Gold Ruby Homes in Canberra. Any good?

I have been recently burnt (so badly) by our builder. Lost a lot of money and very emotionally draining.

Anyways, now I need to appoint a new builder to complete my home.
I have looked all over the internet to see who has the best reviews and found Gold Ruby Homes.
I met Matt and he is very nice and accommodating.

Anyone has an experience with Gold Ruby in the past?
Good and bad, I will be grateful to hear your thoughts.
I don't want to get burnt again....

Thanks in advance.

Ps. I'm building in Canberra

Anyone?

Not sure about Gold Ruby but can say from experience (we're just about finished our house) that Blackett Homes has been very reliable. Local builder, been around for ages and very well organised.

Thanks Shirokuma. I did call Blackett Homes but they were charging $1,000 for a quote and it is non-refundable

Really? Ours was free and it was something they prided themselves on - providing a full quote without the customer having to hand over money. They were the only builders (and we visited a few!) that were prepared to do this.

Their website says:

Why would you pay a deposit for your new home without knowing what’s included and the full price?

At no cost to you Blackett Homes can provide you with a full cost proposal for the construction of your preferred home design on your block. This proposal would include floor plan, site plan, and any specified upgrade items. In addition, we will identify and price any other cost items that may be apparent or necessary, for example developer’s requirements and additional site costs due to site slope & soil classification.

That is really surprising Shirokuma! They definitely asked for $1000 to quote us

I'm pretty all these Canberra builders are fine.. do you own legwork and research and find one that you are happy with
(be prepared to pay a lot no matter who you choose, building is not cheap and the bills keep coming)

APA

Classic Constructions

Gold Ruby

Renaissance homes

Ruiz

Blackett


EDIT:
A lot of 1 post accounts created by recently for people who have built with Gold Ruby... hmm...

Hi Ibby,
Hubby and I are building with Goldruby in Googong. He's been very flexible and accommodating. For example, hubby works shift work and so Matt will see us on weekends, after hours, whenever we can fit in. We call him or email him any time of the day to ask questions and nothing is too much bother. We originally drew up some plans with his architect and than decided the plans were not working out and wanted to change it completely and Matt didn't even flinch.
Goldruby's inclusions are pretty good too.
If you would like more info just PM me

edited

The thing with Matt is that he is just so super accommodating. Its like having your own personal builder even though Goldruby currently has about 60 houses on the go. Nothing is ever too much of a drama for him. Change this, move that, add this, take that off. Its really very easy to get exactly what you want.

As other people have already noted, he's also very easy to get hold of, which is not always the case. He replies to text messages and emails usually on the same day, and he's always willing to meet out of hours.

I did a lot of research online and spoke to some other Goldruby clients we met around Fyshwick and Mitchell before making the call, but I'm very glad we did.

Hi happysarah,
How did you go with Renaissance Homes? I am in the process of choosing a builder so I 'd like to hear your experience. Thanks

We are currently looking for a good quality builder in Canberra, would you be able to give some feedback on your experience with renaissance.

Thanks

Hi all,
We are about to build our 4th house (we have kept the other 3) with Gold Ruby. I recommend the team and the quality of homes that they have built for us. Not only have we received high quality and cost effective value, we actually went back, again and again. The ROI for us has been amazing.
I'm a Mum with 2 children, a hairdresser by trade and we know all of the "news" on builders. Matt is my choice!!
Always get testimonials to satisfy your enquiries!! Feel free to check them out! Julie.

Gold Ruby is Quality Builders
I had a great experience with Matt , He is very responsive and helpfull.

I build my house in Wright , the quality and finish is not expensive and other builders can’t compete!
It is great head turner house , everybody like to build the same , and people ask me about builder .

they build over 50 houses a year, and i visited most of them before i signed the contract,

I am very happy with their service.

I will highly recommended Gold Ruby Homes.

Thanks

Regards

Gurjant

Hi All,

Thank you for all your responses and advise. I'm sorry for the late follow on story but been really busy! Anyways, we ended up going with Gold Ruby Homes (GRH) and I cannot recommend them enough.

As per my initial post, my old builder, Sublime Constructions, went into liquidation and lost significant amount of money (over $150k). We paid them 85% of the contract and our house was no where near half finished. It also had major defects. When GRH saw our half finished house especially with all the defects that it had, they could have walked away from the project BUT they didn't. In fact, they were sympathetic and they genuinely wanted to help us out to finish our house. GRH fixed all defects and completed our home in the highest quality possible. We moved to our place in December 2014 and we love every single bit of it. We cannot thank them enough to what they have done for us.

@happysarah. I personally have never built with Renaissance but I think it is unfair about your opinion on Matt. He is far from smooth talker and he is definitely genuine. When we told him our story, we could tell that he cared. He took us to see many houses that he built including his house! His quote was on par with other quotes we received. Re warranty, he gave us 12 months maintenance period which most of other builders only give 3 months. Re grey area, Matt sent us every single invoice of our house from the suppliers! So we knew exactly how much everything cost. This is way far of them having a grey area. The transparency of the process is amazing. Harvey Norman Commercial was surprised that I had a copy of the invoice when I called them because they said that usually builders do not pass that copy to their customers! Re quality, our house is built to a high standards. We hired our own inspector to inspect every single stage of the building and even them were impressed about the quality of the build especially with the defects that they inherited. Anyways, everyone is entitled to their opinion but I also want to tell mine. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have the beautiful house that we currently have.

Anyways, I am glad that our nightmare is over. I hope that no one has to go through what we've gone through.

Cheers,

Ibby

Hi Guys,
I build my house in Googong with Goldruby Homes. He is very trustworthy and honest.I like him the way he is treating with the people. He is very flexiable during my house construction. He take whole responsability even to change something.

Those people who says he is smooth talker or something.I will say to them, If some body polite to talk and helpfull to others it doesn't mean he is bad guy.
I personally has very good experience with Mathew Smith. I luckily choose Goldruby Homes. I Spoke with so many Builders before constructing my house, They say something at the end they do something else. Its hard to find a genuine builder.
I hope everyone in this forum understand that when they start constructing their house, i highly recomend go and talk with Mathew for one time.
Then they can see their quality houses work and in very competetive price.
Thanks
Suninder

I have recently Built my house with Goldruby builders in Coombs. I have made my own plan and engineering drawing to the details and approached many builders in Canberra. Most of them turned away from me saying that it is going to be very expensive and difficult. My block of land had one meter fall side wise and i wanted to build my house on an elevated position . I had initial talk with Mathew smith at gold ruby and he agreed to build according to my plan after half dozen meeting and discussion.They made me involved in each and every step of the building process and I have made lot of changes during the construction without any extra cost. I was very happy with the quality of the materials and the tradies he used. When it was nearing to completion my wife wanted to replace an existing door with wider one and put a skylight in rumpus room. He made those changes with no extra cost. I have recommended Goldruy to couple of my friends and all had good experience. My address is 6 Janine Haines Coombs

We have known Gold Ruby Homes and Matt for the past 10 years, and built 2 houses with him during this time. Matt is always helpful, cheerful and supportive of his clients and will honour his commitments!

we've even tried other builders, but have been burnt badly in the process. Even though we weren't building with GoldRuby Homes at the time, Matt bailed us out of tough situation. We cannot thank him enough for all his help during this time.

Gold Ruby homes builds quality homes in Canberra and has grown to be a leading building company in the past decade.
Its been a pleasure building with you Matt!

We recently got our first home done by Gold Ruby Homes & trust me , our experience was awesome.

Finishing is of very high quality & something that suited our pockets. I would say far from being expensive and of top quality. We had meeting with around 10-12 builders in Canberra but finally settled with Gold Ruby Homes who helped us in completing our first dream home in Australia.

Dealing with Mathew Smith - Director Gold Ruby Homes was very easy. He is simple man & very transparent in dealing. Its his nature to help people to fulfill their dreams. He gives suggestion which are latest trend, practical & easy on pockets.

The best thing is about Gold ruby homes is that they do not have any display homes. When you meet Mathew Smith, he understands your need and shows you houses which he has actually done for his customers. Building almost 50 houses a year, you need a lot of skills & quality. They have got them all.

I reckon, before finalizing your builder, do them a call. They are really good, very genuine & of top standard.
If you don't see them before finalizing your builder, you are definitely missing out a lot.

I am very happy with the house & smile on my wife & 5 year old in the house give me confidence that I have made very correct decision by going with Gold Ruby Homes & Mathew Smith.

If in future, I decide to build a second house, it has to be thru Mathew Smith & Gold Ruby Homes.

I hope this will help you in forming your decision.

Gold RUBY - Awesome builders.

After approaching several builders in Canberra I could not find a plan that would suit my needs. After doing some online research I approached Matthew Smith of Gold Ruby with my requirements who then showed me around several houses he had under construction at the time. One happened to suit our needs and that was the one we ended up building with a few alterations to the plan. Where other builders have fancy display homes and other office staff (which you end up paying for anyway) Gold Ruby has none of this - there good name speaks for themselves. Only after starting the build I found that a work colleague was building with them there second house and had nothing but praise for Gold Ruby.

Having no other builder to compare with makes it difficult but from what I have seen and heard (and now experienced) Gold Ruby is one of the most flexible builders to deal with. You are dealing first hand with Mathew (as opposed to office staff) and is always available to discuss any issues in a professional manner. His tradies were also available during the build process. The quality of the build is excellent and definitely not expensive for the inclusions offered.

The biggest plus in going with Gold Ruby was that I was able to access the site without making an
appointment. Hey, I own the block and I have every right to be on it. Other builders stop you from entering (mainly due to liability if something happens or this is the excuse they use) but I would rather pick up on a mistake before the end of the building process rather than having it fixed at the end. I have seen and heard this first hand with other builders as they would rather fix something at the end even after you have moved in. Oh and in case somebody is wondering, yes I do have a white card and thus I could enter legally to do cabling work which I was licensed to do on my property.

There was an ongoing issue after the warranty period had finished but Matt went above and beyond to get the problem resolved.

I would be more than happy to go again with Gold Ruby when the time comes to build again. I recommend them highly.