Golden Homes - Christchurch

Golden Homes cuts corners, rushes, and delivers poorly. They have one job, which is to manage the extent of their subcontractors and the life of a project, in accordance with the relevant legislation, and… they could not even do that.

They do not care about their customers. They lie, cheat and rush to maximise their profits. Although the value may be captivating, you pay for terrible work and horrible customer satisfaction. They went for a Code Compliance Certificate when there were clear breaches against the Building Act (i.e. flooding on the property, a lack of adequate ground clearance, lack of sealant to wet areas e.t.c.) that was prescribed within the drawings and contract.

Over 60 defects were sighted and I had to carry out the snagging myself, in accordance with MBIE guidelines. A standard house has anywhere from 10-20 with good workmanship, at the time of practical completion.

Almost all other competitors get their own PM to carry this out whereas Golden Homes put the onerous on the homeowner (me).

If you are not in the building industry and end up deciding to build with this company that is a plague on the construction industry, I would advise getting a specialist/consultant to act on your behalf.

This has been a prolonged affair, for a dwelling that does not conform to the Building Act, and the provisions of the New Zealand Code. My total life savings legitamely feels wasted. This has been a stressful time, as opposed to an exciting opportunity on getting my first home.

I intially had chosen Golden Homes due to their steel framing being a codemarked product and I was under the preception that they had a good level of finish and workmanship. Ironically and sadly enough, this is definitely not the case. The tried handing over a dirty house with a huge amount of issues and problems. They did not fiinish the full scope of works before demanding final payment. They did not provide consistent updates and were extremely apathetic when I was expressing any sort of concerns associated with the service that they were providing.

Rationale for the following ratings:

0% for reliability. They suggested initially it would be done in August. It is now December, and they still have not handed over. They have not finished all the defects, instead they decided to remove the defect/snagging stickers I placed when I walked through and pretend that I wouldn't notice (i.e. damage and cuts to the GIB board).

0% Quality of work. I initially thought they were one of the higher quality housing companies but unfortunately, they are not. The extent of the house I had built with them, does not conform to the relevant standards (as aforementioned), and they cut corners to expedite the process of getting a code compliance certificate, rushing the customer in order to try and reduce costs and try to blindsind the customer.

50% value for money. I designed the house for $560k, $20k variations to the contract. I am intending on liquidating it as it brings too much stress looking at all the imperfections and defects that they have not rectified. It has not been built with care or with any level of standard practise. I received an evaluation from a real estate agent, stipulating I will make $620-640k. Not worth the stress and self-induced migraines at their overwhelming incompetency throughout the life of this contract however.

30% for communication. Initially I was getting updates ever week or two. After I had a dispute with the PM, I was in the dark for the remainder of the project (about 6/12 months) they stopped communicating with me. They would only communicate with me if they wanted something, i.e. money/payment even though I was constantly chasing them up and trying to get things fixed and rectified. Ensuring that the project was going to be successful and delivered (maybe not on time, but at least a standard level)."