PJ Burns

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. 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!

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.

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 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!

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 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

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 & 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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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 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!!

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 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.

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. 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.

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 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

-- 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 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

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 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

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 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.

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 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,

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 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.

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 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.

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 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!