Before I agreed to build with Burbank, I took time to read through some reviews, and I noticed there was more negative experiences than positive. But I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt. But as you can see, I am in the position on telling you my bad experience.

I dealt with a great sales consultant ([name removed]), that looked after me from the start to the end, and always tried to save me money from all ends. She is definitely an asset to this company. Unfortunately, it went down hill from there. Throughout my communication with customer service, I have had my Client Relation Officer change 3 times, and 2 Supervisors during the process. So what was agreed with one, was never forwarded to the new employee. It was a nightmare of an experience, as some of them would never get back to you, and you would have to chase up everything more than once.

Burbank's workmanship was poor from top to bottom. It didn't help that I ended up with a useless supervisor ([name removed]), that didn't give two rats about how my building progress was going. His plan was to move on from his position, and all promises were broken. And even though I had written proof and photo's of damages that happened during the building process, Burbank decided not to replace, but repair the problem. My family sliding door came crashing down onto the concrete slab, and was suppose to be replaced as promised but never did. They only replaced the handle of the door, by switching it with my laundry door handle. I thought that was a shifty move.

Just when the building process was in place, I was notified that some of my choices got discontinued, like tap ware. They had up to a year to get all this ordered, and instead they show me replacements, that I had to go by. Then I find out Masters were the suppliers of the original choice, and was not discontinued, they just decided not to deal with them anymore.

My brickwork was below average, with inconsistent gaps between each brick throughout the house. There were also blowouts throughout the whole house. Luckily, I organised a Private Inspector, and reported major parts of the house to be re-bricked. Even so, the rest of the brickwork was not good. The quality looked like it was suppose to be rendered on top. You choose upgrade bricks and pay extra for mortar upgrade, and the result is shocking. The internal walls and paint was another problem. I felt like they gave there jobs to amateurs, to save money. There was dents and holes throughout the house, with visible hairline cracks in the months time. I find out through my inspector, that I had missing insulation in ceiling and some walls. Ceiling ones were replaced, but wall ones would be too hard to rectify. Most cabinets and handles had scratches, which I am stuck with.

When my settlement date was notified, I find out that my oven was never installed, because it was never ordered. So I was without an oven for 2 weeks. I chose an upgrade tile for my laundry, but they ended up tiling the standard ones. I decided to keep them, to not create further damages. I also had 2 cracks in my bath tub that I have never used, that I was accused of doing. After all these issues, I ended up reporting them to the Victorian Building Authority (VBA). This got their attention, as they visited the house with the ACCC and the builder, to see the problems in person.

I've now been in my home for 7 months now, and just when I thought everything was all good, my neighbour starts to build there home towards the boundary like mine, and their builder finds that my slab was not controlled at the time, and excess concrete went onto their side, and caused trouble. They began to jack hammer into it to clean it up, but this then could cause my homes integrity. It just shows that even though they have been in the business for over 30 years, they haven't really learnt anything to improve their company.

I just want to give you future home buyers some tips. Do not get fooled into their 30 year warranty as I did, because lets face it, we don't know how long they will be around. Secondly, if you do, make sure you book your own Private Building Inspector for all 4 stages, as their inspector will look after Burbank's needs, not yours. I have a contact if you are interested to book someone, he is very reliable. Lastly, never pay your final account until everything is fixed. I mistakenly did, and they took advantage of that. There are 2 nearby neighbours who have built with Burbank, and they also went through a bad experience with them.

In conclusion, I have had the most stressful experience, and could not think to build again, period! I can not think of any part of the process to be enjoyable. Better off to find a decent place that you can renovate.