Rivergum

Extremely poor communication, planning and management during and post our build, which was extensively pushed out with minimal explanation. Quality was below par leading to many basic quality issues - such as scratched and gouged sliding door frames, damaged parts being knowingly installed and in some cases contracted items not even being… Read more

installed at all. The level of care shown is extremely low.

We are now close to 2 years post handover of a simple cookie cutter townhouse- multiple items still remain unfinished per contract, and maintenance items are still ongoing for resolution. This process has been extremely drawn out - months go by without response or action - not even a courtesy email to acknowledge receipt. We are now at the stage where we only see legal action as a means for resolution.

Staff generally mean well - however are not put in the position to succeed due to clearly terrible management SOPs 'we don't generate timeline documents for non commercial builds'. The Maintenance team is extremely small (but again mean well), and are not set up to adequately complete/resolve issues considering the amount of builds rivergum complete. Additionally - all trade staff are contractors - none of who want to come back to fix their work.

We would not recommend building with them, or buying a rivergum built house - as its likely still not even finished.

I had handover for my home a few weeks ago in one of their developments, and the whole process was much smoother than I expected. Although few bumps along the way, the team was helpful, responsive, and easy to deal with. As a first home buyer I had no idea but communication throughout was great. I absolutely love the kitchen, smart layout, loads… Read more

of storage! Pretty good for off the plan design.

I also got my finance through Rivergum’s finance partner, Truevest, Grant and his team were really helpful and made the process easy.

All in all, I’m really happy with how it turned out and would definitely recommend Rivergum and Truevest.

Overall a very positive experience – Our experience building our home with Rivergum all in all was a very positive one. From sales to completion the build was managed well with ongoing Comms provided on the portal and personal phone calls every 2 weeks. Our interior design consultant was fantastic as really listened to our ideas and helped us make the vision come alive. The… Read more ·  1

quality of the build was rated good to high by an independent party and where there have been issues Rivergum has addressed them professionally. We built a strong relationship with our site supervisor who met us on site on several occasions and addressed any concerns professionally. It was clear he has pride in his work.

Sometimes things don’t happen when you want them too but with good communication those expectations can be managed well and still provide a good customer experience. I would say this would be our only constructive feedback to Rivergum, that is, to be open and transparent with delays or issues as most customers would understand commercial realities.

There were a couple of contractual variations that impacted us but we knew about these early and were able to arrange our own solutions. Rivergum were flexible and understanding allowing us to bring our own trades onsite prior to handover. This allowed for work to continue.

Overall we are incredibly happy with our new home and every external trade or visitor has commented on how beautiful our home is. We are still in our 3 month post handover period and if there are construction issues I have faith Rivergum will attend to them quickly and professionally.

I would definitely use Rivergum again (but I don’t intend to move from my dream home). As the post Covid gridlocks are now passing and Rivergum continues to build up its cohort of skilled trades persons I world recommend them to you to build your new home.

Our New Family Home – We are so happy to have finally moved into our family home! We are over the moon and cannot be happier. It was a bumpy journey but Rivergum were able to steer us through with constant communication, problem solving and advice. We cannot wait to start new memories in our new home and are so appreciative of the Rivergum Homes team! Show details ·  1

Do NOT build with Rivergum homes – Rivergum homes promises excellence, according to their sales people, but fall well short of this. Throughout the build their communication was appalling! The only contact they made with us was when they wanted more money. Their portal was a joke, they took up to 2 weeks to respond! Staff turnover meant we dealt with more than 8 people over the… Read more

excruciating 27 months it took to build our house from contract signing. They still haven't fixed all the faults in the build 5 months after handover. The stress of the build was so extreme we bought anothrr house and tried to move on. The length of the build coupled with rising interest rates has financially hurt us. Just do not build!! The industry needs reform.

Our dream home at Parkholme – We had a knock down and rebuild projects with Rivergumhomes, the construction of two 2-storey houses, which happened during the middle of the pandemic. It was started 5 months late of scheduled start and also incurred delays in construction. There were changes of site supervisors, which has disrupted the continuity of construction activities,… Read more ·  1

which took over 2 years to complete the projects. The last site supervisor, [Name Removed] had to fixed some detects that were cited during joint inspections. We are happy of his commitments to solving problems and coordination with the suppliers and subcontractors,, to fix the problems, even after the handover. Thank you [Name Removed], for job well done. Regards [Name Removed].

Stay away.. find a better builder. This was our first home build, and it was a nightmare from day one and still having issues. The staff didn't seem to know that they work for a building company. Poor communication, poor knowledge, they use contractors to complete the build, and the level of quality and finish blew my mind! I can't understand that… Read more

a "qualified" tradie could complete this work and walk away being happy with the finish. During our build, we went through 3 different site supervisors as they go through staff non-stop. I can't express the level of frustration we experienced and hope you don't have to go through the same.

Beware of purchasing Rivergum townhouses at Munno Para – Poor quality of finished townhouse. Gouges out of doorframes, walls, staircase, handrails. Poor surfaces of wood. Poor painting, can see heavy paint roller marks on walls and paint patches through thinly sprayed walls throughout the house. Split architraves at joins . Scruff marks from sandpaper on walls and doors left without being painted over.… Read more

Poor finish to banister at top of staircase. For instance surface not smoothed off, ugly nail heads protruding. Faulty dishwasher door faulty. This was identified at final inspection and was told it would be attended to, it wasn’t. I took the door off and re-centred the inner door. It shuts properly now but this should had been done prior to handover. Dried Faeces on sides of toilet when I moved in. Called build supervisor who came and seen it. Was told it must've been done that morning by worker as he had cleaned toilets night before. Don’t believe this as he was the only person with the key to the building which I was told was locked.Handrails ends not smooth, still rough from cutting device that made them. Sliding doors were scratched up by internal nails rubbing on the door every time it was pushed into it recess. The back fence was damaged , dented in towards my back courtyard. Nothing was ever done to replace the damaged portion of the fence, it appeared the hot water cylinder from next door fell onto the fencing in instalment as it’s placement is in exactly that dented position. Rivergum Homes is a multi million dollar company but it’s customer service is well below mundane. Their unwillingness to repair the fence and being ghosted by the supervisor shows total disregard and disrespect to customers.

It’s nearly three years on and still the fence has not been repaired. A fifty dollar sheet metal is too much cost to this company.

Issues identified at final inspection not managed prior to hand over. In all very poor tradesman-ship and management.

I did reach out to management and after an exhaustive complaint process which I had to take to the Master Builders Association, the GM of Rivergum homes came and did a walkthrough. He did agree to mend the issues and they were done so, somewhat. Some walls were repainted but the painters left runs which I had to clean off the wall. I’ve been forced to repaint the entry hallway and stairwell because the paint used easily made the walls easily marked. I will need to do the upstairs living area as well as the poor quality paint used on the walls made it almost impossible to remove scuffs or fingerprints marks.

The only positive thing I can give is that they finished only a little beyond the build time.

Rivergum Homes only cares about getting your money and after that they don’t care.

Based on our Experience- would not recommend! – Our experience with building our house with Rivergum was not positive. Communication with this company was difficult at the best of times. We have had the keys for 12 Months- and we are still waiting for repairs and corrections to the build to be completed even though they were acknowledged at hand over. In particular the cladding of our house… Read more

which was done very poorly, and the roof leaky! We had to pay for our own repairs as RG just would not schedule anyone to come and fix the issue and we were worried about the water damage! We still have gaps in the roof, mix matched cladding of different colours and the general poor workmanship of the outside of our house to be fixed. We were told it would happen and we have heard nothing for months!!! To be honest- the whole build was nothing but stress. We were threatened with significant increased costs if we did not sign amendments - despite a cost dispute and engineering issue we wanted clarified before signing! However, due to the fear of even more costs -we felt compelled to sign. We were charged a ridiculous amount of money for 4 poles for our carport (approx. 18K)- after the plans were all approved! It was in our opinion a way for the company to recover costs from us (the industry was facing increasing costs at the time) as we were now in a fixed price contract- except one small clause about regulatory requirements! It was stressful and so un business- like- customer service and communication were terrible! Despite many appeals and seeking outside council- we could not do anything about it- as again, we would have had to sign another contract and the costs would have increased significantly again! There were certainly some employees and tradies- that did a great job- and for which we are grateful (eg the selections team, our last site manager)- but one of the biggest issue was also the constant changing of people assigned to our build- it made continuity of communication difficult! The inside of the house was quite well done (a few minor issues as you would expect- we just didn’t think we would still be waiting for it to be fixed) and overall the quality of the kitchen, appliances, air con etc is good. As mentioned the outside is not so! Based on our experiences as summarised here (and unfortunately we have many more issues we could have included in the review) and if we were asked, we could not in good faith recommend this company to anyone else- we would not want anyone else to experience what we have!

Roof work very disappointing – I have been in my Rivergum home for 5 years now. The general build of the house is very good, except that the driveway paving is not the required distance below the damp course. The problem with this house is the roof. The first time I got onto the roof I was shocked as to the amount of problems that were evident. I have so far fitted around 150… Read more

roof screws to the roof as either they were missing or not screwed into the battons. I still have many more to go. The roofer did return on my request to fit an important roof flashing that was not previously installed. I could mention many other faults to this roof that I have previously repaired or are still evident. I am a fully qualified plumber so naturally I am aware of any faulty workmanship within this area. It is extremely unfortunate that I need to carry out so much work to a new house roof to make it sound. I contacted Rivergum twice where they said they would contact me back, but never did.

So disappointed at after service and Maintenance – There were so many corners cut with my home building. *Faulty Timber framing, I brought the issue up a few times, was sorted but literally patched up rather than fix. *Manhole in roof was next to eves, can not go into manhole, they created a second one, now it looks so dodgy with 2 manholes and only 1 usable. *Decking is installed upside down and… Read more

been waiting 3 years for it to get repaired. still waiting, now i am being ignored by their Maintenance department. *Faulty Antenna cable that I Paid for - I had it repaired. *Damaged my fence and filled the side up with dirt without giving notice of works commencing - I paid to have it repaired. *Bricks damaged in Cleaning - chipped *Paint work not completed in certain areas and runny in other areas all over tiles. *Aircon Ducting missing - is now fixed. *Dent on roof sheet at front of home, installed with dent. *Faulty Door handles throughout home - only entry door handle is functional. *Cracks in walls and cornice, Gaps in door frames - Some Fixed *Master Bedroom door not shutting *Major leaks on kitchen window - during rain - Fixed now.

It has taken 3 years to get some of the works completed, still a few remaining, i did not want to write a negative review, but they have left me no choice, their maintenance department is not having my issues sorted and are quite rude in communication. I have done nothing but be patient with them, but its getting too much now.

Cuts corners and won't follow up – The finish of our house is quite good , however, corners have been cut. No damp proof membrane fitted under wall frames although it is a requirement of the cladding manufacturer and (Rivergum state that they accord with manufacturers' requirements. Sarking not fitted to metal roof although that is best practice. Exhaust fans not sealed to meet 6… Read more

star energy requirements. Plasterboard lining fixed to frame despite insulation obviously having fallen to floor. Gaping holes in plasterboard behind wall ovens. Over tightened roofing screws have distorted neoprene washers allowing water to enter. Many phone calls and emails to their maintenance section over the 18 months since handover have been largely unanswered to the extent now that they will not reply at all. Back in 2020 the contract price appeared good but it seems you get what you pay for. There were various other shortcomings which when pointed out were rectified as the building progressed.

Almost 2 years on and still haven’t had all the defects fixed – My build was finished in November 2021 after being promised it would be finished by the end of 2020 when signing the initial contract. The initial process before the build started was great but after that it was not a great experience. There were constant delays at every stage of the build and they kept using the excuse of COVID. I understand that… Read more

there were delays and shortage of materials/labour but their inability to communicate anything made it so much worse. They would provide an update on when the next stage would be completed and then I wouldn’t hear anything until a month or even months after the date communicated had passed that there would be delays. I picked up on missed things before the build had completed and they advised that they would be rectified before completion. This was not the case and in the end I had to go back and forth to try and get them to refund me the variation costs as they were never rectified. On the day of handover and they were walking me through the house, there were tradesman in there removing tiles and fixing pipe work that had been damaged. I was without a door to my cupboard for over 6 months. I had a cracked vanity mirror that took over 6 months to be fixed. The air conditioner failed on 2 seperate occasions, with water being dumped in to the ceiling in both instances. Front door had issues and wasn’t fixed properly until a year after I moved in. The floorboards were cracked within 2 days of moving in due to a poor installation. The pavers in my driveway have sunken and some are cracked. This is has still yet to be resolved and have heard nothing from rivergum.

Don’t ever build with rivergum unless you really want the house/land package and they are the only option. If not I would not recommend building with them at all and pick another builder.

No Connection at House of Horrors – My house was constructed in 2015 by Rivergum Homes. In May 2023 when mould started to appear on door frames, a plumber found that the bath drain had never been connected. In July 2023 a Building Inspection Report found extensive mould growth, damp indicated by high moisture readings and extensive damage to building elements, and there is likely… Read more

further damage to the floor and walls. The water from the bath was going to the under of the house since it was constructed 8 years ago. In July 2023 I contacted Rivergum Homes by letter and email and asked them to assess and repair the damage. I received a reply that said that Rivergum Homes was not liable.

Awful experience from start (and not yet finished) - DO NOT BUILD WITH THEM – If I could go back in time, I would not build with Rivergum. The whole process has and continues to be so stressful and what should have been such an exciting time building a first home, has been absolutely awful. I was holding off on posting a review in hopes Rivergum would make up for the dreadful service received and rectify the faults, but… Read more

this has not occurred.

I signed for my build at the end of 2019 and did not have handover until the end of 2021. Even this, we had to push and push for as our rental lease had already been extended multiple times due to Rivergum constantly changing handover last-minute. During the build, the communication was horrendous and there was delay after delay with no explanation. Contacting Rivergum to try and get information was like a second fulltime job and the frame was left sitting out in the weather for MONTHS, which resulted in some mould on the walls that had to be ripped out during the build.

The build itself had countless issues, which we were advised would be rectified promptly following moving in and once our 3-month maintenance list was in. It was been almost 2-years!!! since moving in and we are STILL with ~60 maintenance items outstanding. Believe it or not, there were more, but we opted to let them go for our own sanity. There were countless changes in supervisors during the build and post-handover, with every excuse under the sun given for faults and delays.

Rivergum have completely ignored almost weekly emails to multiple personnel and lie through their teeth, saying they have ordered parts and things will be done, then go completely silent and ignore you. Some of the issues we still have are major, like the external window flashings collecting water (identified pre-handover) and dropping down, wrong rivets used and also now causing water damage to the front façade of our home from being left so long. This is something that is also a problem for a neighbouring home, who have also been completely ignored by Rivergum after multiple promises to have this assessed and repaired by engineers. Other issues we have had have included a wonky wall (which had to be completely ripped out along with the door frame / lights and re-built), cracked tiles in the bathrooms, wrong locks used on external doors (huge security problem), poor quality and poorly installed scotia that was lifting off the floor, worn down carpets from being installed too early while trades were still coming through, an aircon that broke 3 x and had to be completely replaced this year, salt damp in the garage from no waterproofing, a water meter that was installed in front of what was meant to be an opening gate, a completely crooked front fence and the list goes on. I paid for a brand new home with no discount for crappy work, so it is expected that it be of high-quality and as per the contract signed.

We have not had contact for some months from Rivergum despite continuing to follow-up. We have given plenty of time for Rivergum to rectify the issues, but it has now gotten to the point where my partner and I have had to get Consumer and Business Services involved and have to proceed with further action against Rivergum.

To those considering to build with Rivergum - DO NOT. The stress is NOT worth it and they will completely ruin your experience of building a new home, with absolutely no regard for the customer. This company is completely unprofessional and once they have your money, they do not care about you at all. PLEASE pay attention to all of the negative reviews because they are true.

Terrible post handover – Terrible post handover. After handover they dont give a damn anymore. During final inspection we found so many issues and the supervisor ensured us they'll get it fixed before handover but they never did, he simply said "the guy let him down". And now It's been 4 months and more than half the issues still arent fixed, like the front door can't… Read more

be opened from outside, handle tilting, light switch missing covers (not safe to use) and rain pipe missing brackets etc. I kept chasing them and they always say the same thing that they'll get it fixed but bever did. Stay away from this company, they care more about quantity rather than quality. I didn't want to post review earlier because I want to give them time and see if they will solve it but I guess I'm wrong. Would never recommend this builder.