Builder Recommendations - Perth

Hello Everyone

We are building our 2nd home in Perth and have been shopping around for a few months now. We're down to 2 finalists (Home Group and Impressions). Has anyone built with either of these and has some feedback?

- they have both customised their designs to suit our needs
- they are neck to neck in terms of pricing and inclusions

- BUT... Impressions is giving us a handsome discount whereas Home Group is not. So we are more inclined towards Impressions but again we don't know what we don't know.

Any feedback is much appreciated. What are the key things we should be looking at?

Thank you all in advance.

Hi spinvests, I know home group WA were importing there cabinets from China, so not made locally and I'm not sure if you would want to trust that, they also import there own tapware. My brother built with homegroup and did have a few issues but overall they weren't bad.

Thank you Doozer1905. They say European but I've been advised by a few people that they are from China which I am not sure how good they are in terms of quality. They look good though. Also, because they are imported, we cannot make any changes to the Kitchen/Scullery. But that's not a problem with Impressions as they are custom made locally so you can move things around and make changes.

We had the same reservations about the Chinese imported Cabinetry. It does look good, however comes in set combinations, which you can't alter as they buy them in modules and won't split them up. There's also a limited choice of colours, I think 4 in the stone and maybe a few different coloured laminates.

All of their tiles, taps and fittings are also imported from China and are their own brand/name. I know they would cover it with a warranty, however in the future if you needed parts, you would be locked into going back to them to get any assistance.

Home Group did offer to do custom cabinetry for us, however I got the impression from the sales person that this wasn't the norm for them and that the price would be substantially higher than the quote we had which included the 'Luxury Kitchen' and standard scullery cabinet module.

Thank you thme. We were not offered the custom option. Did you end up going with them? Also, do you know of any issues around going with the Chinese imported cabinetry. I know that not all imported stuff is bad quality (I guess its the unknown that is creating doubts in our minds). Also any thoughts on Impressions?

No we didn't investigate the custom cabinetry option with them. There's been a few posts on here in regards to issues with the Home Group tiles. I don't know of any specific problems with their cabinetry, it's more that they can't be flexible with it as it comes imported into Australia in flat packs which are set combinations. They save money by ordering bulk lots of the same thing. I'm sure the quality is fine.

You're right that it is the unknown that causes you to think closely about choosing to build with them. I think unless the price is very competitive you would be better to investigate other options.

We ended up going with New Choice homes. Our thread is here for our build if you're interested. I haven't heard anything about Impressions and we didn't consider them when we were looking at builders.

Thank you thme. I'll look into the prices and inclusions closely. However, I am now starting to feel going for local made makes more sense.

as an FYI, going local doesn't necessarily guarantee quality, it just would be easier if you want to complain if there are issues.

Thank you IsabellaBoots. I'll keep that in mind. What has been your experience. Good? Bad? With?

With the cabinets I'm nearly positive that the board they use isnt to Australia Standards, I maybe mistaken but dont think I am. I have heard stories about the board from several sources that would know, but wouldn't post that on a forum like this.

Back when I built, I used Ross North. They weren't the cheapest, but I felt like they did a good job, no complaints with the quality of the cabinets. I only have one complaint, it's a cosmetic one to do with the ceiling work in one specific room and I hold myself partially responsible for not raising it as an issue in time.

Unfortunately I don't have any personal experience with the two builders you mentioned. My sister built with one of the cheaper builders about 10 years ago. I can't remember their name, but I know that they used a lot of imported stuff where they could including cabinetry and she's never had any issues with the cabinetry. Meanwhile one of my friends had their cabinet custom made locally and there were a lot of issues with the quality of the workmanship, but he did build during the busy years where I imagine there was so much work going around even the sub par tradies were getting regular work.

Impressions are part of the BGC group who are very capable and good value for money, with a good maintenance department for any issues that come up in the future. Given they're cheaper with more choices I would be inclined to choose them.

Thank you amilelka.

Hi spinvests

Just curious to know who you ended you going with? Thanks

[quote="Chips1":3pnxs7n9]Hi

Impressions. So far, all good.

Just curious to know who you ended you going with? Thanks[/quote:3pnxs7n9]