Ultimate Kitchens & Bathrooms

Could see this company failing even before COVID – We engaged ULTIMATE approximately 7 years ago, paid our deposit in July of that year along with all plans approved to go ahead (complete rip out and rebuild of kitchen, laundry, 2 bathrooms and a powder room - so not a small cheap project). The timeline was completion by November. As @ October after a few follow ups we still hadn't had a response;… Read more

we had to present ourselves at the Hawthorn showroom in front of prospective clients to get a response. We were advised by Jeff that the project would commence on Monday (leaving us with a weekend to pack up an entire house for renovation).

Needless to say the project wasn't completed until February the following year - leading us to take up accommodation offsite at our expense.

During the renovation a number of errors were made, luckily we were inspecting frequently so able to address issues as they were identified, this of course added to the completion timeline and uneccessary waste of materials.

Out project manager was [Name Removed] (the owner) what a clown.

A short time after completion we had grouting issues in both bathrooms, they were regrouted only have a re-occurence 12 months later, here we are having been chasing them since November 2022 - now theyve gone under.

I don't accept COVID/post COVID as the reason [Name Removed] incompetence was evident back in 2017. I feel sorry for the designers, creditors and homeowners who are now left with the wrath of [Name Removed] poor management.

We at least only need to attend to some shower regrouting unlike the others who have paid and have nothing.

Owed $50,000 – A joinery business run by my husband and I completed approximately $50,000 of work over three months for Ultimate Kitchens & Bathrooms which remains unpaid and it’s now obvious we will lose this amount and looking back, were never going to be paid for the completed work. It’s a financial hit that really hurts a small business. We’ve been… Read more

successfully trading for over 45 years and it’s distressing we are out of pocket for material and labour through no fault of our own.

Gone Broke – I understand the company has become insolvent. Like so many others I have been left with a half finished project and limited options for getting it completed

Thrilled with design – Was a very old dilapidated room with a bath. Now beautiful (green & white), functional & minus bath. Designed by Stephanie. Small area to work with. Laundry created. Same with a very old kitchen. Now spacious, functional, light & with all modern appliances.

Excellent quality, professional staff, and a great result – We had a 25 year old bathroom completely stripped out and renewed. Stephanie was fantastically helpful with the design and help with selection of tiles, layout and fittings. Rosie did a great job of the documenting the design. The project manager, Scott, was the best. Nothing was too much trouble. He went above and beyond to ensure everything went… Read more ·  1

smoothly. Stephanie’s design, Scott’s knowledge, and the excellent tradies used on our job, resulted in a very high quality outcome. We couldn’t be happier with the entire team we had from ultimate kitchens and bathrooms.

Couldn't be happier! – From the moment Eugene, my designer, came to see the space, to the time that the cleaners finished up, my experience with Ultimate was flawless. My bathroom now makes sense and is absolutely stunning. Eugene’s design took everything I wanted into account and he was so patient when assisting me with the choice of finishes, which have come up… Read more ·  1

beautifully. Raymond, my project manager, was super responsive and on top of absolutely everything – even when lockdowns threw a couple of spanners in the works. I couldn’t be happier with my experience or with the result. I can’t recommend Ultimate highly enough. I’ll be back when it’s time to do the kitchen! Thank you Eugene, Raymond and the whole Ultimate team for making this experience easy and stress-free. I love the result.

Speechless! – Like many other posts, learned of potential issues through a third party. Have paid a 1/3 of the deposit on signing contract Aug 2023 to commence Oct 2023, then postponed to Jan 2024 for “supply issues”. We are in the midst of a large house renovation having to line up tradies for prep work which has been done. We have booked them to return during… Read more

and after kitchen renovation. In a sense we are blessed finding this out now, rather than being left in the dark to find out on date of “commencement” that nothing would have started or finished. We have tried to ring/email last 24hrs and nothing. Website is down. No communucation. We now have to cancel those in the chain and wait for?

Why why why… I dont want to think the worst. But if this is insolvency, directors, as legal officers of companies know ahead of time about cashflow if they are doing due diligence and keeping an eye on finances. To knowingly take money from unsuspecting clients is immoral. Pls keep an eye on ASIC website register for notice that this has occurred as currently it isnt reported officially. Hopefully liquidators will be appointed urgently to commence the process for determining next steps and if anything can be recovered.

Is Ultimate Kitchens and Bathrooms still trading? – Same as many others, signed contact April 2023 for start date June 2023. Start date passed with no communication. After chasing them up we were told they will check schedule and get back to us. Didn't hear anything until we received email from Jeff Richards saying unforeseen trade labour and supplier delays and the start date to be rescheduled by… Read more

7th October 2023. Since then we have not heard from anyone nor can we get in contact with them. Their Essendon showroom is closed, their Facebook and Instagram pages are "closed". We have made 2 instalments totalling over $40k and they don't have the decency to contact us.

Yet another similar tale – After reading all these reviews I can see we are not alone. First contact was in April this year, signed contract in July and paid $12.5K. Start date was 9th October. Received an email from Jeff Richards on 27th September saying start would be delayed, and he would provide an updated schedule by 7th October. Since then nothing. Have rung and emailed multiple times, and visited the (closed) Hawthorn showroom. Everyone has disappeared!

ULTIMATE DECEPTION – I first made contact with UKB in late April 2023 and decided to go with them for my kitchen renovation. At first everything went well and after handing over $14K I received plans and specifications. Signed Contract late June for start date of 7 September 2023. Start date came and went and then email from MD for new start date by 7th October. … Read more

it is now 30th October and all is silent. There is something deeply troubling going on and I wish I knew what is happening. At least I still have my kitchen and am a bit better off than some other clients. Also, on the advice of Beata I purchased new appliances from e & s in early May and they are gathering dust in their warehouse! Am sad and upset for everyone caught up in this mess.

UKB hell – Things didn’t start well with a week’s delay on the start date. After prompting from us the 8 week project started and for the first 3 weeks things ran smoothly then almost nothing was done for 5 weeks. I think the hardest thing to accept is the lack of response to communication, email, phone or in person. We can’t move home as it has no bathroom… Read more

or toilets so we are forced to move from one expensive AirBnb to another. We have contacted DNDRV but believe that process can take months and meanwhile we have to pay for more accommodation! Also contacted VMIA but can’t even lodge a claim until UKB go into liquidation! I’m unsure whether and how to attempt to rescind our contract with UKB or will that affect our claim with VMIA.

Disappointed in being mislead – We only signed our contract in early October, with demo due to start March 2024. When reading through all the reviews before me, the company obviously knew they had a major issue with being able to deliver what was promised. At this stage we have what turns out to be a very expensive set of drawings ($21k). I also have received no replies to… Read more

emails or returned calls for 3 weeks now (since signing on the line basically). I will be pursuing insurance and legal advice on how to claim some of our prepayment back.

No response from company – Signed contact for multi room renovation in sept 22 and it took a year for kitchen and ensuite to be finished. Luckily it was completed Sept 23, but it was a long and drawn out reno. Stage 2 (laundry and bathroom) was supposed to start 2 weeks ago) but no one’s answering my calls. Thank goodness they didn’t start my Stage 2. Similar experience to the customers below. Show details

Fraudulent, Insolvent Trading. Stay away from this company – We're in a similar position to so many other people below. We are about half way through our bathrooms and laundry reno, and everything stopped. We were supposed to start in February, then May, then finally it started in August. The day before they started, they sent us a new contract where the build time had gone from 56 days to 98 days (which… Read more

has now become infinity). Everything stopped in early October. After a few dozen phone calls to Jeff the director, he answered. He claimed that nothing was wrong and it was business as usual, despite the staff not being paid, contractors not being paid, showrooms closed, and no progress on my renovation. I've had absolutely no communication from the company other than that - which in itself is pathetic. To make things worse, VMIA has confirmed that UKB failed to take out DBI insurance for us, despite it being in the contract. I've spoke with a number of tradies who have been deceived by this man, and are out of pocket. From discussions with them, it looks like 60-80 clients have been impacted. I feel for all of the trades and clients impacted. I don't hold any hope of reclaiming our lost money, and don't believe I have any option than to finish work myself.

I'm happy to join a group action to put this company and the director out of business for good, however it's not financially viable for me to pursue legal action by myself.

I wish I could give a 0 star review. Stay away from this company.

Do not contract Ultimate Kitchens & Bathrooms UKB – We were excited to move out of our home in early June 2023 in anticipation of returning at the end of July to our beautiful updated bathroom, laundry and kitchen. Now it is the end of October, our home is uninhabitable, the lights are off in the UKB Essendon and Hawthorn showrooms, the director does not answer calls or respond to written requests… Read more

for reasonable actions and we are seeking action via the DBDRV. We are trapped in a nightmare without a resolution or end date. We can help others though strongly recommending that you do not contract or pay any money to UKB.

Disaster – Same story. 8 week bathroom reno supposed to completed mid Sep. Started a week late on the demo and then nothing for the last 6 weeks. Won't respond to email or phone. Showroom closed. House has no bathroom or toilets so family is forced to hop from one expensive Air bnb to another, with no end in sight.

They have definitely gone under – We were on the point of signing a contract for our kitchen renovation at the end of September but our designer went on holidays for a few weeks so we held off. He has just returned and sent me confirmation of the collapse and said that the managers were not even returning his calls. And yet I notice they are still pushing fake and old customers to post google reviews- hope they get done for insolvent trading.

Buyer beware - and stay away! – Like many others, we are victims of this company. Handed over a huge amount of money for the deposit in July - they promised a project plan within weeks - three months later and we have nothing. They won’t return our calls or emails. We have contacted a lawyer. I also think it’s time to contact the media. It’s the only way to ensure the public knows what these people are doing. This experience has absolutely wrecked us.

How to reclaim our money back? – We entered into a contract with UKB in early June 2023, and they assured us that the Stage I project would commence on October 23 (yesterday), with Stage II following in early 2024. However, as of the end of September, after reaching out with multiple emails and phone calls to request updates, they seemed to vanish into thin air. There has been no… Read more

response to our emails, phone calls go unanswered, and the Camberwell office appears deserted. We have already made the initial installation payment to 'secure' the design and materials, and now we feel trapped!

It is disheartening to discover that we are not the only customers who have been mistreated. We are at a loss as to what our next steps should be, lawyers? insurance? customer affairs? Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria? If any fellows have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to share them. Together, we should unite and take action to reclaim our money and rights!! @Worldview87, just saw your post and will contact you by private message!

I believed I’ve been Scammed – I signed the “contract” mid September for a bathroom and kitchen renovation, we then worked with the designer and things seemed fine. However, last Friday I got a call from one of their contractors saying the company isn’t paying employees or suppliers, shut their store front and won’t answer any calls. I’ve been trying to get into contact with… Read more

them for the past few weeks with no luck. I then went to google and saw all the incoming reviews with similar situations. I’ve been in contact with a lawyer as I do not want to continue with the company as they seem fraudulent. I would love to get into contact with anyone else in this situation as my lawyer suggested that their contracts don’t seem right.

"ULTIMATE" NIGHTMARE – We are writing this review in the hope that it will save other customers from signing up with this company and experiencing the heartache, disappointment, stress and anxiety that this company has caused. We spent a lot of time researching the best company to take care of our kitchen, laundry and bathroom renovations. UKB seemed to tick all the… Read more

boxes; they had won numerous awards, beautiful showrooms, friendly and helpful sales consultants, knowledgeable designers that made the design process smooth. Furthermore the concept of having someone to project manage our renovations was appealing. We honestly felt like we were in good hands. We were given our schedule with a start and finish date much later than we initially told but accepted this. Our renovation was a Stage 1 & Stage 2 as we are living in the house with our family. The 'planned' schedule was 6 weeks duration for each stage, a planned total of 12 weeks to complete the entire project.

Initially the project commenced on time with tradies showing up daily for the first two weeks. Then it all started going downhill...'a plasterer' delay which lasted 3 weeks. Then a couple days of waterproofing and tiles were due to be delivered shortly after. Days became weeks and each week there was more excuses and the communication continued to drop off. In over two months under 3 days of work has been done, the 11th September was the last date of any work. Since this time it has been an endless and frustrating lack of communication, lack of updates and information, unanswered calls, unanswered emails. The showrooms are also now closed and by 'apt only'. Many calls are now diverted to management who say they will call you back and don't, say that they will send you a new schedule and don't...it has been one lie after the other. We are now only 1/3 of the way through Stage 1 and it has already blown out to 3 months with no plan, update, schedule or end in sight.

We had no choice but to call Consumer Affairs, even their intervention did not get any answers or follow up from the company. We have now lodged a formal complaint with the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria. UKB have failed to meet contractual obligations or provide any adequate communication or updates. It has disheartened us greatly and caused great stress that the communication from UKB has become virtually non-existent. It is unconscionable, unethical and unprofessional that a company would treat their customers in this way after taking their hard earned money and putting trust and faith in this company. We wrote this review in good conscience of sparing other prospective customers of the same fate as we have come to learn that many of their customers are currently experiencing the same nightmare.

Insolvent Trading and Misleading Customers – The prior reviews about poor service are accurate - this company is insolvent and their director and management team have been acting unconsionably and misleading customers for months. We have filed both a report with Consumer Affairs Victoria and the police. They are no longer in the store and no longer answering phone calls. While they should… Read more

be in an external administration process (which will enable customers like us to trigger VMIA insurance), they are refusing to do so, leaving >100 customers now in limbo. Suppliers have not been paid, and therefore have not made or ordered products. This is an incredibly sad story for many customers who are now seriously out of pocket. We paid a deposit and first instalment, faithfully restumped our home on UKB's instructions, and have been living out of home waiting for them to commence. They misled us into signing the contract in May on the basis of a "spot coming up" in August to commence the built. That was a lie. We remain out of home, out of pocket, no ability to claim on insurance (yet), and having to now find our own trades and manage the job ourselves.

Looks like they've gone under !!! – Same as previous 2 people....they promised 6 weeks for the project, then extended it to 10 weeks and its now over 2 months and they have NOT started but they have my money. Watch out-looks like theyhave just gone under either last week or today. No one to speak to and no return calls or emails. Very very concerned.

Very distressing Job not finished – Like the reviews below, we have a half finished kitchen renovation by Ultimate Kitchens. What started as an exciting project mid last year has turned into a nightmare. The delays for the starting date was an early signal but we thought that was relatively normal. Contract date was May 4 2023 The actual start date was August 15. After ripping out… Read more

the kitchen and finally installing the cabinets (about 4 days work in 6 weeks) all work just stopped. No communication. The director promised an updated schedule by October 7 which never arrived and since then, no communication. Now no-one is answering the phones anywhere and we are still living out of our garage 3 months later with a half finished kitchen.

I now know this has happened to all their clients, some probably worse off than us. If there was some early honesty and communication, perhaps we could have worked through this but that was not to be. I thought we were doing the right thing by going with a well established company that could manage the project for us. Heartbreaking for all concerned.

Horrendous experience! Completely failed to deliver our project – Our experience with UKB has sadly been a carbon-copy replica of the review posted by Vinny below. We thought delays during the design phase and delays with our start date were bad, but when construction started it soon slowed...then stopped...then nothing. We also have been very distressed by (still) having no bathroom or laundry for 16 weeks,… Read more

whilst receiving nil responses from UKB to countless phone calls, texts and formal complaint emails. We also were forced to raise a complaint with DBRV. At time of writing, we have been forced to cancel our >$100k contract mid-project, and now have to quickly learn how to project manage a renovation ourselves, engaging tradies directly. The fact UKB are still advertising for new work, when they do not have the capacity to fulfill current jobs is at best incompetence, or at worst fradulence. I sincerely recommend to avoid this company for your home renovation.

Absolutely shocking! – A terrible ordeal! We contracted UKB to renovate our small ensuite bathroom in Nov 2022 with the job to begin in April 2023 that was expected to be completed within 6 weeks. It is now October and the renovation is only half completed with only 4 days of work being done over the past two and a half months. What began as an exciting project has… Read more

turned into a complete nightmare causing our family a great deal of stress with no end in sight. UKB can't seem to organise supplies or tradies and for months have not returned our calls or msges.

Before the job was due to start in April, we frantically prepared our home so that the tradies could work unimpeded. Sadly, no tradies showed up and no phone call from UKB for an explanation. We rang a number of UKB contacts but they did not return our calls. When we did receive a call from UKB several days later, they stated that the job would be delayed by a month due to supply issues, and the reason why no one called us was because we “fell through the cracks” – nice. We can understand supply issues causing a delay, but a simple courtesy phone call could have alleviated a lot of stress and confusions.

Due to a site check measure error that failed to identify our walls as being brick instead of gyprock, we required a plasterer to render the walls – a task that would take over a month to perform and was only done so after numerous calls. We were informed by the site manager that UKB only had the one plasterer and he was busy doing a bigger job.

We have been waiting for 6 weeks for a tiler but UKB have not responded to our calls or messages to provide an update.

During this stressful ordeal, we have honoured our payments in a timely manner, we have remained calm in our discussions with UKB, we have been flexible and accommodating to their many issues, but numerous recent attempts to contact the site manager and the owner of UKB via phone calls and messages for an update have been ignored leaving us in a heighten state of distress.

We felt like we had no choice but to contact Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) for guidance and they stated that we needed to write a formal complaint to UKB outlining the situation and steps to remediate, which they kindly provided a template. We did as CAV advised, but UKB did not respond to our letter of complaint. CAV has advised us to pursue the matter with DBRV, which we have, and currently waiting for the next steps.

It is unbelievable that a small renovation costing c.$40k could cause so much stress and anxiety and we feel very unlucky to have chosen and trusted UKB

Poor Quality Workmanship – Too many mistakes/bad carpentry/damage/lies and uninterested staff caused a lot of stress which came from over 12 months of mucking around trying to repair the bad work. The project manager was as useless as possible and the carpenters work was so bad it had to be redone several times. The designer used our ordered splashback tiles on another job… Read more

and lied about ehat happened at first, then later admitted it to me as we were chosing another in store to replace them. They then delivered a different tile to what we ordered. Never saw the designer again after that! I wonder why? They also damaged our sink when replacing a crooked bench top. Worst experience Ive had for this sort of job and would not recommend this company at all. I have plenty of photos which I hope I can attach to this review after submitting the text first.

terrible experience with kitchen renovation – We had a kitchen renovation done by UKB in mid 2020. They installed a pump under the kitchen sink instead of connecting to existing sewerage. We didn't know better and trusted them to do the job. Eighteen months after the project, the pump failed and any liquids down the kitchen sink leaked out onto the floor. This happened in Dec 2021. The… Read more

pump was under warranty, it took UKB 7 weeks to come out and change it. The second pump lasted three weeks, before water started leaking again. We are now again running to the laundry to prepare food for cooking, wash dishes and hands etc. Can you imagine how difficult and inconvenient it is? Every time I cook, I probably have to wash my hands a minimum 5-10 times, that means running across the house every 2 minutes. It's now May 2022, 5 months after I first notified UKB of the problems, it still has not been fixed. I am asking them to connect me to normal sewerage as should have been done in the first place for a ground floor kitchen. I have had to call/text them every couple of weeks to follow up, no one would take the initiative to contact me. I would not recommend them to anyone contemplating a renovation.

Happy with result but – Bathroom looks great, happy with the design and the way the whole process was carried out. However, when I asked about the Warranty and Certificates of Compliance I was told they would be issued 2 weeks after final payment. 7 weeks and several emails after final payment, I am still without them. This is unfortunate because, until now, I was very pleased with the whole experience. Show details

So happy with the result – Thank you to all the people at Ultimate Kitchens and Bathrooms, especially Raymond, my Project Manager, Stephanie and Mariana for my lovely new bathroom/laundry. I am so happy with the results. This was a very positive experience and all through the process I felt that everyone I dealt with really listened to my needs and requests - very professional from start to finish. Much appreciated. Show reply