G.J. Gardner Homes

Jean, Rob and the team were great at understanding what I needed to achieve and really tried very hard with council to get me the best possible outcome. Very happy and thanks you Show details ·  1

Excellent from the start to finish, Highly recommended GJ Gardner Wagga Wagga, all staff were thorough and everything went smoothly, quality build. I would definitely build with them again in the future. Show details ·  1

Second project experience with the team, easy to deal with, responsive, documentations and approvals were received relatively quickly this is credited to subcontractor relationships and understanding the requirements of council expectations. Managed well, great build quality. Would continuously work with the team. Thank you to all for your efforts. Show details ·  1

GJ Gardner Inner West Builder Recommendation – GJ Gardners (Liverpool) have designed and built two (2) custom homes for me in the Leichhardt area. the custom design process was highly professional and collaborative with Mitchell and his team working everything we wanted into the design. He was… Read more ·  1

also able to navigate the notorious inner west council process with relative ease. i would highly recommend GJ Gardner Liverpool for a new home in the inner west area

Extremely happy with the quality of the build. It was absolutely everything I had dreamed it to be. The home was built in the time frame that was given without hidden or additional costs and the professionalism of the team was second to none. Cannot recommend GJ Gardner Lilydale enough. Show details ·  1

We couldn’t be happier with our experience building with the team at G.J. Gardner Homes Adelaide Hills. We came to them with a particularly unusual block of land, but they embraced the challenge and went completely over and above to turn it into our dream home. What stood out was Rachel's design expertise. She was absolute magic to work with. Her… Read more ·  1

design advice was invaluable—she took the time to truly understand our lifestyle and helped us craft a custom floor plan that maximizes our tricky block.

Beyond making the house work for us today, the team helped us design with aging-in-place in mind. We now have a home we can comfortably grow old in without ever needing to move, which gives us incredible peace of mind.

The build quality and trade work are top-tier too. Every detail, finish, and structural element shows that they actually care.

Building a custom home can be daunting, but the Adelaide Hills team made it a rewarding, stress-free process. We absolutely love our home and cannot recommend them highly enough to anyone looking for a builder who truly listens and delivers.

The house looks better than I expected. Thanks for an amazing year! I now have my own home. ------------------------------------------------ A long time ago, when I asked friends & family about their experiences of building a new home; they all cautioned me. And their reasons were rational. This caution increased as I was planning to build… Read more ·  1

remotely from Adelaide.

I can confidently say that the Riverlands team are flawless and not a single fear appeared.

I originally looked at a different home & land package advertised by GJ Riverlands. Upon inspection with Kelsey, we agreed that it wasn't the right fit. This is where Kelsey took the initiative and asked if I was up for a better option. We surveyed the land options (as this was through Ray White) and used a few concepts with each land option to check fit. As a customer, I felt empowered and was happy to proceed. I was able to see my future home.

The contract process was patient and professional. I had a lot of questions. One's that can challenge most. Kelsey listened to every one and allowed the time for me to understand it. Something I value. The council approval process was more specific than I expected. A few pivotal decisions arose. I agreed with some of the impositions but there was one where I asked for an alternative. Kelsey acknowledged that this was a significant expectation of mine and helped overcome the council barriers. She worked with the team to find the best way through.

The color consult with Angela followed. '4 hours' sounds like a long time, but it zoomed by! We looked at everything and decided everything. Never did I feel rushed, and Angela's own input & perspective was modern and educated. A good way to prepare is to think of a color palette - for example, I chose green, white, silver and black. This made every single choice easier because I didn't need to debate the color/surface. Only the style and shape. Lots of coffee is provided as well.

The stream of paperwork was steady throughout - from approving council plans, minor variations along the way (my own choice) and stage confirmations were all comfortably done via email. As a customer, get a tablet set up so that you can sign things digitally. This makes the process far easier - plus, your other services will do the same e.g. the mortgage broker.

The build team were excellent. Both Sam's team and Andrew's team were consistent. The updates and photos came as each stage progressed. Occasionally, I would get the odd text if the builder advised on a small change e.g. moving the basin taps by 10mm to allow a better wall clearance. A level of precision we hope for in such a project. The craftsmanship is beyond expectations.

And then there's the admin team, notably Helen, Melissa, and Zoe. What a team! Helen is the warmest person I've ever met. I've spent a lifetime serving customers. 'Authenticity' is at the centre of service. That is what Helen brings. Never did I feel out-of-the-loop. Every detail of the build was communicated to me - promptly, respectfully and personably. Melissa was my 'confirmation of receipt'. A lot of money had to be digitally transferred throughout the whole project. Enough to make anyone anxious. Melissa reconciled every transfer swiftly and communicated each. No sleep lost. Zoe stepped in when Helen was away for a few weeks. No line dropped, no lack in handover. A well-oiled machine.

The handover was yesterday. Everyone was there. Proud of the new home they have built.

The team at the Riverlands should be your only choice.

We are first time builders & GJ Liverpool has been AMAZING in guiding us through the process. The team are always willing to help answer our questions, explain anything we aren't sure of & we genuinely trust their opinion because they aren't pushy or trying to serve themselves by upselling things on our build. I've been surprised at how quickly… Read more ·  1

things have come together. We are about to start construction & from seeing their display house in Austral to this point, its been less than 6 months. We'd been told by many friends & family it will be 8-12months just to get slab down. We've about to start in the next few weeks. Faster than I'd expected & I would attribute it to GJ & the team for their great customer service & active communication from the early days of getting the tender & right through to this point. They are QUICK - in the best way!

Mitch, Cindy & the team over at GJ Gardner Liverpool have been an absolute pleasure to work with for this whole process.

Cindy has been on top of her game for the whole pre construction process. Anything we need, she will jump on it to make things happen. No delays from her or having to chase for details/ documents. She got on top of all our appointments super early so things could run smoothly for our variation choices/ quotes. Cindy is great as her job. I wish we could have Cindy continue with us for the entire build process. its been lovely working with her.

Mitch is such a lovely person to deal with. Knowing we are first time builders, he doesn't use jargon terms & explains things very well for us to get a grasp on how our home will be built or any issues we may come across - he's upfront about it all & honest. We really appreciated that from Mitch. He helped calm down any stresses I've had so far. From early on - pre signing any contracts, Mitch & Cindy were there to support us. Mitch talked us through the build, construction details for the house we wanted, he gave us the space to explain what we wanted & our plan for our forever home. He also saw the vision my fiancé had on a post-it note for one side of our home, the design we were trying to achieve & was able to make it happen for us (he worked on it overnight to get us plans the next morning with the drawings!). From a post-it note to house plans & now it will make up part of our future home. We see his effort & we are so happy to have had him supporting us.

Very easy to work with the Dural team. James was the first person I spoke with who immediately gave me confidence that I'm talking to an experienced builder. He is knowledgeable and worked with me on the building plan that fits my budget. The pre-construction stage took a bit longer than anticipated. I don't know if this is an industry wide issue,… Read more ·  1

but an opportunity for improvement. Ed the construction supervisor certainly made up for some time once construction commenced. Ed is very capable and excellent source of information. I really like that I can reach him during the build and get an answer straight away. I would build with the Dural team again.

Slab pour: April 2026 Completion: September 2026 House size: 192 sqm Overall, the experience was very good. This was my first time building a house, so there were many things I didn’t know about the building process. I really appreciate the team at G.J. Gardner Homes Barossa Valley for being patient and taking the time to answer all my questions… Read more ·  1

and concerns throughout the process.

I’m not a professional in the building industry, and I don’t have any family members or friends with experience in construction, so I’m not really in a position to judge the quality of the workmanship in a professional sense. However, compared with the previous house I lived in, which was built by a volume builder, I can definitely feel that the overall quality and feel of this house is much better. I think one of the reasons is that the standard options and selections they offer already have a good level of quality and finish.

I also hired a private building inspector. Throughout the construction process, there were only a few minor defects identified at each stage. In most cases, the team was either already aware of them, in the process of fixing them, or addressed them very quickly. Overall, this gave me a lot of confidence and peace of mind.

The only thing I would like to point out for the company to take note of is the number of issues I found in the drawings prepared by the draftsman. I remember finding around five issues in total. Four of them were identified before construction started. The other one could have resulted in the frameless shower glass panel being built as a solid wall. Fortunately, we discovered the issue before the gyprock was installed, and it was corrected and removed in time.

At the time of writing this review, I have been living in the house for two days, and I am very happy with the overall result.

What a great experience building with G.J. Gardner Ballarat. From the start of the process to the hand over was seamless. Amazing communication and great continuity with the build process to get us in within 6 months of the build starting. The house is beautiful and everything we wanted for the family. I would highly recommend G.J. Gardner Ballarat to anyone looking to build. Show details ·  1

This is an update of the response or lack of response that I received from GJ Gardner regarding the issues with the house. I emailed both the GJ Gardner head office and the Coffs Harbour office regarding promised repairs to the incorrect tiling in the main bathroom and the damaged window reveal. Both of them failed to provide any response which… Read more

maybe goes to the character of the people and GJ Gardner, both unwilling to admit their failings and mistakes and to rectify them. The fact that the main office customer service did not bother to respond to my email appears to indicate that they care little about their reputation as well. These issues will have to be done later at the owner's expense. Following the handover and upon closer inspection it was found that the majority of the door handles were either loose or incorrectly fitted. These were repaired by the owner. It was also found that all the external power points were damaged and no longer weatherproof more than likely due to the covers being screwed on with a battery drill and stripping the screw threads. These had to be replaced by the owner due to safety concerns. If you want to have a well-built house that is finished off professionally, I would use another builder, not GJ Gardner. They appear to care little about the quality of the job or their reputation.

Extremely Disappointing and Untrustworthy Builder Our experience with G.J. Gardner Homes Parramatta has been one of the most frustrating and disappointing experiences we’ve ever had. It clearly shows how poorly managed, disorganized, and arrogant this franchise truly is. 1. Poor Management and Arrogant Attitude They suddenly fired all their… Read more

sales staff, which caused total chaos in our case handover. I had been dealing with them since April or May, but due to poor coordination and lack of communication, the whole process dragged on for months. The management — especially the director — was arrogant, dismissive, and unprofessional, showing no sense of accountability or customer care.

2. Wrong Design, Wasted Time, and Unbelievable Lack of Professionalism

All surveys, engineering reports, and designs were based on a wrong layout that did not comply with CDC (Complying Development Certificate) requirements. Even more shocking — it was me, a non-professional client, who discovered the issue first. I pointed it out to them, and it took G.J. Gardner over two weeks to finally admit that I was right. For a professional builder to rely on a client to identify such a fundamental compliance problem is simply absurd — honestly laughable and unacceptable.

This major mistake wasted over five months of my time, forcing me to delay my planned demolition in December. If I had paid a larger deposit and continued the process, it would have been a complete disaster, as I’m sure they would have just blamed me again, just like they did this time.

3. Price Increase During Design Stage — Totally Unreasonable

Even during the design stage, they increased the price by more than 10%, before any construction even began. That makes absolutely no sense and shows how unpredictable and unreliable they are. They broke previous agreements, changed their story, and blamed everything on the sales consultant they had fired — and then went even further, blaming me as the customer for their own design and compliance mistakes. It’s a perfect example of a company that refuses to take any responsibility for its own failures.

4. Price Hike After Deposit and Blame-Shifting

Before paying the $5,000 deposit, the quoted price was about $800k. After the deposit, it jumped to $920k, and that still didn’t include variations or external costs. When questioned, they claimed “management never approved” those numbers, then blamed the departed salesperson. Later, they told me the CDC compliance issue was my own decision and my own problem, even though their own design failed CDC requirements.

When I mentioned that I might contact NSW Fair Trading, they didn’t say they didn’t care — but their tone and attitude made it clear they had no real intention to resolve the issue. It felt dismissive and indifferent, as if the customer’s concern simply didn’t matter.

They even added that my $5,000 deposit didn’t even cover their costs, implying that I should be grateful they weren’t asking for more — an incredibly arrogant thing to say to a paying client.

5. Misleading Image — Not a Luxury Builder

Despite how they advertise themselves, G.J. Gardner is not a luxury builder. They are a franchise-based project home company with basic inclusions and inflated prices. Each franchise pays around 4–7% of its revenue to head office and keeps 25%+ profit margins, meaning customers easily overpay by around 30%.

For a 300m² home quoted at $1,000,000, the realistic construction cost is about $600,000, plus roughly $50,000 in variations — around $650,000 total, or about $2,170/m² to build. After adding the 7% franchise fee ($70,000) and their own profit margin ($300,000), the total markup is roughly $370,000, which is nearly 57% above the actual cost.

That means customers are paying over $3,300/m² for what is essentially a budget-level project home. It’s neither high-end in design nor fair in pricing. You’re essentially spending over a million dollars to build what is, in reality, a budget-level project home — it truly feels like they’re taking customers for granted.

Final Thoughts

From design errors and broken promises to hidden price hikes and constant blame-shifting — G.J. Gardner Homes Parramatta cannot be trusted. They waste your time, change their story, blame their staff and their customers, and refuse to take any real responsibility.

Because of them, I lost over five months and had to delay my entire project. If you value your time, money, and peace of mind, stay far away from this builder. There are many honest and professional builders out there — this one is absolutely not one of them.

This review is based on my own experience as a genuine customer of G.J. Gardner Homes Parramatta. Supporting documents such as my deposit receipt have been provided to ProductReview for verification.

My review is 5 years after the build I have previously submitted a review in regards to the build experience which happened during covid In that period I was stuck at times in WA where I worked and the dealings with GJ Gardener were dealt with by… Read more

my partner ( who has no building experience ) but that aside I stand by my review on the helpfulness of the GJ Gardener employees . My reflection now is 5 years later and I will say you get what you pay for . If you asked me do I think this house will be around in 15 years I'd have to say no , the quality is not there , I am getting cracking in one bathroom , I can see daylight through my front doors , is it sealed for heat retention ? probably not . The Bifold doors and windows are cheap ( I blame myself in part for not being on top of the items included in the build , if your not you will just get the cheapest ) I have already had to dowel and rescrew door hinges . I've had to remove the silicon around the bath tub and redo it . I have 2 different styles of architrave through the house in the main living areas its just cheap . One of the things I sourced myself was the flooring and carpet but when I asked to have the contactors come in and install these items before any architraves were installed I was given a flat no , they said safety issue , really ? The internal paint used is cheap , everything really has been done as cheap as they could do it , get in get out . The outside of the house is Hardi plank weatherboard and the joins are already starting to come apart and will require filling and then obviously re-paint . The internal wall frames have no noggins , this was something that I did manage to see and question and was told it's just the way they do it. All that was installed in the framing was 1 inch dowel placed about 3/4 of the way up the studs this was used to keep spacing . A lot of this might seem trivial to some but on reflection if you can afford it go to a proper licenced builder where you have better control of your build or be onsite 80% of the time the build is happening and stand up for what you expect . Again you get what you pay for and quality is not one of them after 5 years . I am adding to my review after having a GJ Gardner representative make a visit to assess my complaints and be able to respond to my complaints The visit lasted over an hour where all issues were pointed out , it was agreed the architraves were not what was agreed on , the rep was asked what he thought the finish on the paint was he responded with Mat finish... not what was asked for , he also took photos of the poor quality paint , the crack in the ensuite wall , the architraves coming away from the walls , the weather boards joint's where the filler at the joints had fallen out and joints not connected properly , he did say he was going to Hardys and would get back to me on what would fix the issue... Nothing On leaving the rep made a point of saying he was not at my house to look to repair anything he just wanted a chance to respond to my complaints Again quality is not something that shows up 5 years after the build

Frasers on the hill – Was very happy with the out come of my house! Was a lot of new ideas and the team made it happen for me!  Show details

We have been so impressed with every process of our house build so far. A wonderful team of people from Deb, Phoebe, Brooke, Kelly, Kris and a special shout out to Hayden who’s communication and knowledge has been exceptional in all aspects of our build. Highly recommend G J Gardner Bendigo for your build Show details ·  1

Our pre construction stage experience with GJ Gardner Victor Harbor has been very positive. Travis is down to earth & has been great to deal with. He communicates well, is happy to answer or research any queries & nothing was too much trouble. We had a significant unexpected hurdle come up half way through the process & he worked with us to help… Read more ·  1

provide a suitable solution so we could continue on our build journey. I am hoping we will be providing the same positive review about our experiences with the next stage of our build.

We are so incredibly happy with our new home, and we cannot thank Rob, Tori, Farah and Kirsty from the Inner South team enough. From the start, it was clear they genuinely wanted to build us a beautiful family home, not just another project. They were so flexible and always went above and beyond to help us out. You can really tell they work… Read more ·  1

together as a seamless team, and they’ve built us such a high-quality house. Rob has very good relationships with the trades which shows in the quality of work and their responsiveness to changes. Any minor issues post handover have been quickly resolved without any fuss as well.

The team worked really well with our budget and had it all finished in just 9 months. We are so grateful for their hard work and could not recommend them highly enough

The team at GJ Gardner, Dural, led by James Gosselin in the concept phase and Ed Silva in the construction phase, were outstanding from the outset to completion and beyond. They took our land which had been deemed by other modest project homes to be "difficult" and designed our dream home to suit the block and our needs. They were receptive,… Read more ·  1

approachable and efficient at every stage. Critical to the construction phase was the most genuine, hard working and competent construction supervisor, Ed Silva. Ed took the utmost care with every detail of our home - no issue was too big or small, and every attempt was made to get things right. The quality of the workmanship, the timeliness, and professionalism, were all outstanding. The final cost was as projected and in keeping with expectations. We are forever grateful to GJ Gardner and their incredible team for their care, honesty, professionalism, grit, timeliness and obvious love they have for their work. In GJ Gardner, we trust.