We were introduced to NHBB through our Finance Broker as he himself had been a client some years ago. We had no idea about the Building Industry or the processes involved to actually start a project such as this and to go down this path made sense.

We have been through the good and bad of the project, probably the bad more than the good. In saying that I had better start from the beginning.

We have a special needs son and this house was a concept build to accompany his requirements as well as ours so that all concerned could live with an ease that would make life a little easier for all.  We constantly brought this to the table during the initial meetings for the planning process and to our knowledge these were taken onboard by NHBB.

We then agreed on a price and after much deliberation also agreed on a builder and the processes were then put into practice and the build was started. It was at this stage that the whole adventure started to go wrong. The builder we had decided on turned out not to have the required knowledge on Industrial products as we were meant to believe for which we required as per our previous meetings and after about 2 weeks we started receiving Variations for things that we had already discussed at the mentioned meeting right at the start.

The mistake that we made was we signed a contract (without NHBB present but on advisement from them) and what we assumed was a prestart meeting at the beginning, outlining our requirements, was in fact not and those requirements were not presented to the builder properly. 

The builder turned out to be very inexperienced and this was his third residential build which did not help us at all as he had to be constantly reminded that this was a house for a special needs child. It was at this stage that myself and my wife had had enough and wanted out of the whole thing as we could not trust the builder anymore with what was being done as every week produced another mistake that he would charge a variation for and then another problem would arise, so on and so on. We were, at this stage ready to lose $100,000.00 just to have peace of mind and leave it all behind.

We had no place to go, so we contacted the Managing Director of NHBB and complained about the situation that had developed. Tristan Kirkham was at our doorstep the next day at 10 am and we concluded a meeting sometime later with a little better feeling about the whole thing. Tristan was very hands on and surprizing, not on anyone’s side until he had all the facts. The difference with this approach was that he did not handle any situation with the attitude about who he was going to blame but instead what was the best way to agree to solving the problem.

Tristan made himself available to us at a moment’s notice if we had a query or another disagreement with the builder or any problem that had risen.  We still to this day don’t believe that some of the decisions are correct but with a bit of give and take we are now in our house. We are still in the process of the six month maintenance period and I know already that we will require Tristan to assist us with the Perth builder and negotiations as to liability for the minor items that will be required to be looked at.

People often ask me “Would you use them again” and I have had to think about this a lot and the answer would be yes, for these reasons;

1. I believe in what they stand for and that is the product has to right for the client.
2. To check on workmanship and keep the builders honest.
3. Knowledge of the Industry.
4. Conflict Resolution between client and builder.
5. Availability to the client.

If anyone choices to go through NHBB I will endorse what they stand for and recommend what they do, for you the client, but please make sure you do a prestart and double check the builder you decide to go through.