Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 41Mar 16, 2009 9:48 am Hi, I have had nothing but good news in my experience with Henley to date.
We have our cabinetry going in at the moment and it has been a breeze so far with no concerns from our end. We receive weekly communication from our contract administrator, and I have access to my SS whenever I request it. Can't speak highly enough about the experience we have had. With regards to site costs as posted earlier - I am not sure why people seem to be concerned about who charges what for site costs. To be honest, it is the responsibility of the land owner to realise that if you buy land with fall - expect to pay for it. Some people seem to whine and complain about their site costs being high, when they are the ones who purchased that "lovely block with a view" and 3m of fall from back to front!! My block is far from flat, but we budgeted $20k for site costs. Came in at $18k so we were happy. We have an awesome view over the whole of our estate and the house is up very high which gives us plenty of privacy. People should do their research first before buying their land, as that is where the costs can suddenly increase. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 42Mar 16, 2009 10:02 am mattydals With regards to site costs as posted earlier - I am not sure why people seem to be concerned about who charges what for site costs. To be honest, it is the responsibility of the land owner to realise that if you buy land with fall - expect to pay for it. Some people seem to whine and complain about their site costs being high, when they are the ones who purchased that "lovely block with a view" and 3m of fall from back to front!! I agree with you about realising there will be site costs. But I disagree about the first part, it is important to understand who charges what. We knew with 2.5m across our block we'd have costs, but we were happy to pay for views and height. 20k for views I can handle becuase there is a benefit and potentially increased capital gain. But it's when there's a massive difference between builders that bothers me. We were told 15k to 20k by almost everyone. In initial discussions, we were told 40k by Henley. Needless to say we found the door very quickly. I think Henley are generally more expensive for site costs as they use a different slab construction than the other (major) builders. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 43Mar 16, 2009 10:05 am Yeah, big discrepancies are an issue.
We were advised the roughly the same by three builders (Marshall Baker, Henley and PD), so I guess it can depend on the builder wanting to charge more in some circumstances. Seems that some builders will factor in some contingency for different things when pricing site costs. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 44Mar 16, 2009 10:08 am In all honesty, I think Henley simply didn't want to build out where we are. Wallan had just come into their zoning and I don't think the sales person was keen. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 45Mar 16, 2009 10:16 am I was going to say, it can also depend on whether the builder wants the job or not. They will inflate the costs if they have no experience in that area.
Although, I am not sure how builders can do that without all the facts from a site survey and soil test ??? Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 46Apr 16, 2009 9:10 pm Reading the negative feedbacks about Henley I'm still scared to build with them although we fell in love with the display house that we saw last time. We have a color appointment next week, so far so good with communication and staff being friendly. We built our last house with Porter Davis, didnt have any problem but we're choosing Henley this time coz their standard fittings are better than PD. I know a couple of people who had a few problems with PD. I guess whichever builder we choose there really is no guarantee. But I still wanna hear from people who had good experience with HEnley. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 47Apr 17, 2009 9:19 am affleck Reading the negative feedbacks about Henley I'm still scared to build with them although we fell in love with the display house that we saw last time. We have a color appointment next week, so far so good with communication and staff being friendly. We built our last house with Porter Davis, didnt have any problem but we're choosing Henley this time coz their standard fittings are better than PD. I know a couple of people who had a few problems with PD. I guess whichever builder we choose there really is no guarantee. But I still wanna hear from people who had good experience with HEnley. Hi Affleck, The most important thing to remember is that you will get good and bad experiences with EVERY builder, and people LOVE to tell their horror stories, which is why you read more bad than good. I didn't choose a builder because of good or bad feedback, I chose them because they had the floorplan I fell in love with which required minimal changes. I looked at many, and this was the only one that was pretty perfect...for us. Do your research, know about the product you are getting and keep the communication lines well and truly open at ALL stages! We have had our fair share of 'stuff ups' with Head Office, but I am extremely happy with the way my build is going. My SS is very professional and willing to answer every question I throw his way. It's probably good to be a little scared as it's the most expensive thing you are ever going to do, and you want it done right!! At least you have built before, so you know what to expect!!! Good luck! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 48Apr 17, 2009 10:03 am Stormy affleck Reading the negative feedbacks about Henley I'm still scared to build with them although we fell in love with the display house that we saw last time. We have a color appointment next week, so far so good with communication and staff being friendly. We built our last house with Porter Davis, didnt have any problem but we're choosing Henley this time coz their standard fittings are better than PD. I know a couple of people who had a few problems with PD. I guess whichever builder we choose there really is no guarantee. But I still wanna hear from people who had good experience with HEnley. Hi Affleck, The most important thing to remember is that you will get good and bad experiences with EVERY builder, and people LOVE to tell their horror stories, which is why you read more bad than good. I didn't choose a builder because of good or bad feedback, I chose them because they had the floorplan I fell in love with which required minimal changes. I looked at many, and this was the only one that was pretty perfect...for us. Do your research, know about the product you are getting and keep the communication lines well and truly open at ALL stages! We have had our fair share of 'stuff ups' with Head Office, but I am extremely happy with the way my build is going. My SS is very professional and willing to answer every question I throw his way. It's probably good to be a little scared as it's the most expensive thing you are ever going to do, and you want it done right!! At least you have built before, so you know what to expect!!! Good luck! Same here. My SS is great and the communication from the head office has also been excellent. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 49Apr 17, 2009 10:35 am Hi, My father who is a general manager of a very large building company warned us not to build with H3nly due to all the bad press they had years ago in NSW and just being in the industry. Having that warning made our decision even harder to make BUT the house plan and inclusions were just perfect for our block and our needs. Since making that decision, he has kept a very close eye on our build and is actually quite impressed. We are just about to go to lock up stage. Not only has he kep a close eye on it, but we have also paid for an independant inspector for all stages and I can honestly say that the 'issues' that need to be fixed are so small, but we want the house to be perfect (like everyone of course!). Reading all these posts, it's quite obvious that every building company have their issues, you just need to be prepared that it 'may not' go as smoothly as you would want it to go and then I think you'll be right! We did have a very long and quite stressful time during contract stage but our council and body corporate played a very big part in that. Looking back, I complained so much about H3nly during that time but now when I think about it they actually did all right. Not only did they have to deal with an emotional and stressed out customer who rang them nearly every day but they couriered samples of tiles to my work cause I work in the city and heading out to their showroom all the time was painful (this was due to some tiles being mis-continued after we selected them). We had some teething problems but we took the time to meet with the state manager and explain our position. Since then, things have been better. I think communication works both ways - we expect a high standard from them and they would probably like the occasional happy call from a customer too ... We live around the corner from our building site so we visit it everyday and they are working on it everyday which is great news! The roof is on and they just have to do the 2nd level of bricks - and then I think the fun really does begin......... Building our dream home - H3nley Ascot 384 Painting done - electrical, alarm and tiling being completed!! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17939 Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 50Apr 17, 2009 12:24 pm Hi All We are building the 'Horizon' with Henley. We absolutely fell in love with 33 sq single storey house which was on dispaly in Berwick, its not being built anymore now. Our intial interaction was with sales consultant Tyrone who was really very good. we were very happy with the inclusions after comparing with many other builders and absolutely loved the open spacious designs of henely homes. even our tender , site costs etc were all within reach, nothing outrageous the only time we had trouble was with our customer admin lady who was just terrible at documentation. I had to send her many emails n follow up to get her to put right details in color docs/ tender. that was exausting and at times frustrating and she delayed our contract signing by atleast a month ! well all the bad part ended there. Once we started we were on a roll. Our construction started in Nov08 and the house is getting ready to goto handover dept on 20 april. exact 6 month and no issues- they even worked through christmas !! we had excellent supervisor who was always ready to meet on site, hear out our issues, v good admin - she would actually mail me every wk on update. it was a real pleasnt experience given the contract phase which we went through. I am keeping fingers crossed that all goes well. we have Kevin coming in for our fianl inspection. I do wish Henley did the driveways and also wodden flooring as we had to get it done outside. Overall I think it was extremly good experience. regards Nonie Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 51Apr 18, 2009 12:32 am Thanks Mattydals and Stormy. It's really great and enlightening hearing from people sharing the same experience. You're right we fell in love with the floorplan, exactly what we had in mind so we decided to go with Henley despite the not so good reviews. I just have to think positive that everything will go well but I have to be realistic as well and be open minded that there could be minor probs. We are building the very small Charleton coz we are downsizing. I want a right size house with good quality furniture, can't see myself in a big house that I cannot afford to furnish. Very excited on the coming color appointment. Does anybody know if Henley does timber flooring. I know flooring and carpet are not included in the base price but I remember the sales consultant telling us that they can do the flooring for us, just not sure if they do timber as well or just tiles? Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 52Apr 19, 2009 2:51 pm affleck Does anybody know if Henley does timber flooring. I know flooring and carpet are not included in the base price but I remember the sales consultant telling us that they can do the flooring for us, just not sure if they do timber as well or just tiles? Henley do not do any flooring other than tiles in living areas. No carpet no timber floor. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 53Apr 20, 2009 10:24 am fruitty affleck Does anybody know if Henley does timber flooring. I know flooring and carpet are not included in the base price but I remember the sales consultant telling us that they can do the flooring for us, just not sure if they do timber as well or just tiles? Henley do not do any flooring other than tiles in living areas. No carpet no timber floor. That's right, this is a good thing as you can save $$$ here. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 54Apr 20, 2009 11:54 am In Adelaide, they offer a preferred supplier who will do it before handover (both carpets and timber/laminate), but after receiving quotes I found it to be much cheaper to go elsewhere. Blog:http://tamdaz-themajestic.blogspot.com The Majestic - Henley - Adelaide Thread:https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20635 Day 200 23-4-10 Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 55Apr 20, 2009 12:53 pm I'm also building with H3nley and have nothing but praise for them. Our double storey (Royce) has gone up very fast, and our CSA & SS have been very informative, and helpful to any queries. We're 6 mths in and the build quality has been very good, and big Kev only picked up 3 minor issues which were resolved promptly by our SS. All up, we've been very happy with the whole process, and its obvious to us that after the NSW debacle, H3nley have completely turned their company around. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 57Apr 20, 2009 4:38 pm slegger10 have you read Product Review under home builders (website) for Henley.?????... Wouldn't waste time reading into that cow manure. People on there are spammers and most work for their competitors. Look at car reviews, bike reviews - most are rubbish Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 58Apr 21, 2009 9:12 am mattydals slegger10 have you read Product Review under home builders (website) for Henley.?????... Wouldn't waste time reading into that cow manure. People on there are spammers and most work for their competitors. Look at car reviews, bike reviews - most are rubbish I've left a review for Henley on that website and I'm not a spammer not was it bullsh&t...just the honest truth. I wouldn't get Henley to build even a chook house, even if my life depended on it. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 59Apr 21, 2009 9:56 am mattydals slegger10 have you read Product Review under home builders (website) for Henley.?????... Wouldn't waste time reading into that cow manure. People on there are spammers and most work for their competitors. Look at car reviews, bike reviews - most are rubbish I could not agree with you more. That site is such a **. Have a look at some of the diet products and you'll see pretty much all of them are single posts, with the submission times suspiciously close together and the author has not made any other posts period. The comments are also written like an advert. I've emailed the site admins numerous times about these posts, and have never had a single reply. Re: Any good/bad experiences with Henley? 60Apr 22, 2009 12:10 pm Hi guys, I'm also about to build with H3nley. Is it actually necessary to get independent building inspector to inspect on every stages? And if it is necessary, any suggestion where to find the building inspector?How much it will cost to inspect on a single inspection? Cheers, N_D You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. The difference between the two comes down to inspecting the building so it's safe and… 3 18058 You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16127 do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 28256 |