Crafting quality homes: Englehart’s industry leadership

Quality is paramount in every aspect of each home we design and build, delivering our clients unparalleled, enduring value.

Crafting

quality homes

Real estate agents tell us they place a higher value on Englehart homes because they understand that their quality stands the test of time, setting them above other homes in the market.

At the heart of each of our houses are highly skilled crafts and trades people who dedicate themselves to building the best homes. We support their work with exceptional design and the best materials, finishes and fixtures and the Englehart quality assurance process that requires regular inspections of materials and workmanship. Our team of highly experienced professionals focus on the limited number of homes that we create each year, with the same team working on all of our homes.

They have the skills to meet our exacting standards and deliver beautifully designed, built and finished luxury homes. They all share a passion for and pride in their work and some are the second generation in their families to work on Englehart homes.

Gary Blainey

– Heating and cooling

Gary Blainey and his Blain-Air team ensure Englehart homeowners enjoy the most comfortable living environments.

Blain-Air works with the Englehart design team to ensure heating and cooling is perfectly integrated into the design of each Englehart home to deliver the most efficient results. “We are there from the planning stage, helping design seamless comfort into every Englehart home.”

Gerald Walsh – Project Manager

As an Englehart project manager Gerald Walsh draws on his 30-plus years of experience building Englehart homes to ensure our trades and craftspeople deliver the best results for our clients. The highly skilled carpenter says while each Englehart home is distinctly different, they all must deliver the same exceptional quality. “As project manager you work as a team with all of the trades; that teamwork creates an environment where everyone is striving to deliver their best,” Gerald says.

Alen Gabeljic

– Renderer

For the past decade Alen and his dedicated team have been largely responsible for meticulous external render finishes and installation of mouldings for Englehart Homes. As a perfectionist himself Alen says “I love working for such a high quality builder. Their homes are always challenging with a vast array of single and multi-level designs. Englehart Homes demands a very high quality and expect second to none attention to detail whether it be the many different render textures through to installing moulds on their various classic designs”.

Sandor Czucs – Tiler

Seven years ago Sandor joined Suad, his father-in-law who had been working with us from our earliest days. As well as working on all types of tiling, Sandor and his team also install marble fireplaces. “I like Englehart because they put the time and effort in to build properly and this means I can produce a beautiful finish. The design of their rooms also makes a real difference and they use much better quality tiles than most other builders. We bring a lot of creativity to our work with Englehart and I enjoy being able to create a picture and atmosphere with my tiling.”

Andre Winter – Landscaper

Andre has been creating landscaped garden settings for Englehart homes for over 30 years and now his two sons have joined him. “Our work varies greatly – for a French provincial house there will be a lot of plant repetition in formal hedging and layers but other houses require a more natural setting with large boulders and heavy timbers. It depends on the style of house, its neighbourhood and its aspect.

“On a quality scale of 10, Englehart is always looking for a 10.5, so we are always striving. Englehart gives us the opportunity to do the best possible work that we can do. There’s a lot of hidden preparation in Ron’s landscapes – far more than for the average builder. Most of the work is underground in drainage and soil preparation.”

Andre and his team provide ongoing maintenance for many Englehart clients.

Dan White – Bricklayer

Dan White has been laying bricks for Englehart for 20 years. He says Englehart is very particular about what they want and consequently they produce an excellent product. “When you mention to people that you are working on an Englehart home they always say what a great reputation Englehart has. “They’re a great organisation to be a part of; they are by far my favourite builder to work with. They take great pride in their work and so do I.” Dan enjoys working with the Daniel Robertson bricks featured in many Englehart homes: “I love the colours and textures – they are a very superior product. A lot of brickies can struggle with them, but we know how to handle them.

“I drive by the houses once they’re finished – I am really proud of my work and it’s great to see how the houses turn out. I take great pride in my work for Englehart; they produce such a great product.”

Brad Gaskell – Plasterer

Brad has been creating the meticulous, intricate plaster finishes for Englehart’s French provincial homes for the past 10 years. He says a lot of fine plastering skills are disappearing with few plasterers now working at his level: “Most plastering work on new homes is basically the same but not with Englehart.

“It’s a lot of detailed fine work, you have to get the moulds exactly right and finish everything exactly. It isn’t like normal everyday plastering work. There are challenges with curved bulkheads, coffered and suspended ceilings, skylights and moulds. They keep challenging us and we enjoy meeting every challenge.

“Every Englehart house is different – it makes you think about what you are doing all the time. It takes longer to do everything properly, but that’s the nature of custom work.

Richard Porter – Framer

Richard says Englehart’s sites are always clean and well run with excellent communication between supervisors, trades and suppliers.

“All the trades who work for Englehart are like a family; we all like each other and help each other out on jobs. The people who do the floor and roof trusses for Englehart are brilliant – they’re the best I have worked with.

“It takes a lot longer to build a custom home than a volume home; the quality is different. We have never built the same house twice for Englehart, each home is different.”

Crafting quality homes

Elvis Nuhic – Painter

Elvis has worked for Englehart for the past seven years and loves the fact that all other trades working for Englehart produce exceptional work: “this makes it possible to produce the best paintwork – it makes a big difference working with other trades who know exactly what they’re doing.

“Ron wants everything to be perfect so we make sure it is. We spend a lot of time preparing the woodwork for painting and preparing between coats. We keep going until it is perfect. On standard jobs builders ask for two or three coats of paint, at Englehart it’s always at least four coats, and if I am not happy we will do it again until I am. I check all of our work carefully before I say it’s done to make sure it looks perfect.

“With painting you are pretty much the last trade in the door so it makes a world of difference if all the work done before you is of an exceptional standard, and that’s what we get at Englehart.”

Steven Calleja – Electrician

Steven Calleja has worked on Englehart Homes since he was a 17-year-old electrical apprentice. More than 30 years later he has his own business and nearly all of his work is on Englehart homes.

He appreciates the quality of Englehart Homes; “when the quality of the home is very high everyone strives to reach a better standard, and Ron insists that every job is above standard”.

He and his team often install large chandeliers and smart wiring; whatever Englehart clients require.

Mal Temple – Cabinetmaker

Mal and his team handcraft high-end cabinetry and finishes for Englehart homes. Everything is made to measure to an exceptional standard, with much work completed in solid timbers which may be stained to match a floor colour. “Every job is different and has its own custom features and we love the variety of work – we focus entirely on made to measure architectural work. A lot of clients are very particular and they really appreciate the work we do.”

Rohan Fisher – Roofing and roof plumber

Rohan and his team have been roofing, and roof plumbing Englehart homes for 15 years. He says the quality of the construction of Englehart homes is far above and beyond most home builds. “The quality of Englehart’s design and construction is in a different league. I am proud just to be associated with Englehart Homes as their quality is so respected in the industry.”

He says when he and his team suggest improvements to processes the Englehart team are more than happy to take them on board. Rohan also notes that Englehart places a strong emphasis on design detail. Some of Rohan’s most challenging work has been on Englehart’s French provincial homes with handcrafted leadlight roof domes that require highly exacting roof plumbing.

Mark Crestani – Plumber

After 32 years working on Englehart homes Mark says he understands Englehart’s demanding standards.

“They’re my standards too. The way they want things done and finished is second to none and that is what I have based my own business on. I have passed this onto my team – it’s definitely been a win-win relationship on both sides.

“I am very happy to know that my company has been working for Englehart for more than 30 years. Englehart has one of the best reputations for quality in Victoria, if not Australia. The quality of their homes is phenomenal.” When Mark started working for Englehart he was just two years out of an award-winning apprenticeship: “I understood quality, and it was how I wanted to work.” He says everything Englehart does is to the next level – “we all love the work because every home is different and challenging.”