Ausbuild Builder Review

Overview

Ausbuild were founded in 1988 and in that time have built nearly 9000 homes. Ausbuild arent just a builder, they also create housing communities and offer financial solutions under one roof. In our builder review of Ausbuild, we’ll be taking a look at what we like and don’t like about their building process and some tips to utilise if you’re looking to build with them.

Ausbuild Display Homes

Capestone Display Centre
139 Napier Avenue, Mango Hill
Monday – Friday (by appointment)
1 Home on display (Longhurst)

Kinross The Habitat Display Centre
1 Woodside Way, Thornlands
Monday & Tuesday: 12pm – 5pm
Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 5pm
1 Home on display (Harwood)

Prominence Parkview Display Centre
8 Van Dieren Road, Pallara
Monday: 12 pm – 5 pm,
Tuesday: 10am – 5pm,
Friday: Sun 10am – 5pm
3 Homes on display (Tait, Adina, Marriot)

Ausbuild also offers 7 virtual tours including all of their homes on display and 1 more that isn’t. Want to becomes a virtual tour master? Check out our virtual tour hacks here.

What People Think

Ausbuild have a mixed reputation online with a 3.5 star average on Productreview. This score is consistent with other sources such as Google reviews that has them sitting at 3.4 stars.

What seems to be the most common problem is not with the quality of their builds but with their communication and process that has left a fair amount of their customers feeling unsatisfied.

The Good ✅

✅ If you keep your home design pretty straight forward you’re less likely to run into issues with Ausbuild like this happy home builder.

✅ A standard build with a good site supervisor goes a long way to make your build go smoothly. This review does raise the issue of how much their inclusions can end up costing you. Make sure you know what is included as standard when building or you’ll end up paying a lot more than expected to get the house you want.

Another positive review had this to say about their experience.

✅ Praise for their understanding during bank-related delays is great but in all realness, if the company knows they are going to get your money, a slight delay isn’t a huge deal for them… as long as you don’t cancel the contract.

The Bad ⛔️

⛔️ The main complaint regarding Ausbuild is with their process and communication. There have been examples of when their process has been so inflexible it ends up wasting time for both parties.

⛔️ While a rigid process is usually in place to keep builds moving along, that method isn’t beneficial to anyone in this situation. These issues arise when common sense is ignored in place of the process. It would have made far more sense for Ausbuild to hold off on the selections. A lack of communication from the sales reps to the colour selectors to the builders meant they just wanted to move things along without working together for the best approach.

Ausbuild Build Timeline

Ausbuild usually take about 9 months to a year to build a home. To give yourself an idea of their timeline here’s an example of a 9-month build:

Progress update (10 Month Build)

Land Prelim Contract signed 17/05/2018
Build Prelim Contract signed 30/05/2018
Land contract received 05/06/2018
Land contract signed 10/06/2018
Building contract signed 27/06/2018
Land settlement 30/07/2018
Tile selections 01/08/2018
Colours selection 06/08/2018
Electricals 06/08/2018
Council submission 22/08/2018
Council building approval granted 29/08/2018
Commencement letter issued 05/09/2018

Onsite works commencement 19/09/2018
Slab pouring scheduled for 28/09/2018 (postponed by 7 days)
Slab pour 05/10/2018

Frame up 09/10/2018 (start)
Roof Completed ~ 31/10/2018
Windows and front door in place ~6/11/2018

Insulation wrapping ~6/11/2018
Electrical/Plumbing rough-in completed 13/11/2018
Private inspector on site for frame inspection 13/11/18 (no major issues at all, but definitely worth the $$)

Plasterboards delivered to site 13/11/2018
Bricks delivered to site 14/11/2018
Brick week commenced 16/11/2018
Plasterboard completed 16/11/2018
Brickwork and external cladding all in place 4/12/2018
Cornices, skirting, architraves, internal doors, wardrobe shelves installed 7/12/2018
Upper-level painting completed and scaffolding removed 17/12/2018
Kitchen cabinetry installed 19/12/2018
Garage door installed 19/12/2018
House now at lock-up stage 20/12/2018
Work on site stopped ~21/12/2018 for Christmas break
Tiling commenced 07/01/2019
Tiling completed 18/01/2019
Painting to commence 20/01/2019
Countertops and sinks installed 08/02/2019
Driveway prep 08/02/2019
External concreting done 11/02/2019
Painters largely done 11/02/2019
Light fittings mostly done 14/02/2019
Letterbox bricked 16/02/2019
Timber fence mostly done 16/02/2019
Aircon fit off 26/02/2019
Carpet, Rangehood 15/03/2019
PCI completed 22/03/2019
Handover 29/03/2019

Tips when Building with Ausbuild

Double check their contractor costs!

• If you need more customisation when installing work done by contractors such as electical work, your better of waiting till the build is complete and hiring someone independatly.
• Ausbuild aren’t know to offer the best prices for this sort of work
• An example of this is when someone looking to build with then inquire online about their electrical prices. This was because they need extra data points for cameras, home automation and security.
• This was the response they got from a currently Ausbuild customer.

• If this sounds like the type of work you may need doing then your better off finding someone else who wont charge you a preimum like Ausbuild do.

Bewear of building in their communities

• Ausbuild don’t just build houses they also develope estate communities; buying huge blocks of land and selling off plots.
• Their method for executing this is not favourable for you though.
• Ausbuild can be seen to use a method called 3rd line forcing.

• What this means is that if you want to buy land in one of their estates it comes with the condition that you must build a home on that land with… Ausbuild.
• This stratergy can lead to all kinds of unfair practices. For example you could be sold the land for reasonable cheap price with the promise that Ausbuild will build a reasonably priced home on it.
• However without the option to compare builders Ausbuild can charge whatever the want in building fees to make money off you! After buying their land with this condition in place they are your only option.

Ausbuild standard inclusions may leave a bit to be desired.

• Builders arent typically accomodating to changes after plans have been drawn up. Most will actully charge you a change fee if you wish to make any changes to your inclusions or designs if you make changes.
• If you choose to build with their standard inclusions package and wish to make upgrades, Ausbdueing uild won’t charge you any fee.
• While this may seem generous it might end up costing you more than if you had initally opted for their upgraded package.
• So when you choose your inclusions know what you want before you lock them in. This will prevent you spending money you didnt need to and remove the feeling of indeision dueing your build.

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Ausbuild Designs

Ausbuild offer 64 home designs, both double and single storey. When comparing prices of these designs keep in mind that their prices do not include site fees or upgrades and come with the standard facade design.

QBCC Record

Ausbuild does have a couple of QBCC actions taken against them. 2 counts of direction to rectify defective work and 1 instance of disciplinary action taken against them.

Conclusions

• Ausbuild are a well established builer with over 30 years of experiance under their belt. The longer a builder is a around the less of a risk is posed by finitali issues falling on the company
• Their process is ridgid and this has both up and down sides to it. It means once the build kicks off things are going to keep moving. The down side is that the build won’t be tailored to your life, (you need to match their schedule not the other way round).
• If your wanting to add any unconventional additions to your home your better off organsing them yourself after the build. Ausbuild have been know to charge high prices for things such as additoinal electrical work.

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