G.J. Gardner Homes - Wantirna

We have just completed our build with GJ and felt the whole process was really smooth. We were a little bit wary as we had built interstate previously but our experience this time has been much better and put our faith back in building.

The communication was a stand out for us, the staff were all very professional and easy to work with. We didn't really have any issues apart from one that was outside of anyone's control. When the issue with the driveway came up, we were informed quickly and both Steve & Tim explained it to us, the risks involved and solutions. We were also happy that the costs and timeframes they gave us roughly onsite were pretty bang on. Everyone throughout the process was very honest and upfront which we welcomed.

The quality of the workmanship is fantastic, when we went through our walkthrough, we barely had any items that needed to be rectified and the ones we did pick up were really minor. We have family members who are also builders and they gave the house a tick of approval. We are really happy with the quality of our home!

We decided to go with them for our subdivision project, purely because of their reviews. But it turned out that the team is surprisingly unprofessional. As it turned out, they may be able to do a very basic single dwelling design on a flat big land, but never to be trusted with a custom design or a subdivision. They wasted 4 months of our time and deducted $3500 of our $6000 deposit to finally inform us that they cant do it. We send them Survey, preferred plan, all council communications, and even town planning report by our own town planner at the very beginning and they convinced us that they can do it so we payed $6000 deposit for a prelim stage drafting which was never delivered! Apparently, they couldn't assess the job properly before taking the $6000 deposit and finally decided to cease the contract and charge us $3500 for their incompetence. They didn't provide us a single document or a consultation report or even an invoice for the money they took. Very unprofessional and unreliable; Never to be trusted.

Called about a knock down rebuild, Gen was very helpful on the phone. Worth calling if you don’t know what your first step is and need help

GJ Gardner Melbourne East built us our dream home! Steve, Bec and our supervisor Tim were professional, helpful and through a challenging time for builders, responsive and a pleasure to deal with! Building a home is such a stressful time for all, but the team always had a smile on their face and helped us through the process (including us changing our mind on a few things.)
Couldn't recommend them more highly! Now time to enjoy our beautiful home! Amy and Dan

We've just moved into our gorgeous new home and are loving it! The team at GJ Gardner East Melbourne have been amazing throughout the entire process. Their flexibility allowed us to redesign the plan layoutto suit our lifestyle, and it also allowed me to lay the natural stone facade myself. It's been a terrific collaboration and the result is exacly what we envisioned. Tim has been a really supportive and informative site supervisor. Sharon sold us the sizzle and they've delivered! Rebecca and Gen have made the selection and admin side of the build really smooth and easy, and Steve's deep building expertise and experience has underpinned the entire experience. Speaking to the various tradies on site, I kept hearing the same thing over and over, "GJ Gardner East Melbourne are fabulous to work for", and our experience has been the same. We're keen to build again when we do, there's only one builder we'll be talking to. GJ Gardner Melbourne East.

Excellent communication and attention to detail. Staff are all courteous, friendly and very professional.

Amazing experience from initial consultation to final handover
GJ Gardner Melbourne East we’re extremely professional and provided timely and knowledgeable responses whenever a query was raised. Ongoing check ins throughout the build made the process of our first home build seamless (with some minor set backs due to COVID) and enjoyable.

We were just handed the keys to our beautiful new home and we couldn't be happier. The team at GJ Gardner were amazing from the moment we spoke to Sharon in the sales team, through design with Gen, signing with Steve and then the entire build process where Adam was a fantastic supervisor. I would highly recommend them!

I've dealt a lot of builders but Steve and the team at GJ Gardner Homes Melbourne East is the best in the area. They're a friendly builder that provides great service and quality builds. If you're looking to build your dream home, I would highly recommend Steve and his team!

Hello everyone,

We build our new house with G. J. Gardner Homes Melbourne East, we had an absolute nightmare dealing with them from the start till the end. Very stressful experience and sleepless nights dealing with them.

To start, our brand-new window frames were left outside sitting in rain for an approx. 4-6 weeks and placed on ground, saw few scratches on them and then complained to the builder to get them moved into the Garage which were then finally moved after a few requests.

We also found them very offensive on most occasions trying to blame everything onto other parties rather than taking the ownership.

When signing the contract, we were discouraged to get an external building inspector. We were told that building surveyor is the one they follow and not the building inspector.

We hired an external building inspector from New Home Inspections and Builder claimed that these independent building inspectors have no idea what they are talking about (even though independent building inspector writes his reports using clauses and reference numbers) and most of the time asked us to use our common sense. Many a times the defects were not rectified and refused to provide us the reason in writing.

Our drainage plans were not done as per the stamped plans from the Knox Council. Builder didn’t even have the courtesy to let us know that they haven’t followed the plans. We found out when we were getting our concrete driveway done. Our concretor told us none of the pit levels were correct. We then found out that builder hadn’t followed the plans. This prolonged our house completion by 2 months. Again, here builder blamed our Drainage Engineer that he didn’t prepare the plans properly. Drainage Engineer told us that the plans were correct, and builder took the shortcut. Drainage Engineer told us that when the plumber was doing the drainage, he should have called him if the plans were not correct. (Not sure who is right here).

We were issued the Occupancy Permit, but house keys weren’t handed to us as final installment was still pending and builder cancelled building insurance. We had to take our own building insurance.

We did our final inspection and send the final inspection report to the builder. Builder took over 3 months to rectify the defects, as per contract the defects are to be fixed withing 21 days (clause 17.6).

Finally, after 3 months we were asked to do the inspection of all the defects which were rectified. We found that there were several defects which were not fixed which I bought to builder’s attention and builder refused to rectify them until we made the final payment and accused us of stalling for time and threatened with legal proceedings as we didn’t want to make the final payment until all defects were rectified (as per our contract we have the right to hold the final payment until all defects under the final defect list are rectified). We decided to complain to the State Manager who also failed to do anything about this and forced us to pay the final installment.

Builder also damaged the Unit 1 house roof gutter and was identified the day it got damaged and yet it was not fixed and expected us to make the final payment. They also failed to give fall of 1m around the house and left for our landscaper to do it.

We finally decided to make the final payment with condition that all the defects will be rectified. And once we made the payment the builder decided to appoint his own building inspector to go through our list of defects to check if they were genuine defects. Most of the defects were not defects as they fell under standard tolerances as per their inspector (not sure why they had to appoint their own inspector when my inspector already prepared the report mentioning the clauses).

Overall, the experience was very stressful, every stage inspection was a nightmare. It’s worth to have an external VCAT building inspector.

Special Thanks to Sharon who was lovely to deal with when we were getting our building permit.

Thanks

We have found out this builder was honest and professional whilist we were seeking the quote for building a new home, particular Sharon, she was very helpful and friendly, the information she provided was so important for us to understand our first project, we would highly recomment their service to everyone!

We're building a custom home and wanted a reputable builder who understood our needs and could walk us through the process from beginning to end. My initial call was treated with professionalism and friendliness which continued throughout our contact with Sharon at GJ. She was enthusiastic about working with us—showing a genuine interest in our family and what we wanted out of our home. Although we hadn't paid anything upfront, Sharon took the time to assess our needs whilst chasing down vital information to help with our decision. In the end we went down a different path but otherwise would have continued with GJ as the frankness, honesty and knowledge provided the most fulfilling experience compared to other builders we spoke to.

Cannot thank Gj staff enough for their dedication to my build. Their execution and professionalism went above and beyond. Would deffinately build with them again in the future. If anyone wants a fantastic builder, you cant go past Gj melbourne east.

Could not recommend the team highly enough. I have known the business for a number of years professionally. Always friendly & professional to deal with. If you’re looking for a quality builder to assist building your dream home, look no further than GJ Gardner Melbourne East

Sharon is a breath of fresh air in the building space - super friendly and knowledgeable, I would recommend her and the team @ GJG to anyone looking to build a new home!

My Partner and I bought our Land at 23 and 24 years old and had no idea what we were doing when it came to building a house. From the initial point of contact (Sharon) and throughout every stage, (Rebecca, Steve, Dave and Tim) we were 110% supported and guided through. No question was too silly or small to answer and we were heavily involved in the ENTIRE process. Our home is finished to a very high standard and the aftercare and customer service has not ended because the house is built, I cannot speak more highly or recommend them more

If you are looking for a personal, almost family feel, helpful builder with all the bells and whistles to top that off, look no further!

As a supplier, the professionalism and communication with G. J Gardner Melbourne East is second to none. Steve and the whole team do a fantastic job as expected.

Sharon and the team at GJ Gardner have provided great service and advice for my clients for many years now, reliable and always happy to answer any questions

Could not recommend highly enough. Always friendly and willing to accommodate. If you're looking for a quality builder, look no further.

Worked with this company for years and couldn't rate them more highly. Great team of people and always a pleasure to work with.