Bellriver Homes

We recently moved into a Bellriver land and house urban packaged home in Jordan Springs. We found the entire process to have been really easy and affordable. From the beginning we fell in love with the display home and packages. We spoke to sales consultant Dyar, he was great. They weren’t pushing for sales and were always honest about inclusions, cost and availability of land lots. This initially sold us, as we found their approach so rare but exactly what we needed. Contracts were easy thanks to Liz, their were minor issues but resolved as appropriate. Phil was our site manager, he ensured everything was done in timely manners and kept in contact throughout. Our build time was within our 16 week promise build time. Once in the home, Phil remained in contact and assisted with minor issues, again all resolved. All in all since being in our home, which we love, I have recommended and have family who are now building with Bellriver. Highly recommend to everyone, so happy with our home.

After 10 years we finally got on with getting a house. Bellriver had a very good standard design with attatched granny flat. We went part way with another builder so know things can go badly.

If you've never been through the project. home process it can be hard to understand timing and upgrades. but overall I'm please with the price including many upgrades being well under 700k.

everything costs more than you'd think and take longer. but nothing beyond what seems to be normal for the industry. everyone was generally fine to work with.

wish i could be more help. i remember how
hard it can be to pick.

sticking to standard finishes for many things was fine and keeps cost lower. can always change stuff in 5 years. just get enough power points and wall lights.

edit. yes no one is going ti proactively help with some things. ie. can that bathroom standard tile ve used as spashback in kitchen as usual ones uglh. yes. but no one is going to push you. active management in terms of expectations

The process so far is a bit disappointing. There obviously is a lack of customer staff to manage customer inquires and the design / drafting process. Not sure why this is but probably trying to cut costs. Will update more as the process moves forward.

Our build was completed in 5 months. From the time we paid our initial deposit to move in day we have been very happy with our experience with Bell River. Being first home buyers it was very daunting starting to the process to build our first home. Bell River made this experience easy by taking the time to explain things to us. Every time we called the office with a query our call was returned. Our site supervisor contacted us every week and let us know what progress had been made on our home. The price of our home came back with in budget and much cheaper then other tenders we had received from other builders. All in all we could not be happier with our experience and would definitely recommend Bell River.

Bell River was everything they said they'd be !
I am happy with the overall result of my brand new home.
After some difficulties within the earlier stages Bell River was able to provide us with some inclusions / upgrades to accommodate.
The building process was smooth and efficient. Immanuel was our site manager after picking up the job half way through. He did a fantastic job at ensuring everything we had previously asked for was met. We've enjoyed moving into our new home with ease.
I would recommend Bell River to anyone wishing to build their first home.
Ask for Immanuel to be your site manager too and you'll thank me later.

Don’t build with bell river. They are terrible at what they do. When your home is built and in warranty it’ll be littered with defects which will take them years to fix. You will have to deal directly with all contractors who never turn up to fix the work they should have done right the first time.

We have built several homes over the years with different builders. The experience we have had with Bellriver Homes was on the whole a positive one. Even though we had a few issues along the way, we got through them.

We must say we are blessed with the wonderful site supervisor, Mat Warton. He reported faithfully every Friday telling us where our build was up to etc.
He was totally honest with all his contact with us. His knowledge, respect and manner are an absolute credit to him and to Bellriver Homes.

Another staff member we would like to say thank you to is Liz Latham who was our communications manager and a very special person. No matter what came up, Liz was there to guide us through it in her calm and gentle way. Thank you Liz.

Another person we would like to thank is Teigan Beckwith for her willingness to assist us in any situation.

Last but not least, a BIG thank you to Bellriver Homes for delivering such a beautiful home for us. We hope to spend many more happy years ahead here.

I had never heard of Bellriver Homes until I stumbled upon a tiny sales office on a farm in Box Hill in May 2016. The price was right and the floorpan was ideal for my family. I was impressed that a lot of the finishes were standard and didn’t need to be purchased as upgrades, unlike other project builders I’d encountered.

After a horrendously long wait for our land to register, Bellriver commenced our build in July 2018. There were one or two administrative issues with selections and communication with the customer service team, but as i enjoy my new home, they already seem insignificant.

Our site supervisor, Mat was incredibly efficient and has an excellent eye for detail, and kept me in the loop as much as possible. I particularly liked the opportunity to meet onsite for an inspection before the internal linings were installed.

I work with a lot of newly built homes, and have seen some shockers over the years. There have been some small teething problems, but they have been fixed quickly with no stress. I can safely say my Bellriver Home is amazing quality and great value. It already feels like home!

Our Building Experience

We stumbled upon Bellriver by chance. It was the inclusions that won us over initially.

It all began in September 2016. We moved into our brand new Bellriver home in February 2019. Most delays were out of Bellriver’s control. The initial sign up process was simple as expected.

Once our $1000 deposit was processed our House and Land Package changed. Bellriver offered us 3 different blocks after the deposit was placed on a particular lot. “Taken off the market by the developer” is only one of many excuses we heard. We took it upon ourselves to buy our own block directly from the developer – Crown Land. We still decided to build our home with Bellriver.

Land registration required a long wait time, this we expected.

What we didn’t expect was the following.

Upon registration, Bellriver advised us our chosen home design wouldn’t fit on our block. Although this isn't directly Bellriver’s fault, I wasn’t happy with how they handled it. Previous to registration we had chosen our upgrades, colour selection and electrical plan. It's now time for a new design, a custom design. A custom design with a large price tag. Transferring all our initial upgrades, colour selection and electrical plan wasn’t easy. Bellriver had increased their prices. As first home buyers, we struggled getting the extra finance – stress levels were high. We looked into cutting our loses and selling our block of land, but persistence got the better of us.

Bellriver’s price increase meant we lost our First Home Buyers Grant, could this financially get any worse? We were going to end up with a beautiful brand-new home but whilst living through this ordeal it seemed nothing was ever going to work in our favour.

Matt M was our initial site manager, we are glad that soon changed. Today, we sit happily in our new home thanks to Immanuel Bekhit our site manager. We highly recommend Immanuel given his great communication skills, project management, attention to deal, and he always acted with integrity and transparency. Whenever there was a time when he had to deliver some bad news, he displayed empathy, he collaborated, he was there to find solutions and wouldn’t quit until it was resolved. He was absolutely amazing and performed well above expectations.

Overall, all the hiccups along the way haven't clouded our happiness when moving into our new home. We strongly believe if it wasn’t for the exceptional work of Immanuel and his ongoing support throughout the defects stage, our building experience wouldn’t have finished this pleasant.

Thankyou Bellriver and Immanuel for providing us with our forever home.

Our experience with bellriver homes was good. They were very responsive and direct and gave us the answers we needed straight away. Their affordable packages and quick turn out made our experience pleasant.

We started our build process with Bellriver in September 2017. Since that time we have been very happy with the whole process with Bellriver. We attended the Oran Park display centre and spoke with Daniel. He went through a number of house designs and priced them to see what house would fit within our budget.

Being our first build the paperwork that was required for council etc. was explained to us step by step. The fixed priced site costs made it easy for us to budget how much the build would cost. We built the Bayswater 22 and made a number of changes which were done easily. The ladies at colour's selection helped us with adding things that were needed and were never pushy to spend money on things we didn't need.

We started our build in Mid February 2018 and moved in Mid July 2018. Other than a few minor things that had to be fixed our build process was very smooth. Our site supervisor Manny contacted us every week to give us an update on how our build was progressing. After receiving handover in July 2018 the large majority of items on our defect list have been fixed. Would definitely recommend Bellriver homes, especially to first home buyers.

We committed to building with Bell River back in 2016 and moved into our new first home last month. The delays were out of Bell River's control but once the land had been approved, they worked hard and quickly to produce our home. Despite a couple of hiccups along the way, we were so happy with the final product. The finishes on the home were great. To be honest, we wouldn't have been able to get through the last couple of months if it wasn't for our Site Sup Mat Warton. He kept us in the loop every week with his Friday phone calls, worked so hard each week to fulfill our dream of being in the home before Christmas. We will always appreciate Mat's honesty and ability to produce a flawless product. THANK YOU MAT & the team at Bell River!

We are first home buyers purchased a land, shopped around the market to find builder for about 3 months and finally ended-up choosing Bellriver Homes. We have never regretted for our decision throughout construction process. It started with Dane Oliver – Jordan Springs display home sales officer. He explained all the details and went through the initial process of house building. Tender pricing was very clear in terms of what is included in the pricing.
Communication manager Liz Latham was helpful to get the approval quickly and also you can always expect a prompt response from her.
Supervisors are very experienced and knowledgeable and always call us to discuss the progress. Our special thanks to Phil. It was very fast and quality construction – slab poured on 18-May-18 and we did the PCI by end of October 2018 (5 Months Construction – half of contract duration).
We can honestly say that we have high quality home. Over all we had great experience dealing with Bellriver Homes. AND our 2nd will definitely be with Bellriver Homes. Thank you Bellriver Home Team.

We are first home buyers who have just purchased a house and land package from Bellriver homes. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would be able to afford to build a house ourselves, but Bellriver have made that possible for us.

After reading a number of great reviews online, we attended the display home in Jordan Springs to inspect the features of the house. We loved the quality and the finishes, and our Client Executive Fred Van Urk took the time to sit down and discuss the possibilities with our budget. In comparison, a number of other sales people from other building companies had laughed at our budget, and told us we wouldn’t be able to do much with it. Fred presented us with a package and a block of land that is absolutely perfect for us, and well within our budget. We were astounded that we had found something so affordable. Even our broker was shocked, and encouraged us to jump on the great deal that they had offered us. Our broker asked if Fred would be willing to have a quick chat over the phone about the features and location of the house with him, just to ensure that the right questions were being asked. Fred did so, and an hour later we put down our $1000 holding fee, which we were advised would go towards the overall deposit.

Approximately one week later, we were given the land contract which was a lot faster than we were expecting. Our conveyancer looked over the documents, and any small issues that were pointed out were altered promptly. Fred continually liaised with our broker and solicitor without us even asking, and to be honest, a large proportion of the time we haven’t had to lift a finger because Bellriver staff have liaised so well with the people representing us.

We added a number of inclusions to our plans, and Fred was never pushy towards us spending more money, and was upfront and honest about what we would/wouldn’t need.

We then set a time for the tender appointment, and Greg and Fred took a lot of time sitting down with floorplans, facades, and the tender. Having never been through the process before, they were both patient with us when we had questions or didn’t understand elements of the tender and build contract. Fred once again was happy to speak to our broker and solicitor at the conclusion of this meeting, in case we had missed anything before we signed the tender. Changes to the progress payment schedule were requested by our broker, and these were altered by Bellriver on the spot without any issue. We then paid the tender acceptance fee, which we were advised also goes towards the overall deposit and signed the tender. We were worried about getting the valuation and unconditional approval back, and Greg was able to compromise with us and stated that he would hold off on moving the process forward by a week until we had the green light from the bank. A copy of the build contract and tender was immediately given to us, and emailed to our broker and conveyancer at the conclusion of the meeting. This was all within two weeks of first walking through the display home.

We had a few issues with the bank side of things, however Bellriver were able to compromise with us to achieve an outcome that we are very happy with, which has ultimately resulted in us being able to move forward and book an appointment to sign the contracts next week.

So far, the team at Bellriver have made this stage of the process as seamless and as stress free as possible. The way we have been treated by every staff member we’ve come into contact with is outstanding, and we could not be more appreciative, especially being new to this process. They have presented us with plans for a home that we are over the moon with, and we can’t wait to see the end result.

We are into 8th week and still waiting for Tender even after paying $1000 as Tender Fee (many other builders quote for free and within 2 weeks). They had promised that it will be ready in 2-3 weeks. Forget about tender, we haven't got floor plan yet with the changes requested and agreed upon with the Sales Consultant before making paying for it. Relationship Manager hardly responds to queries on time.

Worst experience to start with. Not sure if I will continue with them.

We were initially referred to Bellriver Homes by one of our best friends.
Subsequently, we made an enquiry, in the enquiry we very clearly stipulated the houses we were interested in, the size of our block and the fact that we were keen to discuss costs ASAP. The Chief Operations Officer called to confirm a member from his team would be in contact with me. The details of our expectation were discussed with the COO and the Sales Team Member, including budget, expectations, timelines etc.

The COO and the Sales Team Member confirmed they were able to work with us and keep the price as close to our budget as possible. They advised they would make it work. After countless emails discussing plans, sizes, inclusions etc. we met with the Bellriver Sales Team f2f, where we again discussed our plan in further detail, costings, features, sizes of rooms and the new promotion about to be launched.

After all of the back and forth of putting together and finalizing the plan, Bellriver requested we pay $1000 AUD for a tender fee. The $1000 was to bring our plans to life and subsequently a contract which contained a fixed price, in line wit our budget.

When we arrived to our tender meeting, we were advised that they could not do the tender meeting on that specific day due to significant errors in the plans. This was very distressing to take as we had spent months looking for the perfect floor plan, only to have to completely alter it.

After finalizing our new plans, yet again, Bellriver Homes confirmed the draftsman would work on it over the weekend and have something to us by the following Monday. During the meeting we also met the Head of Operations who advised he would be happy to discuss the tender f2f and even offered to come and meet us outside of business hours or at the Jordan Springs office.

Monday comes, and nothing was ready. The draftsman had yet again made more mistakes with the plans and the tender. This then was extended to Wednesday, then the following Friday and then again where we were advised the latest we would have it was by Monday 29th October.

On Monday, we again had not received anything. I had called Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to follow up with 5 different individuals, including the Sales Team, Relationship Manager and the head of Operations. No one could give me an answer. After speaking with my Relationship Manager finally, she lied to me and advised that Bellriver had tried to contact me multiple times and i was not available to take their calls!

When we finally got in touch, we were advised the COO was fired for serious misconduct and they couldn’t proceed with the tender because no one had authority within the company to approve our budget and it shouldn’t of been approved at all!!

To think that we were mislead to believe that Bellriver would build our house (keeping in mind this is where we were going to spend the next 20 years of our life and grow up our children) to putting plans together, being told we are moving forward to tender stages, therefore paying $1000 for a tender, attending a meeting where the tender wasn’t ready, changing our plans to meet the requirements that Bellriver made mistakes on, to then going back and forth with Bellriver not once, not twice but on 4 occasions until they got the tender and plans right - to then being advised that the Sales Director was no longer with the business and shouldn’t have approved or agreed to our budget, to then being told you cannot build our home due to costings is absolutely repulsive.

The worst thing about it - all of the Bellriver Team knew about this situation however, not one of them picked up the phone to call to explain, even after countless attempts to phone the COO, Sales Team, Relationship Manager and finally the Managing Director of Bellriver Homes.

We do not recommend Bellriver at all! Get out while you can.

We chose Bellriver Homes for the third time we built and were vindicated in our decision by the recent timely completion of the house to our complete satisfaction. The quality and appearance is of the highest standard as was promised by all BRH personnel we communicated with. Our sales consultant Daniel was personable, knowledgeable, helpful and importantly not your typical salesman. Our colour consultant at the BRH offices Nazneen assisted greatly with choices and suggestions in the various decisions that we made. Her approach was supportive and informative. Our building supervisor Peter kept us informed of progress on a weekly basis and was available anytime to discuss any of our queries if required and on site if needed. He explained construction details in a manner clearly understood by us. He provided other sources of information owners would require once the handover took place. This aspect speeded up our settling in period.
Two adverse experiences were in the electrical review and external media connection. I understand the electrical problem was a one off but the media (NBN,TV and Phone) needs more explanation by BRH especially to new purchasers.
Building a new home can be a daunting experience but with the professionalism of Bellriver staff It was smooth.

I have got many homes built over the years by different builders and I must say building with Bellriver has been a very positive experience. The Sales team was very energetic and customer focused. The home designs were contemporary with the right range of accessories and fittings for us and best of all, the construction quality was very good and committed time lines were fully met. This was important for me. Throughout the build, the site supervisor, Paul Griffin was polite and approachable with an acute eye for quality. He earned my trust and represented Bellriver very professionally. The only area I felt that could do with more streamlining was better co-ordination between their internal office teams. However this was a minor point really.

Overall, I would have no hesitation in building with Bellriver again.

We happened to go with Bellriver by chance, but rather thankfully so. We were looking for home and land packages near Edmondson park area and this package was presented to us. The salesman was keen to explain all the details and went through the initial process thoroughly. It was altogether a new experience for us, however, at each step he assured that everything will be fine with this offer and throughout the phases of construction. I had good working experience during the colour consultation and great experience with the electrical appointment with YHC (Your Home Consulting). The site supervisor Peter called us every Friday throughout the construction period and kept us informed about the progress. The construction was quick and up-to the mark. Overall we had a great experience dealing with Bellriver.

I am extremely happy with the home that Bell River has built for us.

Particularly impressive was the fact that they started at the end of March (2018) and handed over the house on October 2nd (2018).

A huge shout-out to our site supervisor Immanuel Beckhit who not only kept us informed every step of the way but attended to any issues we reported immediately. The communication from Bell River staff across the board was great.

The build quality was also excellent.