PJ Burns
Verified44 reviews
- Post-Construction
Excellent quality builder – Quality builders. Approachable staff from first meeting to handover. Great value for money. Nothing was too much trouble and they went above and beyond to keep us informed of the progress. Best decision we made using them for our home. Can’t fault them in any way. Thanks again to all staff, contractors and especially Dave (supervisor) for making sure everything was to his excellent standard. Show details
Probably disappointing value for dollar I could have done much better elsewhere no after sales follow up – In my opinion I had a bad feeling after it left the sales and ideas department Things went downhill I had given clear instructions no cut and fill Then it ended up as a maximum 300 mm cut and fill on the plan I was assured no deeper Then when I measured it it was much more I would say at least 600mm Unfortunately all the photos I took were on… Read more
my wifes phone and she lost her phone BUT there is very little clearance between the hardiplank and ground level on one side that happens to be on the most concerning side This has left me with a major concern of water intrusion I did spend thousands of dollars on more drainage myself BUT I think I need to be more assertive in following this up with a building Inspector who is actually interested in helping ( two have ) never got back to me some warping on the gyprock which was described as borderline by pjburns I was also very disappointed with the inclusions Very basic fans and doors the cheapest you could buy I think !! After the 12 month minor defects there was a quick phone call from the painter that was fine I thought the gyprock needed fixing before painting No further contact on any other issues Its the down the track issues I am now really concerned about Would I build with them again ? Heck no I worked out the costings and I could have had a pretty grand home from another builder I am in my sixties thinking this would be my last home but in the back of my mind I want to sell If you build with them I wish you good luck
Price Position and Presentation – Moved in to our house about 3 weeks ago. It's just perfect. PJ Burns did an exceptional job with our custom built home. Not easy on a small block. The standard of tradespeople and workmanship was superb and anything that needed adjusting in our contract was dealt with promptly and professionally. We had friends building with a project company… Read more
at the same time as us and they now have problems and unfinished items. We highly recommend PJ Burns Builders to build your dream home. From start to finish and during Covid times with shortage of materials and tradespeople, we found them to be honest and trustworthy delivering an exceptional quality product on time and at no extra cost. Thanks to Matt for initial consult and Rick and the two Dave's and all their tradespeople for a job well done. ***** Pam and Bill
Positive reviews
A beautiful Hamptons style home at the Point in Hervey Bay !! – Our experience with PJBurns Hervey Bay was exceptional right through to handover. Lionel Kershaw helped us come up with an amazing design for our new home to fit our budget and design dreams. Matt McKendry guided us through the choices stage effortlessly with perfect samples suiting our Hamptons style and budget presented to us saving valuable… Read more
time. What can we say about construction manager Dave Jobe !! A very talented conscientious perfectionist ! He was a pleasure to deal with right throughout the building process. We had every confidence in him delivering our home on time and to a high standard and if we had any concerns he was on to it straight away. Cant thank them all enough as we now start to create happy memories in our beautiful new home. Highly recommend this team and builder in Hervey Bay. You totally deserve your great reputation in town !!
Exceptional Build – We would like to thank the owners, staff and contractors at Hervey Bay for their professionalism and friendliness. We were always made to feel very welcome. Their assistance in helping 'first time builders in 40 years' was invaluable. We had so many positive comments from different people regarding how quick and diligently the contractors worked.… Read more
The site was always left clean and tidy. The build was well organised and progressed very quickly. We were always informed what was happening next. We are especially pleased with the brickwork. Thank you PJ Burns for our wonderful home! We are thrilled!
Quality build with efficient service – If you’re thinking of building on the Sunshine Coast then call PJ Burns. From start to finish the service was excellent. In particular, Sarah Burns made life so so easy. She is efficient and always so happy to help. The quality of our new home is fantastic. Even after the build they were happy to come back and fix little things as I noticed them. I would highly recommend PJ Burns if you want quality and amazing service. Show details
Negative reviews
Poor aftersales service with no responsibility taken for poor work – The design process was the best part of the experience, however those staff left the business halfway through our build. We had several site managers and it seemed everytime we emailed someone in the office we wouldn't get a reply for weeks until we followed up to find out that person no longer worked for PJ Burns. When you build with someone… Read more
you trust them to do a good job and fix any problems because you are paying them so much money. You also trust them as you're not a builder and they are...
During our build we had a number of issues.
We lost 5 weeks (the and missed spending Christmas in the house) because PJburns installed the wrong roof line. The Trusses had to be removed, rebuilt and to top it off they cut the colour bond sheets wrong and they had to be redone. All these errors were down to internal communication errors within PJburns we were told. PJburns covered this cost as it was their error.
Our outdoor tiles which were supposed to be safe for outdoor use are dangerously slippery when wet, which is a real problem around our pool, which PJBurns also built. PJburns did go halves in a chemical treatment which was supposed to make them less slippery. Being reasonable people we agreed to pay half this cost. But it didn't really work and sometime in the future we will have to completely re-tile our outdoor areas.
Tilers used in the house also finished the grouting poorly with dirt mixed into the grout.
Our pool was not finished until 6 months after our completion date due to the pool fence and the design of the pool. The pool finishes are poor.
And our biggest issue is this... to fix the pool design PJburns added extra concrete and tiling next to the pool. This slab was never properly supported and as a result has fallen away from the side of the pool. When we asked PJBurns to rectify they refused to even come and inspect the slab. Instead they claim that it is our responsibility to ensure the slab is supported. There were lots of piers in the pool but for some reason they decided to not support this slab. They also never communicated that because they hadn't supported it there would need to be additional works completed to ensure it didn't sink. As we are not builders this where you rely on your builder to at least tell you this is the case, or take responsibility for doing a cheap nasty job when it all comes unstuck. But I guess because we've paid them they no longer care about the work they've done.
As a side note the tradesman who laid the slab damaged our gardens and dumped excess concrete in them out of sheer laziness. I also had to spend an entire day digging excess steel lengths out of the front garden as they had just buried them rather than take them away.
I could never recommend any build with PJ Burns, our experience has not been a good one.
Very poor after sales service, take no responsibility for their own product and clearly cant read there own plans – This last PJ Burns house we have built is a copy of a previous PJ Burns homes we have built. Its supposed to be the similar to their old display home in Bellflower Sippy Downs. Our previous other builds went very well but the latest, not so good. The finish is disappointing and they cant read their own plans. Most disappointing is that PJ Burns… Read more
no longer takes responsibility for their own builds. They rather blame others in what can be best described as aggressive communication. Instead of a down pipe we have a water fall . (the down pipe is clearly marked on the plan). This was approved by "local authorities" no mention of who that was and its not the council. I checked. So its not PJ Burns issue. No mention of who is actually responsible for rectifying the issue either. Did I mention its on the plan. We have a 4 metre long crack/gap in the garage wall, up to 28mm wide. This apparently is a "home maintenance issue", not PJ Burns responsibility. The insulation that is piled up in the roof, not installed, is the responsibility of an undisclosed "outside agency" so once again not a PJ Burns issue. I have many issues that i wont bore you with but I will say. We will not be building with PJ Burns again and my advise to you if you are currently thinking of building with PJ Burns is "Dont."
Terrible experience, horrible communication and after sales care – Horrible experience with PJ Burns on the Sunshine Coast. I could write a novel but instead will try keep it simple. - Extremely high turn over of staff (construction managers which are critical) we are on to a 7th person who is "acting" as a construction manager. This has been an issue especially dealing with the QBCC and defect as everytime… Read more
someone turns over the new guy turns up with no clue as to what is or has been going on. - Terrible communication. Initially communication was good, until contract was signed and we started running into issues it fell away significantly. - Average building finish (would give it 2 stars). - Refusal (via inaction and no reciprocal communication) to fix defects, we had to involve the QBCC which agreed with our defect list apart from 2 issues with variations which we were told would need to go through QCAT as they are contractual. - One of PJ Burns subbies/plasterers put a screw through an aircon drainage pipe which leaked in the wall, we tried to get that rectified and communication from PJ Burns stopped regarding the issue. The plaster was onsite attending another problem and when I showed them what had happened they agreed to sort it on the spot as it was in their words "clearly their fault". - Once QBCC had agreed on defects and made PJ Burns attend to issues, PJ Burns has been extremely difficult to deal with in that they organise multiple visits from trades or their reps on multiple days and have at times been to view the same defect 4 times putting our tenants at a major inconvenience. No such thing as organizational skills here. - Our Practical Completion was in March last year and we are still dealing with defects that were documented at the initial walkthrough. - The roof has now leaked through into the ceiling cavity, through a light fitting and has caused plaster board to rupture/cave in. - Variations were paid for and not completed as specified, PJ Burns refused to fix or refund payment made. * Full disclosure, before we reached PC we brought up the variation issues, PJ Burns flat out refused to address them, we withheld final payment so we could sort the issue to which they didn't communicate back other than to say "no we won't fix/refund that", when the GM finally replied to emails it was to make rubbish claims (basically a threat) that we were in breach of contract. It took 7 weeks for us to finally give up and pay final payment to which we were charged interest. Not once were PJ Burns forthcoming in their communication or did they endevour to come to a reasonable solution.
This was and continues to be, a horrible experience for us as first time builders. I couldn't be more enthusiastic in encouraging anyone considering building to stay away from this circus.
Feel free to ask questions!
PS Looks like my review turned into a novel.
Recent reviews
Problems from start to finish with appalling customer service – PJ Burns were contracted to design and build our new home in Brisbane. During the build we had so many issues it will be hard to list all, so I will focus on only a few. You will get the idea as to how much of a nightmare this company was to deal with....and still is. A change of site manager. Our site (exposed frame and chip board floor on… Read more
the second level) sat untouched and exposed to the weather for a month while our first site manager left PJB. We were not notified by the company until we continually contacted them asking why nothing was happening on site. The original site trades were all affiliated with the first site manager. Our new site manager then just blamed the previous manager for all issues for work done to date and didn't want to take responsibility for work done prior to his arrival. The quality of works was so bad I had to attend site at least once a week to catch bad workmanship. For example, they were going to lay carpet over the warped chipboard flooring in the bedrooms and not sand down the raised joints. This would have resulted in uneven wearing of the carpet and uneven floor. I was present when the carpet installer took the call from the site manager and was directed to "lay it anyway". I then called the site manager directly. Most probably this would not have been evident until after the warranty period. One example of trying to do a quick and cheap job. I have many more....
PJ Burns designed the house. All plans were done by the builder and their team. So one would wonder why when we get to construction they tell us there are issues with the plans and they can't build exactly as per the plan (and our contract). We now have bulkheads in our outdoor alfresco areas as they didn't allow for plumbing above. They also wanted to put another bulkhead in our entry at the front door as again, they forgot that a toilet would need plumbing. The bulkhead was obviously the cheapest way for them to solve the problem. We pushed back hard on this and they found another way to fix albeit with a smaller pipe. So fixed for now assuming the smaller pipe doesn't give us issues in the future. We assumed that because they designed it they should have been able to build it to their plans, wrong.
The quality of their trades. There is a saying that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Our house site felt like a zoo. The inside of our house was painted the wrong colour. The outside of the house they used the wrong paint (textured). It was only after we pointed it out at handover that they came to repaint. But it was a rush job and there are inconsistencies in the final appearance. The tilers layed patterned tiles not in random manners but the patterns side by side. We had to insist the tiles were ripped up and changed. Our induction cooktop was not installed correctly and was only picked up by our Neff representative. Incorrect venting meant it was a fire hazard. I could continue....
Rectification and warranty. I am jumping to this or my review will be too long. We have had 4 maintenance managers/contacts since handover. Staff turnover is very high (you can draw your own conclusions as to why). Our maintenance managers leave, emails are unmonitored as are mobile phones. You leave multiple messages and send multiple emails and they go unanswered. Out of frustration you call the office and they give you the contact details of your next maintenance manager. They then want to attend your house again to reassess the work that has previously been reassessed. Each one then agrees they will fix and rectify the problems (we have emails to verify) but then they leave and we start the process again. But now a new twist... we received an email this week where they have wiped their hands of the outstanding issues saying they are "within tolerances". Our list of issues was supplied to PJB in March 2019 and in the last week of August 2019 this is the email we get. Appalling customer service.
I wouldn't not recommend using this company if you are looking for a quality, stress free build. We held off on writing this review for months as we hoped that PJB would do the right thing, take pride in their work and try to rectify all the issues we have had. In hingsight I should have started this review in 2018 when we were building so others could have witnessed our experience first hand. So to others caught up in this nightmare, I am sorry.
As a side note I am now in contact with other PJB customers in Brisbane and they have now engaged lawyers as their situation is untenable. I'm sure their reviews will follow once the legal process has been finalised.
Before engaging any builder I would suggest anyone reading this review should check the QBCC website and look at how your potential builder is tracking in regards to revenue numbers (growing or shrinking businesses) and rectification works. If you are spending a lot of money on a new home, do your homework.
"We can't imagine building with anyone else" – We first approached PJ Burns before we had even purchased our block of land! They offered advise and great customer service from the very first day. Though our block was not an easy block to build on, they always kept us up to date with the progress of the build and answered any questions we had. The house is beautiful and the attention to… Read more
detail is incredible.
We can't imagine building with any another company after this amazing experience we have had with them.
A massive thank you to Courtney, Swanny, Chris, Amanda, Sarah, Lynda and your team for all of your hard work!
Glad to get PJ Burns onto our Home Build Project – My wife and I decided to buy a piece of land in Mango Hill , QLD and initially looked at several builders and was almost going to go for a different builder to start looking at our home build plans. We had our ideas in our minds and the existing designs of some of the builders had to be modified. Needless to say, some of the bigger builders in the… Read more
region were not prepared to change their plans and when the one that did, didn't give us much options.
I finally got to know from a friend of mine that built with PJ Burns and he was very happy with PJ. Introductions were made (Greg Morris, thanks for that) and from the start, I found Courtney Burns to be so very likeable and easy to talk with in regards to our ideas and designs in mind. They gave us plenty of options to re-design their exiting plans and we finally decided on one plan that I would be modifying to no end each time. I must have changed my mind for the internal designs countless of times but Courtney was very patient and accommodating to my changes. I live and work overseas and the communication could be difficult at times but Courtney made it easy. ( Thanks Courtney )
We have now locked in our plans and will be doing our Studio Selections for the interior and the other people in the PJ Burns team, ( Sarah Burns, Amanda Pickering, Jodi Cole, Megan and the rest ) have been great with regards to communication, as I'm on a different time zone of 6 hrs difference. So far it has been a great journey and we are looking forward to the build now that will start at the end of May 2018. Again we will be hoping for a smooth flow when it comes to the build stages of the house build and from what I hear , they are excellent....lets hope your reputation precedes you PJ BURNS. Look forward to our build..
Chris Danker
Planning & preparation are everything – Getting close to finalising my plans & contract. PJBurns team have been responsive to my ideas, needs & wants, are great communicators & their experience & expertise shows. No question goes unanswered, documents are clear and modifications are accurately recorded. And they put the client and quality right up front. Design options, building &… Read more
product advice, costings, colour selections & materials detailing all receive careful attention & I have been backed up all the way with great advice. The management systems behind the front line inspire confidence. I'm truly looking forward to the next steps of my build process.
October 10th 2017 Update: Now at slab stage
With council building approval, trees on the building footprint were cleared away & the site was assessed, leveled & pegged out. Plumbing & power access set out & termite barrier installed. Now, with the slab poured, the house is appearing out of the ground & looks settled in the location already. Each step has followed through logically with clear updates and communications about the steady progress. The building site is tidy & safe. Looking forward to the frame appearing soon. I am very happy with the build progress, its quality and the personal communications from the whole PJB team.
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This is Great – The build was very professionally managed, the customer support was above and beyond what I expected and the workmanship and build quality was exceptional. I was treated with complete respect through out a very long design process and this attitude from PJ Burns staff made the whole process of designing and planning a new home as exciting as a new home build should be. Show details
Our country dream home!! – It's been a 12 month journey from when my hubby and and I decided to put our home on the market and resign from our well paid careers in North Qld. We chose to return home to raise our children in the country on my husbands family farm in beautiful Curramore Qld. Our first initial experience with PJ Burns started off a little hectic as our initial… Read more
sales manager quite frankly annoyed the crap out of us as he was a little impatient and not transparent with pricing our quote. However this sales person no longer works with PJ Burns and our new sales person Megan Gail was the best thing that happened for us as well as PJ Burns I believe. I was determined to stay with PJ Burns because of their reputation and quality workmanship! We are currently at lock up stage with our dream home and I just couldn't be happier with the progress of our build and the staff have been awesome, I would recommend to build with PJ Burns if you are after a quality and professional building team and an affordable option with standard inclusions that are really nice and some are even upgrades with other building company's. What you see is what you get with the team at PJ Burns, my family and I couldn't be happier so far. I can't wait to get my keys to my new home in a few weeks as its been a bit of a journey getting here but it's well worth it for us.
It doesn't get better than that! – Scouring the internet to find a construction company for our new home, we were struck by PJ Burns' Product Review ratings. They were so impressive that once we learned that they also build in Brisbane, we didn't consider anyone else. Now we have added our 5 stars to their tally - we would have added 6 if we could. In a nutshell, our beautiful… Read more
custom-designed house was completed well ahead of schedule (much appreciated, because we are in our seventies and were living in our caravan for the duration of the project); it was built for a fixed price; the quality throughout is excellent; any problems were resolved quickly and to our entire satisfaction. We have a home which exceeds our expectations - and they were high to start with. Many thanks to PJ Burns' staff, in particular to their salesperson, architect, building supervisor, and colour consultant. Innovative design, completed ahead of time, on budget, excellent quality.
Good build, but soured by their refusal to fix a problem – PJ Burns designed and built our home. With careful supervision they did a good job. However, when reinstating the roadside kerb their sub contractors placed backing concrete too close to the surface . Now the grass won't grow over this area of insufficient soil cover. Burns denies this is any responsibility of theirs, although the defective work was done by their contractors.
Very Happy – We've just built with PJ Burns in Hervey Bay and they're very good!! We live in Brisbane and couldn't always get up to the Bay for regular checks on the progress. From day one, [Personal Name Removed] our sales consultant who we spent much time with us, often via phone or even email, couldn't help us enough. Very professional and approachable… Read more
and she really cares about the customer!! We looked through many plans with [Personal Name Removed] to get the right one for us and also our block. Of course, there is the budget also to think about and PJ Burns has so many plans to suit everyone in that regard.
After visiting various display homes and finally deciding on a plan we loved, [Personal Name Removed] then put so much time into changing it for us, as we had some issues with our land, due to where the sewer line ran (being an older block and not usually an issue with new blocks). However, we got around all of that and still have a lovely home that we're very happy with.
[Personal Name Removed] our building supervisor, was extremely good and very easy to communicate with, even via phone. If there was anything that we were concerned about at all, they would always follow it up and do something about it. They would make sure that you were happy with the progress and if not, do something to amend it. [Personal Name Removed] sent us photos on the progress of the build, which was also great.
Would highly recommend the PJ Burns team in Hervey Bay!!
Easy process and really nice and supporting staffs – This is our first 3 bedroom home built by pj burns. Wouldnt have built if we had not met [name removed] , who was so supportive and encouraging that we made our mind to build. The process was smooth apart from the color selection day.. Where we only had one day but we asked for one more day which we were given but still wish now that we did not… Read more
get enough time to make our selections.. All the process was made easy by pj burns.. We had really helpful supervisor [name removed] who helped and answered phone calls at any time..had lot of patience to answer our stupid questions..
Eventhough the final look of the house is not as we thought.. We have got to consider that the block was narrow .. But, we could have worked a bit more on the outlook of the house like the angle and length of the roof.. Working with experienced architects. we expected and assumed it would look nice and high but when compared to the neighbours.. realised could have been higher and much better..We had few problems like leaking taps and sinks which were fixed eventually.. Thanks to [name removed]!
This house is definitely not our dream house but we wish we had spent more time on planing of the house.. As first time building.. We put everything on pj burns..and ive got to admit that they did the best they could.. Friendly and supportive staffs.. Easy process.. Retaining wall was not put up high enough which caused our back yard to be very steep.. Ended up putting another retaining wall increasing our cost.. If only we knew that would be the case, we would have made changes before we signed the contract.. Bit costly compare to other builders.
Love my New house, Easy build – We built with PJ Burns at Peregian Springs, they provided us with a custom built home which suits our needs very well. We have built 4 times before and this was the most stress free build we have had. They custom designed the home and it was all done with the Designer and myself over Skype and keeping costs reasonable was also part of the plan. … Read more
They were very accommodating and any upgrades that we requested & costs were advised prior so we could make an informed decision. Nothing was to much trouble and all I can say is many thanks to [names removed] for a home that looks great and we love it. Would certainly build again with them if we have the chance. Organisation skills, people who knew what we were talking about and considerate of our needs.
Stress Free – I have built several homes now and this experience was the best by far. Right from the beginning to the end I was kept in the loop at all stages. The house was built in a very timely fashion and I am very happy with the build quality. A friend of mine was building at the same time (with a major builder on the Sunshine Coast) and it took… Read more
significantly longer to complete than my home and at the hand over my friend had an A4 page full of issues that needed to be fixed.
When I build my next home I will only deal with PJ Burns and highly recommend them to anyone who needs a competitive reliable builder.
It is easy to see why PJ Burns were named 'The Best Value For Money Builder In Queensland'. Offered great advice to make clever and inexpensive changes
A Mixed Bag – -- Update: November 2016 -- After not quite 4 years in our home, I've decided that unfortunately I need to come and update this review for a couple of reasons. The first is that we've encountered some issues with the property, such as: 1. A burst water pipe. 2. A sink drain that became stuck in the 'closed' position. 3. Shower taps… Read more
that fail to stop the flow of water.
And the second is that actually getting PJ Burns to tend to any of these problems has been a nightmare. I could forgive and forget if they'd actually fix these problems promptly when we report them.
But what actually happens is that my partner sends them a polite e-mail reporting the problem and requesting that they fix it, and then they respond saying that they have no intention of doing so and/or accuse us of causing the problems ourselves (sorry, but why on Earth would I be digging up the water pipes, PJ Burns???). Then I have to get involved and firmly explain things they should already know, such as the terms of the QBCC warranty and their obligations under Australian consumer law. Then some weeks later they admit that I'm right and fix the problem. In the case of the burst pipe, at least (we ended up with a sizeable sinkhole on our property thanks to PJ Burns's procrastination, and did they bother to do anything about that? Of course not). Or they just go silent, as in the case of the other two issues.
Now I've got an unusable sink and a leaking shower in a house that's not even 4 years old, and PJ Burns couldn't care less. This is unacceptable, and I'm probably going to have to drag in the QBCC, the Office of Fair Trading, the ACCC, and possibly even QCAT before the problem is solved. Because it's not like I have anything better to do with my time.
So I'm deducting 1 star for the fact that these issues occurred in the first place, and 1 star for the builder's appalling lack of post-build support and service and complete unwillingness to stand by the quality of their work and do right by their customers.
-- Original Review (4/5) --
My experience with PJ Burns can only be reviewed in two parts. The first part is their sales process which is, in a word, terrible. It's simplest to just enumerate all the things our sales rep(s) (my wife and I dealt with two of them) did wrong:
1. Gave misleading advice about what was part of their "standard" inclusions and what was not (i.e. showed a demo house, said "everything you see here is standard", and then *after* we had signed our contract said "oh, by the way, this that and the other aren't standard, so you'll have to pay extra for them").
2. Ignored questions and inquiries sent via email, SMS, and phone. Often the only way to get an issue resolved was to go down to their office in person. Some questions they just plain did not answer at all.
3. Constantly attempted to rush us into signing a contract despite repeated statements that we did not want to rush and that we'd rather take the time to make sure the contract was perfect *before* signing (this is standard advice to anyone building a home, regardless of builder).
4. Told us, in writing (e-mail communication) that they would do something, then tried to tell us that they weren't going to because it wasn't mentioned in our contract (if you're a law buff you'll note that the Telecommunications Act of 1997 forbids this). After *several* arguments on the subject they finally agreed to honor their word.
5. Made simple mistakes like double-billing the same item and required us to point out the same errors several times (see #2) before they fixed it. Repeatedly pressured us to sign the contract while it still had errors in it (see #3).
6. Engaged us with an attitude of "you can make changes before construction commences without having to worry about fees" and then threatened to hit us with admin fees if we didn't hurry up and sign the final contract (see #3). Though to be fair I must note that in the end we were not hit with any fees.
7. Were completely unable to perform simple research tasks such as contacting a vendor and determining if they can or cannot do something. Long story short we were only able to get some inclusions by investing our own time talking to the builder's vendors and confirming the various options available.
8. Scheduled appointments/phone conversations that never actually took place.
With all these issues it's easy to overlook what they did right. The sales team did an excellent job helping us with our floorplan. Initially they were flexible and receptive to changes. Our color consultant did a superb job guiding us through the color selection process, including responding to any questions that we had. Her price estimates were often far off the mark (typically around half the actual quoted price), but that's minor considering how well she handled everything else.
In the end, however, the bad far outweighs the good. We almost abandoned the project, in fact. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and we moved forward with the build, but on an objective scale I have to rate my sales experience a 1 / 5.
But if you pull up reviews for any other builder you will find people with the same complaints. So in that sense PJ Burns is no worse than other builders, and the problems noted above are endemic to the building industry itself; not specific to PJ Burns.
So for being not worse than any other builder, I'll bump that score up to 2 / 5. The industry as a whole still rates 1 / 5. Seriously guys, it's time to improve.
On the other side of the coin is the actual construction process itself. After the nightmarish sales process we were really expecting the worst.
Fortunately our fears proved unfounded, as our site supervisor was superb. Unlike our sales rep, he always dealt with us in an honest and forthright manner. Although sometimes difficult to get ahold of, he always made sure to address all of our questions/concerns. When we found things that needed fixing, he fixed them. When he said he'd do something, he did it.
Overall the build quality on our home seems very good, and the project was completed in about 14 weeks. Given our awesome supervisor and build quality/speed I'd give the construction process a 4.5 / 5. I'm deducting 0.5 due to the retaining wall that PJ Burns put in. We paid several grand for that thing, and it already looks kind of sad (bowed beams, some poorly made cuts, etc.).
Given that it's the end result that matters, I'm giving PJ Burns a "weighted average" score of 4 / 5. That's a bit generous, but at the end of the day if you can suffer through their sales process you'll at least get a very nice house for your trouble.
With respect to cost, PJ Burns offers competitive base rates, though many of their upgrade prices seem very inflated. Suffice to say that you can save a good amount of cash by providing your own internal hardware (think toilets, tapware, floor wastes, ceiling fans, appliances, etc.) and/or working out an off-contract deal. Build quality, speed, hands-on/lots of options Sales process, high markup on some items if you put them in the contract
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A wonderful building company that are accommodating to all needs requested for that perfect home! – This is our 2nd home built by P.J.Burns with our first home of our own design in Twin Waters to our present home being a Currimundi 215 (extended to a 227 that we required to suit our needs.) The most important requirements was to have.... a) Their homes are built in a realistic time frame (not a drawn out 12 month contract) b) Termite… Read more
resistant frames and trusses (As a few building companies cut out the cost of this treatment in their price) for a few more dollars and peace of mind is a must!
c) Being flexible in client requests, from the house plan adjustments and internal features requests
d) Given a high energy efficient home by having as standard inclusions including solar tinting on all windows and sliding doors, energy efficient light globes and ceiling fans in all bedrooms and living areas
e) Having the 5000 litre rainwater tank as a standard inclusion a must these days with the cost of water)
f) Lastly, we would like to thank the sales representative [name removed] for being so patient to all the office personel, all the building and construction contractors (special thanks to [name removed] the concreter) to [name removed] the Supervisor (your awesome!) Thanks PJ Burns and staff for building us another beautiful home! Our energy rating is higher by having roof insulation and having the ceiling height raised
A Beautiful Home – We have just received the keys to our beautiful new PJ Burns home in the Hervey Bay area and we couldn't be happier. The home is a credit to the very professional team that make up this buiding company. From the moment we stepped into the display home in Hervey Bay we knew we had choosen the right builder. We had previously researched the… Read more
house plans on PJ Burns website so we knew the design we liked but wanted to change a couple of things to suit our needs. This was absolutely no problem and any questions we had were answered promptly and efficiently. At all times we knew exactly the cost of any extras or changes and were kept informed of the progress every step of the way. Our salesperson, [name removed], was excellent and always available when we needed to ask about something. We were very impressed with her wealth of knowledge and helpful suggestions.
Our building supervisors, [names removed], were brilliant with their organisational skills and attention to detail. Their professionalism is reflected by all the tradespersons PJ Burns employs and we cant speak highly enough of their standard of work. Rest assured, anyone working for PJ Burns Builders has to deliver a high standard of workmanship. Not once were we worried about sub-standard work being carried out. This was especially appreciated as we do not live in the Hervey Bay area therefor not able to regularly check on the progress of the house. Our supervisors were even good enough to email us photos of various stages to keep us informed. Really great to get!
Overall, we thoroughly recommend PJ Burns and would definitely build with them again if we ever need to. Our beautiful home was built within 3 months without any problems or unexpected expenses.
Everything about this company is 5 star! A very easy building experience. All phone calls promptly returned. Open and honest communication.
Stress free building – An in-house architect to assist in designing a home for a slope was great. Not as cheap as some project home builders but the satisfaction of having someone who goes through from start to end and keeps you informed all the way was quite a change. You still need to be aware of what is included and what is not included but they seem to have most… Read more
bases covered. My only regret is that I did not pick up two things in the house which in hindsight I would have had altered. Excellent customer service, friendly helpful and informative staff,
PJ Burns provided everything we expected! – Having moved into our PJ. Burns built house some three months ago, we decided it was time to express our thanks to all the staff at PJ. Burns in the various departments. We initially dealt with [name removed] in the selection of which house we felt suited our needs and although [name removed] is no longer with you she showed great patience with… Read more
our deliberations.
Once the decision was made we met with [name removed] who took us through our colour selections and final choices, what a great help she was to us.
Once the building of the house got under way we were allocated [name removed] as our site Supervisor. We were kept informed by [name removed] each week as to the progress of the build. Of course there were times when we pointed out small anomolies during the build but, [name removed[ would follow any query through and ensure it was overcome to our satisfaction or explained. After hand over we realised that we had a problem with access to the garage. This was resolved by PJ Burns and Stockland pursuing a remedy to the problem. Many thanks [name removed]!
Our completed house was handed over to us within time scales and even more important “within budget” with no final demand surprises!
Once again a big “thank you” to all staff we dealt with at PJ. Burns, we have no hesitation in recommending any friends to build with yourselves.
An Ideal Build – From start to finish our build was easy. The beauty with this firm is that they are extremely well organised and their communication skills across all fields, exemplary. Our questions were always answered quickly and if the answer was not readily available a call to say they were on to it. It started with our salesman in Bundaberg, can't say… Read more
enough good things there, and just continued on. Another thing we liked was that all the tradesmen thought outside the circle, didn't just come in an do their job, They seemed to put that little extra effort in and make suggestions or offer ideas one may not have thought of. Another thing our site was always immaculate, don't know how they did but did it they did. We cannot say enough good things about this company and their staff and tradesmen. We could wax lyrical for quite a bit but the fact that we would build with them again is surely a recommendation.
We have a fine home and have recommended our builder to whoever will listen. Organisation, communication and good tradesmen and staff.
One year report – We were first home builders and have been "in" for just over a year now, and are pleased to report we are very happy with our new house. We could have went a cheaper option, but we are happy with the quality and professionalism we got from PJ Burns. Its satisfying to say "we got what we paid for". We had all sorts of dramas with the bank, but the… Read more
PJ Burns admin staff were helpful and patient throughout. And we must mention our sales consultant David. There are many decisions to be made building a house, and we appreciated his honesty and input with guiding us through with as little fuss as possible.
So for those looking for a quality builder who crosses the t's and dots the i's, we can wholeheartedly recommend PJ Burns!
Very Happy Customers – After an extremely bad building experience we decided to research heavily before choosing the builder for our next house. After hearing great reviews about P J Burns, we walked into their Peregian Springs display home on the Easter weekend and we have been nothing but happy ever since. It was a refreshing change to have a salesman [name removed]… Read more
that actually knew what he was talking about. He wasn't pushy but at the same time he made every effort to do the best he could for us. Within one week we had a meeting with their in-house architect [name removed], who was fabulous. After one meeting he presented us with a plan which was exactly what we were after, he actually listened. We only had to make a few small changes and everything was good to go. From thereon everything has run smoothly. We are already at frame stage and it has only been three short months since we first met with them. Nothing is too much trouble for P J Burns. We are quite fussy and they are prepared to make any changes and are even willing to let you supply your own finishes if you are after something special. Upgrades to your kitchen and electrical are organised through the suppliers so you are not paying a builders margin, something we have never encountered before (and this is our 4th house). The other builders love to add on their 20% builders margin to every extra you want. We also love the fact that [name removed] is with you every step of the way. Most builder's salesmen sign you up and then forget you exist. [name removed] even met with us to see the slab when it was poured and is in regular contact with us, making sure everything is running smoothly. We highly recommend P J Burns Builders to everyone, we are very, very happy!!! Individual design at no extra cost, Value for Money, good old fashion service! Nothing so far!
Great so far! – My wife and I are currently in the beginning stages of building at pelican waters. [name removed] at the pelican display home has been very good to deal with, we are very impressed by his honesty and propfessionalism and the company overall. We chose a standard design and then modified it slightly to suit what we wanted. this involved several… Read more
meetings which [name removed] was happy to do even before we signed up. The costs so far have been what [name removed] said they would be and we do not expact any surprises judging by what others have written. I will certainly keep everyone informed and cannot wait to get started reputation, quality, flexibility, 'hands-on' approach
Absolutlely Stress Free building – The Salesman, from PJ Burns, sunshine Coast made the process of building our new home in Gympie, stress free. From day one, where he came to look at the land with us, then before the day was out he had options to suit the land.Both of us hadn't built for over 20 years and had no knowledge, and he helped us through the whole process. Nothing was to… Read more
hard and he returned calls straight away, right up to handing our keys to our brand new home. The company and staff of PJ Burns where professionals and friendly and willing to help with any query we had. We would recommend their company to anyone wanting to build. Also we love our house so much and are extremely happy with every inch of it. professional, value for money,
Very professional company – We have recently taken possession of our new home in Pomona built by P J Burns and we would like to express our thanks to everyone associated with the Company including all the office staff, management and contractors who were all a pleasure to deal with. Our biggest thanks go to [name removed], whose patience and knowledge during the planning… Read more
and construction were second to none.
His enthusiasm for the project was much appreciated and nothing was too much trouble for him. Anytime we contacted him he was happy to help out and if things needed to be clarified he was always prompt at returning our calls.
[name removed] made the process of building a pleasure and we would recommend P J Burns to anyone looking for a builder in Queensland. Easy to deal with and totally professional
Very happy customers! – Our house at Peregian Springs is now 2 weeks off completion and we couldn't be happier. As first home builders we did a lot of research and found that PJ Burns stood out as meeting our needs. Our priorities were transparency, honesty and good value for money. And we can certainly verify that this is exactly what we have got from PJ Burns. From the… Read more
start when we met [name removed] at the Peregian Springs display home we felt we were getting a personalised and professional service. [name removed] has a wealth of knowledge and this was invaluable for us being new to the whole 'home building' process. What we required, and found lacked from other companies in the market place, was a straightforward and honest approach. What we negotiated in our contract has been exactly what we have got - no corners have been cut/ no crazy fine print. If anything the overall experience has exceeded our expectations. All members of the PJ Burns team have been fantastic: interior designer, administration/ accounts, tradespeople (tiler/ electrician). Our site manager, [name removed] has been so onto everything and has kept us up to date along the way- all tradespeople have been friendly and professional. The total build time will be 12 weeks which is fantastic - every day progress has been made, and it is evident that care has been taken at all steps to ensure high level of quality. For anyone seeking an experience that you can feel confident and relaxed with, we would highly recommend PJ Burns. Professional and knowledgeable staff, good quality finish, value for money, no hidden suprises
Excellent – after going through so many display homes we felt so comfortable walking into bellflower and meeting david, and after an hour had a quote which pretty much never changed until we build the home. no suprises you hear so much about we never had an issue. david was always upfront from the start, even though it was more expensive, but we appreciated… Read more
the honesty instead of the smooth talking we seemed to be getting from everyone else.
we went with a standard design the 'curimundi' but changed some things with the floorplan, and this was no problem at all very flexible. we also liked that we could do some things ourselves if we wanted to. amanda helped with colours and was easy we got to choose some really nice things. made the front door bigger which looks amazing.
went like a dream on site steve the supervisor was always on top of things and if we had an issue we could always talk to him or the tradespeople, there was never a time we felt like we were being anoying.
we finished the landscaping a few weeks ago and now i think we have the best looking home in the street! we are completely wrapped with how things went and will do it all again in a couple of years. pj burns will be getting the phone call without a doubt..
we were sceptical of building but after reading other review on this site we know we made the right choice with the right builder. great display home that showed the real inclusions instead of just fancy stuff, friendly staff in home and office, got to work direct with some trades, flexible with plan changes and us supplying some items ourselves, colour selection with Amanda was heaps of fun, we always knew where we stood some of the paperwork (fair bit of it) and the bank taking so long to get our home valued (not the builders fault)
Excellent – From the first day you walk into a PJ Burns display home, what you get continues throughout the entire building process - excellent service. As first home buyers my fiance and I were somewhat nervous and had a lot of questions to ask about building our first home, but thankfully the extremely professional and friendly salesman at Woodgrove, [name… Read more
censored], was there to guide us through the whole period. We chose to build with PJ Burns because their houses were very affordable (especially on the Sunshine Coast) they had a four month turn-around clause in the contract, and they were happy to accommodate and consider any requests to make our dream home. Every staff member we dealt with was so helpful - from [name censored] with our colour selection, to [name censored] in accounts, and [name censored] our builder, who was kind enough to give us weekly calls updating us on the status of our house. Our house was finished ahead of schedule and the quality of work completed was exceptional. We were treated with the utmost respect from PJ Burns and would have no hesitation building with them again. Special thanks must go to [name censored], who was there for us 24/7, always answering or returning our calls (not that we had to make many at all as everything was looked after) and even handing over our keys on his day off. Now that’s certainly service money can’t buy. Thank you PJ Burns. Excellent build time, friendly and professional staff, value for money. Nothing at all
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As a result of my review, PJs have reconsidered and have now rectified the concrete defect.