G.J. Gardner Homes

Amazing service, completing stages on time and the communication has been exceptional. As we are not near the build, they have supplied photo updates on a weekly basis. Thank you! Show details

GJ Gardner Inner West Builder Recommendation – GJ Gardners (Liverpool) have designed and built two (2) custom homes for me in the Leichhardt area. the custom design process was highly professional and collaborative with Mitchell and his team working everything we wanted into the design. He was… Read more ·  1

also able to navigate the notorious inner west council process with relative ease. i would highly recommend GJ Gardner Liverpool for a new home in the inner west area

Extremely happy with the quality of the build. It was absolutely everything I had dreamed it to be. The home was built in the time frame that was given without hidden or additional costs and the professionalism of the team was second to none. Cannot recommend GJ Gardner Lilydale enough. Show details ·  1

Right from our very first meeting with GJG Warragul, everyone we dealt with was professional, extremely easy to work with, and listened to every question, query and request we had. During the design process, Lochlin offered perfect solutions in response to our requirements. We were given weekly updates throughout the build, and if GJG had any… Read more ·  1

uncertainties along the way about any detail, our site manager Phil contacted us immediately to resolve these. At no point during the whole process were there any issues - nothing seemed to be a problem for the team at GJG! And their attention to detail (which was very important for us) was unquestionable. Even after hand-over, if we had any questions, the team at GJG were there for us. We now have a home we love and enjoy, that we know has been built with care and attention. From Lauren who we spoke to the first time we contacted GJG, to Brooke who guided us through the whole process, and right through to Erin who looked after us for hand-over and beyond, thank you to everyone at GJG Warragul!!

Slab pour: April 2026 Completion: September 2026 House size: 192 sqm Overall, the experience was very good. This was my first time building a house, so there were many things I didn’t know about the building process. I really appreciate the team at G.J. Gardner Homes Barossa Valley for being patient and taking the time to answer all my questions… Read more ·  1

and concerns throughout the process.

I’m not a professional in the building industry, and I don’t have any family members or friends with experience in construction, so I’m not really in a position to judge the quality of the workmanship in a professional sense. However, compared with the previous house I lived in, which was built by a volume builder, I can definitely feel that the overall quality and feel of this house is much better. I think one of the reasons is that the standard options and selections they offer already have a good level of quality and finish.

I also hired a private building inspector. Throughout the construction process, there were only a few minor defects identified at each stage. In most cases, the team was either already aware of them, in the process of fixing them, or addressed them very quickly. Overall, this gave me a lot of confidence and peace of mind.

The only thing I would like to point out for the company to take note of is the number of issues I found in the drawings prepared by the draftsman. I remember finding around five issues in total. Four of them were identified before construction started. The other one could have resulted in the frameless shower glass panel being built as a solid wall. Fortunately, we discovered the issue before the gyprock was installed, and it was corrected and removed in time.

At the time of writing this review, I have been living in the house for two days, and I am very happy with the overall result.

We couldn’t be happier with our experience building with the team at G.J. Gardner Homes Adelaide Hills. We came to them with a particularly unusual block of land, but they embraced the challenge and went completely over and above to turn it into our dream home. What stood out was Rachel's design expertise. She was absolute magic to work with. Her… Read more ·  1

design advice was invaluable—she took the time to truly understand our lifestyle and helped us craft a custom floor plan that maximizes our tricky block.

Beyond making the house work for us today, the team helped us design with aging-in-place in mind. We now have a home we can comfortably grow old in without ever needing to move, which gives us incredible peace of mind.

The build quality and trade work are top-tier too. Every detail, finish, and structural element shows that they actually care.

Building a custom home can be daunting, but the Adelaide Hills team made it a rewarding, stress-free process. We absolutely love our home and cannot recommend them highly enough to anyone looking for a builder who truly listens and delivers.

The whole team at GJ Gardner Wagga and Griffith were amazing throughout the entire building process. Sian was fantastic to deal with from day one. Nothing was ever an issue or too much trouble for her and she was always happy to make changes or help wherever she could. She was the perfect first point of contact for us and was the person who sold… Read more ·  1

us on building with GJ Gardner. Luke, our site supervisor, was incredible to work with throughout the construction process. He was extremely knowledgeable, professional and approachable. He never made us feel like our questions were silly or that we were ever bothering him. We were particularly impressed by his attention to detail and the care he put into our build from start to finish. Overall, we cannot recommend GJ Gardner Wagga and Griffith highly enough. The entire team went above and beyond to make the building process as smooth and enjoyable as possible, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience.

We had a fantastic experience building with GJ Gardner Coffs. From the very beginning, the planning stage was straightforward and well guided, which made the whole process feel easy and enjoyable. One of the highlights for us was working with the admin team on our colour selections—they were incredibly helpful, patient, and made what could have… Read more ·  1

been an overwhelming process really exciting.

Throughout construction, everything ran smoothly and we were kept well informed at every stage. The communication from both the supervisors and admin team was excellent, which gave us a lot of confidence and peace of mind along the way.

A big thank you to Rick, Susan and the whole team at GJ Gardner Coffs—it was genuinely a pleasure building with you all. We’re really happy with the end result and would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking to build.

My recent build with GJ Gardner Riverland was a wonderful experience. Right from the start, the team made me feel very welcome, nothing was too much trouble and my brief was understood. All aspects have been seamless - thorough contact the whole build from the entire team - selection day highlighted the quality of the homes many inclusions -… Read more ·  1

nothing was too much trouble. My home has turned out better than i could have imagined thanks to Sam, Mel and the entire GJ Gardner Renmark team.

I would absolutely recommend anyone wanting to build to see the team.

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… Read more

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

Frasers on the hill – Was very happy with the out come of my house! Was a lot of new ideas and the team made it happen for me!  Show details

GJ Gardner Orange delivered an excellent building experience for my new home. The construction timeline was efficient, with the build completed in roughly 6–7 months. The staff consistently demonstrated professionalism, patience, and dedication, responding promptly to all my questions. What stood out most was the team’s positive attitude —… Read more ·  1

everyone greeted me with a smile, making the entire process smooth and reassuring. I’m very satisfied with the final result and would confidently recommend them.

Fabulous service and assistance from our first enquiry to handover. Our home was built well ahead of arrangements and we were kept up to date with the progress on a weekly basis. Building a home was much easier than we expected, we would build with them again. Show details ·  1

Given all the horror stories we had heard from people building houses we were delighted by how smoothly everything went. Easy and frequent communication with a final product that impressed our building inspector. Show details ·  1

"Highly thorough and professional service!" I’ve been dealing with Aracne de Borzatti - Contract Administrator at GJ Gardner Essendon for my recent build . The communication was clear, honest, and easy to understand. Aracne kept me updated at every major milestone and consult on several design details that made sense. The Aracne at GJ Gardner… Read more ·  1

Essendon is reliable, highly knowledgeable, and a gem to deal with. I strongly recommend GJ Gardner Essendon to anyone undertaking a new build.