that his boss will ring me.
I would hope his “boss” is able to either find someone who treats us with dignity and respect, and doesn’t indirectly call me a liar, or return our money back with interest so they can protect Stonewood Tauranga’s reputation. Perhaps the sales-people need some customer service training too.
I am horrified at how arrogant some people can be.
If, indeed, the boss behaves with dignity, and sorts the matter out in an ethical manner and apologise for Wayne Philipps’ rude behaviour, I will be most certainly to write about it too. I believe in praising up people where praise is warranted too.
People in Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua – Be very careful before you choose Stonewood Tauranga. Unfortunately I have had to find out about it first-hand (and I know there are others in the industry who can vouch for what I am saying) that the Stonewood Tauranga sales people are not honest. But worse still they try to pressure you and all those who are working for you, and are very arrogant.
We are all human and we make mistakes. If Stonewood had been more accommodating I would have taken the brunt and paid some money for their mistake. What changed my mind was their arrogant attitude.
Given that building a house is a lot of money and its fair for you to think that I am biased because of this hick up, I am very happy to share all my communications with anyone who is interested, so you can decide for yourselves how these people are.
We were thinking of going with Stonewood in Tauranga, definitely won’t be now. Hope things improve for you, building can be so stressful….
Hope you find a good, honest builder who has integrity Cindy. We haven’t yet heard from Stonewood.
All the best for your build.
Three years ago we built our new home with Stonewoods Tauranga. We found Kevin and Chris Norris (the franchise owners) excellent to deal with and professional. Nothing was ever too much trouble even though we live in a remote location in the king country. We worked carefully with Kevin and his team to design our house to suit our needs and unique position. We initially chose stonewood because of their reputation for quality and above standard spec. The build was completed on time and we had no issues with cost over runs. Any issues arising during the build were dealt with and sorted promptly. The quality of the house is well and truely up to our expectation and we would certainly choose stonewood should we ever build again.
Hi Cindy – We have now resolved matters with Stonewood. I am pleased that the owner Kevin Norris and the people from Stonewood head office put things right.
My blog here – http://www.tumblr.com/blog/nzhomebuild
I wouldn’t imagine they would make the same mistake again, should you wish to use them.
Kevin, the owner of Stonewood Tauranga seems like a reasonable chap. If I were you I would speak to him direct.
Best wishes
Sneha
Also looking for comment on building land & house package with Horncastle homes- about to sign up but heard negative comment from friend of friend today.
Starting to build with Platimum Homes in Karaka. Waiting for consent and not quite sure how I feel about their tactics. Have many people had dealings with them from the Franklin Branch.
Hi Florence,
How was your experience in the end with Platinum Homes? We are looking to use them in Pokeno development.
Hi JP, I assume Platinum have a number of franchises, so the one you propose to use may be OK. And I have no personal experience of them. But anyway I suggest you look through all the comments on this blog, because from my memory most (if not all) of their reviews are negative. Also look at the one on http://www.buildreview.co.nz.
Any advise I can give is not to use Platinum Pukekohe/ Karaka. They are good until you pay the deposit and then the slimy manager treats you like you know nothing and the difference in the base price escalates if you upgrade anything. Be very careful. It is the hidden costs that are given to you on handover that you have no control over.Try David Reid.
Read my blob .We are still having trouble 6 months later and if you have already paid your deposit then it is too late. Note what in in the contract and compare it to what they show you are basic in the show home. When it comes to the time for fitting it I can be very different to what you expected.
Thanks Irene, no deposit paid yet, they are doing drawings at the moment and costing. The size house they can built on the site just sound too good to be true for the prize. Just being very careful at the moment as most if not all their reviews are bad.
Hi JP,
We found Platinum to be one of the lower cost building companies which meant we could afford a larger home. Lower cost though comes with compromise, reduced staffing levels and cheaper subcontractors.
You need to consider how often is a project manager going to be onsite? What quality workmanship will a cheaper subcontractor give?
Are you happy to accept it will not be plain sailing because of the above, that the finish and fittings may not be the highest quality? If so then you are going in with eyes wide open and fully prepared for what may happen.
All building companies are different and all their franchises are different (we did not use the franchise you are looking at), unfortunately Platinum do seem to be disproportionately represented on this site so it would be fair to say you have been warned!
My tips:
Visit the site as often as possible
Question anything you are not sure about
Always phone (email follow ups are fine, but phoning gets more result)
Retain payment if you are not happy
Hope for the best but prepare for the worst
Good advice. As far as Platinum Pukekohe / Karaka are concerned always put every single communication in writing. Email every process of thought and changes to the kitchen/ colour consultant/ bathrooms/ taps/ concrete everything must be in writing/\. Also dairise telephone conversations. What we found was that if you visited the show home to speak. to anyone at all, we could not get a straight answer to our questions and concerns. The run around was very unsettling.Good Luck
Hi JP, Lots of good advice from MAL. Since you haven’t paid a ‘deposit’, but they are already doing drawings and costing, then I assume you’ve just paid a few thousand dollars for a concept plan and ‘general’ specification, on which they will base the price. So once they give you the plan and price be sure to look very carefully and critically at what is covered (or more importantly not covered) by the spec, and compare the spec with the standard you were expecting (eg from the show house). Then get them to give you a detailed spec for exactly what will be included in your particular house. Don’t accept vague reassurances on this, because if it’s not mentioned in the spec (types, sizes, quantities etc) then assume that at the end of the day it won’t be in your house. This takes time and effort from you and them, but if they are not prepared to do it then seriously think about backing out before putting up any substantial amount of money. Usually at the end of the day if it looks too good to be true then it is too good to be true!
We are hoping to shortly build a new house on our hill section on Broad Oaks in Christchurch. Does anyone have personal experience of Christchurch builders or building companies (both good and bad) who specialise in building on the hills?
I am delighted to have come across this forum as it will be a huge boon to anybody considering entering the building “mine field” trying to decide which builder or building company to go with.
Only I have had a comment stagnating with a “Your comment is awaiting moderation” for a week now. Is anybody still monitoring this website?
A suggestion please, would it be possible to divide this forum into regions to simplify and streamline the comments and suggestions before it becomes too unwieldy? Thanks, Stuart
Hi Stuart. Sorry, have just seen your question. I had about 100 old comments from the site come in at once about 10 days ago.
We are near to Broad Oaks. There are plenty of specialised Hill builders in Christchurch, and they certainly don’t include the group home builders.
We built with Image Construction. It was an insurance rebuild, so we were working within a number of constraints, but we are happy with the house. I was actively involved during the process of the build, and we did pay some extra, but thanks to a great foreman, once it was finished we have no issues. They used good subbies, and actively did quality control.
Other hill builders which I have heard good comments about:
McKenzie Builders
Garlick Builders
Harley Builders
The challenge for all builders is keeping their good staff. A good foreman is key, but there are plenty of opportunities & inducements for them to move to another job, particularly as a project manager. I’ve heard of a lot of money offered just to sign on, and that of course can add to the cost of a build. As with a few other comments, a smaller, more established builder, with only a few sites, may be better to deal with than a bigger company.
Hopefully you have found someone good. Any other questions, fire away.
Hi Guys,
Can anyone please give me their building experience with Fowler Homes (in Mana) .
Much appreciated
Sandy
Can anyone recommend a company in the Wellington region?
Well we had nightmares with Platinum (sales manager promised the earth, wrongly quoted, stuffed up in general.. With an ongoing impact that we still keep having to sort out) BUT now we are in the building phase things are much better and going to schedule (we moved in August), and head office have really committed to getting our build done, and appreciated mostly the position we were put in. I would say lock down any of your wish list prior to signing. Quality of the build is overall very good, and not something I have any concerns about (of course the odd niggle – but they sort it). Go and look at lots of different companies homes and note your wish list, including what you want from your kitchen, and don’t be fobbed into signing first! Friends have almost completed with Primesite and, although a few glitches too, they have sorted it all out and kept the deadline (they insisted on a sunset clause), and they ordered their kitchen from a company separately to save cash and improve quality. Though to be fair – the platinum standard kitchen seems fine. I would tentatively recommend Platinum if they could get their admin act together – but not sure that element is quite there yet! (Admin staff can’t add up EVER). This is a huge turnaround from our original position though, so perhaps the fact I am at this point is an indicator of just how hard they are trying? Hope this helps.
We built with Cranston Homes in Auckland last year and to be honest, I can’t fault them. I took my rough drawings of my dream home to them, their in house architect turned them into something beautiful and the whole process from design, through consent (which they fully managed) and then the build went smoothly, resulting in a really fantastic family home delivered on time and on budget. Communication was excellent and every single person involved both on site and in the office was lovely to deal with.
If you are looking to build in Auckland or Northland, they are definitely worth having a good chat with.
Hi guys,
I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a local builder from the whangarei area that is independent from the usual franchise building companies? My husband and I are wanting a modern extension.
Do not build with Hybrid Homes & Living. We paid them nearly 1 million dollars for our house and have had nothing but problems. We haven’t been able to open our two B&B rooms. They charge a high management fee and promise the world, but when things go wrong don’t do anything. Also having a Masterbuild guarantee, guarantees nothing as we have been given the complete run around by them. Have spoken to local MP and written to Housing Minister. May be an article in local paper as well.
HI Barbara, I would really like to talk to you re your experience but not on this blog site. Can I get an email address from you so we can exchange contact details? It may interest you to hear from me. Thanks
Hi Kelly, email b.grant@xtra.co.nz. Thanks
man its hard to find the perfect builder, has any one had any dealings with hybrid homes in chch. They are the eco homes at the hive.
Please stay away from them as they are a bunch of crooks. I know it will be hard in Christchurch, but better to find a reputable builder and stay away from housing companies where it is all about marketing.
HI we are building with Stonewood in Christchurch,at the moment we call them Stonewall. Delay upon delay and very poor communication at all time. Our house was demolished 5 months ago and still we have no foundation. We hope to move into our home this year, but we are less and less hopefull. Lots of wonderful promises at the beginning until we signed the papers. We are a few rebuild in our area and notice where a Stonewood sign there is very little progress. We rebuilt one house last year with them it was kind of OK, probably more because of the subbies. At the moment we would not recommend them.
So sorry to hear your story. I wish Tui would do a billboard ad on Stonewood.
Stonewood – A home you deserve. Yeah right !
It sounds like a punishment.
“I hearby sentence you to five years of stress and regret in a home you deserve”.
We are also trying to build with Stonewood in Christchurch and signed a contract in August 2013 it is now nearly June 2014 and we still don’t have a slab built let alone a house! Excuses galore but nothing being done I have no idea when it’s likely to be built.
Hi all any feedback on StoneWood in Havelock North?
Like Mark who started this site, I too had looked for review sites of different building companies, in vain.
Thanks to Mark who started this site. It is interesting reading people’s experiences.
After shortlisting G J Gardner – Rotorua and Stonewood Homes – Tauranga, we have finally signed with Stonewood.
I have started a blog site to share my day to day experiences on our journey towards building a new home – http://www.tumblr.com/blog/nzhomebuild
Any thoughts or comments welcome.
Sneha
Sneha, Regarding Stonewood (Tauranga), I assume from what we were told in Auckland that all their franchises use a standard building contract. So see my comments dated 15/2/14 above. I’ll be interested to know from your blog what you and your solicitor think of it, and if you ask for any changes at all, whether the guys in Tauranga are willing to entertain that.
Oh my God Chris – It’s only been a month and Stonewood have already stuffed things up. I was looking forward to writing good things about them. I’ve never come across an arrogant sales person such as this one.
We sorted everything out and went on holiday. Prior to going on holiday we organised everything including a valuation. The valuer, Boyce James McKay had clearly told us and Stonewood that if the matter was not urgent they will get the valuation done in 2 weeks.
While we were on holiday Jo Philips from Stonewood rang to say that they have found another valuer. While we were initially hesitant, since they seemed to insist, we asked them to make sure (twice by email) that the first valuer was cancelled. They promised us that they had cancelled the first valuer.
We come back home to find two valuations and the fact that Stonewood can provide us no proof they have cancelled the first valuation. According to the first valuer they hadn’t. The first valuer has given us enough proof that the Valuation was not cancelled. They were professional and treated us with respect at all times.
Stonewood wanted us blog positively about them and negatively about the valuer, because they were a professional organisation that looked after their clients. Earlier this week, I sent Stonewood an email with my view that while not intentional, due to an oversight they had forgotten to cancel the valuation, and hence they must take responsibility and pay the second valuer. But Stonewood were keen to email the second valuer that the “client” i.e. “us” will pay for the second valuer. They also never got back to me.
I sent the following email to the second valuer Property Indepth Rotorua.
“Hi Mike, I hope Stonewood have been able to update you on the circumstances around the non-payment of the invoice. Just in case you haven’t heard, unfortunately Stonewood had forgotten to cancel the first valuer – Boyce James McKay – we have a signed agreement with. This has left us with two valuations.
At Stonewood’s insistence, we had given the okay for them to proceed with your services, conditional upon them cancelling (Beyond all doubt) the first valuer.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence that this was done.
We have continued to indicate to Stonewood that until this matter is sorted no payment will be made by us. Ofcourse, given that Stonewood is a professional organisation who do the best for their clients, I am sure they would do the right thing and pay you for your work.
Hope you are able to sort the matter out with Stonewood.
Best regards”
Lo and behold they managed to ring me a few hours after the email was sent. Apparently there was some “Dishonesty” issues going on that needed sorting. They didn’t seem to have an answer when we asked who was being dishonest.
I asked Wayne Philips if there was proof the valuation was cancelled, a question he wanted to shy away from. He was more interested in (I paraphrase) “explain the sequence of events”. His wife Jo had already done her version of it to us in an email on Wednesday. I told him I was happy to speak with him as long as Stonewood can take responsibility for their oversight, take responsibility so we can move on, which he seemed hesitant to do.
He seemed more interested in rehashing his version of events without taking responsibility for this actions.
He has stated that he did not want to deal with me because the relationship was broken and that his boss will ring me.
I would hope his “boss” is able to either find someone who treats us with dignity and respect, and doesn’t indirectly call me a liar, or return our money back with interest so they can protect Stonewood Tauranga’s reputation.
I am horrified at how arrogant some people can be.
If, indeed, the boss behaves with dignity, and sorts the matter out in an ethical manner and apologise for Wayne Philipps’ rude behaviour, I will be most certainly to write about it too. I believe in praising up people where praise is warranted too.
People in Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua – Be very careful before you choose Stonewood Tauranga. Unfortunately I have had to find out about it first-hand (and I know there are some others in the industry who can vouch for what I am saying) that their sales people are not honest. But worse still they try to pressure you and all those who are working for you, and are very arrogant.
We are all human and we make mistakes. If Stonewood had been more accommodating i would have taken the brunt and paid some money for their mistake. What changed my mind was their arrogant attitude.
Given that building a house is a lot of money and its fair for you to think that I am biased, I am very happy to share all my communications with anyone who is interested, so you can decide for yourselves how these people are.
Anyone have any feedback on Horncastle Homes in Christchurch? Cant see anything on here yet so not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
I would not choose Horncastle Homes to build a new home after seeing what my parent have had to go through with their new Horncastle home. Horncastle are NOT well organized as my parents are still waiting for follow-up touch ups/repairs to be completed after more than 6 months since moving in. Sometimes weeks have gone by without any follow-up and the overall experience of building with Horncastle has NOT been pleasant.
Jodie, we completed our build with Landmark Homes Counties and were handed the keys in March 2013 and we are still waiting for items on our 90 days maintenance schedule to be attended to. For example….. white bricks that have pink splodges all over them (entire house), roof tiles bowing/chipped, bathroom vanity draws still not closing (after 3x attempts to fix), mess of concrete and drainage and the list goes on. We are now in with Master Builders to get something done about these matters with the possibility of going legal. Don’t hold your breath just get onto Master Builders – maybe they can do something, we are living in hope. Early days for our MB guy, as he only visited our house last month and we only sent him our plans on the 12th September this year. We look forward to actually living in our house and having our life back. We started the process in November 2011!!!!!
Hi Jodie, I totally agree with you. I had a very bad experience with Horncastle. I am also waiting for follow-up touch ups/repairs to be completed. Their work is quite substandard and the finishing is pretty poor (both interior and exterior). The touch ups/repairs they have done so far are pretty shoddy too. I would not recommend them at all.
Hi there, I’m no lawyer but I think I can help, send me an email at johncenanz1@gmail.com and I will give you some advice as I have been in the same boat.
We’re dealing with Horncastle – wouldn’t recommend, very poor communication, extremely delayed through design – busy blaming everything on consenting (however that took less than 20 days). Design for a pre-designed house took 5 months, leaving just 3 months for them to meet their completion date. Still no start date, and no-one wants to talk about completion date – obviously won’t meet completion date stated by salesman that formed contract. All blame someone else, and no one wants to front. If dealing with them, keep every email and get everything in writing, as otherwise they’ll say they didn’t say it. Suppliers to Horncastle are making similar comments.
Hi there, I’m no lawyer but I think I can help, send me an email at johncenanz1@gmail.com and I will give you some advice as I have been in the same boat.
Hi there, I’m no lawyer but I think I can help, send me an email at johncenanz1@gmail.com and I will give you some advice as I have been in the same boat..
Apart from Dave, who kindly responded before, does anyone have any feedback on The House Company, for a build in North Auckland?
Yes they built our home and we love it. The workmanship looks excellent. We have been in it for 5 months now, They will do another inspection at the 6 month mark to touch up anything we feel that needs doing. When I hear all the horror stories here I think we were very lucky we went with them.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone had experience about dealing with StoneWood Wellington? We are now in the stage of buying a section and home package with them. We found the sales person is very hard to communicate, always no response. We have to chase him up for any small progress. We have been worked with him since November last year but haven’t got to the stage to sign the section purchase contract. We are so tired to communicate with him. People always say that they are very good before you sign contract then after that they become bad. Why our one is bad from beginning? I couldn’t feel he care about his sales performance. We don’t know if we should continue with them or not and don’t know if just this person apspecial or they are all the same. Is the sales person the same one manage the building process? Any experience with their sales to share?
Addition, we talked to his manager ask to change sales person, but he said they can’t, because the section is secured by this person in some way. Heard anything like this? Or this is somehow (due to legal/title) delay the whole process?
If Stonewood cannot gain an unsatisfactory Account Manager get a new building company. I have never heard of the salesman owning the section what a lot of nonsense. Get out while you are ahead.
Hi Ruth
Thank you for the advice. We really like that section, that is the only reason we stay with StoneWood even the sales man is such inept. We were hoping it can be improved once move to the next stage when deal with PM. You are right, we need to reconsider it now.
I would also alert Stonewood Homes Head Office that a salesman is selling his own sections to Stonewood customers. Surely that would fall well outside the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement?. There could be huge ramifications further down the track if anything goes wrong with the land and Stonewood well frankly they will say all care and no responsibilitiy.
It sounds like they are offering a house and land package, it’s pretty common.
Not if the land belongs to the salesman personally and Stonewood are building house on the land
We got quite far down the track doing a concept design and quote with Stonewood in Auckland, to build on a section we own. To be fair their spec looks very good, the sales lady we dealt with was very helpful and responsive, we liked the design, and although we’d all like things to be cheaper, the price was within our expectation (although of course that was before signed the building agreement, so don’t know whether there would have been ‘unexpected’ increases later). However, we pulled out because they had a ‘standard’ building contract, and unlike most other builders were not willing to entertain any changes to it at all. I’ve worked for years in the construction industry (civil) and I felt that their agreement was not well written, had stuff in it that was very ambiguous (to say the least), which could lead to problems for the client later, and lacked some important safeguards for the client. So I strongly recommend you get a solicitor experienced with building contracts (and not all are, despite what they claim) to look at it before you get much further.
They have two consultants as far as i know, one man and one woman. We dealt with with the woman when we were initially looking for a section appraisal but gave up and tried other builders when we didn’t get replies to a couple of emails.
We are dealing with the man. He hardly makes his commitment
when he is saying he will send us email the next day or call us back in the afternoon etc.. We are so annoyed and exhausted to chase up for almost three months.
Why on earth are you still dealing with them in this phase they should be falling at your feet.
I know. That makes the whole thing not make sense. We think there must have reasons, but couldn’t figure it out. As I said earlier, we like that section so much. That is the only reason we are till trying. We are kind of giving up now. Thanks Ruth.
Hi Chris, Any progress? We are dealing with a John. We are having same issues. Trying to nail down a price with a specific and detailed list at what is included is proving difficult. Major concerns are potential cost overruns and understanding hidden costs
Hi Chris, Re your comment on 15/02/14, you recommended a solicitor who specialises in building contracts, we are currently working with a building company and would be grateful if you could recommended a good solicitor/lawyer or even the one you used for your dealings with Stonewood in Auckland as I have a feeling I am going run into a similar dispute with mine. Thanks in advance and look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Medx, Not sure when you posted this, as I just got it in my email, and can’t find it on the blog. But I found Frances Edmonds at frances@shanahanslaw.co.nz, in New Lynn, Auckland helpful. However, if it’s concerning Stonewood’s ‘standard’ contract I don’t hold out much hope of you or her persuading them to make any changes. But maybe things are different at another SW franchise. The Master Builders’ standard contract is a lot better written, but you still need a builder willing to make changes to it. I’m off to Oz tomorrow. I don’t have time to go into details right now, so let me know if you can wait a couple of weeks, and I’ll point out a few issues to watch out for.
Better stay away from Stonewood in Wellington. We got the same experience as you did. Communication is the key during the whole construction process; they tend to ignore it.
Hi Chris – Welcome to the world of Stonewood. It’s a home you ” don’t” deserve. I am surprised #TVNZFairgo #TV3 are not investigating them. Read our experience with STONEWOOD TAURANGA here. Their sales agent must get an award for his arrogance. I thought I was his client, yet, he didn’t want me to ” speak over him”. When he couldn’t get his way with us he ended the conversation saying he didn’t want to deal with us any longer. No one else from STONEWOOD TAURANGA has been in touch. Yet they gave got my initial deposit.
Here is our story – http://www.tumblr.com/blog/nzhomebuild
I am happy to send people that are interested the entire situation with email evidence so you can make a choice yourselves. No doubt, as we speak, Stonewood are defending themselves . If you are one of the people they are saying this to, ask them for all the proof. I guarantee they won’t have it.
This is election year. I believe it’s an ideal time for the Government to step in and tighten the loop holes in the Building Act. Cowboy sales agents and builders must be taken to task. There must be an independent body ( similar to the REAA for real estate agents) that licenses and deals with complaints so innocent people like us are not penalised. What do you guys think? If you are a lawyer or politician reading this perhaps you could take the lead on making this happen. Please feel free to email me on snehapaul@yahoo.com to more about our issue and how you can protect yourself.
Hi BMH; interesting, and reassuring to read of your experiences with Mike Greer Hills, as I am a rebuild on the hill with them too. Construction has not fully got under way yet due to issues getting consent. We have also had slight issues with the architectural designer, but things look to be resolving and we are looking forward to moving on and getting the house built. Great to hear your build is going so well. This is a great weight off my mind, though I do realize every situation is different. Who is your project manager, does his initial begin with A by any chance?
No problem at all. No That isn’t our project manager but I think I know who you are talking about and we have dealt with him and he is is very good also. If you would like to talk some more and even have a look at our house feel free to give me a call on 0292597500. Regards Ben.
Hi Ben; thanks very much for your nice reply and kind offer of contact. I live overseas but will give you a call on that number at some point this week. Where I am is a few hours behind NZ in time so it will be in the late afternoon or evening your time. Regards.
These guys built my place, about a $1.2m build plus land. Project manager A was good but got totally frustrated with the poor quality subbys and MGH delays.
Good luck, I have built 6 homes and never again with these guys!
Hi John; I am a rebuild with Mike Greer Hills. Not a $1.2 million job like yours but well over half that nevertheless. Some of their staff are excellent like the project manager and the builder on site, but I have had alot of delays, mostly due to difficulty of steep site, and consent issues, but still…..Foundations only just down recently. Estimated time of completion is May next year. John, I am worried now that you mention problems with subbies. Meanwhile, the financial strain is bad enough but the emotional toll on my family – with me focusing on the minutae of the build – has been truly awful. Additionally, MGH specced the rebuild too lightly. The new home will be smart but has zero character, unlike the original. Too late now, but I face forking out $ for better fittings, joinery etc.
Hi, I’m currently shopping around for a builder to build a house in Hamilton. Any comments/suggestions please? Also has anyone has experience with David Reid Homes, Golden Homes and Stonewood Homes in Hamilton recently, thanks.
Although we moved into Golden Homes 5 years ago we are still having to deal with them due to all the unresolved and newly discovered problems. They are as big a nightmare to deal with today as they were then. Please see my previous posts and do not go near Golden Homes.
Thanks Carla. They failed me right at the beginning. I only had one appointment with them and that was it. I’m glad they weren’t any good right at the start. Hope your house is all fixed now.
Bad BAD experiences with Golden homes. No problems with the sales staff. However when job was handed over to the “project management” team the wheels fell off.
Incompetent site foreman. Office staff without a clue.
Offensive graffiti drawn on building paper from builders lackies.
I guess it doesn’t take much skill to screw pre made steel frames together
Write everything down. Save all you Email correspondence
Thanks Bosco. The sales staff at Golden Homes promised me he would provide a quote in a week. 2 weeks past, I still haven’t heard anything from him so I chased up. Turn out his draftsman was sick so he got no one to do work for him but didn’t bother to tell me so I simply dropped Golden Homes out of my list. I ended up building with David Reid Homes and they are working on roofing now. Good to know that I made the right choice not considering Golden Homes. Thanks!
Pook27 you should thank your lucky stars for the close escape from golden homes!!!!!
Will really appreciate recommendations for good builders in South East Auckland to design/build and project manage a house. Especially around the Howick area.
Thanks
Try Precision Builders in Pukekohe… Excellent!!!!!
I am currently buying a land in Wigram, Christchurch and planning to find a building company. I have been reading everyones responses but can anyone tell me which building companies can be considered and which ones to avoid completely?
Hi Geena,
Try Today Homes (Hamish Lane – Sales Consultant). We finished our house in December 2013 and we were very impressed with their attitude and time spent in the design stage and right down to the building and finishing. We have a few minor issues that need to be sorted out, but at least we were in for xmas which is what they had promised from day one. Started the build in August and finished 20th December.
Hey dally, thanks for your reply. Just wondering about their quality and finish for Today Homes. Would you say its good?
Thanks!
HI Geena, it is very good. You can ring on 2601781 to talk if you want or to arrange a visit to have a look.
Hi Geena, we are in the final stages of building with signature homes chch. Our completion (guaranteed) might i add is feb 21. If your considering these guys, will be happy to discuss. 021 499 834. Cheers
heya scott, thanks for replying! I’ll give you a ring probably next week. Wanted to know probably how good the quality was, and experience overall 🙂 Speak to you soon! thx!
Hi Geena, probably too late but I can recommend Peter Ray and say STAY AWAY from Golden Homes. 🙂
Can anyone recommend a good building company in Tauranga? Or any in Tauranga that should be avoided? We have been leaning towards GJ Gardner, Fowlers & Stonewood. Not sure now after reading this feed as these companies have all been mentioned in a negative way in other parts of NZ, not many feeds about Tauranga builders yet. Would appreciate any feed back for Tauranga builders or building companies..
Hi Cindy, you should also have a chat to Venture as we know through a few lots of friends they are really excellent, they can build anywhere, one lot of our friends got delayed 2 weeks and they gave them a free 4 G upgrade for their bathrooms. We live in Tauranga and are building with golden homes in Auckland which will be a 2 year build once it is done, after the impression it would take 5 months but this may well just be a sign of the Auckland market.
Thanks Marcus I will contact Venture
Hi Marcus,
I just read your comment on this blog (29/01/14) in which you mentioned that you were building with Golden homes in Auckland, we are currently working with the Albany office. I would really appreciate your thoughts on the dos and donts please or any feedback you would like to offer. Look forward to hearing from you.
Hi – can you tell me which Golden Homes franchise in Auckland you are using/used?
May I suggest that you should call Shaun Riley who is the CEO of Platinum Homes based in Tauranga at least have a discussion with him with regards to building your new home. .
Thanks Ruth
Hi Cindy who did you end up going with we are leaning towards GJs too but would be interested in any feedback anyone has on them?
Hi Jodi – If you have read our journey you would have seen we got off to a shaky start with Stonewood Tauranga due to the unfortunate behaviour of a sales person.
However, since then Stonewood Tauranga have come to the party to make sure we have a clear plan for our home and a way forward. So far I have found the owners of Stonewood Tauranga really good to work with. Personally, if I were to do it again, I would bypass the sales person and speak to the owners who are quite professional.
Also, although we did not end up using GJ Gardner, we found their Rotorua Sales Team and management quite good to deal with.
All the very best with your build.
Sneha
Hi Sneha, this sales person you dealt with initially wasn’t an Ozzie by chance? I have researched several companies and so far really like Stonewood Tauranga.
We are building with Stonewood West Auckland. Don’t do it.
So many problems. As well as the fact that we signed the contract in Sept 2012. Building started in May 2013. Building is still going on and on. we are at least $50,000 over budget due to grossly underestimated PC sums (partial cost sums) which should still be fairly accurate. We were meant to have moved in in Nov 2013, and they are in no real hurry. And even when it is finished, we aren’t paying all of our final bill, so we still won’t be able to move in. Have emailed head office 3 times and never heard back. How is anyone supposed to pay a mortgage AND rent?! This is just stressful, emotionally and financially.
Anybody built with Jennian Homes in Rodney or even in Auckland ? Thanks in advance
Highmark Homes – anyone had any experience of them ?
Has anyone had any good or bad experience of using Penny Builders (preferably as part of Christchurch rebuild)?
Thanks
Greg
Haven’t used Penny Homes, but have been observing several of their builds and they seem way quicker than others. They are doing a few hill builds – one on Centaurus Rd near the shops.
Thanks, Max – that’s helpful.
Our insurance company has just sacked Penny Homes from our rebuild and also our repair on another house we own. Don’t know about their workmanship but ripping people off was their main game. $200000 for 46sqm of betterment in a standard home. Could not even build existing house for the very generous amount from the Insurance company. Ignored me and the insurance company after agreeing to provide a breakdown in their figures. Now we are back to finding a builder after being mucked around by Penny Homes for 7 months.
When passing I recently spoke to the owner of a Penny Homes house in Christchurch which was nearing completion who said he was very unimpressed with his building experience with them. I would therefore suggest visiting a couple of their building sites and contacting the owners for their direct feedback.
We are currently building with Mike Greer in christchurch. It’s been poor since they finally started on site. Three and a half months and the framing is not on,y not finished it is extremely poor, you can put your finger through the gaps in the noggins/dwangs, mould starting to appear on the floor plates/ framing. These must be the slowest and roughest builders in town. Important to point out the builders/contractors aren’t directly employed by mike Greer, they are all subbies. Trouble is there has been little or no project management by mike Greer homes, resulting in a very slow build, no commitment to a completion date, they won’t even say what month after many requests and really poor workmanship from the framing guys on our site. Iam a project manager in the commercial field and would have sent these clowns off site the first week. So far complaints and queries have been met with silence or excuses aimed at the subbies. I wont select mike Greer homes for my next project, even the adds on the radio for mike Greer make me cringe. Never again with mike Greer homes ltd
My complaint with Mike Greers is the same, 20 weeks over time, poor quality build, and total frustration leading me to having to keep visiting their offices.
At the end charged heaps of variations and blackmailed me with not handing the keys over!!!
Greers was the worst experience of our life. Three project managers and eventually taken over by MGH’s General Manager but even then I had to watch them closely and tell them what was wrong. Lots of mistakes, rework, remediation, missed 3 completion dates etc etc. Project management appeared to be totally lacking. The sub contracted builder reminded me of a cowboy who took no pride whatsoever in his work . I suspect MGH lost a fortune on our build. Suggest you go elsewhere.
Mike greer has thja absolute worse bricklayers in NZ.
Hi,
Looking at building in rural Canterbury; has anyone had any dealings with Trenz Homes in Canterbury?
Thanks,
Jon.
We built our dream home with Platinum Wellington in 2012. We found them to be professional, attentive & diligent. We were pleased with the quick turn around time and consistent updates with the build progress.Our queries were answered in a timely manner. We had full confidence that our home was going to be of the highest quality.
We will definitely build with Platinum Homes Wellington again.
In regards to Platinum homes I think the major problem with work not being started is because they re-nag on payment with the people they contract the work out to. My husband has just completed concrete work with Platinum homes and they wont pay him for the work he has done, making different excuses everytime. The job is immaculate has told to him by the project manager and he is very impressed with the work, however Platinum homes now want extra work done including paving and building a retaining wall which has been refused until they pay for the work that has been completed as were now thinking they are a bit dodgy and we refuse to invest more money into a job that should have taken 2 days to complete but has taken 2 months due to lack of communication and Platinum homes forever changing their minds.
I’m interested to know if there are any other contractors who are in a similar position to us where they are refusing to make payment.
I expect it varies, which franchise/region does your husband work with?
I’ve been following this blog for several months, and have made a few previous comments. But recently I’ve realised that a lot of the replies above are not in chronological order (or not on my version anyway). Some are months out of order. This makes it difficult to follow and make sense of some comments. Does anyone know why this is, and is there anything you can do to put them in the correct order?
Yes having a site that did have reviews for builders would be a good idea. I’m too amazed there already isn’t one.
That is a huge difference how could so much be left out?
Driveway and paths, any extra electrical, fees, retaining and earthworks, connections for water/gas/electrical to source on street, council costs. We asked for extra high ceilings in 40 sq M which is 12k, ceiling fans. You are better using the standard plan and making sure you ask what all the extra costs are, we had some p.c sums which couldn’t be told till 12 months into planning (just before signing contract) which blew us away e.g earthworks to remove 500mm out of one corner and 1m down to nothing over 25 Metres timber retainer which was 20k. If you want any bedside lights, hanging lights above breakfast bar, outside lights e.g in front of garage, front door/ exterior power points etc that is all extra. Just remember when you pay the deposit if you don’t want to lose the money and time spent you tend not to pull out. They say consistently it will take 5 months but it can drag right out so for us will be 3 months off 2 yrs to complete and I had the plans all sorted within the first 3 months.
I am rebuilding in Christchurch they consistently quote 26 weeks to rebuild but I have been fearing years to actually achieve a new home.
Yes I was very disappointed as we even got email confirm 16 to 18 weeks 2 weeks before we signed and received sunset clause (after over a year of planning) that then turned into 28 weeks plus 3 for xmas.
I build with Mike Greers and finished early this year. Told 26 weeks to build took 46 weeks
Hi Lisa
Have you had a look at their show homes. I found Milestone Homes low spec compared to the rest.
You want a 12 month maintenance period – some don’t offer this – their is movement for some time after the house is build.
I would suggest you look at who comes back quicker when their are things your are not happy with – some are really bad with this!
However – I am yet to go through the rebuild with Southern Response.
But have heard good things with Today Homes and their my pick for my rebuild.
Thanks, was first allocated Peter ray then called today that we have Benchmark who say they can build to our budget. We have had no choice with Southern response. Do you or anyone eles know about Benchmark?
Golden Homes told me that they prefer NOT to build on TC3 land in Christchurch. My advice has been to work directly with the builder who will construct your home, the problem with the franchise companies is that the brand promise often falls well short of reality locally.
Hi we’ve been looking through SR list of preferred builders. Considering milestone to build here in ch ch. The names on list are . Benchmark,David McGill,golden homes,jennian,mike Greer,milestone,Peter Ray,today homes. Just a short affirming or unaffirming comment if you’ve build with these in ChCh would be great.
We have just about completed our home with Today Homes after starting the build in early August. They have been great to deal with and the only holdups have been when we have gone outside of their preferred suppliers. At this stage we are on target to move in on the 20th Dec. If you want to know more my email address is twodees1@gmail.com.
Pleased to hear that you have had a good experience with Today Homes. I approached them on their reputation to assist with my rebuild but they would not provide me with suggestions or any kind of estimate until they were formally appointed by the insurance company? Considering I sent them a floor plan, an extensive list of facts and figures and even a snapshot of existing house I found this quite offensive, it was like they were saying that I did not have “authority” to be asking for information to complete the rebuild. I found the experience quite strange. Why would anyone give any building company authority without seeing what they can do? Disappointing all round.
Hi Ruth, I can not comment on that apart from to say that after selling a business last year that dealt with the insurance companies over repairs to earthquake houses, unless you have the insurance companies authority there is not a lot that you can as you have your hands tied by them.
I have a rebuild budget from IAG in writing and have approached building companies on their instructions what am I missing do you think?
Hi Ruth, sorry I am not in the building industry, maybe give some of the companies a call and ask what you need before going in to see them. I know from experience that it is not worth the effort to go ahead and quote for things when you are not even in the running. Hope this helps.
Absolutely agree it is never worth one minute of time if you are not in the running – but IAG have instructed me to identify a builder and take it back to them – I am genuine in my desire to rebuild my home but have to say that many of the home building companies don’t seem to even want the work? I suspect that insurers have preferred builders.
Hi Ruth,
if you give me an email on my private email address (twodees1@gmail.com) I can give you a contact at Today Homes that you can talk to. I have just spoken to him on the phone and he is happy to talk to you.
We are based in Wellington and planning to build our house next year. After reading the entire blog I begin to feel regretful about even buying the land! Ayhow, some one mentioned to me Grove Homes based in porirua, building refabricated or modular houses. I cannot find review on this company anywhere, so wonder if anyone has heard of it.
Hi Yang,
We have just built a house in Whitby with Thermawise Homes. They are small building company that works all over the country. They are specialists in building using SIP (structural insulated panel) which we are very impressed with. http://www.thermawise.co.nz
Hi Ed, we are thinking of building with thermawise, how was the build process? Everything went to plan? Are you pleased with the finished result?
Thanks,
Rick
Hi Rick, sorry for the delayed reply (have not had any emails from this website for months, then recieved over 100 today).
First I must give a disclaimer: Thermawise is owned and managed by my father.
Having lived in the house almost a year now I am very happy with it (especially in these recent cold months). Its warm and surprisingly cheap to heat. I did a lot of the finishing work (painting, flooring, skirtings..etc myself to save money and I’m pretty happy with the result. The whole build process went pretty smoothly despite have a steep, tricky site. If you are still interested, I would be happy to show you the house. Cheers, Ed
Sounds like just an advert to attract business for the old man
Hi Yang
Did you go ahead with Grove Homes? If so, do you have any feedback?
Has anyone got any feed back on dealing with Jennian Homes in Christchurch?
To our friend in Canterbury, it seems it’s the builder who’s your Nemesis! Would be interested to know what you mean by ‘real’ builder. Apart from one who knows what he’s doing, do you mean a larger company (franchise type) where you might have some hope of recourse to a head office, or a small local guy? Of course if the small local guy is one who is good at the job, takes pride in his work, and doesn’t run into cash flow problems then I’d say he’s probably better. But I’d suspect that once things have really gone wrong you might be better off (or have more chance of a successful outcome) with a larger company.
I sympathise with you, but if in fact they were using the RMBF building contract you would at least have Clause 67 on Default By The RMB (failing to proceed with due diligence, neglecting to carry out obligations etc), and should be able to cancel the contract. At least your solicitor would have something to work on. And hopefully with staged payments you would not have paid them too much more than the value of work already done. But in any case surely your solicitor is the first person to talk to. Even without the clause I mentioned above I assume that there must be implied terms of carrying out and completing work within a reasonable time.
What do you mean by a ‘sundowner clause’, Amanda? Do you mean a specified time for completion? They are useful, and are included in most major building projects. But many (most?) house builders here resist them, because usually (and logically) they go together with provision for the builder to pay liquidated damages (ie $/day) for each day they fail to complete on time. So then of course you need provision for extensions of time if the delays are not the builders fault, or he could not reasonably have anticipated them. So the question then is who gets to decide that? This works reasonably well on major projects, where you have a professional (and theoretically independent) engineer or architect to make the decision, but even then can lead to disputes. Because of the number of variables and uncertainties building contracts are seldom easy or completely smooth.
Yes, their sundowner clause has a specified completion date with penalties thereafter. Not sure how they have approached the contract details, and as you say builders are resistant here to them. Our friends said they would only sign up if the builders agreed to it. Another friend of ours is a lawyer, and she seemed very familiar with the sundowner clause, so I imagine they are pretty easy to get your own lawyer to draw up. Getting the builder to agree May be a whole different ball game!
Yes I was very specific about having one of those clauses and all along we were told 16 to 18 weeks and when the clause came through after a year of planning just as we were going to sign the contract it turned to 32 weeks plus 3 weeks for xmas!
We have been stuck with a building company in Canterbury since June last year (oh how we regret not using a ‘real’ builder). They have been trying to build a house for us but at every step of the way there have been issues – incorrect foundation type, location and size, meaning frames and trusses didn’t fit, issues with roof, windows, cladding – in fact every step of the process there have been problems. We tried to get out of the contract but couldn’t. In 18mths they have managed to reachGibbing. The company, especially the owner started ignoring our calls, emails and txts and seems to work on the principle of “if I ignore them and my other clients long enough the problem will go away”.
We were given a new finish date last week and it’s already a week behind. We are at wits end trying to get answers and action out of the company and, especially, the owner. So, my question is really is there any recourse to (a) get the job finished and (b) ensure it is of acceptable quality and (c) get compensation. Is there a place we can go the get satisfaction? We don’t think that 20mths (probably more) is acceptable for a pretty standard house and feel a distinct lack of charity towards the company.They aren’t RMBF or Cerified Builders (which wouldn’t mae a lot of difference anyway).
Well, do tell who the,mysterious builder is.
Thanks Amanda, I’ll take a look to see if any of it is relevant to Auckland, but it’s interesting that you say the builders they accept are many of the ones mentioned in this blog. Most of which seem to be getting bad reviews.
Regarding building contracts, please see my entry on 19/11 above. When they said, ‘you’ can drive a train …, of course they mean ‘the builder’ can drive a train through the holes in the contract. I doubt if any of the ‘holes’ would be to your advantage!
This is why I suggested that anyone planning to build should examine the builder’s contract before going very far, and certainly before paying any money for concept plans etc. Because if things really go pear shape later it will be the only thing you can fall back on. Of course it may not solve all the problems, but hopefully it will at least not make them worse.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of builders use something based on the Master Builders form. But you still need to check the details, as many make subtle but important changes. The original version of the MB form seems reasonably fair and well written, but in my view even that needs some changes. Just as one simple example, I feel the clause I’ve usually seen on ‘Utilities’ is unfair to the ‘Owner’, and I would never go with a builder who’s unwilling to amend it.
Quite agree .. The devil is on the detail. Unfortunately most people don ‘t necessarily know what are essentials that may not be included that they get stung for later as they are not builders themselves. This is the tricky bit I think. Friends of our are just starting to build with Primesite homes and so far are having a very smooth ride. They also had a sundowner clause put in, which despite resistance from Primesite, they agreed to when they said it was a deal-breaker.
I’m guessing you may be in Christchurch, Amanda, so perhaps my questions are not relevant to Auckland. But just in case you are in Auckland, it would interesting to know the names of the builders on your finance company’s list. Do you think they chose those companies because they have some kind of ‘deal’ with them (backhanders somewhere?), or because they ‘trust’ them? Not necessarily to build a good house (although that would be nice), but at least not to go bust before finishing it. Did you ask them why they nominated those companies? This could all be useful information for people on the blog.
It’s Newbuild finance we used, and they access a number of lenders. They were focused on contract details. One house builder we suggested they said they didn’t like to use because”you can drive a train through the holes in the contracts”. To be fair our situation was difficult for getting finance and they did perform miracles without putting us at financial risk. I think it is just easier for them when they know what they are dealing with to negotiate with the banks. Their website has a list of builders they will lend against … But they are the builders that seem to appear on this blog regularly. I would highly recommend newbuild finance though. … We wouldn’t even be in the position of moaning about things without them (incidentally Platinum seem to be raising their game still !..)
Incidentally, I am in Wellington!
I suspect that insurers have preferred relationships with the main building companies and they are all clipping the ticket bebore the cost is getting to the homeowner, so it makes good sense to me to use the builder who is going to get the consent from the council, get you the best price on materials and be on site every day. In earlier times homesowners would be terrified of dealing with the one builder becasue it was risky but these days the franchise operations are even worse.
Just stumbled on this site and have read it through with much interest. Having been building for the last 36 years, (29 of which have been self employed with a crew of between 2 -5 carpenters working for me) there are some things that I would like to point out. When you deal with the franchised housing companies you are generally dealing with the lowest form of builder, whose sole intention is to produce an acceptable product with the greatest possible profit margin. You are not dealing with people who are passionate about producing great buildings or enduring architecture. You are paying for the corporate offices, the CEO, the QS, receptionists, advertising campaigns, glossy brochures, sales reps, project managers, site managers etc etc etc. We have recently “built” some of these franchise houses to fill some down time, and whereas on my own contracts and spec builds great care is taken in coordinating the process, on these jobs each subbie simply does the minimum he is required to do, with little care or attention as to the ongoing effect and influence of his work on associated parts of the building. The nett result is a house assembled by a collection of tradesmen, each having been screwed down to the bare minimum price. It seems that most of the complaints in the previous posts have been about time delays and communications issues with office staff. May I suggest that a better process would be to find a plan you like, take it to a builder who is local and reputable, go around to his house one day, meet with him, the actual guy who will be building the house and get a house that is built with a bit of love and pride. By cutting out the overheads of the housing companies you may just find you get a better built house and something that may not look quite so “cookie cutter” at a similar price.
Seems like great advice to me – I have been looking for a company to rebuild my house in Chrsitchurch – most of the building companies have been totally slack one even sending me an email basically saying that they would PREFER not to build in my area! So they obviously don’t need the business. I would be delighted to work directly with a local builder if I could find a reliable one who could stay within the budget and timings to get a unique new home in a little paradise.
This has gone from a building review page to an advertising page. One cannot review building companies if they aren’t using a building company, like you are pushing.
Thats daft Kyle the poster is not advertising he is offering advice that it might be an option to work with man who actually does the building rather than the flash salesperson who would not know the nailgun from the handrill. I welcome his opinion and I think it is quite valid.
and what does he do for a job? hmmmmm?
He is absolutely upfront he is a builder…
Yes but he isn’t a building company is he? He is a builder. This page is about reviewing different “building companies”, not individual contractors.
If I wanted to know which fish & chip shop is the best in my area and I found a fish & chip company review page.. but someone on there said you shouldn’t eat fish & chips and to eat Chinese, how has that helped me with my fish & chip decision?
Personally, and this is based on my experiences in Chrsitchurch I am completely frustrated with the bigger housing groups, they are loathe to so anything until they have the insurer’s approval to proceed – like they secured have the job? how can you possibly choose a building company if they will not do anything until they have the go ahead – what it says to me is that the insurers are probably in collusion with particular housing companies and the smaller self owned building companies don’t have a hope. I applaud you Ross and I hope that many more people choose to work directly with the builder not the corporation or franchise.
Tricky discussion here. I have built with a building company (well, actually still building) My recommendation to me for future and everybody else is: Do not go with a building company. Choose a builder and do the project management yourself. You never know what trades people will be working for you. It could be a good electrician, bad electrician, … good builder, bad builder. you are choosing the Project Manager with a building company, not who is actually building your house.
So that could be an outcome of this page discussions. 🙂
I disagree, Kyle – we are all trying to have our homes built by a company that doesn’t rip us off and produce shoddy workmanship, so whether we talk about large franchised companies or small local builders, if we can find what we’re looking for and it works – then that company/builder should be acknowledged. God knows, there are very few recommended companies on the blog and we are still swithering over the company we’re negotiating with at the moment, so ANY advice is welcomed.
Not everyone has the luxory of choice of building with a builder OR a franchised company. Our finance company gave us a pretty well dictated list of franchised builders that they would lend us money to build with, and we had to choose one of them. We weren’t in a financial position to go with another finance company (limited deposit), so we ended up picking off that list. They are fussy about the contract being tied down with limited deposit, so I suppose picking your own electricians etc makes that harder to do (from their point of view!).
how can you review these companies anyway? they are not the ones building your house, the average builders that get screwed by them are.
Yes I totally agree if you can project manage yourself as we went through 1.5 yrs of planning and waiting and then when they hand it over to the project manager its as if you have to baby sit them through the whole process because they don’t study the plans carefully. So next time I am project managing and getting a good builder and all the tradesmen I choose. We added extras like ceiling fans and the price the company charged us is double what the electrical installers get so they make money off everything!
Hi Ross, that is such helpful feedback. We are almost ready to sign on the dotted line with a building company that so far have been nothing but helpful and professional. Now after reading all these comments and your very helpful comments too we are not sure what to do. Can you recommend any good builders in the Karaka area south of Auckland? Come to that architects too.
I’m sorry, it’s not an area that I have any connections. I suggest that if you don’t have any contacts in an area you could try approaching one of the local timber merchants. Tinberworld in East Tamaki, Carter’s, etc. these companies see the local builders on a regular basis and soon get a pretty good sense of who are the good guys and who perhaps not so much. Timber merchants are to builders what coffee groups are to young mums (sort of. Maybe.) They certainly have pretty clear knowledge of the builders who pay their bills on time and who run a good team and has a good reputation.
And by the way, forget the nonsense about builders getting kickbacks and handouts from merchants and suppliers. This happens with the group homes companies for sure (and in a pretty big way) but your typical local builder may get into a loyalty scheme if his account is paid on time every month, perhaps a free tee shirt or beanie, but that’s about it.
As for finding a designer, look for an architectural draughtsman rather than an architect, unless you are planning something pretty exotic. Architects fees are generally based on a percentage of the contract value, usually between 6 – 11% , plus preliminaries etc whereas a draughtsman should be able to produce consent drawings for considerably less.
Your a gem Ross thank you for your good honest advice.
Thanks Ross, that is all so helpful. I will explore those options.
Annie
Where are you based, Ross?
well said. I agree totally and wish we’d done exactly that!!!!!!
Thank you for the post Ross. After reading all the reviews on this page so far you pretty much summed up where I was heading. A shame about the big companies, but also understandable.
Any building advice for building new in New Plymouth
Southern Response has now suggested I use Milestone Homes a vision of Jennian to rebuild in Christchurch – has anybody had experience with this company?
We are looking at building south of Auckland and have just gotten rid of Landmark Homes. They were unbelievable disorganised and untruthful and we ended up loosing quite a bit of money with pretty much nothing to show for it – concept plans are wrong …the list is endless.
Anyhow, can anyone recommend a good reliable builder/ building company?
Has anybody had any experiences with Jennian in Auckland?
Friends have used Fowler Homes & were very happy with them
Bruce,
You have recommended about 3 different Fowler Homes franchises on this blog. You have plugged Manawatu, said you have friends that have built with Fowler in Auckland & plugged Fowler in Tauranga. You then have down talked Generation homes.
Do you work for Fowler homes by any chance?
Hi Aaron.
It is a fact that friends have built with Fowler Homes in Karaka & are very happy with their home.
Yes I do have an affiliation with this company & have recommended people at least consider Fowler Homes as they have a very good reputation through-out NZ. Up to each individual to do their own investigation & this blog can be a valuable part of that process. I have not bad-mouthed any other builder. Just questioned whether their advertised build time is actually realistic….
Hi Bruce,
Fair enough. More power to you. I was just sensing a repetitive theme and wanted to ask you.
Cheers.
Bruce I don’t think you should be commenting if you are associated with Fowler Homes. it kind of defeats the whole purpose of asking for opinions from people who have built homes?
But at least you had the integrity to own up.
Hi Bruce,
Posting a series of entries recommending Fowler Homes without making it clear that you have strong ties with them until now doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence in the integrity of your brand.
Hi Cooper not sure what stage you are at now. We had great experience with Cranston Homes but not sure how far south of Auckland they build. Give them a call if you like.
Hi Cooper, not sure what stage of building you are at now as I only just discovered this site and read your post. Give Cranston Homes a call, we had fantastic experience with them. They are quite reputable in Orewa. I am not sure how far south of Auckland they build. http://www.cranston.co.nz
Good luck.
We are building with Jennian homes at the moment and it has been a disaster. We are building a relatively mid to high end house in Botany area and we started building well over a year ago. We were suppose to move in before Christmas 2013, but then it got delayed to March, then further delay to mid-May (that’s what they say, not even sure if that’s possible). I am pregnant and due in July so hopefully we have a proper home for the baby. Thank God we own our home we are living in right now, otherwise we will be left with no place to live.
That’s not all, their subbies do all the wrong things without common sense and the whole company just asks you for money again and again just because they know you have it and you want your house built. They make mistakes and make YOU pay for it.
Their proposal package may be attractive ($$ wise), but they spec the lowest quality products for you, then they force you to upgrade and charge you so much more $$ in the end. Their quote wasn’t even the cheapest because we were not going for a ‘cheap’ house. We are looking for quality and expertise. Which they did not deliver.
VERY UNHAPPY WITH JENNIAN HOMES.
Thanks for your comments – much appreciated.
Further to my entry above, on 18/11/13, and Ada’s reply on 19/11/13 (thanks Ada), I meant to say we are considering Signature and Landmark (not Lockwood). There are quite a few comments around on Signature, mostly bad unfortunately. But generally that seems to relate to issues in the past in the S Island. So the question is have the issues been resolved, and are they relevant to the franchise in N Auckland?
Strangely I’ve found very few comments on Landmark. Not sure if that’s actually a good thing, because most people write in when they’re unhappy. And if you see glowing reports you wonder if they’re written by the builders mother! I guess in a way it’s a no win situation for them.
Regarding issues with the building contract, I used to be in the business of writing and administering civil engineering contracts overseas, so I know a biased contract when I see one. The question is whether the builder is willing to entertain changes, that at least make it reasonably even handed. If not then you know you’re in trouble before you even start. So my advice is to scrutinise the proposed contract before you get far down the road of talking price and design. (Or get a solicitor familiar with the subject, and not all are despite what they tell you, to look at it.) Don’t leave it until just before you’re about to pay the deposit. By then you’ll be reluctant to waste all the time and effort that’s been spent on discussing your dream house, and the wife will already be imagining herself in the kitchen. Even better, look at the contract before you give them a cent.
Had really BAD experience with LANDMARK. WAIKATO – broken promises, poor workmanship, shocking project management just to mention a few. AVOID.
WC
We’ve just found this blog and hopefully we’re not too late at informing you about our experience building a home with Landmark Counties in Karaka Auckland. Among the many major problems we had with this housing company, was the serious lack of communication on their part and their ‘take the money and run’ attitude. This was our first experience in building a NEW home, as in the past we’ve only bought existing homes. We commenced the process in November 2011 but we didn’t take possession until March 2013. We even contacted Landmark Homes in Tauranga (their Head Office) about our many issues and ongoing problems, and we were basically fobbed off. Considering our experience with both Landmark Counties and their Head Office, we would advise anyone to tread very warily. Something seriously needs to be done about the cowboy attitude of these group housing companies. We now know we would’ve much better off going with an architect and an small independent builder who has a reputation to build/uphold. We very recently got Master Builders involved and have briefed our solicitor on the matter, so watch this space.
I am in the process of deciding on Mike Greer Homes or Total Homes for my rebuild in Christchurch. Please can some one tell me how they found these companies?
We have built with Today Homes at West Melton, started building in Aug 2013 and completion date is 20th Dec. A few minor issues on the way , but they were our doing and were sorted out within a day. We decided to steer clear of Mike Greer Homes as our friends built with them in West Melton and instead of taking possession in Dec 2012 moved in Easter 2013. Check the facebook page for West Melton for more comments. Mike Greer 90 day completion check is still to be done with a lot of repainting to be done.
Greers have been an absolute disaster for us.
Hi Gary; am about to start a rebuild with Mike Greer Hills and interested to know more details about your experience. What in particular was the disaster? Their communication was excellent until now when suddenly we have issues with the consent and no-one gets back to me about what is happening.
We are looking at building in the Auckland North Shore area, not far from Albany. We had lengthy discussions with Stonewood, and it looked good, but we backed off over issues regarding their building contract. Any comments on this franchise?
We’ve also been considering Signature and Lockwood. Anyone had any experience with the franchises in the Albany area?
We weren’t impressed with Stonewoods Millwater show home, did not seem to be ageing well for something that should represent the best of their work.
Didn’t try Lockwood but seem to be a respected player. Have heard good things about Signature in terms of end product, but need to watch standard inclusions and costs. We are building with Platinum Homes primarily because they offered best bang for buck and we didn’t need anything too highly spec’d.
Not sure what you didn’t like in the building contract but the couple I have seen don’t seem to be written for the clients benefit.
But never mind the building companies beware of the old North Shore City Council, very officious!
I am certain the building consent departments at council are difficult to deal with all around the country – in Christchurch we have had a major overhaul but things are apparently still slow and demanding.
We are in the same area and we moved into our new home a couple of months ago. We love it.
It was built by ‘The House Company” I know there are many horror stories around and there will always be teething problems. But we were really happy how ours went. I would definitely recommend you look into these guys
Hi Kaz, As a result of your advice to Dave and me back in November I checked out The House Company, and we are now working with them to do a design and get a quote. Early days, but so far seems to be going OK.
Still happy with your house? Do you know of anyone else who has built with them?
Hi Chris, Yes we are still very happy with our home. I honestly think we chose the right company for us, They worked with our ideas of what we wanted in a home. Many other companies wanted to do there own thing or didn’t even want to consider the land it was going on. I hope everything goes well for you as it did for us.
And sorry we do not know of anyone else, but they might be able to give you some names to call?.
Hi Chris, We are looking at building with the House COmpany are you pleased with your build? Thanks
Hi, who did you go with in the end?
Lockwood make a good product, and yes per sq metre it is expensive. We are in the process of building a house currently in Waimauku, Auckland and our first choice was Lockwood. We ended up not proceeding due to the extreme difficulty in locking down design, pricing and specification with the Franchise owner who has now been replaced. The benefit of their houses is the fact that they go up quick, the downside if you are having to borrow to build is that their progress payment are very much front loaded as all the materials leave the factory to site at the outset as opposed to a conventional build where materials come to site when they are needed. This may put you in a loan to equity ratio challenge with your bank.
What I would also like to recommend to everybody:
do your research on this page:
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies
You will find some interesting things about what directors do, if their company has a bad image and they will just create a new company, same people but new name.
Has anyone had any experience with Greenstone Homes http://greenstonehomes.co.nz/ they seem to be very efficient and on the ball in terms of responding to questions – I would like to hear from someone who built with them please.
Hi Ruth, We have just stepped back from negotiations with Greenstone Homes – we’ve been talking with people who built with them and their experiences were a complete nightmare.
Thank you so much I have been impressed by Greenstone Homes, is there more to the complaint was a timing issue or incompetence? Call me if you prefer 021 154 5621
Hey Ruth, I’ve forwarded your number to one of the people I mentioned, so you’re not getting second-hand information.
Hello all, we are currently halfway thru our build with signature homes Christchurch. Thus is our first new house build so have learnt alot. Really cant see me building again. The process has been very slow and disorganised. Workmanship so far has been good, but to be fair we are entering the finished product stages now. Have been waiting 2 weeks for bricklayer now. Guaranteed completion date is feb 21, that’s looking very unlikely now. It will be approx 5 month build since consent issued in feb.
This is a fantastic thread, thanks to all of those who have contributed.
I am currently looking at using Jalcon to build my new home as I really like the look of some of their showhomes. There isn’t much about them on this thread (could be a good thing!) but there are a few comments saying “DO NOT USE THEM” etc…
Could anyone who has used Jalcon up in Auckland expand on their experience – positive or negative?
Many thanks
David
Friends have used Fowler Homes & they were highly recomended
Jalcon:
Positive: Amazing Service until you sign the contract
Negative: Too many to list here. In short you will not get the home you asked for and if you want them to actually finish the contract…good luck.
I would not recommend them to my worst enemy. Do not fall for their silver tongue of promises and commitments.
what is in the showhomes is way higher specification than what they put in their build contracts..its is exactly as it says a show home…to show you and entice you. But do not think for a minute that that is what Jalcon will build for you. Every mistake they make will be your fault and in the end they will not rectify anything and hold you to ransom
Thanks for the warning Jalcon – off my list!
.
Currently using Jalcon. Pleased with the result thus far although you DO have to keep them honest regarding PC sums, which can blow out. When queried regarding these figures, they have generally responded in a reasonable manner. I believe all building companies are much of a muchness regarding PC sums, but the end product with
Jalcon appears to be high quality thus far. . .
Sounds like we’re having similar issues with Jalcon. Have you managed to get them actually finish your house? How long did it take?
They are pushing ahead with our house. I have no doubt they will finish, but it has taken about four months longer than expected thanks to excavation problems at the start. That is where our costs blew out. Not their fault. One of the vagaries of building. I will, however, be annoyed if not in by February as promised.. Also, in response to the show homes comment. Of course you are not going to get the equivalent unless you specify that is what you want and pay for it! Won’t be cheap the cheap option. . .they need to make their money so you are going to pay a margin on everything. I sincerely think Jalcon are the most reliable option out there.
Oh, and we thought they overcharged on some of the electrics. They have since revised this as my partner tends to do his homework and managed to come to an agreement. We upgraded a lot from the original plans (lots more sockets and led lights rather than standard etc), which were very basic so had to expect to pay extra for that!
it took Jalcon from signing to key handover 3 years 2 months
Hi David, I too am looking at Jalcon, did you end up using Jalcon? If so, would love to hear about your experience thus far? Thanks.
Hello all – What a blessing to have stumbled upon this site. I had desperately tried to search for building review sites.
My husband and I are in the process of building in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. So we would need to use either the Rotorua or Tauranga franchises.
The three building companies we are looking at are – Golden Homes Rotorua, Platinum Homes Rotorua and Stonewood Homes Tauranga.
If you have any input at all could you please share it with us.
The last thing we want is to work with an ALL SMILES sales agent who turns once we sign on the dotted line
Regards
Sneha
Check out Fowler Homes Tauranga.
Be extremely careful about having anything to do with Platinum Homes in Tauranga in fact avoid them like the plague
Totally agree moved in 6 months ago and still waiting for issues to be resolved. The whole build process was a joke from start to finish.
I will never forget one phone call I received from them about 2 weeks before agreed move in date “I’ve got good news Perry, your carpet has been discontinued but we can upgrade it and it’s only going to cost you an extra $300.” Bearing in mind this was our second choice carpet, the original choice had been discontinued as well. In fact discontinued became a common word throughout the build.
Anybody thinking of building with Platinum in Papamoa/Tauranga/Hamilton drop me a reply as I will be happy to share my experience with you.
Golden Homes Waikato owns a number of regional franchises, not sure about Rotorua. They went under QBT Homes when we built, but I think they have changed name since. The sales guys were great, it all turned upside down the moment we signed. Please see my previous posts on Golden Homes and don’t go near them.
We are seriously looking at golden homes in Hamilton, could you share your experiences please
We’re seriously looking at Golden Homes Hamilton too. They have the site we want and a package deal in our range. We’ve built before so know how specific an assertive we have to be in regards to the contract etc. I’d like to hear your experience and if we can potentially negate any areas where you have regrets or you felt you were misled or victimized. Cheers.
I had to laugh at this entry I made in Nov 2013. 🙂 despite our best efforts and assurances from Stonewood, this is exactly what has happened to us:)
Sneha
I am in a rebuild situation in Christchurch I am looking a several companies and would appreciate comment from anyone building in the East on the TC3/sand.
Thanks
Has anyone had experience with builders in South Shore area please?
Slightly different question but related. The building company that we are probably going to use are only including the “Standard” Master Builder’s guarantee even though our build is at least 3x the $100K cover provided in the Standard contract. Has anyone else had experience with the Master Builder’s guarantee?
The master build guarantee is not even good as toilet paper…it is there to protect their customer the builder and not you.
WAIRARAPA – any recommendations / stay away froms? Particularly interested in Highmark (Masterton) and GJG (Manawatu / Palmy office). But also A1 and Jennian, out of interest. THANKS! 🙂
A friend of ours built with Jennian out that way, and although pleased with house in the end, they were tearing their hair out with them. A1 – though no experience with them, our finance company warned us away from them as their contracts are so loose you can drive a truck through them! … so maybe just consider pinning them well down and having a decent solicitor look at the contract if you go that route … this is no reflection on their building as I have no experience of them!
Fowler Homes Manawatu have won 26 House of The Year awards in the last 2 years. Worth a look!
Hi luna, did you decide who to build with
We want to build in Papakura/Karaka area does anyone have anything good to say about builders there? We are thinking of Landmark, Jalcon and Eden homes. Any comments greatly appreciated.
Friends had house built in Karaka by Fowler Homes. Seemed happy with them.
Thanks for that Bruce. I haven’t heard of them, but will look them up. Anyone else had good or bad experiences with Landmark, Jalcon or Eden Homes?
DO NOT GO WITH JALCON whatever you do!
We’ve just found this blog and hopefully we’re not too late at informing you about our experience building a home with Landmark Counties in Karaka Auckland. Among the many major problems we had with this housing company, was the serious lack of communication on their part and their ‘take the money and run’ attitude. This was our first experience in building a NEW home, as in the past we’ve only bought existing homes. We commenced the process in November 2011 but we didn’t take possession until March 2013. We even contacted Landmark Homes in Tauranga (their Head Office) about our many issues and ongoing problems, and we were basically fobbed off. Considering our experience with both Landmark Counties and their Head Office, we would advise anyone to tread very warily. We intend to post a full blog on our experience soon, as something seriously needs to be done about the cowboy attitude of these group housing companies. We now know we would’ve much better off going with an architect and an small independent builder who has a reputation to build/uphold. We very recently got Master Builders involved and have briefed our solicitor on the matter, so watch this space.
We would never build with Landmark Counites/Eastern again and would not recommend to others, prolonged build, poor organisation and disorganised to the max!!! We have multiple friends currently building and all have been shocked at the length of time of our build and the amount of work we have had to do to keep the project moving.
Dear “First Time Builders”,
My name is Stephen Tordeich and I am the Director of Landmark Homes Counties. I am sorry that you feel that you have not had a good experience with the construction of your Landmark Home. It is our goal to produce great quality, well designed homes and to have extremely contented customers at the end of that process.
I would appreciate a call from you to discuss your experience.
Regards
Stephen Tordeich.
021 243 6177
Looks like this forum is getting results from some of the builders that have been complained about.
It is a bit odd that people have had trouble with these builders [ not just Landmark ] and have tried to resolve things but without success and the builders come out ‘ of the woodwork ‘ to try and maintain that they are the good guys. Yeah, right!
Stephen, I have been following this blog for over a year now whilst i plan my build and I can say that Landmark Counties (whom i was looking at) has one of the worst feedbacks, I think I have read 5 at least in that time. So unless there are some happy customers of yours about here, I dont think anyone who reads this blog would touch you. I certainly wouldnt
Stay well clear of Landmark Homes Karaka Lakes. We have just sacked them after a drawn out 3 month process. Very unprofessional and sooo unorganised its unbelievable. Ended up loosing a fair amount of cash in the process too.
Too late Cooper – so sad we didn’t see this blog in time. We’ve just found this blog and we built a home with Landmark Counties in Karaka Auckland. Among the many major problems we had with this housing company, was the serious lack of communication on their part and their ‘take the money and run’ attitude. This was our first experience in building a NEW home, as in the past we’ve only bought existing homes. We commenced the process in November 2011 but we didn’t take possession until March 2013. We even contacted Landmark Homes in Tauranga (their Head Office) about our many issues and ongoing problems, and we were basically fobbed off. Considering our experience with both Landmark Counties and their Head Office, we would advise anyone to tread very warily. We intend to post a full blog on our experience soon, as something seriously needs to be done about the cowboy attitude of these group housing companies. We now know we would’ve much better off going with an architect and an small independent builder who has a reputation to build/uphold. We very recently got Master Builders involved and have briefed our solicitor on the matter, so watch this space.
Keith Hay Homes was and still is a nightmare they will shake your hand take your money and then not deliver fully on the contract they sign.We built what was to be our trade down retirement house with them and it was a hedache from the beginning. They use the word trusted in there advertisement but please do not trust them. You would think as retirees we would have learnt lifes lessons on who to trust but sadly no.Keith Hay Homes would make the promise to fix up there mistakes but it was just talk. There guarantee is not worth the paper its written on. Please think carefully before you go to them.
I wish I had read this before signing up with Keith Hay. For a supposedly Christian organisation they to just want to take your money and run. We are close to writing to the commerce commission about them . Their processes are incredibly slow. 16 months ago we decided to sign up with them. Only building a small 115 sqm house but due to building site is being built on site. The buiilder and subbies amazing but to start off we were given a price without the gst content to take to the bank so were gobsmacked when we went to view our contract and found an extra 30,000 added to it. We cut things out and signed a fixed price and then they started stinging us for extra stuff that wasnt in the contract. I just kept going back and telling them to read the contract. 16 months after our first deposit paid we are still waiting to finish. They have our big progress payment and then suddenly took builder off site to start another house. So we are now looking at more delays. The trouble with Keith Hay Homes is they have so much work in their yard that the subbies get shared around and it could be weeks before they come out to your house. I know someone else who had to wait 3 years to get into their Keith Hay HOme.
Dear Annette, would you mind advising please what area you are based as realise Keith Hay Homes is a group housing firm, not a franchise, nevertheless also realise that people may have different experiences depending on which area / office they might deal with / be dealing with / have dealt with. Thank-you very much.
Ann-Marie, sorry for late reply. We are dealing with Drury branch but the sales rep has been moved to Warkworth. To be fair he was only new at the game but he told us that everything was checked by Head Office so what ever goes wrong now I am assuming the buck stops at the top.
Right from the start it was a bit of a shambles, non disclosure of GST when asked for a verbale quote to take to bank, It mean’t we had to go back to the bank to ask for more money..then dodgy figures that we didn’t think were right.. told one minute it included GST and then told GST exclusive. To be fair we should of just stepped right out of it but didn’t . We had four Keith Hay staff members in room when signing contract and it felt very intimidating. “20 secs after signing ,the Manager of Drury stood up and told us we weren’t the only one s building with them. I smelt a rat straight away. They delayed and delayed putting plans into council and when we queried this their reasoning was that they wanted to get it right so it would go through straight away. Just as I suspected they would do , they put the plans in a week before they went on their 4 week break.. very cunning indeed.
They also had been working on a field day promotion of a computer, unfortunately for them their sales person stuffed it up and we had to fight to get them to uphold their end of the contract.
After Xmas the council sent back something to Keith Hay.. listing the things that needed to be corrected in the application..unfortunately the office lady sent it accidently to us. We were gob smacked at some very basic errors that even we knew should of been completed. This meant further delays , they then told us they didn’t have a builder for us and even though we were on a no increase price contract they started to send us bills for provisional sums that weren’t in the contract. I kept citing bits out of the contract and sending the bills back.
At the end of April they sent out one builder..now Keith Hay don’t do prefab walls so everything was much slower and our site is quite difficult so that held things up a bit..our builder worked 7 days a week just to try and meet deadline. July turned into august in september and we are now into October. There was virtually no one on our site for 6 weeks. Birds built a nest in the range hood vent and none of our tradesman could get in because Keith Hay would not leave a key for the. I started asking if they could give me a reason for the delay…none given.
There is I would have to say a flurry of activity and it looks like they are finishing off our stuff but the house has been left locked up and the carpet has started to lift by the window. Thant I am sure will be a long running fight.
I would like to say that the builder and subbies that came were nothing short of wonderful and they have to run to Keith Hay time limit. Keith Hay ..although a Family Christian Building Co.. are reknown for not paying their builders and we saw this first hand.
Our house is looking great thanks to our builder but it is 16 months since we started the process and it is not a rocket ship house.. very plain basic specs .
Just be weary as all their show homes are beautiful but what you get is not what you will get in the show homes without paying a whole heap more.
s
e built with Platinum homes in 2014. Nothing but trouble and have since gone to the disputes tribunal and at last only yesterday was everything satisfied that the tribunal ordered. We were very dissatisfied with the South Auckland branch we built with. Be very carful ,as what they say and deliver are two different things. Thanks to the disputes tribunal otherwise we would never had they issues that we outstanding corrected. Christchurch may be better as it is up to the Franchise owner and Manager but we are very dissatisfied with Platinum Homes.
Tread carefully with Jalcon, they are not so good on delivery dates and communication. They have a good product but charge loads for interior fittings….and have a pretty average interior design service – a bit dated.
Hi KaP, did you build with Jalcon? would love to know more about your experience? I have an appointment to meet with one of their consultants to talk about our plans.
We built with Jalcon. The initial sales experience was great, the rest not so. The plans we had signed had to be modified due to them miscalculating boundary measurements, and further modifications were added that we weren’t told about. The construction took 14 months, a lot of delays waiting for trades and deliveries, repeated failed council inspections, a lot of rework due to mistakes.
They’re still doing fix ups, seven months after moving in, so fed up having tradespeople coming and going. Since living in the house we’ve found issues related to poor design, especially in the bathrooms. The front door lets rain in as it has about 10mm gap around it.
We struggled to get code of compliance, owner wanted more money to fix up things to council’s satisfaction – despite earlier promises that they’ll fix them at their cost. Major stress.
Proceed with caution if you decide to use them.
Anyone else used jalcon as their builder?
Yes and regretting it
Has anyone used Platinum Homes in a Christchurch? How did you find them? I have them lined up to build my house but have a few alarm bells ringing re price
Has anyone delt wirh prefab / kitset builders? Please include,location of franchise in comments. Thanks
Does anyone have any feedback about universal homes? We have reserved some land in Gulf Harbour, Auckland but are really keen to here from anyone regarding this company before we proceed ?? Thanks
Any experience with Orange, Benchmark and Peter Ray in Christchurch?
We had a look at a lot of building companies in CHCH, decided on Today Homes. At this stage, roof on, windows in and bricks going on has a been a great expereince (we are first time builders), better than our friends who built with Mike Greer. Apparently we have been told by other friends that there are people who have just completed their third home with Today Homes
How are things going with your build with Today homes?
I have approached Platinum a few weeks ago and studied their spec. They are tricky as the price given to me is just part of house.
Any direct or indirect experience with Orange Homes, Fowler Homes, Peter Ray Homes and Benchmark Homes in Christchurch? Pleas it is urgent. Any recommended builders in Christchurch?
Try compass homes they have been awesome had our consents out from coc in five days give yolande a call
We are also trying to buy a land and house package with Orange Homes in Christchurch. Anyone has any feedback regarding their work? Thanks! 🙂 Glad i’m not going with Golden Home or Platinum. They sound like trouble.
Hi Estella – yes steer clear of Golden Homes. My friend built with Orange and has been very pleased with them and their work.
Hi, we are wanting to build in Cambridge and have looked at many building companies. Golden homes was looking the best but after reading some of the comments we are not sure now. Can anyone recommend another company in this area. Generation homes also look good. Thanks
We are looking at building with Maddren Homes Kumeu any feedback would be awesome, to many rogue company’s out there.
Hi Jackson. We are looking at Maddren Homes in Kumeu as well. Did you get any feedback on your question?
Have you decided to go with Madden or have you shifted to someone else?
Hi Jackson. We are looking at building with Maddren as well. Have you had any feedback on you question?
Have you decided to go with Maddren or gone someehere else?
Hi Don, Looking at Golden Homes at the moment, steel construction and around $ 1650.00 a square metre seems quite good. 50 year warranty on steel as well.
Hi Jackson, we are currently building with Golden homes and were told $1650 sq M but after all the things they don’t include in the price are included it is now $2250 sq M (one level) so investigate carefully!
What size house are you building Patrick? And what part of the country. Thanks for your advice.
Please see my post above. One thing I didn’t note is that they use PC sums a lot, and they were all way off what we actually ended up paying. Not to meantion that we are still paying to fix problems with the original build.
Generation Homes Complaint. Orewa. Also the head office CEO. Shocking… utterly shocking treatment of an elderly lady to the point of physical illness. Thanks goodness for Karma, and Blogging, of course. (I rub my hands together in glee) I shall spread the word like a manufactured virus….call me the Erin Brokavich/Bradley Manning/Edward Snowdon and the fraking Wikileaks from hell…. dispicable lack of moral fibre and ethics. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
We had similar situation with Golden Homes Hamilton. Ruthless is all I have to say – not the family friendly business they make themselves out to be
Agree but with their Auckland office, never listen, never take notes, took a long time to get it right. Hopeless!
John, would you be so kind and tell me what happened? I would also like to know who did you deal with. I’m thinking of engaging Golden Homes in Hamilton to build a house. Thanks.
Do not sign with Golden Homes Waikato. We never expected that the building process would be smooth sailing, but never could we have imagined the nightmare that would begin the moment we signed the contract with Golden Homes.
After an endless list of problems during the build (I literally have pages and pages of issues), 5 years after we took over the home we are still having problems with the house and the company. Their warrantee is useless if they won’t respond to your phone calls or send any body out to fix the problem (and these are major problems with leaks and electrical faults). One time when they did send some one out as a result of a major leak we had discovered they then put 3 holes in the wall, smashed the tiles around the bath and broke tiles on the roof to find the leak. Upon finding and fixing the leak we we then advised that the warrantee only covers fixing the problem – it does not include repairing the damage caused by the problem or the damage caused by them fixing the problem.
Five years after moving in the thought of contacting Golden Homes stresses us out so much that we turn into emotional wrecks and most of the time we just suck it up and contact tradespeople not associated with Golden Homes and pay for the repairs ourselves. Our electrician feels so sorry for us he has stopped charging us not only for his time but also materials (there are some good guys out there!).
If you have gone with Golden Homes for your own well being, get out now! The nightmare will not end once you get the keys. And if you can’t get out watch them like a hawk every step of the way. Check with the plumber if he’s purchased a wrench yet or is still only tightening nuts using fingers (3 major leaks due to this so far, and Lewie admitted to ‘finger’ tightening as the cause), get your own electrician in to inspect the electrics and fittings, as we’re still finding work that is illegal. Check that the builder has a square as crooked rooms are enormously frustrating, and… The list is endless, I only hope that you haven’t destroyed your emotional and financial well being by signing with Golden Homes.
We don’t even feel we can sell the house because we wouldn’t want to knowing transfer this house of pain to someone else. It is not a better house you will own by building with Golden Homes, it is a nightmare that never ends.
I’m so sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience with them. They didn’t give me a quote as they said they would because their draftsman was sick and didn’t bother to tell me. I had to chase up for this so I didn’t consider them further. I ended up building with David Reid Homes and the house is currently being built. I hope your house is fixed and Golden Homes actually take some responsibility if not all. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
HI Has anyone had dealings with Platinum homes in Palmerston North.
Any feed back would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Be very careful as full of lies
Hi there – you have probably seen from my previous posts that we have had a nightmare with Platinum homes … HOWEVER…. they do seem to have got rid of the guy who caused us a lot of the problems and do seem to be trying to improve their systems and service. We have had other problems which haven’t been their fault which they have been pressing forward to resolve. The upshot is that at the moment – although we aren’t quite building YET .. I am feeling much more confident that they now know what they are doing and we may actually get a house at the end of this! I would say talk to them and make sure you have EVERYTHING you want included down to the smallest detail. But then I would recommend this with any builder! It may take a bit of research and comparison of specs to see what is included or not, but it is worth it. It seems that a lot of disgruntlement and time is wasted on really not knowing what you are getting for your bucks. We were mislead grossly … but that guy has gone now! Good luck! and whatever you do don’t watch the tv adverts where building your own home is a wonderful exciting experience … you will only feel gutted when the stress sets in!
Hey has anyone tried Fowler Homes in Botany?
I have no horror story to share but a good one to light you up. My wife and I live in Auckland, we built with Cranston Homes last year. We would recommend them to anyone living in Auckland and up north to Whangarei. We went through their Northland show home and then the one in Orewa and we were so impressed with their design and craftsmanship. The whole building process was not problem free but we were very happy with their overal services. One thing impressed me the most is their Northland salesperson who stayed in touch whole way through our building. We are not sure if she is commission based but if she is, she has earned every penny! Our questions were always answered. Our variations were always taken care of. We completed the whole project within our budget and we could hardly pick on anything for them to come back to fix during mainteinance period! Our 7-year old boy dent the wall with his scooter 12 months after the house was handed over. I phoned their office to get the paint name and only asked for a quote if to engage them doing it, they sent their painter who was working on a nearby site and did the painting for us without charging us! Try them out. A bloody good Kiwi builder!
Hi Gary, really good to know that you’ve had such a positive experience with your build! Wish more folk would let us all know which builders are good, as well as the shockers!
Frankly I think it is up to the building companies to respond to these comments – if I owned a company and my name appeared I would be immediately on to it to resolve any difficulties with the customer. Surely there are two sides to every story but some of these comments are shocking.
Hi Gary, we also built with Cranston homes last year and I cannot recommend them highly enough to everyone reading this blog. The communication was faultless, my house was delivered on time, on budget and every single person involved along the way both on site and at their offices were lovely to deal with. Our new home is stunning and built with serious attention to detail and of a very high standard of workmanship.
Built with Welcome Homes in Hamilton about 7 years ago. Had issues with the cost even though it was a fixed price contract and ended up having to go to arbitration where they were awarded less than we had originally offered to pay.
We are now having problems with the ceilings bowing and have been waiting since April 2012 for them to sort it out. Very poor communication and to date don’t follow up on their committment.
What happened when you wanted to move into your house and where in dispute about monies.
Where you allowed to move in before settlement or was the house empty until after arbitration
cheers
Hi we had agreed that we could still move in with regard to the monies under arbitration but then at moving in date there was uncompleted work so we held back some money which caused another big issue. We had anticipated it though and had picked up a key from the site while they were installing the door knobs so told then we were just going to move in anyway and did. There were a few heated words on the day but it sorted itself out and they were ok with it in the end.
I sent an e-mail to a heap of housing companies in the Queenstown area inquiring about building. Stonewood, Gj Gardner, Classic Builders & A1 homes.
Only Stonewood & GJ got back to me within a week. GJ told me they would send me through some info the following day, but nothing came through. 6 weeks later I e-mailed GJ again and got told I was forgotten about, how GJ were awesome and the salesman attached some testimonials about their speediness.
About 2 months later, and although the A1 homes website had about 30 houses within my price range, I was told that I should really spend $50,000 more.
Never heard back from Classic builders.
Seems to be common through a lot of industries, have an email address but no intention of replying to queries sent to it. I am sure building co’s get a lot of dreamers and stupid queries, but also need to understand this is how people communicate now.
We found a lot of the sales people at different companies were very busy with existing clients or people visiting the show home, could imagine there is little desire or incentive to answer emails as well. More responsive to phone calls and even more so to someone in front of them.
What we hated though was not being able to make an appointment to see the sales person we were working with, had to show up when the show home opened or hope they weren’t with someone when we could get there. Had a few half hour plus waits with kids in tow which was less than ideal and of course they weren’t just five minutes up the road.
Yeah I do everything via e-mail if possible.
I prefer e-mails (incoming and outgoing) because, like you say, you don’t want to feel like you are intruding and showing up at an inconvenient time. You can give the salesperson the opportunity to look over your proposal in their spare time.
My e-mails were basically “here is my budget, am I dreaming or is it possible”. I guess I will never know.
Good site..been looking for some reviews about Platinum Homes(they are buidling in Akl)…so NO it is…thanks for the heads up..will pass that development…
Hi Ted, I wouldn’t tar them all with the same brush. We are working with Platinum and it has been hard going, however I know someone working with another Auckland franchise and they have been excellent. Also largely depends on how ‘vanilla’ the site and build are going to be. Cost was one of the big reasons we went with them, allowed us to have a bigger house but like anything else you get what you pay for. Our first time buildingn and it has been a big learning curve!
Hi, we are looking to build in East Auckland and considering Platinum Homes in Manukau. They are the cheapest by far but we are wondering which franchises you and your friends are using? We are mindful of getting stung with a bunch of hidden costs and want to get it sorted from the start.
Hi Micahel – I would say watch out for things like driveway / porch concreting as this not included. Also – insist on the kitchen / bathroom / tiles consult beforehand – our Platinum sales guy wouldn’t let us do it – brushed it off as not being relevant – and really you will want to pin that down. If you think you may want the wallpaper down and to paint the walls one day – the plaster finish isn’t good enough as standard (just to be aware). Also – check the number of plug / light sockets and think about how many you would really want and where. Also – maybe question the lighting? I don’t think this is just a Platinum issue – I’m sure they all try to sting you with this little lot!!
Hi Michael, our friends are using the South Auckland franchise, they have been impressed with the whole process to date which has progressed very well.
We have had frustrations but have a site that is in a tough development zone that perhaps required more specialist attention than a group housing company, but we were trying to save money!
As Amanda said be very mindful of inclusions and more important exclusions, make sure allowances are realistic. Electrical spec is minimal so we added a generous allowance for extra, made sure driveway was included, got as much in the contract as possible.
Great thanks very much for your responses. We were ready to write them off given the other Platinum experiences but if the South Auckland franchise is ok then maybe we won’t be so hasty.
Golden Homes Hamilton – very disappointed. Full of you know what is the best way to describe them.
We are planning to build in Upper Hutt and are currently dealing with Platinum Homes Wairarapa franchise. Does anybody have any feedback?
Hi James.
When my husband and I were looking at building we checked out different companies in Rotorua. After looking at lot’s of different plans we were having trouble matching our needs to them. As we were on a defined budget the alterations we needed were a stretch. When we went to Generation Homes to discuss our specifications they were able to accomodate our needs within our budget. What was great was that they guaranteed the price. No hidden costs. It was all put in writing so we felt safe.
We were wrapt with them. I would look at them more than once
Thanks for your recommendation, anyone else had some experience with any of these companies?
We are dealing with Generation Homes in West Auckland. Plans are being drawn up at the moment before being sent off to council. Really happy with them so far. They have accommodated all of our requests and stayed within our budget. Very helpful and happy to answer the numerous queries that I have! Can’t comment on the actual building process yet of course but will let you know in January when the house is finished!
Hi Alexis Do you pay in progress or a lum sum when they finish building? Did they promise to get CC Certificate?
Hi Alexis, I’m glad to hear about your dealings with Generation Homes. I wonder how the build is progressing now after your post on the 9th of Aug.
We also live in West Auckland and really close to sign an agreement with Stonewoods. Their salesman John Wilson is very helpful so far but there’s doubt at the back of my mind that surprises may come once we have signed the agreement. There may be a lot of variations later i.e. kitchen, external claddings, and these kind of concern me.
How much would you recomend Generation Homes now? Thanks.
Hi, I spoke to Stonewood as well prior to signing up with Generation. I believe that the West Auckland office is really good but the one up in the Warkworth area hasn’t got a good reputation at the moment. I know quite a few disgruntled Stonewood customers in that area and that was ultimately the reason that I didn’t go with them – although as I said, that’s nothing to do with the Stonewood office in West Auckland. As far as my dealings with Generation so far? They are a really nice team of people but sure enough we are already experiencing the usual building dramas that everyone warned us about…poor communication, delays, costs that are higher than expected and in general a house that is not going to be built as quickly as they indicated. I’m hoping that the next few months will bring some kind of magical improvement as I would really like this experience to be an enjoyable one.
Generation promise a 14 week build time. It would be interesting to know how long they actually take as I always considered it to be unrealistic….
We have decided to go with Generation Homes in Rotorua although it was a close call between them and GJ Gardner. We haven’t yet started building due to hold ups with the floor plan & contract. They eventually agreed to remove an unfavourable clause in the contract, and restructure the payment schedule so that 10% of the build cost is held to after completion which is what the bank required. Looking back on it I believe that GJ Gardner might have been a quicker and more pleasent experience, however Generation Homes has been able to work through this and am still reasonably pleased. Also make sure that you are not just getting a “Standard” Master Builder guarantee because this is useless, you need the “Platnium” guarantee. I will keep this updated as we progress through the full working drawings, consent and build progress.
Well we eventually got the contract signed and floor plans done but it took quite a bit of effort. A lot of the problems with experienced has been due to a lack of communication basically because they seem to be really busy and sales probably takes more of a focus. We are now about 4 weeks away from finishing and its taken in reality 3 months longer than we had wanted but a lot of that was due to planning and making sure foundations etc were suitable for land. Overall I think Generation Homes has done a good job but there have been some things that we specified we wanted but weren’t included, but GH has also been quite accommodating with our changes and letting us buy our specific tiles, lights and installing them for us. Hopefully we get to move in on the promised date and that there are not too many issues we discover with the finished product
Well we’ve finished our build and are overall happy with the finished outcome however we did have some problems on move in day and a few things are still not completed. I guess the biggest problem as a lot of other people have said on this site is the lack of communication as to when things will be done and delays etc.
I am trying to decide between three builders in Rotoura, has anyone had dealings with GJ Gardner, Urbo Homes or Generation Homes in Rotoura?
Hi James, i represent Dixon Homes in Tauranga and would like the opportunity to chat to you about our range of homes and what we can offer you. Please look at our website and tx me on 021 850511 and i will ring you back. regards, Greg
Hey Greg, bit late but already built.
Anyone has any comments about Golden Homes or GJG in Northland? Good or bad? Greatly appreciate it.
I also need an immediate advice please. Just shopping around for builders and we’re kind of incline to choose Jalcon Homes (Auckland). Does anyone out there had a good/bad experience with them? Many thanks!
I hope you did not choose Jalcon
Youve had prev experience?
We are currently building with jalcon, theyre only as good as their builders (subbies) which in our case is very average.
I feel for you. from experience.
We’re currently building with Jalcon, and it’s been stressful and disappointing. The build was supposed to take 6-7 months (construction time, on top of that were the drawings and consent which took 8 months – not 5 as the estimate was) and we’ve now been building 10 months and it’ll still be at the minimum another 3 months before the house is ready (and I’m not holding my breath as every other deadline so far has slipped).
The amount of mistakes is unbelievable. The signed plans had to be changed as Jalcon found mistakes with their calculations, and after building had got started we found they had made further changes during the consent process and never even told us – and by then it was too late to get all of them changed back. They miss items in the plans, forget written agreements, and keep failing council inspections, resulting in a lot of time consuming fixes and re-work.
The PC sums were woefully inadequate, all but one of them going more than 100% over. Luckily we only had five of these as we demanded costs to be fixed, and we’re supplying most of the interior ourselves – I did a lot of legwork during the pricing process and found the Jalcon quotes for things like kitchen and flooring very poor cost/quality match, and as you will be the one talking to and arranging everything with these suppliers anyway, you might as well save some money by not paying the Jalcon margins.
Things they have done well: we had a very detailed brief and the architect/designer did take the time to read and understand it, and came up with plans that met all our requirements (this was before we had signed with them, only the $5000 deposit was paid at this point). The house seems to be built to a fairly good standard – though the amount of failed council inspections is worrying.
Be very, very careful if you decide to go with them. Don’t trust anything they say, and get an ironclad penalty clause for late delivery. Prepare to spend a lot of time chasing them and demanding answers.
Would I recommend them? No. This hasn’t been a good experience and the house is still far from finished, so I’m expecting more problems to come up.
if you are in auckland would love to have a chat with you…and tell you the issues you may not be aware of that we found in our Jalcon(ed) home
We are also building with Jalcon and the 6-month build is dragging out to around 11 months now. Meant to be in by mid-February, but am doubting that’ll happen. Paying rent on top of this build so costs are sky-rocketing. They forgot to build a in a basement room right at the start. Can’t be rectified. Still waiting to see how they’ll compensate for that. Our PC sums blew out too, but was kind of prepared for that as part and parcel. The guys who have been digging the drains have just knocked down one of our palm trees. Have passed al council inspections thankfully as I think we have got pretty good builders on the job. Would be interested in hearing problems from others so am prepared if it happens to us. We are in Auckland.
are you still building with Jalcon(ed) ? or is everything sorted?
Hi John, We are in the process of planning a new home with Jalcon, what i read scares me, what do we need to be aware of.
Hi Greg and Jackie
Wondering if you went ahead with your Jalcon build and how you found the experience. We are considering the same
John, I’m a new Kiwi with extensive experience in property development. I am looking to approach reputable home builders operating in the Auckland area with a view to securing a position. Franly I’m horrified with much of what I read on this blog and don’t want to make a bad choice. Any suggestions of GOOD people to approach?
Mike – New Kiwi. I suggest you contact The House Company in Silverdale. They may be able to help and they have very high standards. Also what I’m seeing being built by Maddren (who are based in Kumeu) I’m impressed. The houses around us are 99% GJ Gardner and do not recommend them as a choice.
Sorry to hear of your experience with GJ Gardner, we are building with them in Huapai ( Rodney Franchise) and have been super impressed.
Hi we are looking into Palladium Homes anybody built or know someone who’s built with them?
Thanks
Surprising comments re GJ. We are using them on a bespoke build in Waimauku at the moment. Aside of some initial comms protocols that we had to get in place, they have actually been very good.
We looked at a number of builds, Stonewood, Platinum, Lockwood and I have to say O think we made the right call. Main thing is you have to ensure at the outset you get very detailed on the project planning, and make sure you are genuinely happy with progress before making stage payments.
Fully agree Mike, excellent points
GJ Gardiner has a terrible reputation in Nelson along with Signature and Orange promise the earth and don’t deliver. GJ here are being sued for $90,000 and I hear the boss at Signature can be very rude to his customers. Orange promise fixed prices but downgrade features – no images of what you are getting are shown. Insist on seizing everything before you sign any contract.
John, possibly the case. I think however that every building company will have its share of horror stories. Whilst there is no excuse for it happening , I think a level of onus sits with the customer as well. “Leave it to us , we will do it end to end ” might sound like a great approach however per my earlier comment as the party paying for it, customers have a duty to undertake a due diligence throughout the planning , and more importantly stand their ground at stage payment time demanding remedy for items that are not up to scratch.
very true Mike, we have been 7 months getting the plans right, back and forward but the responsiveness and professionalism of the Rodney franchise and their staff has been incredible. They say that nothing is simple in building and there will be issues (as we have had with council and consent) but at each step they have been here in support and dealing with council. Time will tell of course as we progress the build but to date they have been excellent.
Hi John
We’d be happy to hear your insights regarding a Jalcon build as we are considering them (signed up to stage 1)
Yvonne.bulte@xtra.co.nz
We finally finished our build with Jalcon, the construction took 14 months, and the house wasn’t fully completed by the time we moved in but our rental had been sold and we had nowhere else to go. We didn’t pass the code of compliance inspection until three months later. We had the trades back so often that our cat started asking them food as she mistook them as permanent inclusions of the household.
The house is now all but finished (very minor work still to be completed) and we’re satisfied with the outcome – but it did require a lot of effort from our side to get things finished to what was originally agreed, and we did incur extra cost for things they promised to do but then changed their minds. It became too stressful so we just wore the cost to get things sorted.
Next time I won’t use a building company but project manage the build myself. I reckon it can’t be more stressful.
We have had a very similar experience to ‘tassu’ and wish I had seen this post about ‘iron clad penalty clause…’ although I doubt the owner would have agreed to it. The interior finishing options provided are pretty poor and dated looking given the amount you pay. There is nothing new and modern about their design options.
we are currently building with Jalcon and I would not again, issues include: no response to communication, changes to plans without communication, massive delays, a change to the settlement date at late notice which has left us looking for short term expensive accommodation, a difficult owner to deal with who does not compromise from his position, frontline staff who I feel for as they are caught in the middle and a CEO who CC’s in the company’s lawyer when emailing…why I ask? The worst customer experience of my life and it involves my family.
I would recommend you build with Jalcon homes if
+ you have lots of money and don’t care about splashing it
+ you have low blood pressure and you want to raise it
+ you love average or below average quality build
+ you enjoy finding mistakes
+ you’re a lawyer or have a good lawyer friend
+ you don’t care when you move in
+ you like to be bullied by the owner
We tried to build with them in 2012/2013 and it was the most disastrous and costly mistake of our lives.
Hi RAF, your comments are bang on with many of the bigger building companies.
What you say is exactly what happens. We built with a large well known company in 2010-2011, bit hard to say what year as the build took a year longer than what the confirmed finish date was in writing.
Hi Andrew
I’m going to deal with every point you raised in you post so bear with me
>>> “…They are one of the best…”
They might be the best in terms of how much they pay you but they certainly nowhere near the best when it comes to customer experience. And this is not based on my experience alone, we have talked to several others who built with Jalcon and hated the experience.
>>> “..Jalcon has had a number of personnel and process changes over the last 18 months to improve what we do and how we do it…”
To be honest all Jalcon personnel are puppets and this whole company is a one man show. The sales team is all bubbly and make the process sound so rosy, once a contract is signed or a deposit is paid, hell starts. There is absolutely no integrity, accountability or so called family values that you claim on your marketing material. At the end of the day all the decisions get made by the one person and he’s the last person in the world anyone wants to enter a business relationship with in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong you’re all probably competent individuals, but you don’t have much of a say, the owner makes all the decisions.
>>> “..Jalcon won three Master Builders National Awards in 2014, offering independent proof that we build quality homes…”.
In my opinion, This is just a marketing ploy, you select 2 or 3 houses you’re building every year where you know the client will just pend to your conditions and you put all your effort into make those houses win the awards even if the whole project is done with some financial loss. So yes you can build quality houses but chances are someone building a house with you is – who is not one of those 3 houses – are paying additional costs and getting below average quality to balance your loss on the Award winding houses you have to build.
>>> “…Our team are truly dedicated to delivering quality homes on time and on budget..”
the sales team that you lead probably does care about time and budget, but that all changes once a contract is signed and your back office takeover .
>>> “…We hate it when we don’t meet customers’ expectations… “
Again the sales team do hate it because they are the ones that have to deal with the disappointed customers
>>> “I invite anyone who would like to address negative or positive comments to contact me directly by phone “
No disrespect Intended, but there is no point in anyone contacting you as you can’t do much without going back to the owner who will just bully you into doing whatever makes him more profit.
OMG You couldn’t have put it more perfectly! One of the best my ass! Funny how Andrew comes out from under his rock now?,,, Where the hell was he during the time these customers were having issues? I’m sure he received complaints? And what could he possibly do now to fix it?
The days when clients found it hard getting references from other people (those the builders dont want you to know about) are over, social media is slowly changing this, and only because of this, people like Andrew come forward spinning his yarn defending the bullshit we all know exists simply because they hate the fact that we can talk to each other now!
Of course they have builds worthy of such entries into the Master Builders awards,(dont get me started on these bullshit organisations!) these are the builds typically used to get the good references, as in “lets do a proper job as we must have some good references, and try and win an award so we can cover our asses promoting ourselves that we are the good guys the so called “best”cause once we have the award we only have to please 2 or 3 customers a year so we can apply for the next years awards”!
These awards are bullshit. Its the organisations way of making them feel good about themselves promoting their members as if they were the saints of the building industry. The ones that Jalcon were able to enter are the 1 or 2 builds out of many I totally agree and probably the only ones that could possibly come close to being in a position to enter!
Master builders should invite all of the clients that built with the company during that time to the awards night, now that would be interesting! Imagine all of the clients being given the chance to show pictures of the quality workmanship and experience they had with Jalcon during 2014 and prior if its taking that long,,hmmmmmmm perhaps Andrew should mention this possibility to MB for the next awards?
Well said RAF!
Yes, well said RAF and Kelly. There are many builders out there that need a good, well more than good, shake up. There seem to be too many incompetent, rip off etc etc etc builders out there.
It is time the Government took note of all the complaints regarding builders. Mainly the larger companies who just bullshit and rip off everyone they deal with.
Anyone else building with signature homes Canterbury? Would love to hear your thoughts / experiences. We are finally awaiting consent from council.
Has anyone had experiences with the ‘House Company’ ? currently considering signing with them for building on the north shore.
Yes and we were / are very happy with our new home.
Hi Dave, Did you take Kaz’s advice regarding The House Company, and if so how is it going? We’re currently working with them to get a design and quote, so early days, but OK so far.
We built with The House Company last year – Thank goodness having looked seriously at GJ Gardner and Golden Homes. Our build was a challenging one with our site but THC were and are brilliant. The standard is soooo high and a delight to deal with. On time and budget and quality sub contractors. We have our dream home and quality is way above others.
Does anyone know much about Mike Greer built homes in Christchurch? We are just thinking of buying a Land+House package with Mike Greer, and would appreciate some feedback.
Yes, and it was the worst experience of our life. Mike Greer or Mike Greed ?
Hi there I am having similar issues with MG can you contact me please?
Hi, I am about to start a rebuild with Mike Greer Hills, would like to know what issues you have had. Their communications has been excellent until very recently when it all dried up. Specs on the plan seem a bit light, especially light fittings. There was very little consultation with me on what I wanted. However, I have never built before so have nothing to compare it to.
Hi, We are currently building with Mike Greer Hills which are a completely different company to Mike Greer Homes. So far the experience has been very good. Some issues arose at consent stage which delayed things a bit and the architectural designer they were using weren’t the best but they worked through these issues and has been very smooth since. Workmanship is excellent and this is thanks to the head builder we have who is an absolute perfectionist and nothing is ever a problem. He has a real interest in the project and is in constant contact with us to make sure we are happy with every stage. Our project manager is also very good and double checks everything with us before ordering anything to make sure it’s exactly what we expected. We have a completion date in a couple of months and at this stage there looks to be no reason they won’t meet it. It is our first build so can’t compare with anyone else but would certainly recommend them from the experience so far.
We are having issues with MG, we gave them a budget of x amount which they said they could build our dream home for. Now a year on we have been told that they cannot build a house for our budget. So we are stuck with a section of land that we can’t afford to build on. Cheers MG!!!
We have had several plans which have been altered a number of times as they don’t listen. We went into their office and the first price they gave us was $330,000 OVER our original budget. They then got it down to $200,000 over budget but again it was too expensive and now we have been told this afternoon that they can’t build anything for our original budget. Bearing in mind that we asked them if they could build a house on this land, for the budget that we had BEFORE we bought the land. So yes feel pretty shafted!
Building companies and budgets, the two don’t seem to go together! Anything is possible within your budget to start with, once they have sucked you in then they whittle away at your expectations.
The cost to build with the company we have signed with has crept up $50K, luckily they were well under budget to start with. But we haven’t broken ground yet!
We almost signed with one that was $10K over, assured us it was all inclusive. We now know they under estimated some costs by half and missed other significant ones. It could have blown out by $100K quite easily.
Also don’t forget the poor standard inclusions some have, we spent an additional $17K on electrical excluding heating. Some small luxuries in that but no voice operated coffee machine!
Strangely we feel better prepared to build again having learnt so much this time, but it has been a very stressful way to learn.
Hi all,
I am wondering if anybody ever had any experience with Genesis Builders from Rangiora?
Thanks
Laura, Their show home at Pegasus is nice and their sales pitch slick. But you need to ask the Genesis people for references from ALL the projects they currently have going in Canterbury. Or at least a list of sites to visit in the hope that you find someone there working. If they won’t give you any references or sites, or only give you a selected few, then you need to seriously ask yourself “Why, and what are they hiding?”
I’d only consider using them if you are under 40, as you will probably still be alive by the time they have finished your build.
Hi Nemesis,
Thanks for your email. So you have build with them or how do you know that their building process takes so long?
Thanks
We have been trying to build with Genesis Builders for over a year and the difficulties and poor communication are almost limitless. We are at wits end. You need to choose a building company carefully. Ask for references and evidence of ACTUAL build times. Ask what sort of delays and problems their builds have experienced? Ask about the qualifications of their contractors. Good luck.
Dito, … Same situation. Where are you at? When have you signed contract? We signed in November… slowly seeing progress.
Is there a way how we can talk privately via email and exchange more information?
Maybe that is why they don’t have time for us:
http://www.harcourts.co.nz/Property/618772/PD2974/29-Epsom-Drive
Hi Laura, Probably right them spending all their time building spec houses and we are just a filler. If you want to get in touch with us txt your details to 021 749-914 and he will forward it to us. we will then email you.
So where are you stuck at the moment? Seeing any progress or all just being very slow. Do you have a moving in date? Schedule? Anything?
Hi Laura, TXT your email add to 021 749-914 and we will tell you the whole sordid tale. Our contract with Genesis Builders is much older than your November one. Must admit that we were pretty upset to see what looks like a ‘spec’ house being built when many of their builds are being held up.
done
Did you get my text?
Hi Nemesis,
did you make pictures of their show home? or do you have detailed information about their show home?
As obviously they claim that they do everything as in the show home.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Laura,
No, didn’t take photos although I wish that we had.PC amounts for kitchen and lighting woefully inadequate.I understand that their show home is currently occupied by a couple whose house Genesis are either trying to finish, or are remediating.
We have been given several finishing dates and some have passed without anything happening to our house at all. They have used a subbie called Dynamic Contracting and I think there have been issues with their work quality.
Apart from the time taken and never-ending problems, the worst thing is that Genesis Builders don’t reply to calls, emails and txts. Any replies that we do get don’t actually answer the questions asked. Danny Hunt, the owner, never writes anything down and never follows up on any issues.
Are you far from finishing?
Interesting about the show home, I just heard that it doesnt “exist” anymore but I just assumed they sold it. Makes sense that it is occupied by a family.
Also heard about the Dynamic contracting. We know some other people in a similar sounding situation like yours. Their foundation was wrong. …
…
anyway, did you ever get my text with my email adress, I wish to continue the conversation but not that public.
Same here. We are utterly dissapointed in their extremely poor communication. Expect no reply at all to all means of contacts (phone calls, emails, texts) for weeks..
We have NO confidence in their capability in delivering anything on time at all and are doubtful that they will even complete our house by the end of the year.
We will definitely NOT recommend them at all.
It’s such a shame that so many people seem to have been caught up with Danny Hunt, Dynamic Contractors and Genesis Builders. They aren’t the only hapless builders in Canterbury at the moment but, from my enquiries, they are close. They have a reputation in the residential construction industry that no one would want. You need to keep a list of the issues with your build. Because of the time delays and other issues, some of those issues may fall through the (many) cracks and go unsolved.
These guys would, in my personal view, fail – even in Russia.
JJ, that sounds terrible. What stage are you in? We are actually getting pretty close, but it was a very frustrating and stressful procedure. I agree with everything you say. Never would recommend them to anybody
Hi Nemesis & Laura,
We still have a long long way to go and it is incredibly frusfrating. We were wondering how long it usually take them to complete a house?
How long did they take to build your house to the near complete stage?
Did you encounter any other problems other than poor communication and slow progress?
What stage are you at JJ?
Genesis are currently running about 15 months behind initial completion date and have only completed plastering stage. The raft of given completion dates have all been fantasy.
Keep a written record of every conversation with them – if possible get them to sign it.
Good luck.
Not sure where to start.
Poor communication AND the worst project management I have ever seen.
Compared to Nemesis we were lucky as we didn’t get Dynamic Contractors to “ruin” our build.
Many many many little things went wrong. you need to double check EVERYTHING.
Even the pantry wall, or manhole, venting in laundry, Heatpump locations… EVERYTHING.
And yes, I write an email with notes after every meeting. If they don’t disagree they accept.
In that way I had so much proof about everything, that they also have trouble trying to increase prices with us.
But, sadly, what can we do? There is nothing in the contract which helps us, just nothing, … or have you found anything?
Nemesis & Laura – both of you use Dynamic contractors?
I’m not sure whether they are still using Dynamic or not. We signed the contract with Genesis early 2013. Actual construction work started on the section about 10+ weeks ago (most of the days, no work was carried – no reply on what’s going on for weeks despite leaving them messages to get back to us). The foundation is still incompleted at this stage – we still an awful long way to go.
15 months just to complete plastering stage? – It looks unlikely we will have a house by this year then..
Laura – did they try to increase prices? Have you not got the PC sums changed to Fixed sums? Are there issues with the build quality or it’s just checking everything (like heat pumps and vents) are located at the correct locations?
We are still at the initial construction stages – please let us know anything that we should be aware of.
Hi JJ and Laura. Dynamic have moved on – I think to GJ Gardner. I think Dynamic will continue in much the same way there as well.
Have you tried getting out of the contract JJ?
Genesis don’t seem to be able to get trades to work for them for very long. I have my suspicions why. There has been no work on our place for the last 3 working weeks despite it being “their #1 priority”. Our kitchen people rang me to confirm installation this week because they couldn’t get hold of anyone at Genesis. Sadly, sanding/skirting/painting still to be done, so have had to defer them – again.
Absolutely critical that you follow Laura’s advice re notes/visits etc. Make sure you have prices cast in stone and don’t count on gettig your house finished this year.
I thought we were their priority 1 build. 🙂
you see jj, don’t believe a word. I am sorry to tell you all these horror stories, …
JJ, it is really hard to help via such a public Blog.
Just make sure you keep track of everything in writing. Get quotes from everybody. Go on site VERY regularly.
Be like a sub project manager.
get a weekly meeting with builder and Project Manager on site. (we had that, but quite late in the project)
have summaries of the meeting sent out via email for confirmation or signed on site, …
not sure what the difference between PC sum and fixed sum is.
Thanks Laura & Nemesis.
There were many times we thought about leaving Genesis. But we were told things will change. They’re getting a new project manager who will ensure things will be on track, using a different builder etc. So, we stayed on.. but 12 weeks into construction, our foundation is still incomplete.. and we are on TC1 land (requiring the simplest foundation).. Again, we are very dissapointed..
We went to the site everyday and took photos so that we have proof that there were no progress on site most of the days.
We are just hoping that things will take a turn and we can get over and done with.. But I can foresee there will be more obstacles to come and this will be an awful long journey before the light at end of the tunnel.
Hi there
I have built with Genesis Builders recently and I have a positive spin to put on this thread which appears to be rather negative….there’s always two sides to every story and I think we are clearly only hearing one person’s point of view. I have built a number of homes with different builders and I had a very positive experience with Genesis. The build ran fairly much to time, the project manager kept me informed and we had a great relationship. The quality of the finished projects have been excellent and everyone comments on the quality.
Nemesis, Laura and JJ
I get the impression you haven’t built a house before, I may be wrong buts that’s the impression you give me with your comments. I have built a number of houses and have learnt that the key to a successful project is having a good relationship with your builder and project. Manager, and that means you need to be realistic about your expectations and appreciatie that more often than not building projects do not go to plan as there are so many different trades involved. How you as the owner handle yourself through the process can contribute significantly to how the project runs and you can be the one that is creating problems. I know ,I have tried the approach of being the demanding, stroppy one and have learnt the hard way that with these types of projects it doesn’t generally help the cause…….have a look in the mirror guys are you part of the problem? Are you trying to manage your own project and getting in the way of the real project manager doing their job – some of the comments indicate this could be the case.
Laura – you commented in an earlier post that Genesis were obviously busy building spec houses and that must be their priority – the house you used to validate your thinking was owned by me at that time and I was a private client of Genesis, so may pay to get your facts right before you burst into print on an anonymous basis.
It’s not going to improve your building experience by spending lots of time whinging and wining on a blog like this. Stop acting like a victim and take some responsibility for getting your build project back on track……you need to take a look at how you have handled the situation, that has lead you to where you are……..it’s easy to fire bullets and blame other people but that doesn’t change anything! there are always two sides to every story and if you are honest with yourself you have likely contributed to the problem at some point. What can you do to improve the situation, you need to take a positive approach to making an effort to work with your builder to get your project back on track….it is what it is and I am not saying you don’t have reasons to be annoyed and disappointed but if you don’t change your approach nothing will change and it will be a struggle to the end. How you handle it will make all the difference, you can’t change the past but you can change the future. A positive flexible approach moving forward will be less stressful for all concerned and create a better end result – try it , what have you got to loose!
Happy building 🙂
It’s great that you have had a good experience with Genesis Builders, Willie. You make a lot of valid points about leaving things to the project managers etc and not getting in the way. You say we should look at ourselves and ask whether we are part of the problem, adapt a positive, flexible approach. That approach, in our case, has led to being put to one side while other builds, possibly yours, progressed.
Your “fairly much on time” is a subjective comment. Our’s is currently over 15mths past its initial completion date with plenty of work still to do. Is that an acceptably “realistic” expectation?
You also suggest that we should stop whinging and whining on a blog like this. My understanding of Blogs is that they are for people to put comments good (as you did) and bad (as we did). If whining on Blogs stopped – so would Blogs.
The only way that our build has progressed as far as it has is because we “took some responsibility for getting your build on track” by finding our own trades for some of the work and regularly visiting the site to check that what Genesis have said they have done has actually been done. Many times they were found wanting in relation to this.
I’m guessing, Willie, that when you built there was a project manager overseeing your job. That project manager left, as did most of Genesis Builders builders. After trying for about a year to manage without a project manager, Genesis eventually got one but by then the damage had been done. He has been putting out fires ever since. I really feel for him: every day must be deeply stressful as he battles to control those fires.
We are not whining: we were given certain assurances about the time of the build and the quality. I am involved in the construction industry and have knowledge of how these jobs should go and the likely delays. We were realistic about completion dates, but find it embarrassing when our house was the 3rd started in our development and since then over 30 have been completed, while ours still stumbles along.
Have Genesis Builders been signing up new contracts in the past 6 months Willie?
True story:
Council inspector turns up for final inspection on Genesis Builders job:
“So have you resolved the issues which failed your last couple of inspections, the most recent being a month ago?”
GB: “Er… no.”
CI: “So, do you have all your producer statements?”
GB: “Ummm… no.”
CI: turns to owner “Sorry, this is a bit embarrassing when this sort of thing happens and wastes everyone’s time”.
Yes, our Genesis built home has failed most of its inspections so far, the pre-cladding one three times and we’re not convinced that the issues it failed on have been resolved yet.
Hi Nemesis
Those failed inspections. Are those work done by Dynamic? since Dynamic left Genesis, do you still have problems with inspections? is buildezy working on your place now?
Hi Laura. Poor work was done by the Dynamic duo. Buildezy now doing work. They seem good if a little patchy in their attendance. They spent a considerable amount of time putting things right. Are they doing your place? How far are you from finishing?
Hi All.
We built a home in North Canterbury recently with Genesis Builders and are thrilled with the final product! My partner and I were very impressed with both the Genesis team and the trades people that they had working on our home. Very friendly and welcoming whenever we visited our site and the quality of their work was spot on. Things ran relatively smoothly, there was the odd issue but nothing that couldn’t be rectified and our completion date was extended but we are realists. We knew before we started that building through winter was probably going to hit some delays. Also with the Canterbury Rebuild underway we expected supplies and trades people being in short supply but we felt that Genesis handled this quite well. Based on previous experiences with friends that have built, there was no point pushing to get our home built faster meanwhile compromising on quality. First time building was never going to be easy but it was a lot better than we had expected!
I have seen this blog a couple of times and its comments regarding Genesis Builders, but have refrained from commenting until now as I thought my experience may have been a one-off until I saw Willie’s post. I had to agree with a lot of comments Willie made toward the others involved in this blog who are having not so pleasant experiences with Genesis. I also read through the rest of this blog and comments relating to other building companies, some larger and more established than Genesis but some of their clients also have negative experiences and similar issues. All I can take from this, is that every building company has their issues and sometimes its just difficult clients.
Good luck!
Just following on from Genesis problems – I am a sub-contractor who is owed a bunch of cash from Genesis. It seems that there are many in the same boat as me.
Danny Hunt is in court today and we believe he is now in liquidation.
Willie,
Just a fact: house still/again for sale…
http://www.harcourts.co.nz/Property/666341/PD3084/29-Epsom-Drive
any thoughts/suggestions why?
Nemesis, Laura and JJ. A $5 online QV title search reveals a lot about the owner of this property.
Laura, Nemesis and JJ. An online QV title search for $5 reveals a lot about the owner of this property.
What have you got to lose? Your hair, your minds and months and months of your life. Little round yellow sad face.
Genesis Builders:
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/1501634
The End.
I feel for those who are waiting for their houses to be finished.
Hi looking at building an new house in Maraetai in Auckland and was looking between Phil Mill Builders, Signature Homes and Cranston Homes. Does any one have any feedback on these 3 builders. Would really appreciate if anyone can let us know about these builders.
..what an arrogant reply…..get bloody lost..!!!!
Hi Willie,
Nice optimistic approach.
Like you, I believe it is important to learn from the experiences and look forward.
That said, and despite my years of experience owning and running businesses, nothing could have prepared me for the nightmare of building my own home.
I think the fundamental issue is most of us (aka the clients) appreciate honesty and competency. When 100’s of thousands of dollars is being invested, this should be expected. Most people don’t appreciate being lied too. Sadly and regrettably, most New Zealanders that build will NEVER do it again. In the vast majority of situations, clients feel cheated and frustrated. A lot of deceitful and incompetent individuals seem to be gainfully employed in residential construction and they take the lime-light away from the good and decent individuals.
Of the thirteen companies/ individuals employed in my house renovation, I would recommend only three. Only those three really cared, were excellent communicators, took pride in their work and above all were honest.
To create is a pleasure. To do business with cheats and lairs is just painful. Never again for this man.
To any hard working, honest and caring families looking to build – BEWARE!!!!!!!!!
Who are the three you recommend? I am interested in new build. Cheers
Hey does anyone have any info on Williams and Co. Homes in Christchurch?
I really hope you did not sign up with Williams and Co – I did and it was single handedly the worst decision I ever made. I thought I would have a cool new home by early 2014. Instead its May and I am almost $30k out of pocket with nothing to show for it – except a cancelled consent, mounting bills and a few wrinkles. This company is nothing more than a bunch of clueless criminals who should not be allowed to trade. Please, please people beware!!!
I sure did sign up with Williams and Co and it’s a living nightmare. Wouldn’t wish the experience on my worst enemy! Can’t say to much more as I don’t want to jeopardise my investment.
Hi Empty Section, we signed up with them too and had a horrible experience. Have you heard from them recently? There was another article in the press today, it seems that they are slowly going under.
Hi ‘Ripped Off’, concerning to hear, i’ve been working on a design with Williams and Co for several months now but haven’t signed anything yet. From what they explained to me, the Built In warranty seems to be pretty comprehensive, wouldn’t you be covered by this? I’m interested to hear more though, can you send me an e-mail me at llachysainsbury@gmail.com?
Hi Ripped Off,
How did you end up with a cancelled consent? We are in a similar situation, have also signed up with them. It would be great to get in touch.
Absolutely do not sign up with Williams & Co. They are the most unprofessional, clueless bunch of low life’s in Christchurch. They will steal your money and send you broke.
Hi there
I have heard on good advice that Williams and CO are in trouble. Spoke to a customer who has been waiting weeks to get things done , and heard about another who has waited 13weeks for work on progress on his house , had to hunt down the project manager who told him that Williams and Co were having money troubles. I would avoid based on this information.
I have heard this too. Heard they are sending out creditor letters. Not sure if it is true. Perhaps they tried to get too big too fast. Some solicitors insisted clients had title transferred to them but some didn’t and now those people could be stuck like those with Tectonic.
Hi EMPTY SECTION, RIPPED OFF, MARTY AND SARAH, we are one of the 80 clients of Williams & Co., currently in limbo. Have you heard from them lately? We’ve signed a house and land package last Feb 2014 and until now, what we have is just a hole in the ground. Read news about their financial woes and talks about negotiation. Read in the press lately that the failed to meet the creditors’ condition but no formal announcement from them. Meanwhile, our solicitor advised us to start looking for a new builder. It also means that we can now kiss our 50k deposit goodbye. Such a nightmare! We signed up with them because they offered cheaper rates and a promise that we can move in to our house in 14weeks. Now it’s costing us more money because we are paying for the mortgage of our land, interest for downpaymenrt and rent. It is not fair.
Hey Duped, sorry to hear of your woes with Williams & Co – whereabouts in the build stage are you? Have you had any work done at all? Is the section in your name at least? Its a disgrace in this country that people can just run up debts, use other people’s money inappropriately and then just walk away under a “limited” company. The law, I think, states that the court can go “behind the veil” of incorporation in the event of fraud, improper conduct etc by the directors but they never seem to do that? Why?? This is happening time and time again and these b***** get off scot free!!! I wish you luck with the rest of your build. I would recommend Peter Ray Homes and also Greenland Homes – both of these are good (PR is bigger, Greenland smaller) if you do choose to continue. Good luck! 🙂
Hello Sarah,
Luckily, we own the land (i.e. we have the title under our name). Excavation has not been started so I guess we are lucky also in a sense that we can sign up with another builder right away. We are trying not to think about the money that we lost. What we are focusing on is finding the right builder and moving in hopefully (cross fingers and toes) next year. We are leaning towards Generation Homes because they can build our house within our budget. Now, the next question is, will our bank grant us additional mortgage and do we have the capacity to pay this. What an expensive lesson to learn! I wonder how the other clients are doing. I wish them goodluck.
Hey Duped,
Hope you are still out there. Just wondering if you got a “Home First Guarantee” as part of your house and land packages? I worked for a law firm and we had two clients with Williams & co. I have been chatting to the solicitor who acted and our clients had these Home First Guarantees put in place as part of the deal. Home First covers loss of deposits. If you do have one of those then you need to act quickly and cancel your contract in writing with Williams & Co BEFORE they are liquidated (hearing for liquidation is next week). Then the guarantee people will pay out. If you didn’t have this guarantee then I would suggest you ask your solicitor to appear for you at the liquidation hearing which is on the 11th December as a creditor. Good luck.
Hello Sarah,
We were able to contact the insurance company last week. We filled out a claim form and already submittedthe documents. They said not to cancel the contract yet. There is a three-week processing so it’s going to be a long wait for us.
Oh that’s awesome. Pleased that it looks like you are not going to lose out to those buggers. Good luck with the rest of your build. 🙂
Thanks for your good wishes, Suckers. We don’t have the expertise to project manage our build, and I would no doubt end up doing life for murder at some point . . . We are tentatively progressing with Greenstone, having had a frank discussion with the builder/owner and the design/sales guy, so will see how things go. It’s such a nightmare – you want to believe businesses are professional and not trying to fleece you for every cent, but once bitten . . .
Did you get anywhere with Fowlers and their CEO? I hope so, Tony Hill sounded like a reasonable guy, we even thought about giving him a ring but as it’s still the Wellington franchise that we’d be dealing with, decided to give it a miss. Anyway, good luck 🙂
Platinum finally applied for building consent for us after 10 weeks. Now they are just in the process of screwing us for every extra cent they can now we have signed the contract. We have water tanks installed – and no-one had mentioned leaf collectors to us, so we (luckily) knew we needed these and got them added on pre-contract, however the project manager brought this up at our first meeting – obviously ready for an upsell, and was surprised we had them already added. There have been a few things like this (some of which we couldn’t have known about as we are not builders) which are items not included which most people wouldn’t know they needed – seems really poor practice and unprofessional to me!! I can see how Platinum manage to blow peoples budgets!!!! We have already been faced with things that the sales guy said wouldn’t be a problem, and we didn’t need to add it to the contract – which now they want to charge us for!!! Can’t believe we believed them.
Hi Amanda, Very interesting to read your comments, very similar to the experience we are having with Platinum but a different franchise. We are also on water tanks and I have never heard of, or been told about, leaf collectors? We hammered home that we needed realistic costings and to be all inclusive i.e. no surprises!
I understand they don’t want to scare people off but open and honest upfront conversations around true costs would be beneficial for both parties. Our current cost has increased about $25K from our estimate, not too bad but in that time the house plan has reduced in size by 30sqm.
Also the process of working with the saleperson through planning seems flawed, surely once you have signed the letter of intent and paid the initial deposit it’s time for a planner to step in and work with you through to council.
Anyway I wish you good luck with council and hopefully smooth sailing from here!
Hi there –
Leaf collectors / leaf eaters are designed to stop any leaves which have blown onto the roof from getting into your water tank. It is a totally flawed system I agree. We, like you tried to get everything tied down, but they don’t really want to do that. We also had to do our own resource consent as this wasn’t even mentioned prior to signing (and wasn’t included or mentioned in costings – and frankly isn’t cheap). If you haven’t signed yet – watch out for things like the concrete in the porch area not being included. Also, we found that polished concrete flooring was cheaper than carpet!
looking at compass homes and summit homes? has anyone had any experience with any of these. appreciate your feedback. thank you.
hi there did you get and feedback on summit homes?
cheers
Has anyone built home with G J Gardner of Papakura branch. Is there any bad comments ?
URGENT !!!
Hi Po Choy, hope this is not to late. We have just severed the relationship with GJ Gardner homes operating in the area you talk about. We are really dissapointed at the things we were told that did not prove to be true.
I beleive they have a good reputation as a quality builder, if you can get to the point where the building actually begins!
We had a fair amount of frustration steming from deadlines not being met, and several untruths about land and what the story kept changing every time we discussed getting our house built.
What many others advocate here is good advice.
1. Get EVERYTHING in writing
2. Don’t beleive the sales person unless they are willing to put it in writing.
3. Look out for PC sums – this is how many housing companies ‘ratchet up’ the cost to build.
4. regardless of the inevitable sales pressure to place a deposit, don’t give them a cent unless they promise to fully refund your deposit, should they not meet deadlines that have been mutually agreed.
We are a lot wiser for the experience, and our dealing with this company (and one other), have driven us away from building new in NZ, – it is just TOO hard!
Best of luck!
I am conseridering a contract with GJ Gardener but horrified at some of their standard contract clauses. Still wading through it, but it appears that I would be required to pay the full amount on the “practical completion” date, which is simply defined as a certain number of days are beginning. It specifically says Practical Completion does not require the Council Code of Compliance to be issued. In past building projects the final payment is conditional on the CCC being issued. Also, if there is an error in the plans, they can cease the contract until I sign off on an alteration, but I am expected to pay for any costs incurred in the delay! ie they make an error and I pay for their extra time?? Any comments?
Talk to your bank in regards to the payment that needs to be held over until when the code of compliance certificate is issued. For us it was 10% the bank required but our contract initially only said $5,000. After showing the building company the bank’s requirement they were happy to change the final payment. The contract can be negotiated and if you don’t like something in the contract get it removed or don’t build with them.
we’re pretty horrified by their standard clauses too, working through it with them and they are budging on some but not many
Hi Anita,
Get your lawyer to peruse these contracts really carefully, it seems these building co contracts are really one sided, if they want your build, they should be prepared to make the deal fair to both parties. Sadly, we did not get our contract vetted, to our horror, we were faced with Mortgagee sale when we failed to make final payment within three days of taking possession of our house. In the contract, this gave RKK Construction “the right to place a mortgage” on our property. This was despite the fact that we were in dispute over their Final account,. thousands above wahat we owed. Lawyer costs mount up if you end up in litigation, cheaper to sort before the contract is signed. See the site http://www.buildreview.co.nz for our problems with RKK Construction trading as David Reid Homes Hauraki & Bay of Plenty. So much more info about other companies as well.
Best wishes with your build.
hi dejected, thanks for your advice. Unfortunately it was too late. I signed the agreement when they said there was no additional cost on the amount agreed. When we put through the solicitor and found that there were a lot of terms unacceptable, such as pay final amount even no ccc cert. issued. lots of unexpected charges. So I turned down that trade and they got all my deposit in many excuses. I lost my deposis for $3450.00 . I will not recommend gj gardner..papakura to my friends.
Who was the sales person you used?
Thanks
Heather
Agreed and Po, I really hope it is not too late. It is very important that you have got the 4 points from Dejected. “The devil is in the detail.” This was said in GJ sales brochure which was very true especially applying to this company. Be very careful signing anything and do not ever trust what they tell you, neither yes nor no to anything. It must be in written. And make sure that you have no obligation not to use them. We all thought so with general business mind, but it may not.
You will need to be extremely careful about their building contract, too.
BE VERY CAREFUL
Has any one used key2 limeted to build? We are beginners and would really appreciate any reviews on these guys. building in pokeno. much appreciated. thank you.
Hi.
We are now lookign to build in Pokeno, and are lookign at summit homes. WHo did you end up going with and how was yoru experience? I have now heard bad stories about key 2, but from other builders – so you have to question the truth.
We heard negative stories about Key 2 in Auckland too – but we haven’t used them so can’t confirm if there is any truth to the rumours?! We have signed up with Generation Homes and so far so good.
Hi I have just found this comment. if you would like to contact me I am happy to discuss this with you.
Kind regards,
hi there, did you end up going with summit homes?
thanks
We are about to throw in the towel with the company we are dealing with at the moment and I would love know if anyone can actually recommend a builder? We are interested in any companies operating in Auckland on the North Shore. I am sure there must be one out there that can make building a good experience!
you need to try Greg Mayer from Helensville. Him and his team are awesome
yep
Would you have a contact number for Greg Mayer ?
Liz, good luck. Memo……. don’t consider Fowler Homes (based at Mana) they are useless.
Thanks Suckers – yes, I read the comment about Fowler Homes! It’s all so DIFFICULT, isn’t it? 😉
Hi Liz,
I couldnt help but notice the thread and felt compelled to respond as the CEO of FOWLER HOMES NZ.
Having built 2989 homes throughout the country over the past three decades , it’s fair to say we have a proven track record. The fact that over 88% of FOWLER HOMES™ business comes from referrals from past clients speaks volumes as to the integrity of the group.
We have never had a “leaky house “syndrome failure or any serious issues which have resulted in litigation so it would be naive to say we are completely useless; quite the opposite.
It was in recent weeks that i had the opportunity to inspect a fantastic new home Fowler Homes had completed overlooking the harbour in Wellington- It was finished to a very high standard and the owners could not be more complimentary.
It is sad that ‘suckers’ feel agrieved as i know our Wellington operators are passionate builders who strive for customer satisfaction.
Having put my soul into the building industry and personally dealt with thousands of people in the construction of their new homes over the years , a fair observation is that some clients can never be happy by nature.
In fact there are some recidivists out there who , no matter who the builder is, always have grievances which end on a sour note.
I stand behind our team, and not necessarily in defence when there is valid critisism.
Fowler Homes offer our clients value in what we achieve for them when we design and build thier new homes and the national statistics show this.
In closing, i am not some faceless CEO but someone who is experienced and passionate about the new home building industry . Fowler Homes have a very experienced team of regional operators throughout New Zealand , most of whom are qualified builders and licensed building practitioners in their own rite and are highly regarded by those in the industry.
All the best for your project ,Liz . If you are a ‘real person’ in the way you work with the builder you choose , i am sure you will enjoy the process and come out with a good result.
Our comments are based on our own experience of building with Fowler Homes WLG, and the comments / experiences of sub contractors. Having had no contact with the CEO of Fowler Homes NZ we cannot say if he is Faceless or not.
Thanks, suckers – I wonder if Tony Hill could sort the mess out for you guys, or is it too late for that?
Hi ‘Suckers’,
Tony Hill from Fowler Homes here.
If you are who i think you are , i am loosely informed of your circumstance and fact that you have engaged with the company who have agreed there is remedial work to be done and i understand this has also been scheduled.
Hopefully this will placate the situation .
It is unfortunate when the lines of communication break down as it certainly makes it hard going.
Although you may feel that we don’t care , i have taken time to understand the main issues and ,on a couple of occasions ,offered my experience to the Wellington team .
Maybe meet you in person in the near future?
Thank you for replying, Tony. I can understand that it must be galling for you as CEO of Fowler Homes to read a bad review about your company, but I do think that the company name is only as good as the franchisee and subcontractors. I’m sure that you can understand how hard it is for folk to choose a company to build their home – it’s the biggest outlay most people will ever make and – certainly for us – we just have to get it right this time. We have no other way of finding out about different builders and the comments of ‘real’ people are very valuable when you’re running around like a headless chicken trying not to bankrupt yourself! We have built once before in NZ and were extremely disenchanted, to say the least, so trying to get it right this time.
Liz, We wish you the very best with your search for competent builder. Have you considered employing sub contractors yourself and managing the build? Project management is crucial.
we recently built with fowlers homes tauranga. love our house but lots of isssues along the way , and lots of issues left to get sorted. it has not been a good experience and i would not recomend fowlers to anyone at this point. im beginning to think lawyers will be needed. tony hill if you would like to know more feel free to email me . kiernan@clear.net.nz
Like you, we have been searching for independent reviews of builders. Has anyone heard of Greenstone Homes? I had a chat with the senior design and build guy at their Waikanae show home and it all sounds pretty good. However, on doing some research this afternoon, it appears that he was heading the Kapiti side of Highmark Homes which has a terrible review on the No Cowboys site 🙁 We’ve bought a section and are looking for a good, reasonable builder – aren’t we all?
Love to have a chat about greenstone homes
Hope Im not to late
Hi Willy
We haven’t quite signed up yet, but are moving slowly towards that end. I really hope you have good things to tell me!! Thanks.
Give me call 0274573337
sorry Liz thought I was replying to your email not blog (idiot) so the world sees my cell no
We have been dealing with GSH and they have been very good only thing I would say is just make sure you have everything down on paper and everything accounted for before signing just to protect both of you otherwise it can get a bit frustrating for both parties about what has been allowed for and not
good luck
Tell me about Grenstone Homes please WIlly I am considering them to build a house in Canterbury
Hi I know Ethan he’s great to deal with I can say he will do a great job
Did you go ahead with Greenstone Homes? We are also looking at using them in Canterbury and would be interested to hear others experiences with them.
We have paid a $1,500.00 deposit (refundable) to hold a section for us at Millwater, Rodney, Auckland with Generation Homes. My cousin in Taupo had a house built and still live in their Generation Home and my cousin’s wife now works for them in the Taupo show home, I also haven’t found any negative comments on the internet about Generation Homes
Has anyone used Shore Homes?
Golden Homes Wellington are usless as well, very poor communications in general. The only times I had a quick response was when I had to spend money for additonal work to be done any other time either no response or some rubbish responce.
Like the previous post it is all smiles and hand shakes to you sign on the dotted line, then its like we don;t give a stuff now we have your buisness.
we are currently building with Golden homes in Upper Hutt and so far they have been absolutely hopeless.
Totally agree with the previous posts it is all smiles and hand shakes to you sign on the dotted line, then it goes down hill…no communication, no respect for the client, lack of honesty and knowledge, and they are always trying to pull the wool over you eyes not telling you about extra costs and push to keep on going etc.
So far we are just starting building and gutted we just found this website for building company reviews before we started.
all i can say if you can do as much as you can yourself and cut the costs and get better workmanship then do it other wise go for another company eg stonewood or jennian homes friend have and got a better response.
Hello friends,
Could anyone of you please give feedback on Generation Homes? We are considering them for our first home. So any feedback will be really really helpful.
Have just built with Generation Homes in West Auckland, I have found them excellent to deal with, had a few hiccups but that’s building so in general I was more than pleased with what we got , I felt they were good value for money . I will be building again with them in the near future , we also had a Generation home when we lived in Papamoa that I brought 2nd hand, that also was a nice home with a more than acceptable finish. I think you also got to take into consideration when you build with these companies that you get what you pay for, they are not the top end but neither was the cost, we built 320 sq mtr for $396k house only complete , we done the other items ,septic and water etc concrete drives as it was a lifestyle block .
Has anyone built with or had any experience with Generation Homes? We are trying to decide between Generation and Platinum homes?
Whatever you do don’t go with Platinum!! My experience is with platinum Wellington, but they are idiots…. and to qualify that with just one example (though there are many)… we are building in WELLINGTON and they forgot to do WIND CALCS!????? Additionally to being idiots they take a long time to produce anything and even then they don’t seem to know what they are doing. And even the simplest things like the covered porch.. the concrete under it isn’t included as standard. Nor is the concrete under the covered patio area (the key apparrently is that is an ‘area’ not actually a patio!). Don’t trust them, don’t believe them and better still DON’T SIGN WITH THEM!!!
Thanks for the feedback Amanda – we haven’t signed yet so I appreciate the warning! We are thinking of going with Generation as so far they have the best price for a very similar house plan, plus we like that they have a fixed build time. I haven’t found any negative comments about them on the internet so fingers crossed it will all go smoothly?!
Good luck Alexis. I haven’t heard of Generation – but that seems to be a good thing – bad reputations spread fastest.
Hi Amanda. I have worked for building companies in the past and what everyone doesn’t understand is usually the site is responsible for around 90% of the issues. Do you have a flat, solid residential site of around 1000 sq. metres or less? If that is the case, there should not be any excuses. Is your building underway yet?
HI there – the problem was definitely not the plot at the time … just Platinums errors – which to be fair they have acknowledged and pledged to help sort. Sooo, they do seem to be raising their game … watch this space to see if it all comes good ! Unfortunately we haven’t started building due to a problem that has since emerged with our plot, but fingers crossed it will be sorted (not Platinums fault currently). I will update as to how things go with Platinum … if they get this sorted then I will happily give them full credit for getting there act together … we are just not quite there yet.
Hi Amanda. Did the earthquake get your section? May be easier to build overseas with all these earthquakes!
Not the earthquake – the big storm took a chunk off our plot in the form of a slip! Geotechnical report not that great – just what we needed!
We have finally signed up and gone unconditional with Platinum Homes on the Kapiti Coast … it’s been a journey to get just to this point, and I can only say that the people we have been dealing with have been (mostly) very much on the ball and very easy to deal with. Plans are with the Council at the moment and we are living in hope that the build goes well. If anyone would like updates as we move along, I’m happy to do that. Fingers crossed that we don’t have to murder and bury anyone along the way. 🙂
I have built with Platinum Homes Canterbury and have had a pleasant experience. The female consultant I dealt with was friendly, knowledgeable and listen to what we wanted in our home.
I found their process through even though there was minor hiccups it was dealt with in a professional manner.
Obviously a different consultant than I had. Our ones initials were DW. Stuck up and un helpful. I voted we my feet. Shame as the women in show home was awesome – totally let down by new home sales consultant!!
Good on you, about time these unprofessional builders were held to account. Same goes for us with Fowler Homes Wellington. Useless and so unprofessional.
In what stage are you? What can you do if you come into a situation like that? Do we as owners have any rights?
Hi there, we’re thinking of building with Fowlers Wellingon. Just curious as to what made you say that they’re very unprofessional. Cheers!
Also in the same boat of looking for reviews. Can anyone who has reviewed say where they are from please as they are all franchises and if gj Gardner are poor in one area they may be fine in another. We are in east auckland so any reviews from there would be great thanks!
Hi,
Did you build with GJ’s Manukau? Am almost ready to sign a contract with them but have some concerns. One is that the HomeFirst guarantee thy offer has a max of $100 000 for defects. Doesn’t seem much nowadays?
Hi Anita
if you have a look at the HomeFirst information under Design and Planning on the Building Guide website, it sets out the details. Defects are usually minor – if they’re more than $100k then you’re looking at a substantially substandard build and it won’t be classified as ‘defects’.
Same here, looked for a site that gave me feedback on builders. DO NOT GO WITH FOWLER HOMES WELLINGTON. These boys had only completed a few builds, but thought they seemed to know what they were doing…. No Coordination, no -planning, sub-contractors with the exception of the Plumber were shabby and below standard. Just hopeless. Again, DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR FOWLER HOMES WELLINGTON. We will project our next build next time and employ subbies.
Hi,
Can you pl tell me the the builders name as we are planintg to use Fowlers Wellington
Thanks,
Sandy
Hi,
Can you pl tell me the the builders name as we are planing to use Fowlers Wellington
Thanks,
Sandy
Hi Sandy,
Just wanted to ask how you got on with Fowler Wellington?
Cheers!
Has anyone had experience (good and bad) with Signature Homes?
We built with signature n.shore, Albany, 7 years ago now, and would NOT recommend them to fellow builders. The only good thing I will say is that we did end up with a very well built house (we live in a high wind zone) but is that down to signature or the subbies, I’m not too sure?! We did also, however buy a house off Universal Homes, which although bought off plan, was just a section when we bought it. We were able to change the carpet colour (darker) and also change a planned feature wall colour and kitchen cabinets, at no extra cost. After sales service was fantastic and all of the things we asked to be done, ie, paint touch ups etc, were done and done really well! They returned of their own accord to re-coat our wooden front door and garage door. And then after we sold it,, 5 yrs later, the new owners told us that Universal returned as another house in the subdivision had experienced some leaks so they were coming in to fix all of the eaves on all of the houses they had built in that subdivision!! I would, hand on heart, recommend them. I think because they are a smaller company they care about their reputation, and therefore their customers, more! PS, even the subbie painter they used was impressed with the quality of paint provided and remarked that they even did one more coat than they normally did on other jobs with other building companies.
Re Signature Homes in Albany [ Head Office ] who built their homes under the umbrella of Lasque Construction Ltd, has anyone had any problems?
Signature CHCH is owned by an accountant and an electrician who know next to nothing about building, but do know how to charge top dollar and provide mediocre results
Don’t touch the Christchurch branch with a barge pole. The owners are not even builders yet think they know it all.
Hi Ian,
We have a friend that is supposed to be building with Orange homes, she paid her deposit back in November last year and they were supposed to have started in December….forward 8 months and still nothing has started!
Hi John
In response to your question regarding Peter Ray Homes. Kathy is the Sales person there. I think you would be very happy with them because she is very very particular, and you will get your plan the way you want it. Very hands on, she helped build a house for us almost 10 years ago. I personally clean windows for Versatile Homes. Jed is the owner, I feel they have the more personal touch, more down to earth with less of the sales pitch. Jennian and Milestone are very good too. I have heard from many very satisfied customers. We regretfully built with Orange, the quality of the home is very good, but my goodness, it has put me off building again for life. Just the experience and the frustration. Long story…………… Hope I have helped in some way. My contact: 027 868 5433 Good Luck! Ian
Hi KB
I hope Orange have started or even finished that house now. We have one next door being built by them. House looks lovely. Taken a long time to build, don’t quote me on this, but I think the foundations were laid slightly wrong or the council weren’t happy. Council’s can be very fussy. The first thing the neighbour said to us was, “have you had trouble with them (Orange)?”. We shared our frustrations, but they do tend to follow up if there is something wrong. I have a hairline crack in my exterior Stucko wall they are due to repair it I believe, have not heard from them yet though?
Please DO NOT USE PLATINUM HOMES! Please DO NOT got with Platinum Homes if there other options. Like you we are stung badly. We are currently with Platinum Homes and like you we spent months looking at different builders. Now they have treaten to hold the key will we pay their full “true Costs” (40% above agreed value!!). Our house is on the market so we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We questioned every things we can find and agreed to a price but this agreed price is still not the true cost. All the correspondence are in black and white and they can still change. Invoices are in lump sum and you are unable to query them. A few of their contractors are not doing the jobs properly thus we had to keep chasing them to correct mistakes. No matter how much home work you do and reference you get, they can still do what they like…
Hey Joy – we are having problems with Platinum at the moment, and we are just at the building consent / plan drawing stage!!! …which branch were / are you using. Did it get sorted in the end?
Hey Joy, terrible experience but guess what, independent building contractors do their invoicing the same way! No breakdowns, no clarification even when you ask for it and then, at the end they give you a final invoice with Mark up of 20%.
The worst part? That because this is “standard” practice it is sanctioned by the disputes tribunal. The builder doesn’t even have to tell you in advance, or have it in the contract and you not knowing about it until that last invoice is not a valid argument at the tribunal.The % is selected by the builder and can be whatever they want. Boundary of being unreasonable starts at maybe 30% if you are lucky.
It’s a completely deceptive, legally ‘acceptable’ situation
Hi Maxi & Joy, Sorry to butt into the middle, but just a quick comment on the bit about ‘mark ups’. Not quite true to say the builder doesn’t have to tell you in advance etc. If you use the MBF Residential Building Contract on the first page of the Contract Agreement, in Clause 4 you need to fill in the margin % (ie builder’s mark up) for provisional sums, PC sums, additional works and variations. In my experience you should put no more than 15%. Also, if you want to be sure you can later ask for things like breakdowns of costs, then get your solicitor to put in a suitable Special Condition. No decent builder will refuse, but if they do then find another one. To avoid spending money and wasting time on design and quotes, then hitting this brick wall, get the contract details sorted before you do anything else. Also see my previous entries on this topic.
I just finished building with Golden Homes. Like previous blogger, it is an experience that I would not care to repeat. Totally unprofessional. All subbies are unhappy as the company is exploiting them and it shows in the work that they do. The sales person was not the most honest person. Their work is quite substandard that you have to check everything. When I tried to complain to the owner of the company, he just fobbed me of saying that his staff is great etc etc. He did not even talk to me and see what I am complaining about. He just email me a standard response of how good his staff was. Might as well manage the whole thing myself. I would also steer clear of this company. Would appreciate a comment with somebody that has a good experience as a family member is thinking of building too.
This wasn’t Wellington by any chance?
Yes totally agree, we are currently building with Golden homes and are very dissapointed in the way it has all evolved so far, you can walk away but lose alot of money as they have you over a barrel. Its been over a year in planning and they have dragged it out big time, 1 little tweek takes 2 or 3 weeks for even a reply. Even their kitchen and colour sub contractors know how useless the person we were dealing with is. We are very straight forward and had sit down meetings with a dozen adjustments and they never take notes, then when the plan came back half of the adjustments were missed, then 3 weeks later when it did, still some missing so it took months! NOT IMPRESSED AND NEVER AGAIN
Hi
I just wondered what area you built in.
Cheers
Darren
Interested in what area your build was in?, we are less than impressed in the drawn out process and the house hasn’t even started yet but been over a year in planning, here we thought it would be finished months ago, they told us at the start 16 weeks but now its 32 weeks from when the slab is poured!
Hi Mark, we are with Platinum Wellington. Who are you building with?
We built with golden homes and they were just awful now 10 years later we find we have had a slow leak from both showers , and it is because they used a fibreglass matting in the bottom of the shower instead of tanking it with a membrane , it has been a fight to get them to admit liability, to us it is like a leaky home, we are still waiting for the showers to be finished. Guess we will have another fight when it comes to the carpet which is wrecked ..they have been very unprofessional from the start , it cost us thousands extra in hidden costs because
Hi
I just wondered what area you built in.
Cheers
Darren
We built with golden homes and they were just awful now 10 years later we find we have had a slow leak from both showers , and it is because they used a fibreglass matting in the bottom of the shower instead of tanking it with a membrane , it has been a fight to get them to admit liability, to us it is like a leaky home, we are still waiting for the showers to be finished. Guess we will have another fight when it comes to the carpet which is wrecked ..they have been very unprofessional from the start , it cost us thousands extra in hidden costs because they did not listen and we were trusting enough to think we would get what we singed for….. Lots of sub standard work….. This was the third house we have built and we never had any trouble what so ever with the others…so if you know any one with leaking tiled showers in a golden home get them to fix it as they are liable. Insurance will pay for nothing
Hi Deanna,
was it Golden Homes Hamilton?
Thanks
Lizzi
Whoa … don’t touch Hamilton Golden Homes! If you are considering Golden Homes, go with another branch.
We would recommend you NEVER EVER build with Golden homes. Everything went wrong and it got to the point where we were ready to take them to court and were informed the manager was an ex lawyer ( to frighten us ) then got given hush money to keep our mouths shut about the terrible job they did. Not only that but the sales consultant was nothing but a liar and said what he had to just to get our money. In the end we sold our home as it was such a disappointment every time we walked through the door. Worst company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.
I agree Amanda – NEVER use Golden Homes. I had exactly that same experience. Lied just to get my signature on the contract, took loads of money as deposit, took nearly a year to get my plans and consent done and then put an extra $16K on my last invoice without any variation or notification. Had to take them to Court to get some money back as they locked me out of the house until I was forced to pay them. I know exactly who you mean by the “ex lawyer” a real nasty piece of work. If I manage to stop even ONE person building with them I will be pleased.
Hi Amanda and Sarah, are you talking about Golden Homes Hamilton in Te Rapa?
No Lizzi – we are talking about Christchurch Franchise of GH – Peak Construction. 🙂
You now have a reason to feel pleased. You have prevented me from making a bad choice. Thanks.
Btw, as a brand new Kiwi with over 30 years experience and knowledge in the property development industry, I am looking for opportunity here and would be pleased to hear from anyone who can recommend a stake-holder where honesty and dedication would be valued and rewarded.
If you are looking for the best interior designer with over 20 years experience and excellent reviews, call me. I can recommend builder’s painters tiles contractors etc that I can endorse that I have worked with for years.
Carmen
Hi
I just wondered what area you built in.
Cheers
Darren
Not usually one to groan and moan, but we have recently had an overly drawn out and terrible experience with Golden Homes Hamilton. Be very cautious of promised dates. Their project management is atrocious, lack of communication unbelievable, (even the subies agree) and length of time to complete … drawn out. If you choose to go with them, make sure you have well soled shoes so you can jump up and down often to get them onsite.
Building company reviews is just what I was looking for but also came up blank apart from your comments. We are trying to decide a company but the only customer input is on thier own websites and of course are endorsements that can not be checked. I will be wary of platinum homes after your comments. We are leaning towards GJ Gardiner but maybe thats because of thier fantastic publicity machine! rather than actual information.
My recent and ongoing experience with GJ Gardner is a nightmare,and extremely frustrating, poor communication , misunderstandings and an unbeleivable amount of mistakes.
Very poor manager and lot of staff changes in the company
Have to visit the building site everyday to check as builders, and subbies
( who have all been very good) are given wrong specs and instructions, very frustrating for them too, unfortunately it has now become a standard joke amongst them, all the mistakes.
Paid first deposit to them in june 2011 and still haven ‘t moved in September 2012, very slow because of problems.
Have built a number of homes and buildings and never had an experience like this before.
My advice is to stay well clear of GJ Gardner homes
Will, it’s because they peanuts and get monkeys. Disastrous build with GJ and can’t wait to wash my hands of them, sell the house and rebuild!
We are building with GJ Tauranga – the franchise owner has a law degree. So far we have had the foundation laid in the wrong place and were went a letter requesting we sign immediately in case a resurvey of the restriction line was needed by council and pay $600 plus any incidentals. We pointed out our brief was to sight house appropriate and to capture the view. This notice was demanded of us 3 times (and ignored by us after our initial response) before GJ admitted the writer of the demands had messed up and sighted the foundations in the wrong place which required re-sighting. A costly exercise we were being coerced into taking ownership of. 2. We were told the bath we wanted could not be viewed prior to agreement and we therefore opted for a built in bath offered and recommended but insisted it be cradled in the frame. This was later agued against and our layout request was wanted to be changed on the grounds of poor water proofing – we queried this and found GJ had already ordered materials for the build and did not allow for water proofing requirements for our request, had change the layout of the bath without consulting us and were trying to have us agree to a new layout they had budgeted for instead of our requirement. We challenged this and they told us their younger builder had found a way to do as we wanted their other fellow was out of touch with the times. (?) 3. Items asked to be included in the build from day one were ignored i.e. internal vac in spec, garage carpet and loft steps. It turned out the vac in the spec company had been dumped in favour of importing another was finally offered by way of a variance and on query with the vac people themselves as to the model offered, did we find it was not the spec vac listed we wanted and we were being deceived and further was more costly and had less of a guarantee. 4. Tiles enforced to choose in Oct 14 were not secured and in Feb15 after confirming with a company custom building vanities painted to match tiles chosen (GJ made Aware of this Confirmation) were no longer available and were substituted by GJ without our knowledge, listed in the forms and provided to us to sign (needed urgently!) However there were errors on the forms and the tiles did not seem correct so we queried and provide corrected list and requested confirmation the tiles listed were those ordered (Twice.) We were ignored until the contracted ‘colour’ person finally sent emails 2 months later to advise she had substituted tile, left one for us to view at GJ office 2 months earlier ( we were never advised about even after our notifying emails of not hearing from this consultant and tile queries) and the substituted tile had not even been matched with the correct paint colour or rooms they were to be used in. Reselection was now required as vanities could not be changed. Difficult under the circumstances however a match was found and previous tile size, type, and price was attempted to be matched apart from the tile required to match the vanity colour which is same size but different shape (not sq. but oblong.) We were then told we could purchase these ourselves and would have to accept a variance charge and the cost to lay these were increased and sighted unreasonable charges already included in the build price. We disagreed as this was an issue caused by GJ and as tiles had already been agreed to by them without any issue previously why now were there all these other costs included. We have been given to options we can accept the variance charges and purchase the tile ourselves at $4000 plus extra or we will be charged $8000.00 plus extra for variance extra charges. We are off to seek legal advise and will keep you posted.
Hi
We are in the process of building in bethlehem with dj who were you dealing with, and wold you build with them again if you did what would youndomht would be different. My email is nicholsonkevin56@gmail.com
Kevin
GJ Gardner Manawatu is no better. Terrible post build service, poor dispute resolution and average customer service in general. Definitely at odds to what all the hyped up ads promise!! Have had friends build with Latitude Homes and they report a fair superior experience!
GJ Gardner, Papakura branch, now they have moved to Takanini are no better. They build leaky homes. Consumers be aware. Their turn around time to fix their problems is lengthy. They have recently built over 9 houses in Addison Takanini area and many of them have water leaking issues. Now they are going to exploit their opportunities in Pokeno. New Customers beware and don’t fall in their trap. GJ Gardner is a poor building company and have low standards of work.
We are in the process of building with GJ Tauranga and it is turning out to be a costly error. We are controlled and bullied. Saw us coming and capitalised on our ignorance. Do not recommend.
I don’t think its just your builder. Everything seems stacked in their favour. Being able to pass on price increases, charging for additional work that is required to meet council regulations that they should have known but left out of the original contract, schedule delays that cost the owner. I got told today by our builder that it wasn’t up to me to decide if the quality was up to standard, it was his decision?! Had a frank discussion about who was paying the bills but I don’t think it sunk in.
I also looked for something like that and could not find anything. After talking to about 5 companies, I settled with Platinum Homes. Took them almost 3 months just to tweek the plans that I liked. Lost patience with them especially after signing the contract as it took them ages to return my call etc. I gave up but lost my deposit. Little did I know that that should give me an indication of what this industry does. I ended up with Golden Homes and I am not pleased with them either. There are a lot of inconsistencies and grey area. End result, budget blowout and more stresses. I started talking to other people that were building and most of them amazingly would not recommend their builders. Again, an indication of what kind of people are in the industry. My advice is to scrutinise every little thing as you will get duped otherwise. They are all smiles until you sign the unconditional contract. It is a buyers beware situation. If I will do it again, I would get an architect or draftsman to design the house and put your design forward to whichever builder you want. Then you are comparing the same specs. Lastly, do not just sign anything. Make sure that everything is accounted for. Good luck.
Hi Learners, we are also “working” with Platinum and getting a little frustrated with poor comms etc, interested to know which franchise you dealt with?
My wife and I have had similar issues with Platinum Homes here in Christchurch. We have a section for sale at Pegasus Town and was approached by Platinum with a proposal. They would market our section as a house and land package. No fees and positive vibes on a speedy sale. Over a three month period nothing happened other than them putting an advertising board on our plot. They kept none of their promises and rarely returned our calls. We eventually managed to get the address of their office and,albeit reluctantly, they agreed for us to go and see them. All we heard was excuses after excuses why nothing had progressed. In the end we notified them that we had waited long enough and wanted nothing more to do with them and that they should remove their board from our section. We visited our section today, three weeks after the final email, and the board was still there. We returned it to them in pieces. If you are thinking of building your own home in Christchurch, look elsewhere, Platinum won’t help you.
Having awful problems with Platinum (Wellington)!! We should have heeded the warning signs when it took them 6 months to get a final price to us (with only minor changes to ‘off plan’ design). We are now at the 7 week mark from signing contracts and still no plans for council! – despite their own ‘two week’ timescale for this!!!! Interest is mounting up and we cannot change to a different builder as our finance is tied up with platinum as the provider. I would NEVER recommend Platinum to anyone. I wish we could afford to walk away from this… but we are left with just hoping we can afford to take them to court when it gets to that point!!! …. and at the moment I can’t see any other way forward!
Hi Amanda, we are working with an Auckland franchise of Platinum (previous post above), kept going with them due to money already paid but still struggling. Still in planning phase which is due to some big changes to plan by us but turnaround is very slow, long time to respond to questions if at all.
Friends who built with them had similar issues pre-construction but were very happy with the construction team and finished article. Just need to get to that point!
Someone else we know is building with another Auckland franchise of Platinum and they have been awesome, fast turnaround, good supply of info and patient with changes etc. So perhaps not all are cut from the same cloth.
Amanda, it is a difficult one as so much money involved and I feel for you. If people in christchurch are looking for a builder, beware of Yvonne Evans, one of the sales reps from Orange Homes.
She broke into our home illegally, triggered our monitored alarm unaware that we had one installed and then laughs about it.
The police are investigating and she will be called on.
I feel for you there Sue – that is a terrible situation. Of all things you want to feel safe in your new home! I hope the police deal with the situation seriously.
Platinum Wellington has a shocking reputation. My cousin got a job with them and didn’t even make it through the training part before calling it a day. The owner of the Wellington branch is the CEO of the Platinum franchise and is apparently quite abusive and treats his staff like dirt. Good luck!
We are building with Platinum (Wellington). Out friends built their house with Platinum several years ago and everything went very good and they got their house about 7 months after signing all documents. They were really happy with the quality and final price so we thought it would be great to build with reliable company… How wrong we were!!!
It turned into a nightmare for us. Six and a half months down the track and they haven’t even started digging. Almost 4 months they tried to sort out our plans and every time they sent them to us we found little mistakes. And every time it took them about 1,5-2 weeks!!!!! to amend those small mistakes. Then it took ages to get a final price from them. Then we waited for building consent (which is fine), got it about 1,5 month ago and no signs of building on the section yet. Now they are saying that they can’t start building because of weather (does that mean that we have to wait until 2 week sunny weather forecast being issued by Metservice or what?… I don’t know)
So the whole process now is kinda frustrating and we don’t really know if we can do anything to hurry them up (probably not).
I’d never recommend this company to anyone and would be very careful with any others cause it seems that most of them are not that good
After lurking for a while I’ve finally decided to post. We are in the process of building with Platinum in Kapiti (plans in council for consent). I guess it’s the same franchise that Amanda and LK have been dealing with. Although the process hasn’t been perfect we are extremely happy with the way things have panned out. From what I can tell we were fortunate to not have dealt with the bloke who has apparently caused a fair bit of drama. The guy we’re working with told us that they had lost a couple of consultants in the past couple of months so it looks like they must be trying to sort things out. I feel really bad for people like Amanda and LK especially seeing as our experience has been a positive one so far. Watch this space for more updates as we go.
Christchurch, Wairarapa, Wellington, Kapiti, Horowhenua are ALL owned by the one owner…. and after building with him, I would NEVER personally repeat the process. Lack of communication, Skill, Care, but plenty of invoices and payment demands …….. After just over a year in the house we are still waiting for things to be sorted out. We even gave the franchise owner a hand delivered letter Jan 2014 …. still waiting for his response. I’m just curious how he can run a business like this. I’ve managed so far to save 4 people. Yet built with the Rodney/North Auckland Franchise and they were amazing, we even recommended our friends of which through work etc, 12 other families built with them. This franchise doesn’t really seem to care! It even has got to the point where the CEO of Nationwide got involved.!!
Hi, we built with Platinum Homes Rodney aka Ridgeway Construction Ltd. I strongly recommend anyone looking to build in the Rodney/Kaipara area DO NOT build with Platinum. I have been looking for a blog like this and myself and my husband have seriously thought about starting a review website for group home builders following our debacle, which consequently is still not over despite having been living in our house for a year now! Choose carefully, do your research, and be prepared to fight and fight hard.
Hi Krystle,
It appears we share a common building company and perhaps a common experience. I would be interested to know what issues you had with these builders if you are happy to share?
If you would prefer my email is adafrankbox@gmail.com
Happy to swap stories.
Regards
Hi sorry i missed your reply, certainly happy to share experiences, we have just lodged our disputes tribunal application for our wallpaper in which we have 165 faults and its disgusting, been battling for 14 months…. will drop you an email.
I have also spoken to Platinum Homes RODNEY. They are all smiles and helpful. Once you have signed on the dotted line and pay your deposit (which they ask for more than what is required) then the communication just stops. It got to a point after 4 months that it was frustrating plus expensive as we were paying the mortgage and rent at the same time that we just walked away from the contract and lost our deposit. At that point, there was not even a plan or anything yet. I have encountered a few people that lost their deposit with Platinum Rodney the same way. This might be a tactic that they use for unsuspecting clients.Stay away from them.
Hi,
Anyone have any experience working with Platinum homes Wellington recently…we are planning to build with them. So far their communication and pricing are excellent compared to other builders we contacted for the same section.
I am not sure whether they are trying to gain their lost goodwill again by delivering the real quality product.
Platinum Homes Wellington is the same franchise as Christchurch and as I have posted on here several times before they are appalling. Worst company you could possibly imagine dealing with. Lies, delays, lack of communication and some shoddy practices to say the least. We just received our Code of Complience Tuesday of this week and have been living in our home for six months. They have also in the last week just completed all the outstanding unfinished areas after us continually asking. Our experience with Platinum caused me to have a breakdown to the point where I had to stop working and was on medication (seriously, that bad). If you want your full time job to be project managing your own build for the unforseeable future and even once you’re in your home to be emailing and phoning them constantly to get things sorted then by all means choose to build with them. They can’t even hang on to staff, many came and went while we were still stuck dealing with them, and I so wished that we could’ve walked away too. In short I have nothing positive to say about Platinum Homes and I’m so relieved and glad that our experience with them is finally over and we never have to deal with them again. Nightmare.
My personal experience is if you have a strict budget, you do NOT hire an independent architect or draftsman. They may get you that the cosmetic look you desire but the design very likely will blow your budget in building. I do find engaging a reputable, not necessarily big named builder who is specialised in design and build is the most secure and cost effective way of building homes. The designer and builders being in the same team serves a lot of advantage, as they have been working together for a long time, they know what design details work what don’t. I saw a post much earlier on about Cranston Homes in Orewa. I happened to have hired the same firm. They are not huge and mainly build between Auckland and Whangarei only, i think. I was really happy with them. They did a great design and my budget was well managed.
Hi Sandra
Your comment completely resonates with me. Its really good to see some positive comment regarding a design build approach over an independently architect designed. Nothing wrong with architects, understandably their goal is to keep their clients happy, however there is much greater benefit if your builder is involved during the design phase. Of course, if there’s an unlimited budget then there’s no issue whatsoever!
So often we see people get a champagne design done and then try and fit it into a beer budget. This is asking for trouble. There will always be a builder that will say YES. And this is where the problems will begin.
I think it is EXTREMELY important that the budget is kept in check during the design phase. The horse has already bolted if you try and make the budget fit when the design is completed and plans approved for build.
I totally agree with you Sanjesh. We have a lot of clients who have used an architect who have come up with fabulous plans but they have never had a discussion about budget or the architect is totally out of touch with the actual costs of building. At the end of the day the client is left frustrated and bewildered. We recommend the client use a builder and architect who have a relationship with one another. The builder and the architect and the client need to work as a team and unfortunately when a lot of building companies sub their work out their is no team environment and communication breaks down. At the end of the day everyone needs to do their homework and go out and check out the builders previous work who is actually going to build your house. You may find you are better off going to an independent builder who is willing to make variations without getting charge huge costs to do so. At the end of the day it is your hard earned money and you want to make sure you can get as much as what you want within budget.
I’ve just created a site for this very use, http://buildreview.co.nz
I too was looking for a building company review site and found nothing.
The site I’ve created is simple so far and is forum-like in that you can reply to reviews and ask questions/place comments.
Have a look and see what you think, feedback welcome.
Hey there – that’s a great idea – I have posted a couple of reviews. I am going to share on my FB page to try to get some more people to give reviews. May be a good idea to post it on the Trademe Community pages as well, especially the one for the Christchurch Earthquakes as loads of people on there have had experience!! 🙂
Definately . Fabulous. We def need these reviews
That is great re more websites/blogs etc about all these corrupt and cunning builders in NZ. The more info available the better. It would be great to have a website/blog for all the good builders and or building experiences.
Thanks very much Sarah for the reviews, promotion and feedback 🙂 I’ve made one of your reviews “review of the month” on the home page of the site.
I’ll get the site listed on the Trademe Community pages too.
Great to have such a site. Only wish it existed three years ago. The review of the month should say what Peter Ray Homes because, as we all know, franchises can be good in some areas and not in others.
Please say what Peter Ray Homes. Reviews need to be specific.
Hi there – the reason I wasn’t specific is because although Peter Ray build in three locations they are not a franchise. They are all the same company and have different branch managers so they are all overseen by the head office in Chch and have to keep the same standards etc. We built in Christchurch though for clarity.
Hi there – the reason I wasn’t specific is because although Peter Ray builds in three locations they aren’t actually a franchise. They merely have managers for the Blenheim and Nelson branches. They are all overseen by the head office in Christchurch and so all adhere to the same ethics. For clarity though we built our house in Christchurch.
..exactly my sentiment..they just do not give a “shit” about the clients..treat them with upmost CAUTION….!
Not surprised that folks who have had an experience with their own builder wouldn’t recommend them to others. We used Jennian Homes Dunedin and the boss says he had a very good responsible builder assigned to our project. But we ended up encountering many problems with them. After contract was signed, they gave a non committal estimation of how long project would take, did the work in drips and draps – there were days on end where no one was on site. We had to chase and check on them all the time. Poor communication between office and builders on site – resulting in wrong construction plans being used and things had to be taken down and rebuilt. Bathtub cracked but Jennian refused to replace – told us to claim from our insurance company. Site supervisor told us to get off site once when we tried to check on progress. When we were concerned about timing of council approval so that we could move in, we were told that they would take care of it, that we shouldn’t bother them, and told curtly to leave their office. Talk about customer service and courtesy toward customers.
Unfortunately there are alot of poorly performing builders out there but they are greatly out numbered by poorly performing clients who know nothing about the industry and have done little home work about their project and how it will work out. To compare a Golden Home with a one off architect designed build is comparing two totally different products
Hi again
there is a definite need for clients to educate themselves around building and now there is a legal requirement for builders to ensure their clients are ‘informed’ about building (though this is not specified).
This is exactly what the Building Guide does, of course, and yesterday we sent out an email to around 20,000 builders offering free copies to pass on to their clients. While we had a satisfactory response, it staggers me to think that so many didn’t take up the offer of a free, quality publication that will take care of that for them so easily.
It’s so easy for clients to abdicate responsibility to their building professionals – their designer and builder – because a building project is difficult and complex, but unless you put a bit of effort in to understanding what is involved and what your options are, you are more likely to end up with problems.
As before – our website is here – http://www.buildingguide.co.nz and you can email me at mark@aim-high.co.nz and happy to extend the offer of a free BG to people reading this blog.
Mark, you are doing a fantastic job. Don’t know how you can get so involved when you obviously have your own job and life to run…. Simon
Wow – thanks Simon. It’s feedback like yours that makes it worthwhile.
Hi Ian
Check out http://www.buildreview.co.nz – it was set up by someone who came onto the blog here, too. And yes – by all means spread the word. Hope you’re hooking into the Building Guide, too.
cheers
Hi David, not so sure about that, but then again, yes a lot of people who set out to build houses are clueless and get ripped off or stuffed around by cunning so called builders.
We went through 3 architects [ one has won quite a few substantial awards ]. One designed a house that was 3 times what we could afford, the other just simply turned out to be a South African con man and the other became sick, but was a good person.
We then went to one of NZ’s largest group housing builders who built a substantial one off house. It was a bloody night mare. Took 12 months longer to build than it was supposed to and 3 years after moving in, still waiting for things to be finished off. The build was a joke. Luckily i knew a bit about building. Pity the poor people who do not. NZ has so many builders and architects etc who are just waiting to suck the poor client in with their spin and then proceed to rip them off as the laws in place do not protect them Sure, you can spend thousands going to court. I think the best way is to get back at them on blog sites like this.
hi David
That is so true! I am finding that builders are getting it left right and centre. Clients see the words ‘fixed price contract’, then ignore everything else, don’t do proper research and don’t understand the complexities of bespoke designs.
http://keola.co.nz/how-brief-should-your-design-brief-be/
The issue with “bespoke” designs is…the house company or builder cant grasp the simplicity of it at times because its…”we dont do it like that” or something to the sorts..I am a custom boat builder and deal with “bespoke” every day! Builders and so called in house designers need to be much more flexible and look at a different ways. We are kiwis!
I have just been told of this site and couldn’t wait to take a look. We are building in Christchurch with Platinum homes and can tell you I found the earthquakes less stressful than building with them. It’s been three long years since we agreed for them to rebuild our quake damaged home, and it’s been such a ridiculously long process from the plans, to the consent and throughput the build which was started in May 2014. We are still not in our home. We have had no satisfaction from anyone we have dealt with within the company two project managers, construction manager and CEO from Wellington. Excuses, delays, stuff ups. I have taken to managing as much as I can myself and go twice daily to check up on who’s been there and what’s been done. As our insurance money ran out on December 10th we now have to pay the mortgage on a building site and the rent on our temporary accommodation which has turned out to be not so temporary. The project manager is completely incompetent. The only saving grace for us is that some of the sub trades have been awesome-and I get the impression they feel for us. We’re hoping we’re going to get to the finish line soon but we still haven’t been given a completion/handover date. My advice to anyone looking for a building company “DON’T TOUCH PLATINUM HOMES WITH A BARGE POLE ” you’ll end up regretting it.
We are having extreme difficulty with PLATINUM HOMES too. Ours is an earthquake rebuild in Chch. Our insurance project manager decided to change our builder late last year after several holdups and settled on Platinum homes. We signed a contract with them in December 2014 and everything was going to be wonderful. They had no plans, etc to tweek because they were using our original ones. “We wouldn’t have taken it on if we couldn’t do the job!” we were told. We were given a 32 week building schedule so we were very excited thinking we would be moving into our new house in Sept. 2015 well in time for Christmas. Or so we thought! Since then they have taken 6 months to build a retaining wall and dig a few holes for piles. Nothing else has been done. They are full of excuses, empty promises and unfulfilled commitment! It is just ridiculous and so frustrating that we can’t get a straight committed answer from them now. I certainly WOULDN’T RECOMMEND PLATINUM HOMES to anyone. This is been the sour icing on the distasteful cake that we have had to deal with over the last 4 and a half years!
I’m so sorry to hear of your misfortune in having to deal with this appalling company, my heart truly goes out to you. Unfortunately we are still trying to get them to come and finish the remaining minor items left unfinished. I just don’t understand what their problem is or why it’s all so difficult as I said they are only small things. It’s just more of the same crap we’ve had from them throughout the entire project. The bottom line is they honestly just don’t care. I could write pages and pages concerning this unscrupulous outfit but I’ve come to the conclusion that there is just no point because they can pretty much do whatever the hell they like and not be held accountable. My advice to you would be if you can, to cut your losses and find a way out of your contract with them because it won’t get any better, you’ll just get more of the same, ( lies, false promises, excuses, delays, he said she said ). Sadly you and I are not the only ones either. We just want to get on with our lives and put our horrendous experience with Platinum Homes behind us. Good luck.
Hi Nessy
We are an earthquake rebuild too and having extreme difficulty getting anything out of Platinum Homes. Our 32 week rebuild should be finished in Sept but so far all they’ve done is put in a retaining wall and dug a few holes for piles. We are very disillusioned with the whole process. How did you get on in the end? Are you in your home yet? If so are you satisfied with the finished product?
We also attempted to build with Platinum in Christchurch…put it this way…we signed plans with them in November 2013 and are currently in litigation with them to get the remainder of our $150k deposit back from them.
They were horrific to deal with. We spent months correcting errors made by their architect.
We then spent months trying to get the plans through council…after being advised that there would be no problem getting a resource consent for what we wanted and that they had obtained such consents before, we found out that the council NEVER issue consents for what we wanted to do (secondary dwelling bigger than the 75sqm due to wheelchair access)…
We spent months trying to tailor the plans to work for the council..all of the initiative and designing and problem solving came from us not Platinum, who couldn’t even find out basic information from the council for us or turn up to meetings with the planner on time.
After 12 months we said we needed to look at our options as we had money tied up and we needed to find a way forward or stall for a bit until we found more equity. We asked for an indication of costs to date and options for putting a hold on the building consent with council. They never gave us either for months. It was then we went to a lawyer, and they still didnt give us costs to date or invoices, ignored our lawyer, ignored their lawyer, until we issued proceedings!
Then they panicked and agreed to repay some of the deposit that was not disputed but refused mediation over the disputed portion so now we are in litigation for that part….which equates to $50k, $25k of which is sales commission for a rep that blatantly lied to us about having no problem getting a resource consent for what we wanted (which was a must have and why we signed with Platinum in the first place).
So as yet still unresolved but in no circumstances would I ever suggest anyone ever sign up with Platinum Christchurch. They are incompetent, lie, delay, and are generally unprofessional to deal with.
I am looking at building a house with Platinum or GJ Gardner in Hamilton area.
Does anyone has experience with these builders in that area?
Thanks
GJ Gardner, Papakura branch, now they have moved to Takanini are no better. They build leaky homes. Consumers be aware. Their turn around time to fix their problems is lengthy. They have recently built over 9 houses in Addison Takanini area and many of them have water leaking issues. Now they are going to exploit their opportunities in Pokeno. New Customers beware and don’t fall in their trap. GJ Gardner is a poor building company and have low standards of work.
I wouldn’t recommend any of the GJ Gardner branch. They all are same. GJ Gardner build leaky homes. Consumers be aware. Their turn around time to fix their problems is lengthy. They have recently built over 9 houses in Addison Takanini area and many of them have water leaking issues. Now they are going to exploit their opportunities in Pokeno. New Customers beware and don’t fall in their trap. GJ Gardner is a poor building company and have low standards of work.
We are currently building with Platinum in Morrinsville (Proform Construction Ltd) and are very satisfied with the progress made on our house. Communication is good and they provide good advice on do’s and don’ts. From this experience we learned that every detail should be clarified prior to signing the contract, when amounts are allocated for a specific material e.g. enhancement of kitchen or fencing etc. it is important to go into details and to know what is in the standard and what material will be supplied against a lump sum.
We bought a GJ Gardner home (in Millie Pl) Had endless problems with GJ with fixing up maintenance issues.
Even had a meeting with the boss to no avail. We would NEVER buy one of their homes again – sorry!
Built with Generation – what a fantastic company. Their maintenance department is fantastic. Came around and fixed little issues for years!
I take it this applies to Generation Hamilton. We built with Thames Coromandel lot in Cambridge and I wouldn’t use “fantastic” in any of my descriptions. Whilst they come back and fix issues, if they didn’t slap their houses together in 14 weeks, putting such tight pressures on their tradies that they don’t have time to do a descent job, then may be they wouldn’t need such a comprehensive maintenance department fixing stuff they should have got right the first time round. Do it once do it right, would never build with Generation again or recommend them to anyone.
We can only say good things about Generation Homes Christchurch. We are currently building our house in Longhurst and we are a week ahead of the schedule. From day one, Lindy, our agent, has been very accommodating and helpful. We started the build last July and we are still on target for the October handover. Fantastic team.
I hope your luck continues with Generation Homes, our build with them here in Millwater, Auckland was awful and we emailed to complain with the CEO and received no reply! I consider our build not complete and Paul who had the franchise here has got/forced out.
What area are you in? We are in Hamilton, been scouting. So far looked at GJ, signiture and A1? Any feedback for any of these franchises?
Gina, as a customer in the completion stages of a build with GJ Gardner in Rodney (Auckland), I would recommend extreme caution. A slick sales machine, lots of chest beating about being NZs number 1. Beyond selling the dream, contracting is inflexible , design assumptions especially stormwater drainage etc need to be independently reviewed, communication is erratic throughout the build and you will find yourself interacting more than you should need to with the franchise head. Project Management quality varies significantly with the best ones moving on because they are simply overwhelmed by their project portfolio. Most of all make sure you retain an appropriate sum to ensure all issues and defects are satisfactorily remedied. The overall service experience has turned out to be far short of what was sold.
Hi Gina, Might be a bit late to the party here, but if you haven’t yet started your project, feel free to give me a call or email 🙂
Thanks,
Emma – DW Homes
021 515 574
e.Christiansen@dwhomes.co.nz
Did you ever build with Platinum Homes in the Waikato area?
Wow wow wow…has anyone seen Platinum Homes facebook page with the big fat arse photo!! I just did and couldn’t resist putting suitable comment. Unfortunately they took it down and blocked me…they were efficient for once in their life. Instead of replying, they choose nah…delete so can mislead more people……..
I am planning to create facebook page called Platinum Homes Nightmare and my quote will be “Platinum Homes everything kiwis call Nightmare!
Please like it so we can share it to save people.
I also noticed they provided no review function on their FB page, no surprises there! Have also seen previous comments removed and users blocked from their page. It is an admission of guilt in itself!
Typical!! How about this one,, I was driving through Porirua a few weeks back and noticed an A1 Homes sign up on some scaffolding of this house. I did a double take because either someone tagged it or they made a major typo error as the “e” in homes was replaced with an “o” so it read A1 Homos!!!! It made my day I couldnt stop laughing. I wonder if the home owner had done that?? Anyway, drove past next afternoon and it was gone!!!!! Quick to respond to that too!!!
We built with Platinum homes in karaka Auckland. and we had to take them to the Disputes Tribunal to get all issues rectified, which we succeeded at. Their communications and respect for the customer is zero once you have paid the deposit and they can stall as long as they like. We made clear every change, upgrade. in the beginning but we were ripped off with the difference between variations of upgrades and replacement. I would never recommend Platinum on any level for the construction of a home.