June is an auspicious month for the Gadhavi family – they not only celebrate two birthdays in that month but also moved into their luxurious new home in June 2022. Piyush is originally from India and now lives in Christchurch with his wife and two sons.
The large, 282-square-metre home design which Piyush created for their spacious section features five bedrooms, two lounges, three bathrooms and a powder room, an open plan kitchen/dining/living area, and a huge walk-in pantry.
The differentiation between the clean kitchen and the working pantry kitchen means the untidiness of meal preparation can be separated from the main entertainment area. A special space is a dedicated prayer room where in the morning and evening the Hindu family pray together.
Piyush had begun his dream home build with another company, but that relationship fell through due to pricing and customer service quality issues.
Friends had built with Generation Homes and were very complimentary about the customer service.
As soon as the family met their Home Consultant Vivek Srivastava, they were reassured about the reliability and quality of the company and their build began in earnest. The guaranteed delivery date and fixed price contract were important factors in their decision.
“It was an absolutely fantastic experience working with Generation Homes,” Piyush says.
PIYUSH
I came to Christchurch in 2013. I’ve always thought whenever we have our own house we will build it so we have the structure and all the facilities we want. If you go for an existing house, you can still do a lot to make it what you want. You have a budget in mind and then you go for it. But I learned from so many people that once they are in the house, they don’t want to do anything. You miss out on a lot of things which you want, you compromise.
We decided we would get the land first and we would build the home we wanted.
PIYUSH
Initially I was building with another company. I had designed the home and drawn it and I worked with their designers and architect to get a whole plan agreed. When it came to the pricing, their responses, and their way of working, I didn’t quite like it.
I wanted a comparison, and I went to Generation Homes. Friends had built with them. I was impressed with the way they work and I liked the whole team. Their price included a lot of things which are excluded by other builders. They had a fixed price guarantee and delivery time and all of that was quite appealing to me. That’s how I ended up going with Generation Homes. I bought the designed plan off the original builder. Generation Homes said they could make the plan work. With their design team we made a few changes and got our final dream home.
PIYUSH
It was a good price. Generation Homes has quality workmanship, so their prices were higher than the other builder. But when I calculated everything, they managed to give some of the things which I wanted at a really good price. I was mainly looking for the quality because there are so many upgrades in my house, and I wanted the right material rather than just any material and things like that.
It’s also about the people. When you’re building a home there are a lot of things involved and it’s not a simple or small thing. When you’re dealing with so many people, you want to have some sort of assurance that they are the right people, and they will always be with you in any sort of situation.
Our Sales Consultant Vivek is a great person. He was always there to answer all the queries and whenever you contacted him, if he was busy, he always called back. He was always there for support, right from the start, and we felt we knew what was going on.
PIYUSH
It was a pretty simple and straightforward process. They explained everything at the start, so you don’t get any surprises. We had the electrical and plumbing walkthroughs and the colour consulting being done beforehand. Things were done in advance. That’s a really good thing. Then as you go along, if you still want to make some changes, they’re very welcoming people. They were always trying to figure out what I want and then they managed to actually take some financial pressure off wherever they could. For example, even though there were some small variations, they said it was no problem and they bore the cost.
My house was also special to them as they had never built anything similar to it. So, they were very supportive.
PIYUSH
It was an absolutely fantastic experience. I know when you’re dealing with such a big company, you don’t necessarily get to see the director and management. You normally deal with the consultant and the building people. The Generation Homes director Evan Beker was also with me from the start. That’s something really positive – even the owner of the business is as involved as the consultant.
They really cared and took pride in what they were doing. They are advanced in terms of explaining solutions. They provided different product resources in the situation when there were supply challenges with some of the materials selected due to Covid.
The fixed price gives you assurance because building is a quite stressful process, and you don’t know what’s coming. At the end of the day money is a big thing. If you are targeting a budget and someone adds in extra costs that is not comfortable.
Generation Homes are really good at including most of the things in your fixed price. They don’t have to give clients big bills and surprises at the end. A lot of my friends have also built with Generation Homes for that reason.
PIYUSH
I am really enjoying this house. My wife enjoys the kitchen area. I enjoy the living area and media room, which is also our formal lounge. It’s my go-to place.
We have a nice feature wall in both the formal lounge and the family lounge and good lighting. I also like to spend time in the family lounge relaxing after a busy day.
PIYUSH
We wanted a bigger piece of land and in Christchurch city the sections were 400-500 square metres. In Rolleston you can get a larger section, such as 600-700 sqm, and we are not far from the city, around 20 minutes. It is easy to get here with the new motorway. I work from home, so I don’t have a commute or have to worry about any travelling. There is good schooling, and it is a really nice place to live.
PIYUSH
Before you go to a builder, plan your build, set your budget and make your plan according to the budget. When you are building there can be constant new things to add but this affects your budget quickly. Stick to what you can achieve in your budget or it hits your pocket.