Griffner Coillte Homes - anyone any experience with them?

colorado

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Hello,

Has anyone built a Griffner Coillte home and if so what was their experience? They look great on their website ([broken link removed]) but very expensive. Are their any other companies in Ireland supplying houses like these? My husband & I are researching building a house, ( timber frame or SIPS etc.) and would like to do all of the internal finish work ourselves as husband works construction. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
This crowd do something similar. I have never used them and have no connections with them - I read about them somewhere and subsequently checked out their website which impressed me . In the past I got all the info. from Griffner and also thought that they were pricey.
 
I know (through experience) a lot of the timber frame companies are not undertaking extensions at the moment. They are so busy with new builds.
 
Thanks for all the info. I think we will have to stick to a regular timber frame company for supply and do most of the work due to our limited budget. Griffner Coillte seems to be aprx 110+ per sq ft for supply and erect of the frame. I know that includes the finished exterior, windows, finished roof, insulation etc. but compared to a regular timber frame company, supply and erect seems to be more like 30+ sq ft for them. Anyone know if that sounds about right? I got that figure by getting quick quotes from Century and IJM.
 
The company actually built a house for an eminent Minister in the current Government Cabinet. He had problems with his planning permission as far as i recall- enough said!
 
Ye I'm getting a SIP (sturctural insulated panel) house for about 30 euros per sqft which to me is well worth it. Better than a timber frame and super efficient.
 
Hi- we have a lot of experience with them and they are TERRIBLE.
We bought a house from them a year and a quarter ago and have suffered all types of problems and substandard workmanship.
Our snags so far have been-


1.Continuous leaky roof over a period of a year- in three places
2. Leaking windows.
3.A front door which still doesn't open- delaminated and water stained
4.Leaking internal plumbing,boiler.
5.Very poor electrics, tripping of electrics still.
6.Essential telephone and electrical points missing
7.Structural floor supports missing and spaced to wide apart
8.No supporting beams under staircase.
9.leaking rads
10.Extractor fans not working properly
11.Sky light not connected internally in the house soit doesn't work
12.Heating system continually not working properly
13.Couldn't walk outside front door because of mudbathed land ie no drive or accessway
14. Rendering on house incomplete and poorly done
15. No drainage from sink to soak pit
16.Bad quality plastering and substandard decorating (no jointing tape used plastering and no filler decorating)
17.Unprotected wood buried in wet concrete
18.Stained and broken roof tiles
19. No lead sleeve around chimney flue
20. Silicon preventing major leak into bedroom
21.Damaged window rubbers.
22.Blocked access conduits
23.Leaking gutters
24.Squeaking weak subfloors
25.Rusted stove
26.Doors opening wrong way
27.Doors delaminating
28.Weak bannisters
29.Locks, gates fencing missing
30.Switches and plugs hanging off wall
31. Dirty painted walls
32.No drain offs for the gutters.
33.Sewage drain pipes to shallow.
34. Plastic sewage drains in driveways not set in cement
35.Stained wood work internally and externally

Although some snags have been fixed (not to a good standard) there are a lot outstanding.
So far we estimate at least 100 phone calls, 20 emails and texts to get work completed an finished to a safe adequate standard- all either answered by lies or not answered.
They will not return our calls.

My advice is not to buy a new one or don't let them do second fix and any finishing on the house.
Don't pay them all the money and even hold back money on completion as they will promise but not finish jobs.
Most of all do not trust Griffner Ireland
 
Hi quinster,
My first time on one of these sites so hope I'm doing this correctly. Just had to register here so I could reply re Griffner. we also had /are having an horrendous experience with griffner. several of us in the south east have been in touch for the last couple of years re our common horror stories. so please feel free to e-mail me directly as we may be getting together to look at the way forward.
 
Just to clarify; GriffnerHaus acquires full ownership of Griffner Coillte - May 2007
Coillte are not involved in this company any longer.
 
Hi,

Also having problems with Griffner Haus (formerly Griffner Coillte). Living in the North East. Waiting for snags to be completed for the past two years!

Water ran down our walls over the weekend!
 
I'm planning to build with Griffner. Are the problems you're experienceing with the irish built houses or the ones that are now being built in Austria? I've seen a few of their houses now and all have seemed lovely with no obvious problems. I'd be interested in any tips/hints for using these guys.
 
Just wondering if anyone went for the GriffnerHaus Design box? Looks similar to what we are looking at.

We have friends who used Hanse Haus and they are very pleased with the finish.

The comments above sounds like a nightmare which is evening more surprising as griffner are more expensive then other timber frame companies.
 
Austria/Ireland they are still the same people using the same “technology” and it doesn’t work!

We are dealing with the Austrian crew at present and the service is no better. I would stay well clear.

When making the decision to go with the then GC we visited many impressive builds – in construction – we visited no completed houses. I wonder why……..? No doubt the experiences and stories would have been completely different….

We paid over the odds for our house and it leaks! I would expect better from a tent.
 
I've seen a couple of completed houses one of which was a few years old. neither had any obvious problems... guess i'll have to procede with caution! Did you get the turnkey finish from them or just the basic structure?
 
First of all let me say how bad your situation sounds, it can't be much fun with a leaky roof with the summer we've had:(

However i feel that some of the comments mentioned above are misleading & incorrect.

Austria/Ireland they are still the same people using the same “technology” and it doesn’t work!

I have been working in the building industry for over 15 years at this stage of my life. In fact my final year project in construction economics in college was on these very "technology" mentioned above.
To flatly state that these systems don't work is simply wrong & poor advice.
Many well known and highly respected companies inc. Griffnerhaus, Huff Haus, Beaufritz, Davinci etc. have been using this off site panel systems throughout Europe for many years. Between them they build 100's of top quality homes every year and have been doing so for many years.
They are built to very high standards due to the very srtict build codes / regulations in place over there.
Imho this off site construction method is the future of quality building. It offers many advantages over traditional build. Building in a factory allows much greater quality control than can ever be achieved on site. The problems only occur if these panels are poorly put toghether on site.
These companies normally send ther own specialist erection crews to do this work. I would suspect the problems mentioned above are due to this on site work being done poorly for whatever reason.

My advice to you "Mayobob" would be to insure that only native german speakers are allowed on site;)

Please let us know how your build goes
 
It's not our roof that's leaking (we got a local tradesman to do that for us - went for scope one only). It's our walls. More specifically the rain is entering where the ground floor and first floor meet and coming in under the window sills also. (Anyone else experience this problem?)

I am not an engineer but a house that literally leaks at the seams is not good...... wood and water are not a happy couple!

I believed in the technology too. Why else would I have chose this mode of build, and paid an extortionate amount of money for it. All the impressive building codes, regulations and standards do not change the fact that our house leaks. That's certainly not the only problem with the house but at the moment it is the main one.

To be fair to Griffner then, is there anyone out there with a glowing positive experience and a house that works? Do let us know.
 
Dear All,

My name is John Watson and I am the sales manager for GriffnerHaus in Ireland.

Following on from Lorrie's post above I can confirm that GriffnerHaus did purchase all of the share holding from Coillte in respect of Griffner Coillte last May. Since then the company has made several significant changes the net result of which is that the product, its delivery and execution have increased in both quality and energy efficiency.

We have over 100 completed projects in Ireland (over 3,000 through out Europe) and for those who are seriously examining the market with a view to building we would be happy to supply references and put you directly in touch with owners.

Mayobob (or anyone else in a similar situation), if you have concerns regarding the above posts then please contact me directly at jwatson@griffnersales.com and I will be happy to discuss any conerns or queries that you might have.

ParkSlope, I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing problems. Again, if you would like to contact me directly I will be happy to discuss the situation with you and do what I can to help.

Kind regards

John Watson
GriffnerHaus Ireland
 
To be fair to Griffner then, is there anyone out there with a glowing positive experience and a house that works? Do let us know.

Season 5 episode 6 of "About the house" with Duncan Stewart (the man who doubled the price of houses with all his fancy gear :D) Anyway, there was a family on who seemed to be delighted with the outcome. Thats a few years back though...
 
Hello,

Has anyone built a Griffner Coillte home and if so what was their experience? They look great on their website ([broken link removed]) but very expensive. Are their any other companies in Ireland supplying houses like these? My husband & I are researching building a house, ( timber frame or SIPS etc.) and would like to do all of the internal finish work ourselves as husband works construction. Thanks in advance for any input.

Try www.marles-hise.si It's a similar system from Slovenia
 
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