Avelbery Drive Berwick
Leonie Adams.
My builder Anton from Calm Living Homes built a home based on green principles and the needs of an extended family including elderly parents. It was built in Barrack in Victoria. I chose my builder because I particularly wanted a house built on green principles. There aren’t a great deal of builders out there that really understand that, but Anton did. He understood what sort of construction would meet those requirements so that it would last and would have very low maintenance, because as I get older I don’t want to have to be painting and do all those tasks that you don’t want to spend money or time on. He also understood how to make it very energy efficient and comfortable to live in so energy and costs would be low. The building process with Anton went really, really well because we spent a lot of time at the beginning going through what my requirements were and developing the plans with his architects. Everything was explained really clearly, particularly in relation to what things could be put into the home to make it liveable and were good value for your money. The appearance and the aesthetics to make sure it fit in to the environment and with the other homes in the area were secondary and weren’t as important for me. During the construction there weren’t many issues at all, because most things had been talked about beforehand. Everything went very smoothly. Anton was always very approachable in all areas of the build. Nothing was ever an imposition, and if ever I had a question it was always an instant response. I’d always hear back from him that day and explanations would be given so that I could understand why he was giving that answer. He had a very good attitude. The employees were fantastic. They were very friendly, very efficient, and very good at their work. Communicating with Anton and his workers was very easy. I had all of their phone numbers and could contact Anton 7 days a week. Communication was not an issue, and they were always available at any time. The quality of the finish is very good. What was done is excellent for the price that I paid. The responsiveness was excellent as well. If there were any issues at all, like the flow of water on the land, that was rectified very quickly and responded to within an appropriate amount of time. It took about six months to build because of the size of the home – it’s about 22 squares with the garage – and because it’s an unusual build. I think it actually was a reasonably quick build. With regards to time the build was completed in good time with no set finish date. The supervisor was Anton. His main builder Ron did the main carpentry on the build. Ron certainly picked up anything that wasn’t done correctly and notified Anton to make sure that things were rectified. During the build I was recommending Anton to other people because he listened, was very good, and had a lot of knowledge in that area. I was very nervous building, because of so many bad stories out there, but it went very, very smoothly. I certainly would use Anton again in the future, if I was to build again. For anyone considering Anton – you need someone you can trust, and I certainly had that trust from the very beginning. He was recommended to me by other people as he always did good work. He’s a very trustworthy person. He will always be thorough in what he does, because he cares about the quality of the building and the effects it has on the environment. If you want a home for the long term, I would definitely recommend Anton.