Anyone building with GJ Gardner Homes Illawarra?

Dylucoop · Jan 15, 2012 6:44 am

Hi there

I'm in the looooong process of building with GJ Gardner Homes Illawarra.

Is anyone else doing the same with Gardners?

I would like to hear about your experiences, both good & bad!

Here's my story in a nut shell:

Signed contracts June 2010
Started excavating September 2010
House should have been completed July 2011
Now January 2012, not even gyprocked yet

I'm not here just to complain, but to be honest with you, I'm rapidly losing faith in what I originally thought was a good decision to go with Gardners Illawarra.

Is anyone out there willing to share their stories with me?

I welcome any advice or opinions, positive or negative...

soccermum · Jan 17, 2012 4:35 pm

I'm sorry to hear its taken so long

must be very frustrating! Have they said what the hold up is?

We originally looked at their display home at Haywards Bay. The lady said there was a turn key package available soon and she'd give us a call but that was over 6 months ago and she never rang

veseli · Jan 17, 2012 7:18 pm

I know a woman that's going to Court with them, took too long to build, too many defects and they wouldn't rectify any of them.

Good luck.

Dylucoop · Jan 22, 2012 8:23 pm

soccermum

I'm sorry to hear its taken so long

must be very frustrating! Have they said what the hold up is?

We originally looked at their display home at Haywards Bay. The lady said there was a turn key package available soon and she'd give us a call but that was over 6 months ago and she never rang

Thanks for your reply. Yes VERY frustrating!! They all seem to be really nice people & they promise the world, but unfortunately they just don't live up to their promises.

They blame the tradies for being so far behind schedule, they said they have trouble getting them to commit to a job. I've since heard that a lot of the tradies don't like working for GJ Gardners Illawarra. Whether that's true or not, still no excuse for being almost 9 months behind...

I wish I was a happy customer who could recommend them, but unfortunately that's not the case

Dylucoop · Jan 22, 2012 8:32 pm

veseli

I know a woman that's going to Court with them, took too long to build, too many defects and they wouldn't rectify any of them.

Good luck.

Thanks for your comment

I also know of several people who are taking them to court. Yes build time is waaaaay overdue (9 months to be precise) & yes quite a few defects as well.

I'm still in the process of building so fingers crossed everything will be rectified as promised. But sad to say that I had to compromise on a few issues due to their errors & incompetence. But I think lots of people have encountered the same problems with other builders too (not that I'm defending GJ Gardners Illawarra)...

I guess I'm disappointed because instead of being an exciting & happy experience, so far it's been highly stressful & very frustrating

Room2Breathe · Nov 11, 2012 9:16 pm

Very interested in anymore info, update on this info.

We have GJs on our list of top 3.....

Looking to build next year.

Dylucoop · Nov 11, 2012 11:10 pm

Hi there

My personal recommendation would be to take GJ Gardners Illawarra off your list!!

My experience was not good to say the least, but I know of others who have had even worse dramas with them.

It's just so disappointing when building your dream home turns into such a huge nightmare. I coped with the stress of it all, but believe me only just...

We finally got the keys to our house mid June 2012 - almost 12 months late. In their contract, we were entitled to $1 per day as compensation for being overdue. (My advice with any home building contact would be to check this compensation rate - I'm sure if they had to pay $100 per day instead of only $1, that my house would have been finished on time.

We're still trying to negotiate getting the list of maintenance items fixed (for example leaky windows, replacement of faulty kitchen splashback tiles, loose sandy grout between floor tiles, screws popping through rendered wall).

If you're still unsure about whether or not to build with GJ Gardners Illawarra, please check out "A building experience with GJ Gardner Homes Illawarra" on Facebook. I was horrified when I saw the state of his house (apparently they started building in 2009 & it's still no-where near complete & he's proceeding with legal action about all the defects). I feel so sorry for this man & his family...

Anyways, good luck with the land hunting & I hope your experience with home building is the complete opposite to mine!!

Please feel free to send me a personal message if you would like any more advice

Room2Breathe · Nov 12, 2012 7:56 am

wow thankyou!
Im pretty gobsmacked to be honest.

So hard to find a builder that is within the price range & quality

Tyson · Nov 19, 2012 8:08 pm

I was quite surprised to see some of these comments as we moved into our new home recently and our experience has been nothing like these. The whole process has gone very smoothly from start to finish and our 2 storey home was completed in 6 months, the quality is excellent and as well finished as the house we were shown through when we started researching builders and we were shown through a house which they were building for another client. I did see negative feedback for just about every builder out there when I did the research so it was hard to choose but when I was offered the chance to see a house which GJ Gardner had completed and were about to handover I took the opportunity to see a finished house for myself and also spoke to the owners who were very happy with everything and this is how my decision was made.

Tyson · Nov 20, 2012 9:54 am

I mentioned this forum to my friend who was also shocked as they have been for a viewing at this home up for auction and recently finished by GJ Gardner http://www.realestate.com.au/property-h ... -112055891 she is also going to proceed with them as she has seen this house and mine and has also been shown through another home recenly finished at Sandon Point and she loved all of them.

Dylucoop · Nov 24, 2012 8:17 pm

Tyson, I guess I wasn't one of the lucky ones... Did you build with GJ Gardner Homes Illawarra or another franchise? From what I've seen & heard, they might be OK at building their own standard designs on relatively flat blocks. However, when it comes to building a custom design (I designed my own house - three stories on a steep block) unfortunately they really struggled from day one. So my advice to anyone who has their own unique design or anyone who has a difficult block to build on, please think seriously before signing any contracts with GJ Gardner Homes Illawarra.

Tyson · Nov 25, 2012 7:04 am

I built with Illawarra and I must add that the completed home they took me through was tri-level on a downhill sloping block in Flinders and the owners that I spoke to told me they had been very happy with everything and the house was finished quite quickly and nothing was too much trouble. I was also given a list of drive-by houses and not many were on flat blocks, from what I was told not many people have a flat block any more so most of the houses they build are on slopes. When I was considering a custom design in the beginning they also said that most of the houses they build are custom and they also do the design. Same with my friend she was shown through another house on a sloping block which was important to her as she also has a sloping block. I am sorry that you have had problems, it sounds as though you may have a very steep block I know that my friend found that most builders wouldn't even build on her block!

Dylucoop · Nov 25, 2012 10:03 pm

Yes I must admit that our block is very steep indeed. To be honest though, I just think that Gardners took on way too much than they could handle!! Anyways, it sounds as though your home building experience was quite the opposite to mine... Consider yourself one of the lucky ones & I hope you're happy in your new home

Room2Breathe · Feb 03, 2013 7:41 pm

Should just clarify that the GJ's i was talking a bout is a different area, different people etc.

DeeMM · Mar 17, 2013 9:10 am

Its seems this must be a local issue. I am less than a month away from our handover with GJ's up in SEQld and have been extremely happy with them. They have been prompt and professional and the little things I have found on the way have been fixed rapidly. We have an independent assessor doing our PCI with us but based on everything I have seen during the whole process I am not expecting to find much. Our site supervisor is excellent and when one area got a bit behind due to tradesman availability he had other processes lined up to keep things going even though this was not necessarily the "ordinary" order of doing things, but it has kept our build on time.
I know GJ's are all franchises but if you are up my way I would suggest considering them.

This is my build
http://retnivrhouse.blogspot.com.au/201 ... block.html