Even Yasi couldn't ruin their dream run

Choosing the right building company ensured a happy outcome for this Townsville couple

When you’ve just settled into your brand new home, the last visitor you want is a tropical cyclone.

But that’s what happened to Shaun and Elizabeth Gillott, with the news that Cyclone Yasi was poised to swoop only six weeks after they moved into their home in the Townsville suburb of Burdell.

Until then they’d enjoyed a dream run with the building process, a situation they attribute to the help and support they received from the moment they chose Grady Homes as their builder.

They had spent two years renting after Shaun’s employment saw them transferred from South East Queensland to Townsville, but then decided they wanted to build.

Finding the right builder, however, was a problem.

“We’d been looking around for some time,” said Elizabeth. “We were feeling a bit disheartened until we went into one of Grady Homes’ North Shore display homes.”

There they encountered sales consultant Amanda Stevens, and their building worries were over.

“She was fantastic,” said Elizabeth. “She had a lot of information and could answer all our questions, which gave us a lot of confidence in Grady Homes.”

Aided by a rough sketch that Shaun and Elizabeth provided, Amanda helped them to achieve the layout they wanted, including such specifics as having the bedrooms separated from the living area, the main bedroom placed at the back of the house and an open plan living area overlooking the patio.

The good news continued, with the building process taking less time than expected.

“It took shape within a couple of weeks,” said Shaun. “Our builder, Angus Ryan, a site manager/supervisor with Grady Homes, was really good and very accommodating, as was Bruce Grady himself. I was impressed with his hands on approach. Nothing was too hard for him. He even helped to clean windows and vacuum before they handed the house over to us!”

That was on December 17, with the prospects looking good for 2011.

Then at the beginning of February came the news that Cyclone Yasi was heading for North Queensland, with Townsville one of the centres in its sights. Shaun’s work had sent him to Mackay so Elizabeth heeded official advice to evacuate.

Accompanied by their pet dog, AJ, she spent the night of the storm with friends in another area of Townsville.

While Yasi missed a direct hit to Townsville, it still caused widespread havoc and damage. It did, however, leave the Gillotts’ new home virtually untouched, apart from damage to a gate and broken glass in their front door, as Elizabeth found when she returned the next day.

Much to her surprise, she also found that Grady Homes’ interest in the house hadn’t ended when they handed it over.

“The next day I ran into Bruce Grady,” she said. “He was fantastic. He sent Angus over, they patched up the front door with something temporary and because it was a custom built door he is going to order another one for us. There was no obligation for him to do any of these things but he went out of his way to give us a hand.”

Happy with the ending to their building story, both Shaun and Elizabeth would “go Grady” again if the occasion arose.

“We found the entire staff very accommodating, especially Amanda, Angus and Bruce, who were the ones we had the most to do with,” said Shaun. “We’d certainly build with Grady again.” For a builder whose commitment goes beyond the call of duty, contact Grady Homes on 4795 0911