Simonds

My house workmanship was so so extremely very poor workmanship and no quality at all, my garage floor alone had 70 cracks, my bricks mortar was inadequate and with cracks, brick alignment was shocking, very visible plaster in wall and worst in ceiling, supervisor was racist, unprofessional, regreting too much building my house with them. Never go with this builder again, had my retaining wall built but half a meter short, no water drain pipe and dainage gravel the first time they built my retaining wall, ask them to put but damage the upper sleepers. Totally rip off. They render my wall but not that good, they epoxy my garage and flakes it but never repair the crack. Simond will just take you money and will build you a disgrace home. I am so angry to this builder specially to the Supervisor. Never refer this builder to anyone. You can come to my place and see my house how they build it, and decide afterwards but I warn you, had also cracks in the ceiling, substandard paint.

The underground water leaking caused severe damage to the skirting and walls. The maintenance department just fixed the water leaking and refused to repair all the damages until we told them that we will lodge a complaint with the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria. Then we met them in the house and they asked us to use our insurance company to fix all the damages and they will pay the excess fee. Now my insurance has accepted my claim then I contacted them many times but have not received any reply for the payment for the excess fee. I should have signed something when they lied to me that day.

Shocking builder..
Went for final inspection.. Cleaner was cleaning
.. Over 20 plaster board on the floor, 2 manhole with no cover..
House is fully dust.. Manager said all will be cleared today.. Signed the papers got final invoice.. Bank Paid final payment..
Settlement done, went to see the house.. Nothing cleaned.. Garage full of buildings materials over 20 plaster sheet manhole still open..
Called side manager for cleaning and appliances install.. Never answered or replied to my call.. After calling head office side manager called and said will be all done after 4 days.. Waited for 4 days, none came to fix, side manager never reply calls.. We living in the house about a week without hot water or cooker..
Can't park the car inside the garage, full of rubbish and building materials...
Very sad all this happening in Australia..
My advise to everyone, don't even think about this builder.. During my whole process side manager never answer or pick up the calls.. All ways need to call office, then only I get call from side manager..
Our first dream was spoiled by this builder..
We got dirty house.. With no appliance which we paid for....

My issues with my crappy build never seems to end!
Site sup was on holidays for at least 7 weeks of the 12 weeks taken to build my home, no inspections were been completed so dodgy tradies kept taking shortcuts.

Driveway was poured incorrectly it took an additional 4 weeks to rectify this.
I moved in to my new house with no appliances or hot water, moved in Friday, all things were fitted on Monday (although the occupancy permit states that all appliances are to be fitted prior to handover.

Once services were installed and hooked up the water was turned on and allegedly due to some party trying to steal copper piping from the roof, the house was flooded from the ceiling, this has created massive issues of cracking and ceiling starting to lift, also the repairs on the wall were dodgy they have just painted over the watermarks without water proofing it so the watermarks are still visible, simonds management have refused to replace the carpet in the affected room as they deem it to have dried in a timely manner and that mould won't be an issue.

When they went to turn the gas on they discovered a leak somewhere, Tuesday when they came back out to rectify it turned out a screw had been put thru the gas line by an overhead cupboard.

One of the smoke detectors (until recently) had been defective (although I advised my supervisor of this back in October) he brushed it off as it's fine. 5 months later in my maintenance period they deem it to be faulty and replace it (guess I should be grateful that my house didn't catch fire while I slept)

My first time using the laundry (washing machine) led to me siting on the laundry floor while I did the washing to ensure no issues, well aren't I lucky that I did that... the machine starts its rinse cycle and water comes pouring out of 3 sections in the u bends as they didn't seal and tighten them correctly.

When we had consistent rain, the rain would get in thru the front door and was getting in thru an unsealed gap in the master bedroom window.

There has also been a couple of sections in the wall where it has bubbled due to water gaining access inside the ceiling and pooling.

The roof insulation was done with the minimum amount of batts (last week the insulators came back out and relayed the entire roof) due to the been sections with no insulation and insulation batts standing upright (not lying flat over the ceiling) they required an additional 2.5 bags of insulation and close to 3 hrs of labour to get the roof to where it should have been prior to Handover.

Back in December I commenced my front garden, I planned to put some small pot plants along the front of the house, I used a manual hole digger to dig 4" deep holes and cut straight thru the recycled water line, I also unearthed the mains water line. This took an additional 3 months of daily phone calls to simonds management for them to finally arrange someone to come out and dig out and bury the lines at the minimum of 300mm as per Victorian building regulations.

Today I had the tradies out to paint all the movement in the window and door frames, only to discover 5 hrs later when I went out to water my new lawn that the painters have shaken there paint brushes over the lawn leaving white paint on the grass, letterbox and driveway, they also tipped there turps on the new grass and have killed parts of it off.

Overall a nightmare of an experience and will gladly tell anyone who mentions simonds to check there reviews throughly before getting in bed with a company who won't care about you once they have you final payment, even when there trades and them as a business have broken multiple building violations and not heeded the occupancy permit conditions.

I am extremely disappointed from Simonds QLD. As a loyal customer, our family had purchased few houses from them, and also had introduced many friends to them without any benefit. However, we had lost our faith to them with their poor services. . We have two houses building with them currently at Southside of Brisbane. They had made few mistakes in this project and had not shown any sincerely attitude to solve their problems. Me and my sister bought a house in 2015-16 to demolish and subdivde the lands for two houses. Initially, we intended to live in them (one each) to build our dream home. We dedicated on our time and spent lots of time to design our home with multiple colour selection visits. As time goes by, they had exceed 220 days building periods (Building approval obtained on 30/5/17). Until now, we realised they had tricked customers by putting penalty rate as 11 dollars per day. After consulting with my friend who worked in construction industry, according to HIA contract, the late build payment minimum of 50 dollars per day. This act has shown their unprofessionalism to not letting customers know their right and simply they feedback is that because we have signed contract, there is nothing they can do about (so please make sure you read your contract properly).
Not only they delay our building time, they had also completed the driveway that we did not request for (we initially only want one house's driveway to be done so that we can design the other one). They subsequently had requested us to share their cost. Given there is a great delay, we did not want to waste any more time, therefore, we reluctantly paid the cost and leave the driveway. Again, after consulting with other builders, legally, we are not obligated to pay any of fee for additional driveway simply this was their mistake.
Due to the delay, my sister has commitment at oversea and no longer wish to wait. We are preparing to sell one of the house. We then realised they had incorrectly made Balustrades for both Homes when agents brought customers to the house. We have lost a few potential buyers due to their mistake (my agent has expressed their concern that customers had questioned their professionalism because they simply put advertisement with wrong design).
After email conversations with build managers at QLD Simonds, they would like to extend 15 days for correction of mistake, given they are already 50 days exceed from the building period. We had patiently waiting for our dream home to be built. Instead of waiting for their rectification of their multiple mistakes, we had requested them to simply to provide cash back for the cost of changing our balcony/colour/balustrades. However, they refused to do so and insist they can only provide rectification of houses and willing to pay $11/day delayed fee as per contract.

They cannot simply understand how much patient we have given to them and how frustrated we are to them. I think this is the time for everyone to know what Simonds as a builder can do when we do not know the law/customer right. I would appreciate if everyone can share this to people who intended to build with them.

It came to my attention that Simonds are violating my contract. This is our first home. We are very excited and happy but Simonds are ruining our feelings and hopes.
We signed the contract with Simonds laster year November. All the initial payments were cleared in December.
But,
The date they have provided us for the construction commence is 20th April. According to the contract, both parties agreed and signed says they start construction approximately 2 months after initial payments made. But, the suggested date takes more than 4months from the date we made the payments.
Our Customer Relationship Coordinator is not very helpful. She doesn't answer calls or replies email. We have to send lots of emails and voicemails to get a reply.
Very disappointing.
I have seen lots of good comments. That's why we selected Simonds. But, what I have understood so far is they are good just to follow procedures. If anything comes beyond that they fail.
I would never ever recommend Simonds to anyone and I won't go with them again.
They simply don't care us.

Simonds builder is a bunch of amateur and thieves, a rip off to avoid at any cost.

I have chosen the Simonds Builder on the advice and instruction of one colleague and have received evidence from him, that he paid a similar construction price during the same month of last year 2016 living about 200 metres apart at Mernda VIC 3754, dealing with same sales agent [name removed], at the Mernda office at the time. They advertised for a cheaper rate but at signing of the contract, the final payment of the has comes at a whooping cost paid in excess in my estimates after research, the price for a 4 bedroom house with double size garage and lots more inclusions. The Simonds Builder has a reputation even by real-estate agents to cut it to the bone. They use cunning tactics in pressuring me to sign a contract and close a deal that did not look anything similar of what we discussed and promised. The Simonds builder has made no attempt to contact me or return my calls, during all stages of construction access to the Building Site to view the progress of the Work but was harassed to pay for all stages on time. They have reduce my construction house to a shocking smaller version looking, small-size unit: Being my first house, with little knowledge of prices, sizes and inclusions at the time I was left instead with a seriously small nugget 3-bedroom size house with a single garage which has almost no inclusions, a very small kitchen with no dining room area and a very small living room area which is attached to the kitchen area. The bathroom and toilet in all mix with the laundry facilities built with no bathtub, an all-in one room and no floor drainage system and cupboards ect. All fixtures and fittings including gas system, carpet, tiles, kitchen cupboards and bench tops, toilet and showers are of really cheap materials and the kitchen bench tops were incomplete, of cheap quality and squeeze to fit. The kitchen walls were left empty without shelving, cupboards and cabinets, the whole house looks unfinished and incomplete. The cost to extend and renovate and extend the existing small house to include only a small veranda and to replace and all useless and cheap fittings existing and unfinished works will cost above the 4- bedroom house with double garage with lots more inclusions. The Simonds builder has made no attempt to contact me, or return my calls to inspect the Building Site at key stages during all stages of construction, access to the Building Site to view the progress of the Work, all defects could not be readily visible or ascertained before handover. I am left with no walk-in-ward robes, the tiles and carpet quality were of cheap quality and fabric. There were absolutely no floor boards, no dish washers, bathtubs, cupboards, shelving and choice of tiles. The whole house including the tiles were all bright white and uneven. There is only one power point in all rooms and no electrical unit outdoors (one external light paying additional with no optional electrical cable fitting to additional lights on poles or around the house). The plumbing was a total failure, the roof downpipes and sub drainage pipes were above ground surface exposing to cracks, wear and tear, and not connected properly to major stormwater pipes, where backflow, retaining water and water blockage can be seen in all CR risers pipes grates, crawlers and bugs can be seen around. The depth of the trench was not respected and no backfill quarry materials rocks were used which is ruining the UPVC pipes and sewage pipes system quickly. There are no AGI pipes used. Some roof sub drainage pipes/Downpipes does not even seems to be connected to the major storm water pipes which needs verification if it is properly connected to the storm water council pit as wet land can be seen around the house. On the front yard main room an oversize windows is framed with weatherboards on battens which I declined to add but the builder’s agent still went ahead to add it on plans, it is now with cracks lining appearance in Master Bedroom where not window shutters can be installed and no matching curtain rails and curtains can be found to fit excessive larger size. The Carport driveway is tiny and small has an incomplete concrete work and left with a large gap making it difficult to bring the car in-out without having the tires and car to dip inside the vegetation area next to front yard fences and has to take extra care not to scratch your car also due to the unnecessary larger pier closer to the garage door. All rain water on the carport driveway is going around the lager pier which is causing cracks, it is not all diverted to the grate/curbside trench channel drain (storm water heel guard grate) next to the garage door which is also not connected to the drainage pipe/ roof sub drainage pipe. The curbside trench channel grate is lumpy and has catch retaining stale water and debris and is also net level to flow the water out, where crawlers next to garage door can be seen. The rain water is instead going under the concrete carport, around the pier and under the concrete slab causing cracks. Excessive moisture even on hot days can be seen on soil including bugs and crawlers on hot days around as the sub drainage riser pipes and walls. The sub drainage down pipes which is above ground and needs to be re-installed and connected and level properly underground as the depth of the trench was not respected and has retaining stall water and backflow in all risers as it not connected properly to flow the water out into the main storm water pipe. The silt pit water trap on the passage way is also leaking and not connected properly and placed in the middle on the passage way in an awkward position not even mentioning the missing silt pit/catch basin and CR risers pipes not installed as per plan. The eaves gutters is leaking on both sides of the house, it is causing water molds on the brick wall, ruining my awnings and backdoor, it is damaging the concrete wall and roof framing the in the process. The eaves gutters has no catch debris, mesh wire filter, and the water debris are polluting the waterway. Since Simonds did not make the effort to put temporary fences until I made several complaints about it, lots of external rubbish were dumb on my site that I have to pay additionally to get rid of. Nevertheless, after the construction the backyard was again left in an absolute mess including concrete waste and lots of builder’s construction materials and food scrap rubbish left onsite and some buried underground instead of throwing it in their construction bin waste. The Simonds have made no effort whatsoever in dealing and rectify the issue. They also give preferential treatment to some clients as my colleague on the other hand has received an impressive form of kickbacks paying the same price as me but the inclusions were as follows: Choice of a style of house with 4 bedrooms a and double size garage: Central heating and cooling system, Walk-in ward robes, Extra sitting room, dining area and Larger living room area, larger kitchen area and appliances including: Drawings, and Cupboards: Stone bench tops looking, a separate room for laundry area, a separate bathroom including bath tub, shower and wash basin, a separate toilet room, better entrance door with large quality style handle, Master bedroom includes bathtub, and better cornices and painting and floorboards, in other terms a deluxe package. The BAL payments were also not included on his contract but included in mine, none of what I mentioned above were included in my contract paying the same price. This has been my worst nightmare and would never recommend at any cost the Simonds Builder to anyone, a company who uses really cheap and flimsy materials and tradespeople and sub-contractors that uses cheap amateurs or apprentices to build a house with little experience and knowledge, and cut corners. The building supervisor who doesn’t even inform you on the progress of the construction workload and not even onsite to verify the work done by their building contractors and tradespeople, a company that seems to offer kickbacks to some and cut you off to the bones to most clients and even further if you got little knowledge of the industry. You only ask yourself, how did they get signing approvals by a building surveyor to sign off each mandatory notification stage of construction, with so many apparent mistakes and you ask yourself, if they were even present judging by the Simonds builder company’s longtime existence in the business. Above all, I have paid way above the cost price and I was left with a house of cards built with match sticks. Despite all efforts to try to get them to fix the above issues not one single job been fix as at this day.

I have signed contract on July-2017 to build two story house. However, due to lack of staff, poor communication and delay in file processing as today (13/12/2017) construction has not commence at our site. The sales staff shows different picture while signing for initial amount but in realty its different, they(sales staff) they can't do much about it.

They are getting more jobs. However, they have not enough resources staff,contractors to fulfill the promise and that results, I am paying for rent and mortgage for my land as well. If anyone, want to review and confirm my scenario I would like to share, so you will opt for better alternative.

Hi, So me and my partner started looking for the perfect home we want build. Visited 100's of display houses. Finally found what we were looking for in Simonds. To start with sales guy was very polite and helpful. They let us make all the changes we wanted in plan and staff in gallery was very supportive and patience. We even went back to gallery for further changes later. All stuff was finalized and we were set to go once our land got title. We liked the admin we were provided. She understood our house quiet well and we trusted her.... Then things started going side ways. We were given a new admin. When our land got finalized. We found out they increased the price of our home with another $7000. Too bad we trusted the sales guy and previous admin about the fix price. We had nothing in written. Anyway the house started building and we have given a supervisor who will take care of our building process. Who will provide us regular updates and if we have any doubts or have to arrange a meeting in house, he was suppose to be our point of contact. Guy hardly picked up his phone, never replied to emails or messages. There is no work done on house for weeks and suddenly we found out its because our supervisor is on indefinite leave. As per there communication our current house is already leased. We have 3 weeks to vacate. Still no sign of work done on site. Every time I communicate with our admin she just make up a 2 weeks period for PCI inspection. Simonds is a big company. Its shame they have no one to work on our site....... Its really sad. We have never given them any trouble in whole process. They discontinued the tiles we liked, we chose another, they run out of carpet we liked, we chose another, never delayed in any payments even when there was no work going on site. Expected a better treatment and understanding in return...

Update, its been 5 months in home now. Suddenly one of the roof started leaking. I called their maintenance team as per what I was told in case anything like this happen. She rudely told me to call insurance and said they won't look at it. Next day our roof cracked and their is a big hole in it and we can see the tiles were not put in correctly in first place and that's how rain water clogged in that spot... thanks a lot simonds... :(

- On 7 and 8 Oct 2017 we hear gurgling sounds whenever the shower is used, toilets are flushed, and taps are used. It also took a long time for water to flush and go down the drain.
- On 9 Oct, both our toilets become blocked. In the evening we called a plumber to come and
- On 10 Oct, [name removed] (No Doubt Plumbing) came to our property. He found that there was no ground level access to the sewer, and when he called Barwon Water no sanitary plan has been submitted after the house was built. [name removed] used an equipment to locate the shaft (acccess to sewer) and dug the surface to try and find it. No shaft was found and since his equipment located it within 1.3metres of ground, he provided us with a quote to get an excavator to find the shaft. He informed us that every house should have a ground level access to the sewer, and this is an issue that needs to be rectified by the plumbers who Simonds Home used to do the plumbing work for our house. In the evening, we called [name removed] at Simonds Home Curlewis and left a message to explain the situation. Later on, [name removed] got back to us and told us to call Simonds Home Geelong Office where Brooke will answer the call.
- On 11 Oct in the morning, we called Simonds Home Geelong Office and explain the situation to [name removed]. She then transferred us to [name removed] (Simonds Home Maintenance) and we had to explain the situation again. [name removed] informed us that [name removed] (Simonds Home Maintenance) will contact us to discuss solution. Soon after, [name removed] called us back to clarify our plumbing situation. We provided him with the contact number of [name removed] (No Doubt Plumbing) to provide details about the situation. [name removed] spoke to [name removed] then contacted us back and handballed the responsibility; saying that because the plumbing has worked up to 7 Oct it is now our responsibility to fix the problems and he was only willing to get the plumbers to submit the sanitary plan to Barwon Water.
- Later that day, we got [name removed] from Peachey Plumbing to have a look at our plumbing/sewer issues. [name removed] managed to find access that’s supposed to be at ground level by digging further. He (and I witnessed this myself) found built up household fat that’s stuck in the pipe and unable to go through therefore caused the blockage. [name removed] used an equipment to help them go through and that’s when he found that the pipe hasn’t been installed properly as it doesn’t line up with the junction (which meant blockage can happen easily). He managed to provide us with an interim solution however it could block up again anytime.
- [name removed] informed us that it’s an issue the plumbers used by Simonds Home need to rectify, as they are the people responsible for 1) installing everything correctly, 2) ensuring there’s ground level access (shaft) to sewer, and 3) submitting sanitary plan to Barwon Water.
- We then called Simonds Geelong Office again and informed [name removed] (Simonds Home Maintenance) of the findings. [name removed] informed us that she got in contact with the plumbers and requested for them to come to our house. We followed up and called [name removed] again later that day, she informed us that [name removed] (United Plumbing) will get in contact with us. We continued following up and tried calling [name removed] who ignored our calls but answered to texts. [name removed] mentioned that the person responsible for maintenance will get in touch. We waited until end of business day, and never heard back so we followed up again with [name removed] then soon after we received a call from [name removed] (United Plumbing Maintenance) who said he can come out on the 19th of Oct. We had to explain the situation again, and passed on the contact number of [name removed] from Peachey Plumbing.
- On 12 Oct, [name removed] informed us that he spoke to [name removed] (Peachey Plumbing) to get further details and asked me to contact [name removed] (Simonds Home Maintenance) to ensure that they’re happy for them to come out and fix the issues for us. We then called and spoke to [name removed] again, and forwarded the contact details of [name removed] (Peachey Plumbing) to explain exactly what needed to be done.
- On 17 Oct [name removed] from United Plumbing came to measure our back gate to ensure their equipment would fit.
- On 19 Oct, [name removed] and another person came with an excavator. They re-installed the junction and pipe so they line up and elevate the shaft to ground level.

To summarize, due to the poor quality of work(1. pipe and junction not lining up, 2. no ground level access to sewer, 3. no sanitary plan submitted to Barwon Water) done by the plumbers contracted by Simonds Home (United Plumbing), we were unable to use our toilets due to the blockage for 2 days, had to get two independent plumbers to come to try and solve the problems and spent $500, and had to take 3 unpaid days off work (10, 11, 19 October). We believe it is Simonds Home responsibility to ensure the work done by all your contractors are of acceptable quality. We believe at a very least, reimbursement of plumber fees are more than fair.

It was our biggest mistake to build our first house with Simonds. It was a long journey to finish the house but now there is a big list oh things should be fix first week according to Supervisor but waiting more than three months and nobody cares. We called office every day and they have same excuse that it will be fixed soon. End of the day they just care about money nothing else.

Not enough room for me to write how extremely disappointed and frustrated I have been with Simonds home. This has been the most terrible experience in my life.

I started my quote preparation with Simonds’s Sale consultant in end of June 2017 at Simonds Homes Geelong sales office (Mount dunned). I made it very clear for the sale consultant at the beginning that my maximum budget to build my home could not exceed a certain amount. He confirmed that it will never exceed and every change made in the design the costing was included the quote and he had received approval for the final quote, from his Building Manager and Draftsman and that there would not be any hidden cost or extra costs. I have also paid more for the fixed site cost (including the retaining wall and etc) because I was going to make sure that I am not paying anything and be surprised afterwards. I had gone through every details with the Sales Consultant and ensured that every additional costing was included in the final quote before signing the final quote and he assured me that every cost have been approved by Building Manager and Draftsman and already included. After two months I signed the final quotation and payed the full deposit and my gallery appointments were booked. Only few days before my gallery appointments I was emailed by Simonds Geelong and been informed that the tender is not ready and I should wait more for the final tender including the house design before going to gallery appointment which was very weird for me. The result was cancelling my gallery appointment and postponing the final contract signing day to one month later.

After one month’s frustration and waiting, I was shocked and disappointed with the content of the 'tender' document. Not only is the tender document totally different to the initial quote, it contains additional new cost that I was reassured I would not be charged.
The tender document contains information and new costing about the design alternation (opposed to what we agreed on and signed in the final quote) and in addition to that the tender document mentions new things which has never even been discussed or raised with me, by Sale consultant or any representative of Simonds Homes. I found there to be approximately 10 errors and an additional $ 13,000 plus in costs which was shocking even before going to gallery appointment.

After a few days I have been called by Simonds general manager and been told that if I cannot pay this extra money I better to go and build with another builder. He did not even care that I have lost 4 months of my life waiting for them to build my home. This was not a good start, this was due to the unprofessional and incompetent behaviour by Simonds team. I have even sent a complaint to the head office and asked them to rectify the issue but have not been contacted from head office or even complaint department at all so far. This proves to me how incompetent the Simonds Homes are.

This is the way Simonds dealing with customers. I have been deceived and misled by their sale consultant to pay the deposit, sign with them and waste my four months time and they don’t even care about the rest because this is how they make money.

I am deeply disappointed now more than ever that I have chosen to build with your company and cannot wait for this pain staking experience to end.

I hope this gives other customers an insight as to how this company operates and treats its valued customers. Save yourself the stress, time and money and build with quality builders.

As I have not heard back from head office or complaint department, this has left me no choice other than lodging a formal complaint to Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria soon.

Built two houses before. Paid refundable deposit for third one. Job didn’t succeed and asked my refundable deposit back as it hasn't gone upto contracts signing. They are refusing to give my deposit back. This is how they treat their loyal customers. Was a trusted builder when it was a family company but not anymore. Be careful with dealing with Simonds!!!

In 1 year.
Whole ceiling fall down in Alfresco area out of no where.
Master bedroon ceiling got big curve and falling down.

According to Simonds Homes they are not liable to any repairs after 1 year.
They act as this is our mistake that we build with them.

Very rude behaviour by lady in maintenance of department. We had live electrical wires e posed with whole ceiling fell down outside. They think it is not emergency. And can't say when they will fix this.

Supervisor is new and can't say when repairs will be done.

Please never build with simonds homes. Our dream home is a nightmare with falling ceiling in our house. This is because of dodgy ceiling works and according to simonds this is not their fault.

I have very terrible experience with Simonds home (Sydney). I have signed paperwork and enter in contract on 13/12/2016 still 04/09/2017 (imaging planning process were started almost 2 months before with sales person), no sign of construction start. My contract number is N0879, if anyone interested contact Simonds Home Baulkham Hill office for more information.
There are some points to highlights,
1. Delayed by more than 6 weeks in architectural design to developed, suggested date was first week of FEB 2017. But report received on 13/03/2017 plus Kitchen design were incorrect than what was confirmed on earlier.
2. Exit door from garage to backyard was incorrect position, FUNNY thing is I have called so many times, emailed so many times still designer sending me incorrect door positions. This is the sign were staff are following their knowledge rather that what you have discussed. This is where took 2 months to get fixed. God knows what design (garage exit door) they have sent to Council.
3. Worst ever experience about gallery visit appointment, gave me first visit on 22/05/2017 which is one month after the contract signed. This visit was mainly for external color selection. 2nd gallery visit was on around 26/06 for internal color. I have raised simple question why can’t you finish in same appointment. THIS was so bad experience about gallery visit. I have also been told once you finish both gallery visit then Simonds will process documents for council lodgements.
So you can calculate total WASTE of extra month for gallery which apparently delayed council lodgements.
4. Council lodgement happened (after many calls and follow up with head office Baulkham Hill) on 20/07/2017. Almost 2 months after contract signed on 22/05/2017. Funny thing was I have followed up on 23/08 about what happened and whats update from council. So I have been told after 4 days that permit team had VERBAL conversation with council and they have requested some changes. You can image this information got after I have followed up. Simonds Home not even care to advise back. FUNNY thing, I called Blacktown council to find out what’s update, they have advised me, council send email around 15/08 to builder to provide more information. You can see discrepancy between what builder said.

As of today 04/09/2017, I am still waiting on update, what happen with council request. What Simonds home doing to provide requested information to council. God know when construction starts.

I have just paid the $1500 to start my process. On final drawings they changed a lot on the structure. As well there were all hidden costs. I spend more than $90,000 on upgrade but they don't provide the service and what they promised. They included the price for tiles and the floor as per display home but when I was in gallery they quote me $4500 and for the tiles $7500. Specially be careful with the salesperson whose name is [name removed]. He always make stories rather than provide the service. I have sent many emails and call many times to Simonds Head office to my co-ordinator but they never reply. Thanks God still I didn't sign the contract Be careful before you pay any cent to Simonds Home. I will never go to Simonds Home and don't allow to anyone in my friend circle.

We built 2 houses with Simonds and consultant [name removed] which is amazing (she is the best in the industry) and we went to get some advise with regards to our 3rd house that we going to built. Unfortunately [name removed] was not available so we had to go and talk to [name removed] today who works at Berwick Simonds display. Me and my partner couldn't believe what we hearing as she was so rude and said to us "So you want to waste my time" didn't even listen to our question. We were so disappointed and left the place. I felt really bad about whole experience as because of these people the good name of this company is going down the hill.

I wanted to give Simonds a chance to leave something positive, which is why I have left it till now to leave a review. We are currently in the middle of the three month maintenance, yet they still have not upped their game.
Our initial experience at the sales office in Keysborough was excellent, which was why we agreed to go ahead with Simonds. The sales person spent countless hours helping us design an ideal floor plan to suit our needs, often staying back after hours and driving out to Berwick to walk us through our plans. But that's where the service stopped. After paying the initial deposit, the drama commenced.
From tender appointment through to contract signing, our CRC changed hands 3 times. The first CRC often ignored calls and emails, then eventually left without even informing us until we went into the Springvale office to ask.
Next, the gallery appointment. We were only appointed with one day, which for a big double storey house, meant that it was very rushed and felt we were under pressure to make a decision on that day. We had to insist on having a second gallery appointment. I later found out from someone building with another company that they were offered 2-day gallery appointments for their double storey house. Nonetheless, the team at gallery were very nice and helpful.
The building process had its ups and downs, and again we had a changeover in supervisors half way. Not much to comment on about the initial stages as I am no building expert, but problems started to arise in latter stages. Each time we saw an issue, we would be told it's fine, or that it is in accordance to standard. If the paint on a wall looks splotchy, having the supervisor telling the customer that it looks fine from a different angle is unacceptable. Telling us that it is normal to not be able to lock the front door with the key is a flat out lie. Glue had been left on the handrails on the staircase and we were told to just clean it up with steel wool, which did not work. Instead, I seeked for advice from Bunnings and spent hours scraping it off with a blade.
Only time that our matter was handled with urgency was when we started having leaks in the garage roof.
We were never updated at the end of each week about building progress as promised, whereas the first supervisor did. Several times, we had to block our number so that the supervisor would answer the call. Everytime there was an issue, we'd be given some excuse that it's fine and doesn't need to be fixed. Now we are in maintenance stage and again lack of communication, supervisor does not return calls, and our issues continue to be ignored.

I am just in the last few weeks of my build which is beyond 60 days over due.
At the start the Sales oerson on site was amazing, which is why we chose Simonds. Once we got passed to the office staff that's where we had so many problems that my fingers would bleed if I listed them all, so I'll try a short version. The contract took approx. 6 months to get right, I would email Simonds a list of what was incorrect then they would email back another contract/tender/quote that would not have all the changes and they would make other changes that were incorrect. Even on the day of signing we had amendments to get right before we signed. They tried charging us for I would guess $10,000 or more of double ups and things that were not required. We really should have stopped before signing and sort another builder, however I got diagnosed with leukemia and having a clear block sitting we thought it was the best decision to move forward. As so much time passed they stung us over $3,000 extra, I should have told my blood cancer to wait a few months so I could sort out Simonds. We thought that such a large company would at least have their trades and processes on site at a high level right! Wrong! We had 4 supervisors (the lady being a great guy) but we had the following problems on site; slab wrong size, roof tiles were wrong design, cornice was wrong, bricks were the right choice but colour variations and flush finish is revolting, kitchen over head cupboards were wrong finish, cut out for range hood wrong 3 times, tiling would have had the right tiles in wrong locations but we insisted in meeting the tiler on site, cracks in the alfresco area, stair wall was wrong and now you see a plaster line in the rectification, wrong window put in the butlers pantry, outside paint colour was wrong on panels and had to be repainted, stone kitchen bench with waterfall is being replaced for the third time as it had cracks in it each time, power points and switches are placed at different heights even if they are next to each other, water leak in top floor of bathroom had to be fixed, front mains connection burst, site had building debris, wrappers and concrete everywhere including going in the neighbors and out the front strip and gutter, they connected both sides of the whole hose down pipes to one storm water outlet, chunks out of the garage floor, halvanised brick ties use in lieu of stainless steel as our contract, we are at 60 days over contract time etc etc etc...How can all of these things go wrong? No processes a very lack of them or lack of using them I guess??? I am currently in dispute with QBCC and unfortunately the contract which is HIA doesn't allow you to with hold payment until rectification. What a joke considering they can hide behind laws in the contract yet we can't.
My brick work is the biggest concern by far, we had a meeting with the site supervisor and construction manager who stayed to me "we will come back with something that will make you happy" which is an admission of how bad it was, but to only come back two days later and say they were only going to do some minor fixes as they deemed the brickwork to be within AS3700 brick standards, which don't cover the extremely bad mortor joins.
On a finishing note if you sign with anyone put down $200 per day late fees, they will try for $10 as I fell for that one but legally you can agree to any amount. I suggest you use a different builder as bigger means they can use there bigger powers against you and tell you what you want to gear and not deliver the goods.

Rush us to sign the handover, then said everything will be fixed within 3 months warranty. But they not find professional to look at the windows which is scratched and shower door not installed properly and a bit damage on the glass and not fix it. We asked many times to fix, but no one fix it. Told us to sign off the warranty, they will raise the job again but no one come to fix.