Willoughby Homes

WARNING! Stay Away – We signed a building contract with the company in March last year and unbeknownst to us, Willoughby Homes was unable to obtain builders warranty insurane and hence can't even build our home. Our block got registered in October last year and since then there has been nothing but delays. The DA for the build was finally submitted in April this year… Read more

even for which we were advised to pay the DA fees, which the builder normally pays however as we were tired of the delays, we decided to pay them anyway to get the ball rolling. I found out last week that council requested for further information on the 16th of May. Information which should only take a day or two to provide and Willoughby Homes recently asked for an extension of the DA until the end of July which clearly shows that they are delaying the DA on purpose. I met with Steve Willoughby in person and discussed all my concerns in great detail where at the end of the meeting it was agreed that we would terminate the contract and I would obtain my deposit back subtracting the amount paid by Willoughby Homes to gather all the documents for the plan and the DA as what was fair was fair. We shook on this and since then it has been complete radio silence. I have now had to take the matter up with NCAT and would be receiving a judgement order through them. Also would like to mention here that the Department of Fair Trading is looking at taking compliance action against this builder where their license can be cancelled and possibly a $110,000 fine for taking deposits from consumers without providing home warranty insurance as this is illegal. Steer clear of this company at all costs

Very sad and terrible experience – Sadly, like everyone else, we had an extremely terrible experience with this company. Please be aware of this company and any other business associated with ‘Steve Willoughby’. All the positive reviews are fake, and part of the endless lies we have heard. Unfortunately, dealing with these people was nothing but losing massive amount of money, lots… Read more

of stress, wasting time, and lots of disruption in our life plans. It was the worst experience we had in our life. All we heard so far were lies. They do not respond to our emails, and phone calls. We signed the contract more than 18 month ago, and they are not even close to commence the construction. Every time that we follow up with them, they played with us. It is just unbelievable that this kind of people still making contract and playing with other customers illegally. We recently terminated the contract and they never responded to the termination email. Absolutely no apologies, and respect for people’s life, money and time. We lost government grants because of them. We finally found out that they have massive issues with their Home Warranty Insurance from the other victims that we are connected, They cannot build till 2024. Unfortunately, they haven’t refunded our deposit , which is our one year saving, yet and no respond no call back nothing. We are now in process of taking legal actions against this company, and we will pursue our case until we get what is really fair. Anyone would like to join us to take this company and all their staff, who were involved in playing with people’s money and life, to the court, please reach out willoughby.homes.complaints@gmail.com

Do not use them!!! – House has taken over 18 months to build for a 3 bedroom house!!! 2 story houses twice the size of ours have started construction after us and finished before. Staff never answer or return calls on updates of how build is going. My wife had to physically go into their office twice and only on the 2nd time did she finally get to speak to who was… Read more

apparently one of the directors.

Apparently due to a rapid rise in building materials costs these guys are under extreme financial pressure.

Kitchen, bathroom, laundry nothing is finished.

Do not use!!!!! Other 1 star reviews are exactly what we are going through!!!

Loges . Please see below for my wifes comments:

Following from what my husband has said . The process has been long and emotionally distressing. I spoke to the owner himself after almost daily emailing and calling they did not answer me. When I showed up to their office the owner promised he would finish the build with no apologies for the lies that they have told me regarding kitchen supply delays ( this does not take 7 months!). They have breached the building contract in many ways . We have paid 90% of loan they have taken our money from the last staged invoice (30k+) and have done nothing for 7 months, where is our money??. I have spoken to numerous people now who have been put in the same position with empty promises , these lovely people have been lied to and have had to hire lawyers and pay more money to resolve the issue. Our home has been left unfinished with no protection from weather and destruction as our neighbours have phoned me concerned . Please save yourself from the grief and do not sign with them - I have lodged a formal complaint with fair trading will follow up until it is resolved . Anyone who is in the same situation please phone me on 0455777173 -Chez

WARNING - DO NOT build with Willougby Homes – Whatever you do, DO NOT build with Willougby Homes. They currently have a restriction on their license which prevents them from building any construction at a cost of more than $20,000. This condition was imposed on April 14 2021 (more than 1 year ago) and yet they have continued to operate and take on new business from unsuspecting clients. We… Read more

engaged with Willoughby early in 2021 and signed a contract in July that year. Everything appeared to be progressing well until we found out about the licence condition which prevented them from moving forward with the construction. We were repeatedly told it was a minor issue which would be resolved quickly and yet almost 1 year later they have been unable to obtain the warranty certificate to enable them to proceed with our build.

The communication from senior management during this period has been a nightmare, with repeated broken promises and failure to follow through on almost every update. Willougby Homes acted illegally in accepting our deposit money knowing that a restriction existed on their license and that a warranty certificate could not be provided until this was lifted. Incredibly they are now refusing to refund our pre-payments for Tender / Plan acceptance fees even though they have misled us throughout the process and are unable to build our home.

We have now had no choice but to engage another builder which has cost us a significant amount in increased construction costs and made the original design un-affordable. On top of the financial impacts there will be a delay of more than 18 months getting into our new home together with all the time and stress incurred dealing with this company. This has been a truly awful experience and is almost identical to the review recently posted by B Maitland. DO NOT be misled by the 4 star review average for this company. This is the 4th consecutive 1 star review over recent months and I suggest there are many more victims who have not posted reviews. Like the other recent reviewers I can only suggest that you stay well clear of Willougby Homes and be very careful to check the credentials of any builder you engage with.

Stay away from them!! No more victim!! – Do not deal w/[Name Removed], [Name Removed], [Name Removed], [Name Removed], [Name Removed] & [Name Removed]. Remember these names. These crooks are big swindlers and ruined many of family lives. As soon as the tender acceptance fee and 5% deposit are taken by them, you started to seeing their true colour, they were trying to drag/delay the… Read more

progress as long as they could. Empty promises, excuse after excuse, and never ending waiting, basically no update if you don’t follow up. Now, they are doing “Silence is golden” rule but God has eyes and soon, the table will turn, they will taste wormwood and bring them out for justice.

WARNING!!! They have packed up & closed their Castle Hill office, their display home at Box Hill was sold in Jul 2021 and REA clarified they rented it back for a while just to operate as their display home to cone more home owners. They have a license restriction to take job over $20K, and breaching HBA by taking deposit money from homeowners. Now,[Name Removed] cannot start another biz due to judgment order place on his personal license as of 21/07/2022. Will continue to fight!!!

My NCAT hearing is done in my favour and next is gathering more of affected ppl to take further action against this coned artist director for misleading and deceptive conduct and my goal is to put him be held accountable for his malicious action. So, if you are also affected by this builder, either you are covered by iCare HBCF insurance or not, can link you with a reliable & genuine lawyer with extensive knowledge in construction law disputes. If you would like to join, send me email: maricenagasaka@gmail.com

projects360degrees is also their other scammed business.

Do not sign: Nightmare – My experience with Willoughby Homes is a nightmare. It was smooth during pre-selection process. We signed our contract on March 2021 then October 2021 came, the nightmare started. They don't have home warranty insurance hence construction not started. April 2022, we decided to terminate our contract and move on. As agreed, Willoughby Homes will… Read more

refund our deposit. Unfortunately, till now our hard-earned money is not paid back as promised in the email. I called the director multiple times a day but it went straight to voicemail. He is also not in the office and not answering my email. Raised a ticket to fair trading and tribunal court to help is sort this mess. To all the homeowners, think twice before you sign up.

DO NOT SIGN with Willoughby Homes or Any Business to do with [Name Removed] – Like many people we signed with Willoughby thinking we chose a reliable, honest builder to build our home. On the day of signing our contract in their Castle Hill office, [Name Removed] shook mine and my partners hand and said, “you’re in good hands, we’ll take care of you” - that was the first of MANY lies! In March 2021 we signed our HIA under… Read more

false pretenses as the team were confident they can start building our home. There was no issues and that we’d be in our home by February 2022 at the latest. Unfortunately, we have fallen victim to this scam and to date we have not started construction and we probably never will with Willoughby Homes as they’ll never get their insurance uplifted!!!

This has completely ruined our first home building experience as Willoughby Homes have taken our money illegally and have not responded to multiple requests of remediation. Due to the 12-months of delays, lack of communication and lies fed to us we have lost of $25K in government grants, $5K in compliance payments from our estate and not to mention the cost of moving to a builder for the same home is upward of $100,000, plus, our interest only payments on the land means all our money has gone to waste.

Our land registered in December 2020 and were only made verbally aware of an insurance issue in August 2021 after multiple months of following up when we could start. Willoughby Homes said they were moving from small to large builder insurance category and they needed to “submit a few things and it will clear in a few weeks”. We followed up multiple times every fortnight since then and were told “just a little longer”.

Pre-construction took 8-months from internals to construction-plans and it’s probably because they were trying to prolong us whilst they wait for their insurance to lift. We tried to remain calm when speaking to our project manager and other liaisons but anytime any email or call went up to management we heard nothing back and we were just fed more lies.

We have lodged a case with Fair Trading as Willoughby Homes illegally obtained our money due to not having building insurance. We tried to get out peacefully but of course NO RESPONSE so we are forced to take legal action.

Please DO NOT sign with Willoughby Homes or any business associated with [Name Removed].

The company is at the brink of collapsing – Purchased a house and land package with Willoughby Homes based on all the 5 star reviews we had read. Unfortunately, our land registered on 20 April 2021 and we have still not started construction. Willoughby have not been able to get the home owners warranty insurance which has resulted in extensive delays. Thus, this company appears to be going… Read more

bankrupt and are stringing all of their customers along. There is only one insurance provicer in NSW, iCare, and I have called them and they have confirmed that Willoughby is not eligible for insurance until May 2024. This is confirmed by searching Willoughby on the public register. Unfortunately Steve Willoughby is not being honest with customers and is still telling us we should have the insurance within 10 days. He refuses to answer my calls, text, whatapps and email.

The insurance provider has confirmed that it is illegal for the builder to take any money from a customer when they do not have the insurance.

Unfortunately he is ignoring requests to return our deposit and avoiding all contact. I am aware of at least 4 others in our exact situation with Willoughby who cannot get their deposit back. This makes us sure they are going under. We are now looking into legal action to recover the deposit that Willoughby has illegally obtained.

If you conduct an ASIC search on the company you can see their is an application to wind up their company. There are also at least 5 builds that are incomplete by Willoughby for more than 2 years. If you are looking at building with Willoughby, I urge you to not do it.

If you are in a similar situation to us with Willoughby please feel free to contact me directly as we are looking into collective legal action against Willoughby since we are being completely ignored. For those who affected by such conditions, please contact me kennethhor.smart@gmail.com.

Still waiting – We've been building with Willoughby Homes since July 2020. It's been 20+ months and we still don't have a kitchen, toilets, floors, paint and even no front door. All the other houses in our estate were registered at the same time and completed within 5-8 months, whereas we're still waiting. Building our first home with Willoughby Homes has been a… Read more

mentally distressing, financially draining (i.e., paying 20+ months of rent/loan), fearful, anxious and bitter experience. We hope no one else will go through what we're going through for nearly 2 years.

Efficient, Quality Build - Highly Recommend! – The Willoughby Homes team managed our duplex build in the Newcastle Region with great attention to detail. The quality was outstanding and the upgraded finishes really made the build shine, tenants are keen to move in ASAP. They made the process simple, streamlined and we're very happy with the end result. If we ever had a query or request they managed it professionally and timely. Would engage their services again. Show details

Excellent Job and highly recommended builders – Great home builder and one of the best. They have a highly skilled team from the start of the process. We have had experience in building homes and warehouses before and we can say that the service we have received during the Pre-construction phase is outstanding. The whole team is timely and excellent in communications and getting back. Jason,… Read more

Jackie, Kate, and other team members have made our pre-construction phase seamless and enjoyable. Very knowledgeable staff and they can guide you to make correct decisions. Loved the honesty right from the beginning.

They are very much solutions-oriented and professional. Very happy that we finally found a company with integrity and we can trustfully build our dream home.

Hats off to Chris and his team at Willoughby homes for your passion for building homes. Definitely recommend it to all the first home buyers or anyone looking to build.

FIRST NEW BUILD – I have recently finished my first new home build with Willoughby Homes , the start to finish process was simple easy and very professional. The team went to extra lengths to help me build the house I wanted whilst spending most of my time living out of Australia I highly recommend Willoughby Homes for your home build. Show details

Jenolan 24 – My wife and I have had an enjoyable building experience with Willoughby Homes so far. We made contact with them in 2019 and were impressed that the CEO Steve took the time to meet with us at our block to listen to our vision. Shortly after meeting with Steve we were contacted by the pre construction team and provided with design options. My wife… Read more

did some re-configuring of the base layout and this was then turned into our design by the architects. Sandra and Jackie were in regular contact throughout the whole process providing up with updates on where all the approvals / plans were up to. Sandra and Jackie were there to guide us through our internal design appointments and the GM Chris stepped in to cover an appointment when Jackie was away (this was greatly appreciated as we had both taken leave to go to Sydney for the appointments). Although COVID put a delay on our construction, Sandra and Jackie were only ever a call or email away to keep us updated on where everything was up. My wife and I made a couple of internal alterations along the way and these were happily accommodated by the team. Overall a pleasant and stress free pre construction experience.

Trustworthy Builder – Steve Willoughby built a 4 bedroom investment home for me at Riverstone in Sydney's north-west and the end result was great. They came up with a great design that I loved and handled all aspects of the build. Willoughby Homes was very trustworthy and made sure everything was perfect by the time it came to handing it over to me. I have since sold the property and made a big profit from it. Thanks Steve! Show details

Great Finish - Hassle Free – The Willoughby Homes team managed the construction my first duplex. They directed the works professionally and went beyond the contract to finish the works to a high standard. As the developer, the process was made uncomplicated and hassle-free which helped to direct my focus on other aspects of a busy life. Willoughby Homes came recommended to us… Read more

by a buyers agent on account of their competitive pricing and quality and they managed to live up to that reputation overall.

Highly Recommend – Steve Willoughby from Willoughby Homes built our first home for us at Lithgow. We were hardly involved with the build and did not even look at the designs. We left everything to Steve and his team and were blown away with the end result. All we said was that we wanted a quality build. Steve and his onsite team (site manager) did such a great job.… Read more

We had no complaints and nothing needed to be fixed. It has been 2 years now and the house is in excellent condition! Highly recommend these guys! We are now constructing our second house too with Willoughby Homes!

Highly recommend – I have just finalised my build with Willoughby Homes. The team was very helpful to assist me with what will be most desirable for my build. I also did some comparisons and no other builder could match the price for the quality. I have also referred my sister, friend and partner. highly recommend these guys for any build! Show details

Excellent highly recommend – Very well managed, kept us posted in each and every step. Jackie was excellent throughout the process. Steve Willoughby can’t thank you enough for making our dream come true. End result was better than expected Show details

Hassle Free Construction !! – I was recommended to use Willoughby Homes and now I can recommend to others! The team at Willoughby Homes is great and help you throughout the process. The staff explains you the stages (specially if this is your first built) . The whole journey of the built was seamless and stress free. I honestly was scared to build my own house after hearing… Read more

unpleasant experiences from my friends but Willoughby Homes makes it easier ! Thanks Willoughby Homes, will definitely come back to you if I built another one!

Fantastic - highly recommended – I have just completed my home with Willoughby Homes and found the experience to be efficient and stress free. The communication was excellent and everyone was happy to assist whenever needed. The service, quality and final product were above expectations, I would highly recommend Willoughby Homes to anyone. Thanks Steve for delivering. Show details