Silkwood Dream

Its finished and so are they – From day one we had all the confidence we were going to get the best house on the planet. The $230k starting price quickly jumped to $425k after we added all the bits and pieces we wanted. Contract signed and our dream house was under way. We began to worry once they made their first stuff up, slab form work set 300mm too high. The the window… Read more

supplier made mistakes with a few windows and door sizes. There were many other minor problems along the way. The site manager was always full of promise and the admin girls always helpful.....UNTIL the final payment was made. We finally moved in ahead of schedule and started to find the problems. First one was the dishwasher had a knob on the front which meant the adjacent drawer couldn't be opened. The really big defect was after being told we needed a waste trap in the ensuite because we didn't hae a door on the shower the tiled floor doesn't flow water to the trap but instead towards the carpet in the walk in robes. After the 3 month warranty period we submitted the defect and repair list which was nearly 3 pages long in early December......The End. Well what I mean is that was the last I heard from them. After many phone calls and emails with no response and also the Xmas break in between I have now discovered they are under external administration. Over to the building insurance to get thousands of dollars worth of defects fixed.

Creating Value Through Excellence – I like to recognise Silkwood Dream's strong performance and support individual & business success in excellence.I had number of friends that developed at same time with other builder. They moved in two months earlier but all of them found my house to be quality built. It took us 8 month to get into our single story house ; but I would say the… Read more

craftsmanship and service was amazing. Silkwood dream stood by there commitments and promises and exceeded expectations when delivering them. We had minor maintenance request post-settlement. The issues were resolved promptly and professionally.

I received call from the Silkwood dream director [name removed] to ensure if I was satisfied with the service and if there anything he could do.

Through out the building I had contact with the builder; this was not the service offered by builder my friends choose. I found the administration \ management always had time to listen and answer any query I had.

I truly believe overall Silkwood dream had worked collaboratively and cohesively with me to achieve the right outcomes.

I write to encourage Silkwood Dreams to continue to set high standards of performance and strives to deliver consistently quality outcomes. Thank you * Sets high personal standards of performance and strives to consistently deliver quality outcomes * Works collaboratively and cohesively with others to achieve the right outcomes

A very happy customer! – Silkwood Dream was recommended to me by a friend of mine who built with them a couple of years ago. The feedback throughout the whole building process was positive so I decided to go with Silkwood. I have just completed building my house with Silkwood Dream and I must say it has been a dream for me from start to finish. Apart from building a… Read more

beautiful home, the whole team at Silkwood should be commended for providing a positive experience. In particular I would like to recognise and highly commend my Sales Consultant for doing an exceptional job. She has always promptly answered my questions, gone the extra mile to make the building process as painless as possible and shown a genuine concern for her clients. She is an absolute asset to the Silkwood brand and company.

The outstanding point for me was communication. I never felt like I didn’t know what was happening at any time from start to finish. My house is now completed and I am very happy with the quality and service. There were a few minor issues at handover but these were fixed within a couple of weeks of me reporting them.

I’m very fussy and Silkwood were able to accommodate me with their flexibility compared with other companies that don’t allow you to make any changes.

My parents are now in the process of building a new home so after seeing how smooth the process was for me, they are more than happy to have Silkwood build their new home. So if you are thinking of building, I could not recommend Silkwood Dream enough. Very helpful, reliable, very flexible with plans, no hidden costs

Top Quality Builder – The service and everything that's gone along with the build has been excellent. We moved in April this year and our experience so far has been perfect. The quality was very important to us, so we were happy with the build time because the end product was what we wanted. We've recommended Silkwood to others and we'd happily refer anyone who's after… Read more

quality & service to them. Compassionate, Experienced, Quality Minor Details, Finishing (Fixed during walk through)

Why build with anybody else? Silkwood are a dream! – We are First Home Buyers. We started looking at land and builders back in late January this year. We found the land very quickly and then began looking at builders. We went everywhere. We looked at different plans, shapes, sizes and budgets and still weren't 100% satisfied with anything. It seemed that all of the volume builders offer numerous… Read more

designs and budgets, but not exactly what we were after. Every time we'd talk to one of them about modifying the floor-plan, it was either 'Yes, but it will cost you X amount' or 'No. We don't do that.'

Then a friend of ours talked to us about Silkwood Dream.

They told us this fantastic story about a small builder here in Melbourne and how everything they (our friends) had wanted to do was listened to and (if in budget) catered for. So we thought we'd give the sales office (then in Renaissance Rise) a call.

We arranged a meeting and went to view the display houses there. We were incredibly impressed. The salesperson was incredible. She was so friendly and down to Earth. She was honest about our expectations and listened to what it was we were wanting to do. It suddenly all seemed so easy and within reach. All of their standard base houses are finished to a display quality (visit the Berry Lane displays for proof) and they take a lot of care to make sure that you are 100% happy.

Well despite some problems that we had with a Mortgage Broker (which I will never use again and will gladly tell anybody about them) [name removed] and Silkwood supported us and were always at hand to offer advice as to how to handle the situation. I can never extend enough thanks to them for that.

We were able to modify the floor-plan for free! We didn't change the roofline or slab size so that would've kept costs down. I suggest you investigate the option. Why build somebody else's design if you can get what you want?

We settled the land on June 8th and here we are nearly four months later and the house is so close to being complete. There have been issues along the way, but all of these have been beyond Silkwood's control (stock supply) and they have kept everything transparent and up to date for us. Everything that they have promised has been delivered.

Our building supervisor [name removed] is fantastic. He calls us weekly with updates and if they need to make any changes large or so small you wouldn't notice, he calls you to make sure that you are 100% satisfied. All of their tradies are regular employees (not sub-contractors) of the company, so the quality of the work is consistent. Hey, even our frame was hand-built onsite (I saw it happen!) and not prefabricated from some factory somewhere. Quality.

I seriously cannot endorse this company and their people enough. [name removed] is at Berry Lane in Mernda and would happily help anybody who walked in through the door. I know and trust that any of the people who worked for Silkwood would only offer the same level of customer service.

Seriously, go and check them out, tell them that you read this review (they'll know which one you are talking about). Feel free to drive past the house, [name removed] will tell you where we are and have a look. We are so very proud of our beautiful, spacious house and want everybody who is building to know about Silkwood Dream. Honest, Reliable, Inexpensive, Quality, Timely, Friendly, Family.

We wouldn't build with anyone else! – We built with Silkwood Dream in mid 2011 and have been in our beautiful home for over a year now. We couldn't recommend them highly enough to anyone looking to build their own home. We were first time home builders, so were daunted by all the negative building stories, however we found 100% of the experience to be positive and exciting. We… Read more

spent months researching different builders - having endless meetings with sales reps and reading heaps of online reviews. Silkwood Dream heavily outweighed the 8 other builders we dealt with.

Right from the very beginning we dealt with [name removed] - who is amazing! She couldn't do enough to help us - from initial planning/quotes/changing the plans around (they're by far the most flexible builder!), all the way through to final inspections and handover.

Our slab went down in Feb and we had moved in by the end of July. There were a few touch-ups needed at handover, but these were all fixed within just a few days - we were very happy.

There are no hidden costs, as they're very upfront and detailed in their quotes - and the customer service is 10/10. We were very demanding and needed constant reassurance with the decisions we were making, and they delivered this every time.

For our next home, if we build - it will defintely be with these guys! Efficient, Helpful, Honest, Friendly, High Quality, Value for money

My Experience of Building a New House with Silkwood - Top Notch! – In 2008 I bought a house in "The Ridge" estate in Doreen which was built as a display house by Silkwood Homes. The immediate impression was that the finish and presentation of the finished surfaces was better than average. Certainly the design and apparent functionality of the home was impressive enough compared with other builders I had… Read more

previously encountered. As a reasonably experienced house buyer/builder customer (this was the 5th house), I was able to fairly quickly assess the quality of this house.

The purchase turned out to be a good one. A quality and resilient house throughout.

Present Project.

In 2011 I bought their "Santa Fe" house product. It was the same house design I had previously purchased in 2008.The internal finishes are current and modern, as are their facades and the end product has presented as a very modern house.

Structurally, the build has been exemplary. Build was well within the contract time. Small changes did not incur immediate variation charges There was immediate resolving of final issues at the completion of the build. This company allows communiction at all stages with one single consultant, who attends to every point throughout the entire build.This means you speak with a single consultant who knows and deals with every aspect of the entire process. Communication process is excellent. My experience showed very few negative events along the build. A couple of products for inclusion in the build were wrongly ordered and delivered but this was quickly rectified. The color and product chosing meeting with Silkwood, went poorly due to personel issues, however, again, this was quickly rectified and I received exactly the colors etc requested.

Good – Have just had the initial meetings, picked house "Carina" and had intial plans drawn up. I hope all goes well, after reading a few other notices here I am a bit concerned about my decision, however time will tell. Will keep you informed. Great Salesperson, Karen Cooper at Epping, very knowledgeable, very prompt with all queries. None as yet have… Read more

not started building. However a little bit frustrating when you find all that you want to do is an EXTRA.

Excellent – Well we' ve been in our home for 6 months now, and just completed our maintenance. I didn t want to post until i saw how they conducted themselves after we handed over the final payment. During construction everything ran smoothly...well inside contract completion time and were extremely attentive to our questions, especially the girls in sales...definately recommend this builder! The whole process ran smoothly

Excellent – we looked at many builders and found Abode living (Silkwood Dream)to be the best value for money. [name censored] was very helpful and professional as has been the supervisor. Everything has been smooth sailing so far. We are at fix out stage and well ahead of when we thought we would be moving in. We have made changes to the plan which was no prolem. great staff, very helpful and accommodating none at this stage

Excellent – We are about to start building our dream home with Silkwood. [Name censored] has been excellent to deal with, finding head office slow to respond to emails but really cannot complain too much! will post more as we start building!! We have been told completion should be around 7 - 8 months tops pending xmas holidays and weather. Very flexible with… Read more

floor plans, there isnt anything that is a hassle & very happy to accomodate clients needs nothing yet

Excellent – At plaster stage at the moment very happy with work tony is very cooperitive hope its the same all the way the way through will keep you posted and jane im very happy with the design you know who i am its the headache Very easy to deal with

Excellent – After 2 false starts with other builders Silkwood has been brilliant to deal with. From the minute we walked into the sales office to signing our contract we have felt that we were thier most impotant customer. Helped us change our home to suit our family - somehting no other builder was able to do. Colour selection was lots of fun with good… Read more

choices. Very happy with how things are progressing - waiting now for building to start Flexibility with changing designs, great sales team at Epping - very knowledgable, very fair pricing compared to other builders and more standard inclusions than other builders, speedy process from inital enquiry to contract signing None as yet - aboout to start construction

Good – We built the columba with silkwood and moved in 3 months ago. They finished just over a month before contract, which was great, although they do have extremely long contract times. On our walk through we found the paint to be very dodgy. There were a lot of paint spots, even on the carpet. However once they re-did the painting it was fine. Was… Read more

very pleased with most everything. They have been a very easy company to build with. We had no extra hidden cost, and there were no cost for changing the design of the house at the start of contract. After being in the house for 3 months we have only found 4 minor adjustments that are needed. Would be happy to build with them again. Very flexible with floor plan, Jane is fantastic Painting

Excellent – would recomend silkwood abode living to any one . special thanks to [name censored] & [name censored] thanks heaps . we love our dream home. p.s. antonio sharon & joel we built with abode silkwood dream just over a year ago.[name censored] was so fantastic nothing was a problem she always was so helpful from planning through to handover it really… Read more

was a pleasure building with silkwood abode we had no problems we built in the south morang area we have fantastic good quality home we really have no complaints

Finished product – Well its been over 12 months since my home was completed and the process looking back was at times stressful and frustrating but otherwise ok. My wife and I found the building process a little long compared to what else is being offered on the market but the quality was pretty good. Be very careful during the quoting process that anything… Read more

discussed is in writing as Silkwood do have the tendancy to "forget" or say something else. The build quality was great and I must admit I have had little go wrong other the the obvious settling of the house eg. cracking plaster etc. Silkwood do drag their heels considerably when it comes to maintanance so stay on their case. It was a pain to contact anyone for maintenace issues as no one seems to work full time and return phone calls are few and far between. Overall, happy customer with no reservations in referring people. Great plans, good sales team slow maintenance team, slow build time

couldn't be happier! – We built our dream home "the Columba" in Doreen. When we first visited the home, we loved the floor plan. Our experience with [name removed] the sales consultant was a breeze, she was very informative and at no time did we feel pressured. we loved how upfront they were about everything, and all the paperwork was completed without delay. During… Read more

construction, everything went smoothly, couldn t believe how fast it got to lock up. Everybody at the office was helpful and accessable, nothing was too much trouble in every conversation me and my partner had with them. We are now in our home and our friends cant believe how good it is...i m very happy to praise Silkwood Dream for the effort and care in giving us our dream home. Our decision to build with them luckily was a good one given all the problems we heard about others we considered...Keep it up guys! Floor plans, sales people, our supervisor, and the quality

3 years on and still having trouble! – The beginning was fantastic, the sales team really new their stuff, could advise what would cost extra and what would or would not be accepted by the council. Nothing was a problem for them.. then we were handed to the building team. Were originally told it would be completed in 5 months. 9 months later we were in. The workmanship was pathetic. My… Read more

tiles are not straight and there is grout on all the skirting boards. The windows were covered in glue. The painting is patchy and the outside bricks were also covered in grout. My post by my front door had to be re-done it was so bad, and it now looks no better. My shower has been leaking since the start, after the second time they came out we were advised to replace the skirting boards with tiles, which we did at our own costs. It is still leaking.. I lodged the leak with head office three weeks ago.. I'm still waiting for a phone call. I emailed the boss last year.. still no response.. I wonder if the ombudsman gets a better response because that will be my next call. house plan beautiful, sales team fantastic, excellent location, no added costs bad response times, bad workmanship, bad everything

Terrible – Moved in May last year, *windows were not cleaned still have glue over them *spilled soft drink in cupboard I had to clean it, *wine rack has paint and chips all over it, they never fixed it *kitchen cabinetry started chipping immediately after moving in, due to the thinnest edging they could possibly use *60% of walls had to be re sanded… Read more

and painted due to the pathetic work on them which is most likely due to the fact the sander had his wife sanding them

*house flooded and ruined linen in the linen closet, not that they cared.

* we stub our toes on tiles that were not laid level.

*Gutters leaked like a shower

*wood around door frames dont even go to the floor

Frame around kitchen window is swelling and paint peeling.

I COULD GO ON......but dont have all night

Did our 12 month maintenance check

*siliconed cracks in walls. More are appearing, still not sanded or painted

*pulled out archs in en suite due to leaking shower

*promised windows would be cleaned

*said nothing can be done about window frame above kitchen sink as it is not water proof (how dumb can you be to put in non water proof wood above a sink)

Since this man came out have not had them contact us about coming back and fixing it, which doesnt surprise me considering it wasnt the maintenance supervisor who came out just someone who admitted that he didnt actually formally work for Silkwood but was just an occasional fill in.

I can only assume that the owner/s of Silkwood either have no idea how bad their workers are and what pathetic houses they are building, or they may know but dont give a damn about the workmanship and their customers........

They say "if we can't live in our home then why should we expect you to"....well I dare you to come and live here then............... NICE DESIGN EVERYTHING ELSE

Terrible – At the start it was going really well.... Then they told us the bricks we chose were no longer available so we had to pick new ones. There was nothing in the standard range even close to our original pick so we had to pay an extra $600 for an upgrade, that was the start of that feeling were going to get ripped! Next we had changed the design of… Read more

our kitchen a little, extra large island bench at a verbal price agreement of $2200 after asking for it writing for 6 weeks it comes back at $2800..... starting to get the picture? The glass panel we picked to go next to our door is now no longer available, effecting the look of the entrance. At Silkwood they never return calls, they instead ring my partner and leave messages even though they have been told time and time again she can't answer her phone at work. Finally and so far the most outrageous, today i get a $2478.96 bill for work they "apparently" did over 14 weeks ago!!! no warnings just bills

Silkmwood dream? more like Silkwood "hope your pockets are really deep!" Not much, Extra charges every couple of weeks, terrible customer service

Terrible – Just got a $3491.40 bill for work done in January!! Not happy, no warning, not even a phone call. This isn't the first time this has happened. Silkwood was going to call today and let me know about a buckled window frame but like usual i have to do all the chasing up. Stress levels through the roof!!! The house looks good and is coming along at a… Read more

reasonable speed, so the people on site are doing a good job but the office is useless. The house is coming along at a decent speed, quality seems ok. Stress, no customer service, unexpected bills

Terrible – I have hust cancelled our contract with Silkwood homes. No longer a dream. From soil test to constantly asking for $ amount it would cost extra for slab. Finally after nearly 5 months they wanted an extra $17,000 for slab. Other quotes around 6 to 8. I now have to explain to State revenue Office why i wont be building within the 12 months after… Read more

purchasing land. (PPR )discount.

Of course when i cancelled the contract, there was nothing left of deposit it was all used up????. They lodged building permit but forgot to tell me i needed a planning permit which held everything up by another 2 months. I will be on septic, so i asked does their application for sewage connection (in normal fees allowed )cover my application for septic. answer was no i would have to pay for that myself. Seems only 1 big grab. This is not my 1st house.I have had 4 house built before & i built a kit home once. This is the slowest & most dissapointing experience to date. I am now back to the drawing board. Nice Design Very Very Slow

Bad – Still in the process of building, exterior finish not up to scratch, they have promised to rip out bricks and redo them.. agreed with site supervisor to have a small job done by a third party, which was agreed by Silkwood as long as letter was given to them stating what would be done (which they accepted) though now they are claiming they cant… Read more

remember any of this and are stating we have breached the contract and that their workers are refusing to finish the house, we have the copy of the signed work, but as they change site managers thru out the building construction the new site supervisor will not accept the previous site managers agreement to the work being carried out. We are in limbo after speaking to them today they cant even guarentee me they will complete the house.

I will keep all informed of the outcome, hopefully I will not have to highly recommend all to stay away from this builder, only time will tell........ Price and floor layout Can not contact site supervisor directly...

OK – Well where do i start. They told me six months to build and it took 9 months and 7 weeks (9 month contract) and house still not satisfactory. I had to watch them like a hawk while they constructed. Had many jobs re-done and picking up on their mistakes. Due to being female i had to ask and question things multiple times because they thought i was… Read more

lying. I lost a supervisor for a month and they never told me. They tried to get me to settle and the house wasn't finished. Now its nearly 6 weeks since i moved in and i already have them coming back to correct issues, and these ain't maintenance issues. I have had headaches and stress about this the whole way through and not once have i received the word SORRY. Companies have to remember that they should give what the customer paid for and not lies and poor quality. I don't recommend this company at all Excellent communication with sales person, easy to communicate with owner, Quality good. You can change the floor plan and not pay extra unless the house increases in size Poor workmanship, over contract term

Excellent – Have just got to contract stage, so this review is really for the pre-build stage. My partner and I have been constantly impressed with Jane Todd, the saleswoman at Silkwood Dream. From the very first meeting she has helped us to plan for our home in great detail - no easy feat!! Jane always has time to go through anything in as much detail as we… Read more

have asked, and has indeed gone beyond that by providing us with alternative plans and suggestions along the way. For example she rang me on the day the federal budget was announced and told us it would be worth our while to sign the contract after July 1 - saving us $6000!! Floor plans were interesting, the display home always immaculately presented, and we have found the price to be very competetive. Would definitely recommend Silkwood if they continue to impress us as much as they have so far! so far excellent+++ communication and expert advice nothing yet!!