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family run company seems to be genuinely caring but as you progress through the stages, the cracks appear. We don’t know if the other testimonials/reviews were written by themselves or when they first started off in the industry and were way more conscious – but the experience we have had during [protected] is nothing like the glowing recommendations on the website.
Design stage: we should have realised there was going to be problems when the designer could never met his deadlines and then forgot to take his laptop on holidays when pressure was put on him to finish. This stage took twice as long as it should & was very painful. Every change we requested was implemented, but at the same time the designer took it upon himself to modify something else we didn’t ask for/want. We had to continually go back and ask for the changes we did not request to be removed.
This was a custom built home (4 bed, 2 bath + media/study). It came as a shock that once the design was completed and it was time to go to contract, Elevation Homes wanted to keep the copyright of our design. Their website states ‘we aim to make every home unique in appearance and appeal not just another repeat of the same design’ but this didn’t seem to ring true here as why did they want to keep our design? When we brought this to their attention we were told this was industry practice and they were doing nothing out of the ordinary even though their marketing claims stated the opposite. Again, this should have been a warning sign for us.
Building stage: From here, it got no better. The build time was definitely not efficient. Other friends who are also builders and almost the entire neighbourhood in Runaway Bay started to comment about it – that’s how long it took. The contracting team that Elevation Homes outsources to were on site for minimal time, and days and weeks went past without any work being done. They used every day they had assigned in the contract (thank goodness we had reduced it from what they had requested) and they took every opportunity they could to ADD more days to it. Each fortnight we would get an update from the building supervisor to say what was going to happen that week, and repeatedly these milestones were not met. It was a nightmare of unreliability we couldn’t escape from.
Moreover, we were told at one stage that the building had to be stopped as materials were stolen from the site. We were astounded when we discovered the same excuses/delaying strategies were used with other clients who had used Elevation Homes. If ‘theft’ from the site was a real problem you would have thought they would have taken their security more seriously. However, it appears this was totally the opposite to what they did -- when the building/construction fence around the house came down and it was at ‘lock up stage’, we went past a number of times and was surprised to find the house totally unlocked and windows wide open. No care whatsoever was taken in terms of the security of the house. Each time we contacted Elevation Homes to inform them that the house was left unlocked/open to the weather, our concerns were ignored. How could the apparent theft be a problem but at the same time, Elevation Homes shows no regard for security? Something didn’t add up here.
Another example of pure laziness/lack of care was the muddy footprints on the freshly laid stone bench tops in the kitchen (no ladders were kept on site obviously) and the layer of dirt/mud throughout the house and smudged into the newly laid tiles/grout.
Sadly, the finished product was not of a high standard – we had to fight to get the bathroom tiles regrouted (due to dirt in the grout), the paint (internally & externally) had major defects and the bedroom and linen cabinetry was a total joke. During the build stage, we had to take photos and send it to Elevation Homes to show the defects as they refused to take our concerns seriously. They put a top shelf in the linen cupboards that was approx. only 10cm high. The top shelves in the bedrooms were a little better at about 15-20cm, but when we asked them to fix it, they wanted to charge us for their mistakes!
Thank goodness we had our own team of contractors build the kitchen & vanities, in addition to carpet purchasing/laying. We choose to do this after we discovered the ‘gold standard’ range of builders’ products Elevation Homes recommended was actually of very poor quality and we could pay the same price and get top of the range products if we outsourced these ourselves. Originally we found this was the same with the tiles – but Elevation Homes eventually let us go to another tile provider which ended up being reasonably priced/high quality. Elevation Homes accused us of going down this pathway to reduce our costs, but cost was never an issue for us – all we wanted was value for money and quality products. At no time did we save money by doing these things ourselves.
Payment stages: Elevation Homes continually sent out invoices for payment BEFORE the stage of the building (as stated in the contract) were completed. When we refused to pay the instalments until the conditions were met, there was a height of activity on the worksite and for a week, there was more work done on the house, then in the entire month!
Inspection stage: The practical completion inspection date set by Elevation Homes was another huge disappointment. Previous clients of Elevation Homes advised us that they were slow in fixing any defects even after 12 months. We decided to avoid this issue by adding a clause in our contract that guaranteed all defects/omissions had to be rectified prior to final payment/possession. This clause however, did not deter Elevation Homes at all. The day before the inspection date arrived there was numerous defects for all to see, including:
(i) no air conditioning units, insect screens or gas bottles installed;
(ii) the windows and some of the sliding doors did not comply with ‘QBCC’s Standards & Tolerance Guide’ as they could be opened at both ends when the floor was 2m above the ground and the door edges weren’t sealed/closing correctly;
(iii) the paint job was unfinished and still in poor condition;
(iv) the front door was not coated;
(v) the timber decks to the porch and alfresco were not coated;
(vi) there were two large holes in the cladding;
(vii) the outside of the house was not finished.
Subsequently, Elevation Homes rang at 5.30pm the day before the inspection to postpone it by four days.
It’s important to note here that Elevation Homes did not have to install the landscaping, driveways/paths, fencing, kitchen, bathroom or laundry cabinetry and carpet – so you have to ask why had it taken a ridiculous amount of time to build this house?
Furthermore, with a ‘late completion damages’ clause put into our contract ensuring Elevation Homes paid us $600 per week (the house would rent for $850 pw) if the build time was exceeded, you would have assumed a more time-conscious build -- but unfortunately this was quite the opposite.
In summary, this was an investment property and one of about 15 that we have renovated in our lifetime. We don’t consider ourselves pedantic but we do expect quality workmanship, a professional service and value for money. Sadly, we don’t believe we achieved any of this with Elevation Homes.
We would definitely NOT recommend Elevation Homes if you are building an investment home or even an owner-occupier – they take too long and they will rip you off every chance they can. The process will be frustrating at every level and you will need to be constantly harassing them to obtain the service you expect based on previous online reviews.
Moreover, when you do complain Elevation Homes will turn it around and say you are inexperienced and don’t know anything about the process – putting you down as if you don’t know what is right/wrong and your expectations are out of the ordinary and then totally ignore your calls/emails from that day forward. Be prepared to also go to QBCC with your complaints as once they start ignoring you, this is the only option you have available to you.
Elevation Homes assertions of ‘we strive to ensure that everyone benefits from their relationships with us’….‘our team of trade people can offer the ultimate building experience’ and ‘Elevation Homes will exceed your expectations’ are just words without any truth behind them whatsoever. We are sure there are plenty more people like ourselves who have had these problems with Elevation Homes but have either not taken the time to write/submit a review OR have been hassled by Elevation Homes to take the review down (as was the case in our situation).
