G.J. Gardner Homes

From the very beginning, the G.J. Gardner team were fantastic. From contract through to design, selections, and the final build, the entire process was smooth and well managed. Robert, Jyle, and Karen were exceptional throughout, and Alison kept me regularly updated during construction. I couldn’t recommend G.J. Gardner highly enough and am extremely happy with the final result. Show details

We built our family home with G J Gardner pre-pandemic. At the end of this review it will be evident why I am writing this review now. At the time I was too tired and devastated by the process to pursue the matter further. During the build I found their workmanship to be second rate at best and their conduct to be unethical. There were many… Read more

issues. Here are just two. 1. Two main beams in the house were broken. My husband (who worked in the timber industry) identified the issue. Very reluctantly (and after refusing at first) G J Gardner fixed the main supporting beams. 2. The concrete slab did not align with the timber frame. G J Gardner were going to leave a 10cm gap between the edge of the concrete and the frame. They continued to reassure me it would be fixed. Towards the end of the project they initially laid underlay and carpet over the gap. I explained that if any weight was put on the carpet it would collapse into the gap. When I asked that it be fixed they initially put rubble in the gap. I insisted it be filled with concrete. These are just two of many, many, many problems I had.

They were also disappointingly unethical. As there were delays in the build (they went through three site managers in less than one year) they attempted to make excuses to cover themselves to avoid penalties for finishing late. I was told that the house had been broken into during lock-up. Upon investigation it was determined that the window had been 'jimmied' from inside the house. As well, nothing was damaged or taken. G J Gardner did not make a police report. I was not surprised. Another time G J Gardner rang me to say that the carpet I wanted was no longer available and it would lead to delays in delivering the project. That same day I rang the manufacturer of the carpet and was told it was available. Their dishonesty was extremely disappointing.

Today I had a builder come to my house to undertake some work. He needed to locate the studs in the wall. He said that the studs were much further apart than building regulations allow. I have researched the Victorian building regulations at the time of the build. The studs are further apart than was permitted at the time our house was built. Once again I am reminded of the poor workmanship by G J Gardner.

I would not recommend this business. For such a big investment as a house I think it is too big a risk. This is my personal experience. I will leave you to make up your own mind.

We live just outside of Sydney and used G J Gardner's for our build in Cudgen, some 800kms away and they were nothing short of brilliant, making what could have been a very stressful process into one that was easy. Right from the initial design… Read more ·  1

consultation where we changed a few elements to their Oceanside design to suit our preferences, through all the different steps of the way they kept us informed and sent pictures to show us progress knowing we were so far away. We were able to attend their interior design day where we selected the colour schemes, floorings, and internal fixtures which was a great experience and really useful in putting our ideas together. Everyone in the G J Gardner team was very helpful and a special shout out to Jai, from the office, who sent us weekly updates and to Jayden, the site manager, who ensured that the house looked fantastic on hand-over day. I would thoroughly recommend them and we would absolutely use them again if we were fortunate to be in a position to build again.

We recently built our brand new double-storey home with GJ Gardner Homes (Brisbane Outer North), and we genuinely couldn’t be happier with the overall experience. We took our time finding the right builder and had already worked through most of our plans before approaching GJ Gardner. The team was fantastic in taking what we had and turning it… Read more

into a fully realised custom home, offering helpful input along the way while still staying true to our vision.

From start to finish, the process was smooth and well organised, and far less stressful than we expected. The quality of the build is outstanding, and you can really see the attention to detail in the finished home. Everything feels solid, well thought out, and built to last.

One of the standout aspects for us was the timeliness. Our build was completed on schedule, which is especially impressive in the current building climate. It’s clear the team has strong project management and good coordination with trades, which made a big difference.

We also made changes to the stair design around three months out from completion, and the team handled this seamlessly. The final result has been executed perfectly and really adds to the overall feel of the home.

We decided about a month before handover that we wanted GJ Gardner to complete our custom fence as part of the build. Even with the short timeframe, they were able to pull everything together and get it done in a timely manner. There were a few issues along the way with what a third party had ordered and signed off on, but GJ Gardner took ownership of the situation, worked through it quickly, and ultimately delivered exactly what we had envisioned.

We also really appreciated how flexible and accommodating the team was. They took the time to understand what we wanted and worked with us to customise our home to suit our needs, without making the process feel complicated or overwhelming.

Overall, the professionalism, organisation, and quality workmanship really stood out. It’s easy to see why others highlight the build quality and smooth process in their reviews.

A fantastic experience and a result we’re truly proud of. We would absolutely recommend GJ Gardner Homes Brisbane Outer North to anyone looking to build - we have already engaged GJ for another project.

Our experience with GJ Gardner Tweed Heads was exceptional. From the planning stage to hand over, we had fantastic communication and our vision was met. The team sat down and helped us sift through the many house design options, catering best to what our needs are as a family of 5. Once we settled on our Coolum design, we were able to modify and… Read more

customise the design to really meet our vision for our family home. The selection process for the interior was seamless and often it was a matter of showing photos of things we had saved to our vision board and the professionals were able to match the selections for us! Nothing felt too hard or if we had a change of mind, we never felt like this was an issue. During the build the communication from our foreman Joel was fantastic and we built a solid relationship with him during this time. The build was so quick and we were so happy with the final result. After 5 months in our home, we can confidently say we couldn’t recommend GJ tweed heads more!

Being an absentee owner I had to rely on G.J Gardner to bring the project to completion. The result was well beyond my expectation. Phone contacts and visits to the site during construction were positive. Thank to their very professional teams I took delivery of the house that I wanted to live in. The workmanship was to best standard expected and due to good communication no issue arose before during or after completion. Over all a great result. Show details

GJ Gardner Homes Riverland have been absolutely sensational to deal with from start to finish. The entire team demonstrated an exceptional level of professionalism, communication, and care throughout the build. In particular, Helen, Kelsey, Andrew, and Sam were outstanding. Their customer service was consistently prompt, supportive, and… Read more

solution-focused. Any issues that arose along the way were addressed quickly and efficiently, which made the whole process feel smooth and stress-free.

The quality of the trades involved was also excellent, every trade we encountered was professional, skilled, and took pride in their work. Building a home can often be a challenging experience, but this team made it genuinely enjoyable. We feel very fortunate to have such a high-quality builder locally in the Riverland. We couldn’t recommend GJ Gardner Homes Riverland highly enough.

We are currently building with GJ Gardner Barossa. While we have had a number of unexpected delays with the knockdown and rebuild that is entirely due to unexpected findings within the old property. Throughout this time, the team has been superb in keeping communication open, working patiently through all the issues, and stepping alongside us at… Read more

every point in the journey. We can't recommend them highly enough! Communication, transparency, professionalism, and superb help with the custom design! What else could you want from a builder?

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 my partner ( who has no building experience ) but that aside I stand by my review on the helpfulness… Read more

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

What an amazing, friendly yet professional team to work with. Nothing was to hard smooth process from start to finish. Very impressed with the house. I’m a very happy customer! Show details

Rob and Sabih were very knowledgeable in assisting us to plan our duplex and basement project. We highly recommend anyone looking for a basement build to consider these guys, they have so much experience and knowledge. 10/10 Show details

We couldn’t be happier with our experience building with G.J. Gardner Homes Albury. The entire team was amazing from start to finish. Communication was clear and consistent, the quality of the home is excellent, and the whole process moved along in a very impressive timeframe. We signed our contract in late June and received handover in early… Read more

December, which we were thrilled with.

A big thank you to Ben, our supervisor, who did an outstanding job and kept everything running smoothly, to Sherrie for her help with colours and selections, and to Sam and Mads in the office for being so helpful and efficient throughout the journey.

The staff, the service, the quality and the overall experience were all fantastic. We would absolutely recommend G.J. Gardner Homes Albury to anyone considering building.

We had the great pleasure to build twice with gj gardner in Coffs . Ist house was built in 2020 it was the montville 380 with many changes . We found the team very flexible /knowledgeable /super helpful with fabulous ideas. Happy to watch our budget and suggest alternatives!!! Super quality fittings /and prepared at anytime to return to fix a few… Read more ·  1

flaws that happen when building. We lost our lovely new home to fire after 18months of living in our dream home of the future—- however we asked Rick (owner of the Coffs gj gardner branch) to assess and quote to yet build the same house again. They had become like family and were as devastated as we were after the complete loss of our dream dwelling. To the rescue However and a few tears from everyone , tradies tooo we got it rebuilt with very few changes to enhance the plan we already had. I must say though the team were totally committed and super happy to see it being re-built and it’s sits on the hill in majestic style and we were not known very well before the fire but we are certainly known now. Several houses around us are being built by gj gardner and I must say looking totally fabulous-the standard has been raised in our local community thanks to the team at gj gardner . We very often call in to say gidday — THANkYOU for a wonderful Dwelling we will treasure forever . All the best for future builds——signing off as 4 EVA GRATEFUL Yvonne

I chose to go with the team at GJ based on their reputation for quality. The whole process was simple and I was kept informed every step of the way. The team at the Albury office were first class from start to finish & I am so happy with the way it all turned out. Show details