Hey, Can you guys please suggest 5 good builders to approach in West Auckland

Hi Alina, I cant provide you with a recommendation but can tell you to stay clear from Raymond (Ray) Lorenzen. He uses a number of different building company names.

Hi Alina, can recommend Maddren Homes out West. Stay well away from Tony Huston and GJ Gardner.

I can recommend Maddren Homes over GJ Gardener – I’m actually building or going to be building up North a way but I’ve spent a lot of time around a lot of different companies now and settled on only 2 that I would build with. The reason I’m going with Maddren are communication, great liaison between sales/design/consultant and myself, good solid design information and plans and the obvious use of great and tested quality construction materials. I’m an analytical freak and they’ve put up with my queries / questions / details etc., GJ’s I found great at the very beginning and then pushy after a while and intent on their own design rather than what I wanted. Other good quality builder I found was The House Company.

Hi Alina It really depends on what style home you are looking for. I am a mortgage broker in Hobsonville and we finance a lot of builds for clients plus have just recently finished our own, so have worked with a number of the building companies. We personally built with Jalcon Homes and they were excellent. The contract included everything and the build went smoothly and we were very happy with the result. The house we build was entered into the House of The Year and won a silver. If you search the internet or this forum there are people that have had problems with almost every building company and I’m sure there are reasons, but I can only go on what I know and have experienced. Some companies have had delays recently with issues like concrete shortages and tradespeople being hard to tie down, but most are now quoting a little longer for the builds to avoid setting unrealistic expectations. I could recommend the following; Jalcon Homes – have built with ourselves and have a number of clients who have built with them too. Platinum Homes – good contracts and have had good feedback from clients building with them. Sentinel Homes – the contracts are very good and include everything and have had some very good feedback on the workmanship. Compass Homes – they build in concrete and are very good.A little more expensive than some but have good contracts and tend to be faster than most due to construction methods. There are others that we have worked with too that are good and some not so good. You are welcome to contact me directly if you wish to discuss a specific company.

Hi Richard, What have your issues with GJ West AKL been?

Platinum Homes is a disgusting company, just read the feedback.

Hi Martin, I unfortunately too have had the misfortune of dealing with the same lowlife Ray Lorenzen mascarading as a builder! Would you believe his background is commercial cleaning! Personally I don’t think his skills in that field would enable him to even switch a vacuum cleaner on! Also beware of his brother who shares his surname building in the West Auckland area.

Many and varied, but definitely not what GJ Gardner advertise. Design was week and unhelpful, their management was nonexistent and don’t even get me started on their attention to detail.

Interesting Todd. I believe he is currently work for Jay Lorenzen, but has been thrown off many sights for being incompetent. However he is still registered with the LBP unbelievably? These institutions are supporting the poor workmanship and unethical behaviour. Rays workmanship was so bad Masterbuild had to tear out and re-tile 2 bathrooms, refinish all of the floors and repaint a significant amount of the interior! Just a big nightmare. Stay away from Ray Lorenzen.