Elara Homes / formerly Aaron j Homes

Has anybody heard of this builder or currently building with ? Found their display in Warragul which was good and like some of their plans but uncertain as to how reputable this company is and why they are changing their name - their website is still Aaron J Homes but website looks like last updated 2012. Any information would be valuable

Did you go with this builder?
I also like there plans but haven't heard of them before. Let me know your experience if you are going ahead with them. If not which builder you choose? Ta.

Hey,
I know a few people who have built with them. Cranbourne, Pakenham, Warragul areas. Including myself.
They're a small family builder from Pakenham/Warragul. Been around 13-14 years. Well know in those areas.
Most staff have been there 10 years or more, so they're very stable, but don't have big budgets for advertising etc.
One of the previous owners went on to do other projects, so they started the new branding. Everything else is the same, including original owner, who is the registered builder etc.
They're old school, very straight forward. No flashy games or campaigns.

My husband and I are currently building with Elara Homes in West Gippsland and we have only positive feedback about them. The build quality is excellent and their responsiveness to our questions has been prompt. Our SS is very knowledgeable and has made several suggestions about minor variations to our plans which have been in our favor. Due to knowing little about them before we commenced building we have hired an independent inspector, however so far all identified issues have been consistent with their own building inspector and rectified promptly. The other staff we have dealt with between the display houses and office have also been exceptional - as first time builders we have hounded them with questions and variations that they have been more than happy to answer or add to our contract. They are very reasonably priced and we highly doubt that we could have achieved the same features and size of our house if we went with a larger builder.

I read this thread a couple of years ago, when considering building with Elara. It helped to convince me to choose them.

My house is now built, and my building inspection has found a bunch of defects with the tiling. I figured I'd just organise to have them fixed as it was within my warranty period. Elara wont even acknowledge many of the defects, and went so far as sending me an edited VBA document with a section removed. According to the section their tiling is defective, no wonder it was missing from the pages they sent me!

I'm absolutely appalled by their unprofessional behaviour and poor workmanship. Maybe they were OK in 2019, but in 2022 I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I'm now looking at getting my brand new bathrooms ripped out and redone to fix the defects. Just an absolute nightmare I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone.

Yeah, I can understand your pain. I chose them as I didn't get any reviews that time. I had several problems with them. May be try posting on product review as well. I did it that time.

I'm sorry to hear you've had issues with them as well, it seems to be a common experience. Hopefully other people don't end up in this situation.

Did you end up getting any resolution?

I'm preparing to go to DBDRV, and given Elara's conduct so far I'm expecting to end up at VCAT. Ill be hiring a lawyer too, since the defects are ao extensive. I've put in a complaint with the VBA as well, they've confirmed that sending that edited document breaches the regulations around professional conduct. I'm pretty sure Elara have broken consumer law around misleading conduct too.

I'm now looking into reporting them to Master Builders, since they're a member, and I doubt MB want their name associated with a builder who pulls this kind of behaviour and does defective work.

I wonder how many other people they've tricked into accepting defective work.

BradK86 Just wondering how you went solving your issues with Elara Homes ?

We built Elara's top plan, it was an absolute nightmare the whole way through, they cut every corner possible.
Our issues started before the build started and continued just about every step of the way...
We have been chasing them all year trying get them to come out to complete issues we found before handover and was told it would be all done by handover, then was told it would be done on the 3 month maintenance period, its nearly been a year since handover and very little has been done.
Now we're dealing with plumbing issues where we had a blockage that filled the pipes up and we quickly found out that the toilets, baths and showers are not sealed to the pipe in the concrete slab, so we had septic leak out everywhere, it went under all the tiles to the carpets in rooms surrounding both toilets.
Septic has soaked into frame work, skirting boards, plaster, the concrete slab and as I said, the carpets and under all the tiles.
The scary thing is that Elara's plumber said that he's been doing it the same way for 25 to 30 years !
It's looking like insurance isn't going to cover the damages due to it being a building defect and will be under the builders warranty...
I've contacted Elara and its looking like they want nothing to do with it, the owner said to contact my insurance...

I suggest that anyone that has built with Elara homes or Aaron j homes, to get you plumbing checked, as its just a matter of time before you have the same issue!

Would be great if someone started a facebook page about them, I bet the stories will come flowing in !