Signature Homes - Garland Builders Ltd / Builders in Pukekohe

The sales team (Michael & Melissa) were fantastic. They listened, they gave ideas and were honest. M&M worked hard to get our business and in my view, set Signature/Garland above the rest.

Once we moved to the build phase we were handed over to our Project Manager (since departed). At this point the communication slowed and weekly updates were inaccurate. Mandatory items… such as a site survey were left out of the quote and advised to us by way of invoice. The General Manager (since departed) was abrasive and rude when it came to questions and challenges.

Staff turnover was high during the time of our build and this lead to delays in QS work, the Project Manager left shortly before handover without doing an adequate handover, leaving a lot of work up in the air and people scrambling to correct/finish work he had given a commitment to complete.

If we didn't stay on top of the PM during the build phase and visit site as regularly as we did (once a week if not more), there would be a lot more major faults to be resolved.

Defects are to be expected however how these were handled was left lacking. The biggest issue was the finish to the painting. It has a lot left to be desired and even after three visits by the painters there are still defects that need to be corrected. Our build site was 90Km from Garland's base in Franklin and felt that this impacted the sub-contractors commitment to the build - given the travel time - some even voiced their dismay.

We found that you must keep across all aspects of the build and keep a record of all communicators in writing. Don't make any assumptions, even if you think it sounds like a stupid question, ask it.

Now we know what to expect, I would recommend Garland Builders if building in or around the Franklin District."