Building with Burbank...

Another week gone and I got half a splash back..I might be in by Christmas!.....2020

Oh wow PE. That's going slowly! I hope it speeds up for you.



We've got PCI next week, not sure how that will go down. We are expecting that a few things we want fixed wont be. Our door into the garage still looks green (maybe needs another coat of paint?) and the painting on the window infills is pretty bad. Our door, which we spent a small fortune upgrading, looks patchy and there is a large mark on it (not from the wood stain). But everything else looks pretty good.
We are happy with how it looks in general, will be interesting to see how we feel after PCI.

Thanks Sevven me too. Where are you building? I'm in Lara. There is a Burbank across the road from me who seem to be about a week ahead but I had a look and their place which isn't clean yet either which after the remaining part of splash back goes in is all that's required to be done on mine.

My place started 1st week of December with no finish date in sight yet. When did you start?

A friend with another builder started 6 weeks after me and he gets his keys next week. the neighbor behind me started building 2 months after me and the only difference is I have carpet which is what, one days work?

My doors also need second coat of paint same green issue and also noticed some pretty bad work from painter in other places like you have and bad concreter's on my driveway leaving jagged edges as they didn't line up the edge timbers correctly:(

Near Pakenham.
They are getting there, slowly...
Our neighbours started mid November and have been in a couple of weeks now. Our slab was poured 10/1 (although was meant to be done start of December).

Oh wow! That's fast! Lucky buggers! It's amazing the variance between different builders and areas.

That's not good! I hope they fix it up!
Have you spoken with your SS and been given a reason why its taking so long or a rough end date?
We've found their communication to be quite bad!

Have not heard a single word back from them in about a week now since I last contacted them myself. Pretty disappointed once again in their customer service. There is just a total lack of communication even after I told them I expected an update.

Let alone how slowly they are moving now especially so close to the end.

Sounds very familiar.
Keep calling the office and harrass them. Hopefully they get back to you asap! A date or something (anything!) would be nice! We got 2 maybe 3 phone calls from our as throughout the whole build updating us. Any other time we wanted to know something we contacted our liaison, who at first was amazing. But changed mid way through and the replacement is, not so great. Never knows anything, or what's going on.

Didn't a BB rep recently post here? Did that help, or they just surfing for negative feedback??

I'm going to have to chase them once again tomorrow which is just ridiculous. Some of the worst customer service Ive ever experienced especially considering how much I'm spending!

Haven't heard back from the BB rep on here yet, chasing her now too!

Its unfortunate I deal with people who are looking at building homes and unfortunately cannot say good things to them about Burbanks Service.

You would think this day in age with forums like this and twitter, facebook & that word of mouth can easily spread negativity if it occurs & has an impact on their business.

I certainly do not feel like a valued customer at all:(

Are you calling them or emailing? We have several numbers and generally they get answered straight away. And our liaisons direct extension.

We have found their communication to be on/off. Sometimes they are great other times, not.
If you had a good sales rep maybe call them? They'll have direct numbers.
There communication might be bad, but from what we have seen and the people we have spoken to their build quality is great. And apparently the SS have to pick up 98% of issues, if any more are picked up and that happens 3x(i think?) they can loose their job. Now I don't know how true this is though.
In saying that we still have an independent inspector, who has picked up a few things (most of which BB said they knew about and were fixing) other things they told us they didn't have to do anything that he picked up as an issue.
Structurally everything has been great, a couple of minor issues which were fixed straight away, the only issues we really have had have been aesthetics, but maybe we are just picky and expect perfection.

I hope everything turns out good in the end. It's so frustrating, but hopefully you'll be in your new home soon!

I'll be the first to admit that once my project went from sales to the admin team, communication was terrible. We had a fantastic sales rep (who we still stay in contact with even though he's now moved to another company) then handed over to a client liaison who was really not good when it came to being on top of the job, responding to communication and keeping us up to date. Our SS was changed shortly after construction started and never contacts us. If I hadn't run into him once on site I'd assume he was a fictitious entity.

However...

Our liaison left the company and our new one is, quite frankly, fantastic. Calls regularly, responds immediately, knows what is going on with the project, and is extremely helpful. On the construction side we deal directly with the construction manager and he too is fantastic, responds immediately, happy to be called or emailed directly, and actions any issues. So at this point I cannot rate Burbank any more highly as they are absolutely brilliant in their client relations now with my project.

I've been very happy with the work on site and particularly that my neighbours are all happy. Nothing worse than problem tradies ******* off the neighbours so that when we move back we have to mend a few relationships. The quality of the work has been really good (and I'm picky). I experience the frustration of slow activity on site on occasion but that's typically the nature of the industry given the tradies move job to job and can easily be delayed on the previous project.

There's nothing worse than when you're spending a fortune and are left to feel like you aren't important. Good communication is cheap to provide and can make the difference between customer satisfaction and an irate and frustrated customer. A project delay can seem more reasonable if you're given a schedule and are told there's been a delay and why. It's not hard to do. Unfortunately there are people in customer facing positions that are dreadful in client relations in every company. If it was my company, I'd be weeding those people out because it can make or break your reputation.

Escalate until you get your answers. Good luck!

Ive been emailing mostly as I understand I am not their only customer and I understand how it is to be bombarded with calls emails etc. So i feel emailing gives them some breathing time to respond.

Having said that its been another week with no response and I find that unacceptable so thats when I started calling last week out of frustration, which I feel I shouldn't have to do. I am their customer and i am paying them. I expect them to be doing their job.

As far as my SS goes he has missed everything I have brought to his attention. So honestly I hope he gets replaced as he clearly isnt doing his job and checking my build properly. I'm certainly not being overly picky, sliding doors should be able to slide and close & roof trusses should not be split in half. Fairly obvious things he didnt even notice!

Im glad you have great contacts with Burbank. I am certain its just a few that do tarnish companys with their poor work ethics.

My contract Supervisor is awesome but even she is out of the loop from my SS. Hopefully Burbank get to the bottom of whats going on and can update me ASAP

Update:

Escalated my issues and was put in contact with my site manager. Met him onm site to discuss issues that needed addressing.

Much more approachable guy who actually cared about what I was saying, noted everything down and a few days later got a call updating progress of what we discussed. Many issues are being addressed rather than being given the brush off.

Have been told I will certainly be in before the end of June which will be 7 month build! Still a long time I think but site manager assured me everything is 100% ready to go on settlement no extra connections installation of appliances etc required.

House has been cleaned and final paint touch ups happening next week (most everything needs another coat!)

Late next week I should hear from SS to book PCI

Does anyone know who pays the water bill during construction?
Ive just noticed our front tap is leaking water and i am hoping that we are not responsible for paying this - also other tradies have been using our tap too

You pay the water bill unfortunately. Our water mains was broken by the brickies (or the brick delivery) and was leaking underground for a while. I'm yet to see the water bill for that...I'm just hoping the break was right BEFORE the meter rather than after it....

Thanks Bluesuede, i spoke to BB today and they said connection fees are on us, but they are happy to pay for the usage

Damn - I should forward them my bill then!!

Maybe call your liaison and speak to her/him?

I had to pay mine and I caught other tradies using my tap as well as site Manager telling a tradie 3 doors down off for running a hose to my tap!

On a lighter note... my house has been cleaned and site scrapped and house marked out for painting touch ups. Not sure when this is happening but was told to expect a call today (didn't happen) or tomorrow to organize my final inspection.

We shall see if that eventuates as I was told I would be in by end of June which is drawing ever closer....

Got the call PCI Booked for 7th June:) FINALLY!

Settlement on 20th June :)