Hi I just moved to CH from AK

Yep I’d steer clear of the “group” builders if I were you. The builders I would recommend here are all smaller/independents. DNA Structures Limited, Peter Ray Homes, Greenland Homes, Paul McStay Homes, Que Homes (Justin McDonald), Peter Quinn. These are either companies I have a personal knowledge of having built with them (Peter Ray & Greenland) or other builders I have a personal knowledge of through contacts and other friends who have built with them. All good reputations as honest and efficient. I am an Architectural Technician so I also know that these homes are of a good standard. Good luck 🙂

Hi Guys, Yes I would definitely steer clear of building franchises and look locally. Generally builders who are in your area are less likely to “shit in their own back yard” sorry to use such a vulgar phrase but it’s fitting, and start interviewing them and do plenty of research on them. Don’t take their word for anything, get names of people they’ve built for and talk to these people and see the work in person ( I must stress the in person bit, it’s been known for some builders to give false names and fake pictures of their work) and then you should get a true idea of their standard of work. Get LBP numbers and names of everyone in their company who is licensed and search for their wrap sheet on the LBPB website, see if it’s clean but that’s not always a sure sign that they are neither good nor bad as the LBP are a bit of a joke to be fair but it will add to the overall picture. Don’t trust Master Builders either, they are only designed to protect the builder which is of no help to you whatsoever so don’t be taken in with logos and guarantees, they mean nothing if your contract isn’t right to begin with. Don’t sign anything and do not hand over any money for anything, this is all just the research stage so they shouldn’t be asking for either. Once you have a few narrowed down, then I would be asking for their contract and this is when a little money spent now on a good construction lawyer will really pay off big later on down the track. If your lawyer suggests changes and the building company won’t budge on any changes it’s safer to cut your losses and walk away even though you know you won’t get your legal fees back. The alternative would most definitely be worse I can assure you. If you get to this stage you may need to think about drawings & plans etc now. Most building companies will charge you for this and I would read through this website about the pros and cons of paying for them and who actually owns them even though you probably may end up contributing 90% of the design input yourself. Chris C and Chris have some really good advice on here about that, and Chris C also has a lot of input re contracts etc so search out their posts. Someone on here has also mentioned several times a finance company that is perfect for building with. They vet the builder, his insurance, his liabilities etc and if he’s too dodgy they won’t lend you the money to build which is perfect, that’ll sort out the scammers and find the bits you may have missed in your research at the beginning. All variations they want to make have to follow their very strict processes and their progress has to meet their standards otherwise they will not hand over any money and if I was building again I would most assuredly use this company. I’ll try to find the name of it and get back to you. Otherwise that’s probably enough to get you going and no doubt others on here will add lost of useful stuff too but smart move for getting on this website first. I only wish I’d found this before I started my build, it would have saved me $$$ and a lot of tears. Good luck!

Peter Quinn is on here a lot and all his clients seem very happy with his work, I’d be giving him a call for sure.

Hi Richard and Trina I noticed a comment recommending Peter Quinn in response to your post We are Quinn Homes – http://www.quinnhomes.co.nz -0277777460 Regards Peter

Get several quotes and do your background checking thoroughly. Do not rely on the dispute resolution process provided between MBA and Fairway Resolutions to the homeowner as it is a waste of time and energy. The outcome is too slanted to the builder. Write everything down and email validation and conversation agreements to builder in every instance.

Their called Newbuild Finance, I would be checking them out too.

Hi MJ Thanks for your referral. Just for future referance we are Quinn Homes Interested though your comments. The first company I know of went under in Christchurch yesterday and another larger one about to go. More than ever it will be critical that homeowners align themselves with companies with little overheads like ours. For years, companies have kept takeing building deposits when they know they are in crisis and go under shortly after taking homeowners deposits with them. We are so confident in our company we are willing to give a personal guarantee to homeowners as this Covad 19 has not affected us in anyway as we run the business ourselves, no staff, no commercial premises, no project managers and vehicles etc etc Regards Peter

Thanks Sally. You being an Arch technician, can you please recommend me some good architectsthat are pretty reasonable in charging fees. I will be building probably around March/April 2021 and have a 1030 sqm section with great views and wanting a 2level house with approx 350sqm house

Building in East Auckland actually, Sally

Hi Savi, I don’t know any architectural firms in East Auckland but a way of finding one is to look at the ADNZ site (Architectural Designers New Zealand) – they will have listings of Architectural Designers in your area. Good luck with your build. 🙂

Hi Peter We are thinking of building our home in Palmerston North. It’s our first time and tbh we have no clue and we are scared after reading all the comments regarding different dodgy builders. Would you or anyone else recommend any good builder/s in PN. Thanks

Hi I have comments in Palmerstaon North who look after alot of the builders What is your email address Thanks

Hi Imran I would stay away from BCL in Palmerston North. I have met 6 very unhappy previous clients of theirs, all of which had to get lawyers involved to solve issues. In all instances the issues could only be partially resolved because of BCLs strategic evasive behavior. I’m also a previous unhappy BCL client and I have heard stories of another 6 (i.e. 12 in total over the past 6 yrs). I’ve also heard the stories from a number of suppliers and subcontractors that had extreme difficulty getting payment out of BCL after they completed work for BCL on site. I have actually met some of these people too. To the best of my knowledge, most of these subcontractors have still not been paid years later. Also it took BCL 18 months to create a partially built house for me, which I had to legally wrestle off them and finish organising the work myself.