Best and worst home builders in NSW
By Clear View Property Inspections|January 19, 2024
The question everybody has when looking for a builder.
Unfortunately for the home owner there is not much to go off at the display homes. All the homes are presented beautifully and the sales people are there to sell you their product.
Well, who to ask but a building inspector whose business is to inspect properties every day for different builders regularly.
Well let me tell you there is major differences between builders ranging from great quality to outright horrendous work!
So, what makes a good builder? I will detail the things that really tick the boxes for us and what you should consider when choosing a residential builder.
Quality trades: This is important in the overall quality of the project. Most builders are doing large number of homes at any one time and supervisors are overseeing 20 or so homes at once. Quality of trades is a very important factor when the supervisor can’t be there at all times.
Management team: Communication is something we appreciate for both us and our clients. The builder should have good communication skills advising clients the stages and progress of the home and being open book with clients not trying to hide defects or mistakes to save $$$.
Supervision: Good supervisor makes a difference on your building project and it plays a vital role on the progress and quality of the project.
Design Engineers: Every builder has an engineer they engage to design the structural side of the project. Some builders use poor quality engineers (cheaper) which is evident in the design of home ie slab, structural steel etc
Dealing with Defects and being open book: Some builder’s welcome third party staged building inspections and are very helpful in the process supplying all documents, engineers’ drawings and framing drawings so you can complete a thorough inspection which ultimately helps them achieve a good quality build. Other builders will go out of there way to avoid inspections, lying about the days we can attend inspections to only find out they have poured the slab or continued with the build so our inspection is covered up. All Castle homes is a builder that goes out of there way to avoid inspections! To the extent of not providing framing drawings so the inspectors are not aware of the frame and truss company’s installation design, bracing and tie down requirements! This is the only builder that does not provide framing drawings!
No builder is perfect but there are Builders who truly try do the best by there clients and others who are just purely chasing a profit.
So, who are our top 3??? Before I give your our top 3, I will list the builders who we deal with regularly so you can compare who comes out on top!
Mojo Homes, Fowler Homes, Fairmont homes, McDonald Jones, Wisdom Homes, Eden Brae, Domain, Aria Homes, Hall and Hart, All Castle, Clarendon and Metricon.
Our top 3 are:
No 1: Clarendon Homes: In our opinion lead the pack with great management, Engineers, great trades and always willing and able to fix defects. Supervisors are great to deal with. Yes, they are not perfect but are a good builder with good intentions.
No 2: Hall and Hart: Great management and Engineering team, they take ownership of defects and have good intentions for their clients.
No 3: Domain: Domain is a sister company to Clarendon but is more for customers on a budget. Definitely a builder to consider if you going down a budget friendly build.
Who are the worst Builders?! We are not going to name and shame the worst builders but we are more then happy to discuss your options when looking to choose a builder. Best to find a design of a home with a quality builder not select a builder because of the designs they have available.
Send us an email for advice.
Visit our website: www.clearviewpropertyinspections.com.au
Unfortunately for the home owner there is not much to go off at the display homes. All the homes are presented beautifully and the sales people are there to sell you their product.
Well, who to ask but a building inspector whose business is to inspect properties every day for different builders regularly.
Well let me tell you there is major differences between builders ranging from great quality to outright horrendous work!
So, what makes a good builder? I will detail the things that really tick the boxes for us and what you should consider when choosing a residential builder.
Quality trades: This is important in the overall quality of the project. Most builders are doing large number of homes at any one time and supervisors are overseeing 20 or so homes at once. Quality of trades is a very important factor when the supervisor can’t be there at all times.
Management team: Communication is something we appreciate for both us and our clients. The builder should have good communication skills advising clients the stages and progress of the home and being open book with clients not trying to hide defects or mistakes to save $$$.
Supervision: Good supervisor makes a difference on your building project and it plays a vital role on the progress and quality of the project.
Design Engineers: Every builder has an engineer they engage to design the structural side of the project. Some builders use poor quality engineers (cheaper) which is evident in the design of home ie slab, structural steel etc
Dealing with Defects and being open book: Some builder’s welcome third party staged building inspections and are very helpful in the process supplying all documents, engineers’ drawings and framing drawings so you can complete a thorough inspection which ultimately helps them achieve a good quality build. Other builders will go out of there way to avoid inspections, lying about the days we can attend inspections to only find out they have poured the slab or continued with the build so our inspection is covered up. All Castle homes is a builder that goes out of there way to avoid inspections! To the extent of not providing framing drawings so the inspectors are not aware of the frame and truss company’s installation design, bracing and tie down requirements! This is the only builder that does not provide framing drawings!
No builder is perfect but there are Builders who truly try do the best by there clients and others who are just purely chasing a profit.
So, who are our top 3??? Before I give your our top 3, I will list the builders who we deal with regularly so you can compare who comes out on top!
Mojo Homes, Fowler Homes, Fairmont homes, McDonald Jones, Wisdom Homes, Eden Brae, Domain, Aria Homes, Hall and Hart, All Castle, Clarendon and Metricon.
Our top 3 are:
No 1: Clarendon Homes: In our opinion lead the pack with great management, Engineers, great trades and always willing and able to fix defects. Supervisors are great to deal with. Yes, they are not perfect but are a good builder with good intentions.
No 2: Hall and Hart: Great management and Engineering team, they take ownership of defects and have good intentions for their clients.
No 3: Domain: Domain is a sister company to Clarendon but is more for customers on a budget. Definitely a builder to consider if you going down a budget friendly build.
Who are the worst Builders?! We are not going to name and shame the worst builders but we are more then happy to discuss your options when looking to choose a builder. Best to find a design of a home with a quality builder not select a builder because of the designs they have available.
Send us an email for advice.
Visit our website: www.clearviewpropertyinspections.com.au
