Hi again,

We have been living in our place which was built by NBG for over a year. The house is great and the builders who built it have been outstanding. A very important thing to remember when reading these forums is that people who are happy don't often bother to post or report how good a service or product it.  It is always people who are unhappy about something that will send a post, because they are trying to get attention to their problem… this is not a bad thing, but it's very important that you don't think that every single customer out there is dissatisfied.  NBG is the most efficient builder in the area where my house is, and if we build another house I would be more than comfortable for them to be my builders of choice.
The contactors in our area are excellent.
For the record, they are Colmac Homes.  Very professional, polite and friendly and approachable. The after sales service cannot be faulted, they have done all we could have asked and beyond. 
I do NOT work for or have any connection to NBG, and this post is completely unsolicited, it is just my experience.
If you are looking at building a house, like any major purchase,- do your homework and check out some of the previously built houses by NBG in your area, the builder will usually help you out with names, and show you in some of the "almost finished" homes.
Good Luck to you all.

Our start up cost’s were the same which suggests we are both in the same region.
It’s only $500 up front in the city I think.
Good luck with your building. Even if you don’t go with NBG, there are plenty of good builders out there, you just need to find them.
A good hint is to ask people who live in the new estates too, you get to see builders doing their thing, and also ask around. The people who issue permits are always a good source of info!!
[aacool]

We are living in our place now, it is great, the builders have done a really good job and we couldn’t be happier.
If we build again, we would definately look at National Builders Group again.
We live in a new estate and there are several houses being built around us at the moment so I have had the opportunity to see other building groups at work.
At no time will I consider using Metricon, the houses they are building in our area give new meaning to the term casual!! there is hardly any movement on their sites, if your lucky they might spend half a day a week at your place- lots of unsatisfied customers around here.
Also Simmonds were not crash hot according to reports from people. I am not in the business of slamming builders but if you do your homework and look around at new estates and builders you will find the best builder to work for you.
I am happy with NBG.
I can only hope you have as good a building experience as we had.

We also had Renee as our rep when we were starting out our building process. She was fantastic.
Now we are dealing with the building company that builds National Builders homes and they are brilliant.
Perhaps the best suggestion I should give would be to find out who the builder is that National Builders uses in the area you want to build, and then look into some of their work.
We looked at several Colmac homes before we started and they were all of a high quality, with attention to detail.
We also looked at some other local companies, and were not impressed, the display at one had a huge crack in the cornice and the kitchen was tacky.
Also the price for a 19sq home was 198,000 and that didn’t include everything like floor coverings and the extra stuff.
Our place is 28sq. and all up it cost less than 210,000 and that is with all our upgrades, floor coverings, flywire windows and barrier doors.
Shop around by all means, but I think if you look at National Builders compared to the others you will keep coming back to them because its nothing but value for money…. isn’t that what we are all looking for?