They say ‘a fish rots from the head down’. It’s a saying, sure. But it takes on new life when you have the proof.

Ausmar Homes, it’s my belief that they are indeed ‘rotten’ and before me I have the proof giving light as to where that ‘rot’ festers. Indeed, right in the front office at the head of the company.

At first glance, Ausmar presents an appealing façade with attractive homes, friendly staff, a footy legend who is [sort of – kind of] part of their design team, and an all-round can-do attitude with smiles everywhere you look. Hey, it’s just three regular Sunny Coast blokes working hard and doing good for the customer – right?

However, delve deeper into the Ausmar experience and the picture becomes decidedly less rosy. Unfortunately, this was precisely the experience for my wife and I.

Our slide of fortune in dealing with with Ausmar Homes began with a profoundly unprofessional and unforgivable mistake on their part that shattered our dreams of building a new home. What's worse, it wasn't just the error itself, it was the way Ausmar then handled the aftermath. No empathy, no responsibility, no morals, no care.

Read on and see what I mean when I say that our story is like Ausmar accidently tripped and stuck a knife into us and then thought, ‘heck, while we’re here we might as well turn that knife a few times for good measure’.

Following Ausmar's instructions diligently, my wife and I signed our Home Build Contract via Docusign and promptly paid the required deposit at end of Dec 22’. The contract specified a build-start date approximately two months later in early March 23’.

Fast forward approx. 2 months to the very next day after this supposed start date, a call from Ausmar's General Manager, who astonishingly informed me that we hadn't signed the contracts, rendering the contract void. I asserted that we had indeed signed the contract and even paid the deposit, supported by irrefutable evidence. Shockingly, the GM insisted on their position, refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing on their part. He went onto to claim that the contract, priced according to 2022 rates, was now null and void. We left it to them to propose a new contract with a revised price.

As promised, the GM called me back the next day with a jaw-dropping new price—$48,000 more than the original contract.

Let's recap:

• We signed the contract.
• We paid the deposit.
• After zero communication, Ausmar failed to commence the build on the contracted start date.
• Next day, Ausmar blamed us for not signing the contract.
• Ausmar declared the contract void.
• Ausmar demanded an additional $48,000 to create a new contract.

Unbelievably, this sparked a protracted exchange with the GM of Ausmar over the following week. Throughout this ordeal, Ausmar refused to admit any fault, offered no apology, and wasted an inordinate amount of time on an "internal investigation."

Another week passed, and, lo and behold, Ausmar miraculously found an error on their end. Did they apologise? No. Did they concede fault generously? No. All we got was a brief statement: "we have established where the error has occurred." Effectively Ausmar expected us to foot the bill, a whopping $48,000, to rectify and make-good their mistake.

And the ‘error’ that caused all of the above? An Ausmar staff member, whose Docusign account our contracts were returned to, had left the company, and no one had bothered to monitor or access this account meaning no one from Ausmar ever received our signed contracts. Compounding this, no one from Ausmar [over a 2 month period] ever thought to contact us and ask why we had not signed, nor did they think it odd that we paid a $22,000.00 deposit with no signed contract anywhere to be seen! A complete and utter failure of process and management followed by an act of unconscionable conduct in expecting us to pay a further $48,000.00 to re-establish our build following their internal error.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. Actually, it’s just beginning. In the process of refunding our deposit ($22,578.65), Ausmar initially proposed deducting a staggering $10,197.00 for "sales commission" from our deposit refund. Yes, you read that correctly. After causing the contract's failure and offering a pitiful solution of a new contract (for a mere $48,000 extra!), Ausmar had the audacity to attempt to charge us for sales commission on a project that hadn't even reached executed contract status, all due to their internal blunder.

To that point – Who in their right mind pays out sales commission to staff before a deal is finalised? Ausmar do. [Must be a great place to work!] And then who, when it was obvious their profit margins had vapourised due to the contract failure, thought it correct procedure to expect us to cover the sales commission they had made the decision to disburse prior to the contract taking effect? Ausmar Homes, that’s who.

Once again, we vehemently refused. Back and forth, black and forth before Ausmar eventually agreed, not before taking a fair swipe at us for ‘thinking the sales staff did not deserved to be paid’.

$22,000.00 deposit now refunded.

Ausmar now held ‘only’ 3 x $1500 deposits we paid during the pre-contract phase. Their own Intention To Build [ITP] document stated that 2 x $1500 deposits were non-refundable and also that ‘we understand that all deposits are non-refundable . We signed this document on 13.04.22. However, there was an initial deposit paid a week earlier on 08.04.22. After all that had transpired in this customer service train-wreck, Ausmar now somehow thought it appropriate to include this initial $1500 deposit in the conditions set in a document we signed 8 days later. Yes, after all the mistakes and appalling customer service handed out to us by Ausmar they now somehow thought it their right to give us a further example of their disgraceful business practices and retrospectively apply a contract condition.

We pushed back, but Ausmar remained steadfast in their refusal to refund effectively inviting us to take it further. So we did.

Frustrated, we turned to the Queensland Department of Fair Trading. While they agreed with us, their authority was limited, and all they could do was "request" that Ausmar refund the $1,500. Predictably, Ausmar refused.

Next we proceeded to QCAT (Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal). After several months, a mediation meeting was held, and Ausmar's GM eventually relented, albeit without admitting fault, offering a full refund to put an end to the matter and essentially make us go away because he was ‘over it’.

In an almost comical display Ausmar’s GM found a way to portray the compant as understanding and benevolent throughout this process. If fairy tales were your thing, you’d get the impression that in this whole hot mess, Ausmar were the good guys.

This is a condensed version of our experience. While I haven't named anyone here, if you're interested, you can contact me at [email protected], and I'd be happy to provide you with full details, including names and correspondence. I’ll give you on a silver platter a taste of how this company operates when things go wrong. In our case, when things go wrong due to their own internal error.

The treatment my wife and I received from Ausmar Homes was reprehensible, far removed from fairness or decency. The problems we encountered were not of our making; they stemmed from Ausmar's own internal errors and were exacerbated by the mistreatment of us that followed. The conduct of the Ausmar General Manager [and co-owner] was particularly outrageous, marked by arrogance and a complete lack of care. Their relentless attempt to withhold additional funds from us, after causing the situation through their shoddy internal processes, was utterly disgraceful.

In a final observation about Ausmar Homes, I'd like to highlight something that, in my view, speaks volumes about a company and its leadership culture. Over the course of our year-long dealings with Ausmar, we witnessed an astonishingly high rate of staff turnover. While staff turnover can happen in any organisation, what struck us as profoundly unprofessional was the almost complete lack of communication regarding these departures.

Ausmar will most-like reply to this review, below. They may give reason, they may fight back. Most-likely we’ll get the cut’n’paste ‘wish you well’ message. Whatever defence or reasoning they will offer up should however be supported with proof. If they intend to refute anything I have claimed they should support it by publishing correspondence to their favour. I have in my possession every document, every email, every pathetic and immoral demand and reasoning from this company.

The Proof will talk – Any excuses can walk!

If you're considering building with Ausmar Homes, I wish you the best of luck.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.