Green Homes New Zealand - Mount Wellington

This review (Part 1) describes the unethical and unprofessional practices of Green Homes New Zealand Limited (“GH”). GH not only crushed our dream but wasted more than three months of our time and now is costing us a lot more money to find a decent home. We met with Kirsten Greig of GH on 29th October at the Swanson Show Home. We paid $1500 as a deposit to lock our interest on Lot 33 Joseph Kokich Road after speaking with Kirsten. She was friendly and seemed to know her stuff. We got our pre-approval from the bank and informed her of the loan amount and that the bank will only lend us that amount if we could secure a fixed price build agreement for the new build. She also confirmed that she would be our point of contact throughout the design process. She informed us that securing a fixed price build agreement would not be a problem. This took us to around mid-November. From that point we were exchanging emails with Kirsten on a daily basis as we actively worked through the build design process with Kirsten. Over the course of these daily exchanges we conveyed as clearly as possible without belabouring the point that we needed to work towards the budget we had arranged with the bank and from time to time as we were selecting the various options for the build we checked in with Kirsten whether particular selections risked blowing the budget. We did without certain standard features of GH’s build like solar panels, etc so that we keep the cost down. We indulged in a few premium features like the benchtop and tiled showers, etc to make the build our home but when selecting these premium features we checked in with Kirsten from time to time as to whether we risked blowing the budget she was already aware of. She informed us that the final costing needed to be done by her QS but based on her assessment of what he had forgone and what we have selected it should even out and did not think there would be a cost blow-out. These email exchanges spanned 3 over months (except for the fortnight or so when all offices were shut during the Christmas break). We’d also reminded her on a few occasions that we would like to have a look at the finalised cost break-down and the cost-breakdown for the standard package to make comparisons and possibly make final adjustments so that we can ensure the final cost of the build aligns as closely to the pre-approved loan as possible. Kirsten agreed to provide this to us. Given her pleasant, polite and attentive manner we trusted her given that it was our first time building a house which was to become our first home. Given the experience she presumably has we trusted her to let us know at any point over that 3 over month period to gauge if any design feature or fixture selection risked blowing the budget. Kirsten contacted my husband in the first week of February 2021 to inform him that GH’s QS had arrived at a build cost that was about $100,000 to $150,000 above our budget. My husband was dumbfounded as we were consistently told each time we checked in with Kirsten as GH’s representative and our primary point of contact that our choices and selections did not risk blowing our budget beyond reasonable range. (Read Regine Hou's review to continue with Part 2)

Green Homes are great to work with. They design and build homes that can offer their owners / occupiers true value by being warmer, drier, healthier and energy efficient (Homestar 6). The team are professional and maintain a high level of integrity operationally balancing business requirements and customer service and delivery.

*Read DM's review before this. (Part 2) We gave up the bathtubs, the dishwasher, front fence, solar panels and opted for a cheaper rangehood and sourced our own bathroom and plumbing fixtures because the bathroom and plumbing company GH recommended was charging 2 to 3 times more for similar category of fixtures. Some add ons which we knew would add to the cost of the build were customised layout of the wardrobes and additional cabinetry in the garage; 2 barn doors for the master bedroom entrance; anti-fingerprint laminate for the kitchen cabinets, tiled showers (instead of acrylic), 3 extra kitchen drawers and manufactured stone benchtop. When we asked to see the finalised cost-breakdown which GH’s QS arrived at which saw the cost of the build exceed our budget by $112,000 (if we choose not to have the deck painted and have carpet in the rooms instead of laminate floor etc) and exceed by $143,000 above our budget if we went with all selected options, we were promised that we would get it early week following the Auckland Anniversary long-weekend. My husband and I did our calculations and had a few discussions with our mortgage broker over that long weekend and emailed Kirsten on the first working day following that long weekend to let her and her colleagues know that despite the cost blow-out we were still keen to go ahead with the build despite the contradictions we were subjected to. We again requested for a copy of the finalised cost-breakdown. On 9th February, instead of sending us the QS, Kirsten, with her Sales and General Manager John and Matthew copied in the email, dropped a bomb-shell on us by saying that they have “elected to cancel the holding agreement” as no agreement had been reached and would refund us the $1500 deposit. We never got a chance to see a copy of the finalised cost breakdown and had three months worth of work towards the finalised build design flushed down the tube. As with most families our life savings were going to go into the building of our first home and we were treated by Green Homes New Zealand Limited with total and careless disregard despite having attentively worked with their representative over that time. We had been sincere in working with GH to build our home so we had stopped looking for a house over that 3 plus months. The prices of houses had gone up over that time and now we face the prospect of having to pay a lot more because GH decided without any warning or discussion to pull the carpet from under our feet without any explanation except “no agreement has been reached” when we eventually agreed to pay the higher build cost and requested for a copy of the cost breakdown which GH would have had to produce eventually for our bank to review as part of reviewing the fixed cost build agreement. We are writing this review so that others especially those looking for their first home do not get burnt by this build company and its management who have demonstrated to have zero business ethics and basic decency.

Green Homes is the worst you can get in the market. I strongly recommend anyone to run away from this company. Happy to share my collection of details and emails to anyone considering Green Homes. They even have a review from their sales guy. So fake!! I already reported this to Google. Buying from Green Homes is buying a daily problems: leaks, scratches, paint problems, low quality finishing, over priced, list is long.

Green homes has a very professional team and Stephanie, the design and sales consultant is exceptional. She is a great designer, a patient consultant and has an exceptional sense of dimension. We are delighted to work with her and the GH team and yes....building a home is never that easy, but with the GH team its a breeze

We have been trying to get hold of the National Manager for months, and months and months now but with no luck, I only get through to voicemail and my emails remain unseen, maybe they have gone to spam? I have a large bespoke project in Wanaka which I am wanting to achieve a Homestar 10 rating, the home will be 300m2. Edit: I have just learnt of previous lawsuits against said National Manager and Green Homes NZ mother company and we will not be proceeding with Green Homes. This is big warning signal of things to come.

NOT RECOMMENDED!!! if you want to deal with a serious company this is not the option. Still waiting to resolve issues with the property after months living in. Uncountable communications problems, staff rotation high and not a proper follow up. Attached an example of a mistake from Greenhomes when building the house, the shower installed was not the one specified in the floor plan .. a person barely could walk. Damaged fence for months while building a house next door. No ETA when it will be fixed ***Update Nov 2021. I can see a message to this review, we are happy to say that after 11 months & several complains the damaged vanity was finally replaced. We are still waiting for the list of pending fixes, including the paint issues.

We have worked with Green Homes on numerous projects as their Home Stagers and Interior Stylists. These guys really know how to project manage and curate an interior fit out. Watching them turn a work site into a warm and inviting space in a matter of weeks was incredible to witness. They have great communication and easy to work with. If we were investing in a house build we would be safe in knowing that behind the scenes things were being done correctly and attention to detail was being offering. Great people, great product and a whole lot of passion.