A GJ Gardner Homes brochure promises customers “peace of mind” and gives guarantees about the quality of work.
But for customers of its Hobart franchisee, their experiences have been years-long nightmares.
There have been defects appearing as soon as the build starts, approved plans not being followed, almost complete stoppages of work, contractors alleging money owed, and finished houses that require months of costly remediation work.
Customers of the franchisee – operated by a company called LV Built – have urged GJ Gardner Australia to intervene for over a year, as work continued to slow, and cashflow issues became more apparent.
But the franchisee continued.
That was until this week when, in the hours after the ABC sent LV Built director Ludek Valta a list of questions, the company was placed into liquidation.
When a brand name becomes a franchisee
In 2021, Akinola Ekundayo was considering his retirement.
He and his family were living in Sydney at the time, but COVID restrictions had limited their options.
They chose to move to Tasmania due to it being a ‘safe haven’, and settled on a block of land south of Hobart to build their new home.
“When we saw the view, we thought ‘wow’, you can’t allow yourself to miss this one,” Mr Ekundayo said.
He contacted a Sydney office of GJ Gardner Homes, and was referred to the Hobart office.
“We thought, ‘GJ Gardner is GJ Gardner’,” Mr Ekundayo said.
“We were thinking that they would have due control over the projects and over their franchisees.”
They signed the contract in August 2021, but not with GJ Gardner Homes, like they thought.
It was with LV Built.
Retirement dreams remains a slab and collapsed wall
It wasn’t until July 2023 when work finally started, with the slab poured and a retaining wall built.
But then the work stopped, Mr Ekundayo said, and then a downpour in October caused the retaining wall to partially collapse.
LV Built attempted to fix the wall, but then a building surveyor issued a notice to the local council, Kingborough, for work to stop.
Nothing has happened since.
“It looks abandoned, my site is abandoned. Nothing is going up here,” Mr Ekundayo said.
“Emotionally, you are drained, you are lost, you are degraded.”
He now rents in a nearby suburb, where he can almost see the site from the front door, visiting every Monday to check if any work is occurring – but it never is.
Their attempts to complain to GJ Gardner Australia did not result in improvements, despite a commitment to look into it.
In an email reply, GJ Gardner Australia told the Ekundayos:
“LV Built trading as GJ Gardner Hobart is your builder, not GJ Gardner Australia. We cannot build for you, nor take over the build from Ludek … at LV Built.”
The Ekundayos have paid $270,000 on progress payments.
Since January, the family says they had not received further contact or support from GJ Gardner Australia.
Two years in a shed, with no answers
Owen Knight chose GJ Gardner Hobart because he needed his new house at his vineyard in the Huon Valley built to schedule, so his wine business would only miss one growing season.
“We decided to target one of the biggest spec home builders in Australia because we thought that they would have more control,” he said.
Mr Knight moved into a cellar door – a small shed, where he has now lived for almost two years. It’s right next to the house site, so he could keep an eye on the works.
After being “slow walked” through the council approval stage, he saw problems almost immediately.
“We noticed that there was a portion of the slab that was missing. I don’t know how they missed it,” Mr Knight said.
He said the remainder of the slab was poured almost a year later, leaving him fearing for structural issues down the track.
Mr Knight picked up on other issues: a chipped moisture loop in the garage, incorrect roof pitch, blocked floor waste, a hot water recirculation system that had to be re-installed multiple times, a post to the roof hanging off the slab, showers installed contrary to plans, and more.
“I noticed all of these defects, some of them serious structural defects, being built into the house,” Mr Knight said.
“But the builder just kept building.”
As the months went by, Mr Knight found himself engaging with disgruntled contractors himself to ensure work was completed.
His attempts to resolve problems through GJ Gardner Australia also went nowhere, while Tasmania’s building regulator suggested he seek legal advice.
“I would have thought that GJ Gardner would say, hey, our brand represents something. It’s quality, it’s value for money,” Mr Knight said.
“As far as the quality goes, they’re just not interested.”
He said GJ Gardner Australia should have intervened much sooner.
Month-long wait for payment
The ABC spoke to multiple contractors – concreters, plumbers and landscapers – who allege they are owed thousands of dollars by LV Built.
Concreter Luke Ruffin is one of them.
He started working on a GJ Gardner Hobart site after one of their customers reached out to him, before the company asked him to move onto another build.
Mr Ruffin said he would take it on, provided it was one job at a time, and that he was paid within seven days.
But he has been waiting five weeks.
“I just keep sending him invoices,” Mr Ruffin said.
“It started three weeks after the invoice wasn’t paid, he kept assuring me: ‘You will get paid, you will get paid.'”
He said he was happy to rectify any issues, provided he received progressive payment.
Other contractors, who did not want to be identified, made similar allegations. They all claimed that LV Built was on “stop credit” with multiple building suppliers.
Owner can’t stop looking at the faults in his house
Another home owner – who did not want to be identified – at least has a completed house to live in.
But he describes his experiences with LV Built, trading as GJ Gardner Hobart, as a nightmare right from the start.
“The corners of the slab had sort of chipped away and fallen in, and then it wasn’t square. We were told, don’t worry about it,” he said.
“When the frame was put on the slab, the two didn’t line up.
“It was very, like, ‘that’s normal, it’s not going to cause any issues’.”
His frustrations grew over continued delays, including when neighbours’ houses started to overtake his.
“We were still really naïve about the whole thing,” he said.
The extent of his issues became apparent when he was told the house was “finished”.
“It was absolutely ridiculous that they were telling us that our house was finished,” he said.
“When in the bathrooms, there were no taps on the walls, and the bath had no plumbing at all underneath. It was just a hole to the ground.
“It was nothing like a completed house.”
He engaged an independent building inspector, who found almost 50 pages of substandard and incomplete work.
He said he had spent thousands of dollars attempting to rectify the issues, but they often resulted in further problems – such as damage to his polished concrete floor.
He said his dream of building a home had turned into a nightmare.
“I struggled a lot, mentally, to the point where I said to my partner, ‘We’re going to have to sell this house,'” he said.
“That our first home. It was supposed to be an exciting journey to bring that to life. And the whole thing was just totally stressful.”
When ‘peace of mind’ isn’t always peace of mind
The ABC has seen emails from customers from mid-2022, demanding GJ Gardner Australia step in to take over the house builds from the local franchisee due to poor workmanship.
One email attached a GJ Gardner advertising brochure, which promises “peace of mind”, that implied warranties guarantee customers that their homes will be built “in a workman-like manner”, with “reasonable care and skill”, and “within the date specified in the contract”.
It also mentions a “self-generated” fund to assist should a franchisee be unable to complete the build, in which case another GJ Gardner franchisee could step in.
But a GJ Gardner manager replied that this fund could not be activated.
“It will not be a possibility for us to take over the works as we do not have another builder in Tasmania or trades that we can contact to complete the works.”
“The fund you mentioned has a constitution that needs to be followed in order to be used. This does not qualify as the builder is not in receivership and is still contactable.”
Consumers Federal Australia chair Gerard Brody said consumers had a right to seek answers from GJ Gardner Australia.
“This firm has advertised that it provides ‘peace of mind’ to consumers. It’s not following through with that sort of promise, and that’s potentially misleading under Australian consumer law,” he said.
“A large franchise business has a responsibility to support all its customers. But the practical reality is that people will face barriers if they want to make complaints against the franchisor.
“That’s why we need to have reform in this area to make sure that disputes can be resolved more simply.”
Other states have introduced mandatory home warranty insurance schemes, and Tasmania will soon do the same.
GJ Gardner Australia to contact 30 customers with homes underway
LV Built director Ludek Valta did not respond to the ABC’s questions.
GJ Gardner Australia confirmed the company, LV Built, was placed in liquidation on Tuesday.
It follows the collapse of two other GJ Gardner franchises last year. Perth West entered liquidation, while the franchisee in Springfield, Queensland, declared himself bankrupt.
The Hobart franchisee still had 30 houses under construction, and the liquidator – Shelley Brooks from Rodgers Reidy – was contacting each customer and subcontractor.
Ms Brooks noted that Tasmania does not yet have a homeowners’ warranty insurance scheme.
GJ Gardner Australia chief executive officer Trent Gardner said the company would be offering support to the Hobart customers.
“At this time, our primary focus is for the Hobart customers, and we will be reaching out to them to discuss their individual circumstances from today,” he said.
“We will support these customers to source an alternative local builder to finish their home builds and to enable a smooth transition.”
The company released a statement in response to customer concerns that it was slow to act, saying the issues stemmed from “difficult trading conditions” for home builders.
“Once we became aware of the worsening situation for the Hobart West franchise as a result of these conditions, we provided guidance and support to rectify its operations and finances,” the statement reads.
“More recently, we had breached the franchise and taken further steps to help it to improve.”
GJ Gardner Australia already decided not to renew the franchise agreement with LV Built when it expires later this year.
The Tasmanian regulator – Consumer Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) – has also contacted those affected, alerting them to a one-off payment available to consumers impacted by construction company failures.
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