Stroud Homes under fire over hikes to complete houses
Stroud Homes, a national builder founded in Queensland, is under fire from angry customers who will need to additional costs to complete homes.
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National builder Stroud Homes is demanding customers pony up tens of thousands of dollars in price rises due to “industry difficulties and extreme price rises” leaving at least one living in a caravan.
The Queensland-based company’s Wide Bay and Brisbane South franchises last year sent more than 100 clients contract variations asking for up to $70,000 in additional funds to complete their homes.
Stroud, which has won a slew of industry awards, joins another Queensland builder, Oracle Homes, in slugging customers with hefty price increases to cope with what they say are unprecedented cost hikes.
In the letter to Bundaberg customers, Stroud said the Covid-19 pandemic and supply shortages had resulted in a lot of industry uncertainty and “prices have changed a lot since signing your contract.” ”These increases are out of our control and could never have been anticipated,” the letter said.
At least one customer is now living in caravans on an empty block of land after failing to come up with the extra funds to build their homes.
One customer, who did not want to be identified, said the demand for extra money came despite Stroud boasting of a “100 per cent fixed price” guarantee.
“We are now looking to build either a smaller house or one that’s more expensive and having to redo all of our loans again,” said the customer. “We actually estimate this has us over $120,000 out of pocket not to mention the mental health issues.”
In February, Stroud Homes South Brisbane sent a price variation letter to a client asking for an additional $67,000.
“There has been significant volatility in the building industry caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the letter says.
‘We appreciate that these circumstances will be upsetting and disappointing but they are out of our control as the extreme price rises without any notice from suppliers have rendered the contract price insufficient to cover the expense of the contract.”
Founded in 2011 by builder James Stroud, Stroud has operations throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Mr Stroud, who holds a pilots licence, boasts on his LinkedIn page that he loves to “travel between our teams and work face-to-face with the people who make it happen every day in the Stroud world,” in a helicopter.
Another Stroud customer south of Brisbane complained he was sent an extra bill for $75,000 after the company claimed it could no longer build his home for the $324,000 promised in his original contract. He eventually managed to get his deposit back and is now having his home built by another company.
James Stroud did not respond to a request for comment. Stroud Home Wide Bay said increases to clients’ fixed price contracts occurred in 2021 as a “last resort” and after exhausting all other possible options to absorb rising costs.
“Like many in the construction industry, we simply could not cover these increasing supplier costs,” said Stroud Wide Bay in a statement.
“Like our clients we wish there was another solution and we are devastated that (we) have had to take this step.”
Stroud Wide Bay said price reviews were only undertaken during the pre-building approval stage or for those clients that were under contract and outside their 60 days prior to construction.
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