McCarthy Homes

After talking to so many builders ,decided to go with McCarthy homes,what I likes about them was their speed,and good communications,but compared with other builders they charge me way too expensive ,and the material they used are pretty basic,low quality stuff in toilets and bathrooms,some of them broken after few weeks and their response was they are not withing guarantee of the house and we should get some one to come and fix them up for you.but what I am annoyed is my property was located on a busy road and my main concern was the noise inside and I asked them the first day I want a sound proof house,they built a house according to an acoustic report ,but practically the house has too many noise in it,they should have known and advised me that they should not use light materials to build a property in that location,it should have been built of all brick and metal roof should have never been used,instead they built the house with very light stuff which noise passes easily,I raised the issue with them and they said the nose level is ok and is because it is located on a just a busy road,it not a convincing answer,all my neibours live a noise proof property but not me,basically I just wasted all my money in this property as McCarthy did now know how to built it properly,I plan to complain to BsA

Our build is still continuing, by the time we move in, it will be 12 months since we signed the contract. Do not assume that if you know exactly what you want, you send back all documents that require your signature the next day and any descions required are made straightaway, that you will avoid unnecessary delays. As soon as the contract is signed don't expect to feel like you are a priority, a valued customer or in any way important to McCarthys. If you don't mind additional unexpected costs, living in rented housing for 12 months with all your posessions in boxes and paying rent and mortgage at the same time, whilst you see others moving into their houses in less than half the time, then McCarthy's is the builder for you. I hope that when we finally move in that I will be able to say it was worth it and that we have a quality product, but I suspect it will take some time for my health to recover from the stress of what the combination of McCarthys and Homeside lending have done to my health. But that's another story...
Excellent pre-contract, sales guy was very helpful, helped us to design a be-spoke home to suit our sloping block, he came out to view several blocks for us, before we found one to suit our needs.

Very helpful staff at Majer Tiles, offered advice on style and colour selection added real value to the experience.

Once the build (finally) commences construction staff are polite and helpful and the progress is good.
Administration delays, particularly in the drawing office (over 4 months to get council approved plans, we sent all documents back within 24 hours of receiving them, the delays were all from McCarthy, any amendments to drawings take around 3 weeks to come back, even if they have made the error eg by putting the wrong lot number on the drawings, we were told your drawings then go to the back of the queue and you have to wait again. Selections booklet given to us prior to selection meeting was useless - there was a totally new product range of fittings to choose from and prices were not available for the majority of them. 'Free interior design service' was none existent -the interior designer showed us the range available and entered our choices, no help or advice was given, no value added to the process from the designer. Meeting started at 8.30am and ended at around 4pm, we were told we would be given lunch - we had to ask at 2.30pm for something to eat. Electrical contractors - had to take a day off work to go and see them at Caloundra, they are not electricians and are not able to offer any practical advice. We are in a Telstra Smart community and have particular cabling requirements for TV, Data, phone etc they were not able to offer any other type of cabling, basically all they could do was lights and sockets, whole experience was a waste of time, we have had more assistance from the staff in the lighting stores. We were told we would have to have structured cabling, at an extra $3000+ but the guy selling it to us, had no idea of the type of wiring required or what it would enable us to do. We organised our own guy, who had done this type of wiring before. Contract and Variation sheet, every time a quote is required it goes on the variation sheet, if you don’t like the price, it is then subtracted on a subsequent variation sheet, from whichever stage payment claim it is applicable to, so you have negative and positive variations at each stage claim, by the time you are at build stage, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand. Payment terms of 5 days from the date of the invoice for stage claims are beyond the capability of our bank, particularly if a valuation is required. Extra unexpected costs added to the contract

We are now well underway with the construction of our new home by McCarthy’s. We are delighted to say that everything so far has run like clockwork. Right from the outset the Sales consultant put our minds at ease with his professionalism and transparency. The nature of our block presented the design team with some significant challenges which they accommodated and our price represented fair value.

There was some delay in the approvals and administration process but we feel this was to be expected, given that we are building on an inner suburban site. Our Customer Service Manager was attentive, helpful and gave us regular updates during the more stressful phase, prior to site start.

Our home is currently at the lock-up stage and we couldn’t be happier with the attention to detail shown by our Supervisor. He takes the time to explain things thoroughly and provide us with answers to our queries which puts us at ease with the whole building process. We are confident that McCarthy’s will indeed deliver us our dream home! I’ll check back in at the end for a further update…

Overall, we have days where we honestly wish that we had not chosen McCarthy for our new home. The complete lack of contact that we have had from the administrative side of their business is apalling. We have been made to feel that we are not important at all, and that we don't need to be consulted at all during the building of our home. We only hope that the actual buiding team is more competant that the office staff.
The sales staff have been very, very helpful in all aspects leading up to us choosing McCarthy homes, and answered every questions promptly. Nothing was too much trouble for them.
After signing the contract back in October 09 it feels like we are dealing with a totally different company, and the level of service has dropped dramatically

Complex job, 600 sq metres, sloping block - good plans provided for block at little or no cost, saved on architectural fees (have friend who just blew $40K with a Brisbane architect and are throwing plans away and starting again) so didn't want to go with an architect. So far so good. Have had 4 meetings with cabinet maker due to wife changing her mind, have been very accomodating.
Free Design Process, no pressure, patient, good ideas, flexible,
some misunderstanding around changes we wanted to plans, since been rectified

i have just built my first home mccarthy homes and am stoked with the result. Gill and Stevie were great and easy to work with and ensured my home build went smoothly and according to plan. after looking at many plans and builders i was impressed with the standard inclusions of mccarthy homes. i would definitely recommend and build with them again.

In previous reviews we went so far as to give Mccarthy a 5 start rating as the process was going very well. Since then we have finished the build and moved in. The longer the process went the more frustrating it became. Many of the frustrations would be par for the industry however Mccarthy sell themselves as being better than the rest - and you pay for it. My conclusion is you don't get anything of note over and above the others. Now that we are in I would actually go so far as to say the finishing is relatively poor in many respects. We have had them back to finish/fix may issues - eg plumbing not completed!!!?, door locks that jammed the first time you used them, air conditioning had loose connection, door handle broke, TV aerial not connected properly, shower leaking and had to have glass refitted. To their credit they have fixed most things after some chasing but we also have a list of things that grows by the day for the 6 month review - eg cracking showing on door frames and other joinery - come on in a brand new & expensive home!
[name removed] in their head office was great to deal with and did her best to ensure we were looked after
[name removed]'s enthusiasm didnt always translate to those that need to fix things and I still cant help but be disappointed with the finishing of many of the little things.

So I’ve waited the sixth month maintenance to give a more complete feedback of McCarthy Homes. I would definitely recommend McCarthy Homes to anyone who is looking to build a new house. Their overall service was top notch, and house build quality is definitely up there with display homes.

Sales phase is very pleasant and easy going. The sales person that I dealt with was patient, polite and he never gave an impression to pressure me sign any contract. He listens and would draft multiple drawings based from my requirements and treat as if it was his own dream house which I find him very professional and dedicated.

Build phase was relatively smooth and on schedule. McCarthy Homes are the only few builders that actually cares much about construction safety at building site. Their build processes are very organised and structured. The supervisors are very knowledgeable, attention to detail and nice to deal with, I was also kept up to date with my home progress on weekly basis which is a plus.

After handover I’ve never had any issue until the fifth month where I had an urgent plumbing issue which McCarthy Homes straight away sent someone out to fix the issue. On the sixth month maintenance period McCarthy Homes have addressed most of issues that I listed when I go through my house looking for tiny defects. Both occasions McCarthy Homes have addresses issues promptly and timely, I consider that as excellent service.

I'd never remembered I ever wrote a review for any product. So I write this review just to show how much I loved my house and the excellent service that McCarthy Homes provide, well done McCarthy Homes!

We are currently midway through building our new home in Hope Island and have to say we are very satisfied with our choice of builder. From the honest, friendly and supportive sales lady, through to the lovely customer service girls and our very thorough (though sometimes a bit hard to get a hold of!) supervisor we have found we are really enjoying our building experience. McCarthy seem to be extremely meticulous and thorough in every part of their process and whilst this has meant that things have stretched out a little longer than we had hoped, we would rather it be this way if it reflects in the quality of our new home. And by golly it has. We have built several times before, each time with volume builders and this is by far the best quality home and experience we have had. Happy to give 5 stars.

Built with McCarthys 5 years ago,they did a fantastic job and would not hesitate to build with them again!!
Very responsive to customers needs. A Professional service. Top Quality Homes.

We also signed up and it took weeks for one little change but we were told we were holding them up.I feel admin is Mc Carthy homes down fall.I will update
We love thier houses
Admin very hard to talk too

We were second home builders and have been "in" for just over a year now, and are pleased to report we are very happy with our new house. We could have taken a cheaper option, but we are happy we didn't due to the quality and professionalism we got from McCarthy Homes. It's satisfying to say "we got what we paid for". We had all sorts of dramas with the bank, but the McCarthy Homes admin staff were helpful and patient throughout. And we must mention our sales consultant, there are many decisions to be made building a house, and we appreciated his honesty and input with guiding us through with as little fuss as possible.

So for those looking for a quality builder who ticks all the boxes we can wholeheartedly recommend McCarthy Homes
Excellent Quality, Excellent Staff, Excellent Home.

We couldnt be more happier.From the word go with the sales consultant who took many hours to ensure that we were getting what we wanted. Not unlike the larger companies, there was very little add ons as the house had everything we needed. Also the time their interior decorator took with us to make sure every colour would work together and wasnt rushing us out the door. Our internal contact what can I say. Nothing was too hard for her and everything was handled in a professional and timely matter. The site supervisor is one of the best.and kept us informed and made sure we were in our new house on time.
If we had to build again it will be with McCarthy homes.

Just a few minor things but has been recitified before we moved in.

Recently built our dream home on Brisbane's Northside and had a fantastic experience. Quality at it's best. So glad we chose McCarthy homes as our builder.

We went with McCarthys because of the overall finish and quality of their display homes in Mango Hill.
When we signed up we were guaranteed the same quality finish and that was exactly what we got.

Loved the design stage and selection but most impressive was during the build. Our site supervisor [name removed] was amazing. Keeping us very much informed with every step of the way. We knew exact when and what was happening all through- out the build. Amazing customer service.

Very little hiccups all the way and even when there was, nothing was every a drama and sorted out promptly and moved on. Our home handed over more than 2 months earlier than we expected saving us a fair bit on rent as we were on a week to week contact. We were given 8 weeks notice of when we were going to be able to move in.
Excellent builder with very good costumer service and 'A grade' quality.

I had earlier written a poor review after construction with McCarthy homes.After hand over there were many issues identified and some were signed off to be rectified within 30 days of handover.The builder similar to my earlier experiences ,proved to be incompetent and kept giving excuses till we got to the 7 month mark.At this point i put in a complaint to the QBCC[housing construction ombudsman].As soon as the complaint went in and QBCC pulled up the builder , they rushed to correct the mistakes and the issues were rectified.Just goes to show their fraudulent and incompetent ways .This is a builder to avoid for sure!

We chose McCarthy homes because my husband drove past one of their builds on a steep slope and after finding that many home builders just don't build on slopes we decided to check them out at their Rochdale display homes. Fast forward two years later ( the build took just under 12 months) and we've just had our 12 month maintenance process completed in Dec 2018 so we can now provide our review:
The Preliminary Phase-The sales and design was a pretty good experience. Our thanks to Dave for following through with any amendments we had to our design, and also truthfully telling us if something could or couldn't be done. The design drafting, the contract paperwork was fairly smooth and consistent. Invoices and receipts were sent out without having to ask. Any design compromises were talked through thoroughly and agreed. Virg the interior designer was very helpful, and always willing to offer suggestion with colour construction and combinations.

The Build Phase- McCarthy homes had 2 supervisors for the 2 stages- the ground/construction work supervisor and the internal/ fit-out supervisor. Both supervisors were very attentive, and errors ( which were small) were kept to a minimum. We had a problem with stump removals on the property right at the commencement of the ground works but McCarthy rectified it immediately. A big shout out to Danijel (our fit-out supervisor) who was savvy smart with solving problems and giving us the best experience in the fitout process. We had issues with a third party tiler group who filled in but did a bad tiling job- but again, McCarthy stepped in and sorted it out. Dan made no excuses, he just got it sorted.

The 12 month maintenance- it just felt like a continuation of exceptional service. 12 months had passed since the completed build, but the communication with Irene seemed like we were on her radar all the time. I have to say that the maintenance issues were minor- small cracks, paint touch ups and screws missing. That was it- honestly. The tradies turned up on time, and McCarthy's maintenance man Mark was attentive, listened and his recitfying work was really good.

I think there is a defining element to McCarthy homes, that makes them different from the other builders out there-
something that we'd never experienced in our builds anyway: and that was the single point of customer contact for any issues, discussions or queries- Everything.

Stevie was always the first point of contact, and the last person to speak to. She was great at managing the customer experience, even if she couldn't get back to you that day or she needed to delegate a technical issue, she was always the one to call or email you back. You never felt like the builder had dropped the ball on you, or you had to chase up anything, or even defend yourself when an issue was discussed ( like many other builders). You came away with not only a new house, but with your happiness in tact- and to me thats a great experience.
At the end of the day, every builder has issues, every builder has tradies, and third party tradies to deal with- this sometimes comes with complications, but to me its how the builder's staff manage them, and most importantly how they treat you as the Customer. Our home is beautiful.- no doubt about it. Set amongst other beautiful homes in our area, our neighbours have commented that its a standout. But what I consider the standout was how McCarthy managed our experience...and that was pretty damn good.

I build a home with McCarthy Homes four years ago. I have to say my experience with them has been wonderful. From the plan, build and maintenance of our home. I would certainly recommend McCarthy Homes to all my family and friends. I wouldn't hesitate building with them again.
I am especially impressed with the Maintenance they offered. I called McCarthy Homes 4 years after we build with them to fix a problem. They returned my called within a day and had the problem fixed in a week. Alan in maintenance is outstanding. He really goes above and beyond. That level of service is very hard to come by.

I would appreciate others advice and experience regarding McCarthy. We are currently deciding between the two builders (assuming the quote ever turns up from McCarthy) and would like to hear how others out there feel about McCarthy and the PROS and CONS they have run in too.
We are currently deciding between Indigo and McCarthy. Must admit that first preferance is for McCarthy, the display homes looked nice and fairly reasonably priced, and seem flexible with the designs.
But we are now struggling to receive a quote three weeks after submitting for one. Very helpful at first but seems to stop when head office gets involved.

We were originally sold on McCarthy Homes based on the quality and assurances speech by the architect / salesman. We built a ~380m2 home in North Lakes for ~$465k (house only). Actually, after a shaky start, we had a good relationship with them and used to take drinks and doughnuts for the tradies. We even bought the site manager and customer liaison small gifts at one point in time.

I do hope this appraisal comes across at least mildly coherent as we've been very stressed by our post-build service.

For those who prefer a simple summary though, the bottom line is that if you have high-ish expectations, I wouldn't be choosing to build with McCarthy Homes. I believe high-end is not their forte. Their build is OK but the finishing quality lets them down; on many walls and ceilings, the plaster join work is clearly visible - but we were told we didn't pay for grade 5, this is barely a grade 3. Contest things and they will lie to your face and insult you in writing - and if they can't meet the expectations they sell you on, they employ an acquaintance of the Director to inspect and advise you that issues are generally OK and within industry standards. We were told by McCarthy Homes that - "it's just business".

So, a year after advising McCarthy Homes that the roof was in bad shape it's still not great - there were so many scratches and dents; roof screws that were over tightened or in at an angle and even some missing. Gutters are still now holding water and there's bolts and debris from the build in them. At the time we mentioned the roof condition, the site manager told us it would come up like new after a clean. We had to pay for an independent roof inspection before they chose to look at the roof, after which, they paid 'their guy' to pull our report apart, while their staff insulted our inspector suggesting that he could become qualified to inspect roofs in a day. This part of dealing with McCarthy's has been incredibly stressful.

We've got a front balcony whose wood was warping, cracking and splitting before we even moved in for which the six-month maintenance plan is to replace a few boards and leave it for us to stain. It looks nothing like their show home balcony, it looks cheap and I doubt it will last. In actual fact, as it turned out, the whole front balcony had to be pulled down and rebuilt by an external resource due to it not meeting structural standards - when inspected by the QBCC.

Tiling in the en-suite is not good. Somehow, it appears they have over-cleaned the floor tiles and left visible 'buffing' swirls - and they've blamed us for it. We spent a lot of money on tiles and McCarthy Homes have laid at least 5 chipped ones and the grout is tainted with other colours leaving a poor, dirty looking finish. There's excessive tile lipping given tile leveling system they used and in many places they're inconsistently spaced.

McCarthy homes overlooked the fitting of the storm water pipe in the front garden resulting in our rear garden flooding whenever it rained.

They fitted the wrong front door handle and in the wrong place where your fingers could get trapped in the frame. They tried to repair the door with plugs and staining and didn't seem to want to replace the door until I told them I'd remove it myself and drop it at their main office.

We paid $800 for a letter box - a brick and render piece to match the house. One of the assessors took it upon themselves to buy a primrose yellow 'letter tray' from Bunnings (~$65), not even close to the colour of the house. They basically foam-glued the bricks back together after switching the tray out for a black one. It's OK because it's not part of the main structure...

They fitted the wrong solar inverter and wouldn't change it until I threatened to deliver it back to them myself. They did replace it the end, in good faith, but we're now having trouble getting the installer to commit to the installation of additional panels we'd planned on due to placement of existing panels.

There are numerous areas that weren't cleaned very well, if at all for handover and to top it all off, the day we moved in, we were greeted with an unpleasant 'gift' in our en-suite toilet - probably because the toilet flushing mechanism didn't work...

Unfortunately, it looks as though it's going to be QCAT and QBCC to deal with some of this.

As others have said, dishonest, low on ideas, cannot think out of the box

After a lot of problems including they never locked the doors so people came through and punched the walls or wrote on them,first day we could hear rodents inside the walls.Can you believe it?It was suppose to be a brand new home and their advise was that they probably came through the pipes or something.We can not do anything about it.Really??
Toilet flush didn't work on the second day and we fixed it.
After just one week the wall behind the solar water heater is all wet.How the hell it can happen? This isn't a rodent that you can put the blame on him.Leaking pipes inside the wall.
Horrible paint work and even after pointing out all those markups that weren't in eye level,they miss to fix.
They didn't sealed the windows properly and ants come and go easily.

Even after we told them we want something different about laundry shelves they did what's in their original plan.They are slow as turtles and low on ideas.They didn't clean the house good enough for handover.
Lowest quality ever.
Blanco products that they are using are horrible.The very first day one of the wheels of the dishwasher broke, range-hood is a joke and 2 lighters of the gas cooktop doesn't work.
They are not flexible to custom design.
It's like we are the first people choosing to build with them and this is their first time to build a real house.
It's just for one week after moving in,can you imagine months or years?Never ever again.

Quality,painting,pluming,sealing the windows, poor finish, poor service, poor customer service,a total nightmare builder