Boutique Homes

As someone who has built several times, it's a challenging process due to banks, council, colours, soil conditions, and our own anxieties. Don't forget to breath

Nasher we definitely discussed pulling the pin when we were toiling through the prestart phase too. But we'd invested so much time & effort & really liked the plan - and we didn't know if it would be any different anywhere else, tbh. I agree things get a bit smoother once you move to construction. Still lots to sort out - arranging inspections, getting rectifications done, arranging the bank stuff etc. But once you have the house actually going up, having this tangible progress is quite exciting & it feels a lot more worth it...

(BTW with the contract, we made quite a few fixes, clarifications & negotiations - we ended up signing something like version 3, and rescheduled our contract signing appt once. There was no way we were going to sign something that we hadn't gone through in detail. We were emailing clarifications & questions right up to the morning of the day we signed but were prepared to reschedule again if necessary. My advice is check every.single.detail of your plans, amendments & the contract, and be 100% happy when you go to sign.)

Thanks Suezp and thejamtart you summed up my sentiments exactly.

Thanks

Well after this evenings latest disappointment this Boutique project is on hold from my point of view whilst I evaluate other options. I'm absolutely gutted but I'm currently reviewing Porter Davies options as I've received some good feedback about them (I'm sure they have their own issues) but at the moment I need a break from Boutique as their problem appears systemic.

Hi Nasher, that's not good? What happened? I'd suggest clicking on the feedback link on a boutique email and sending your thoughts. I'm pretty sure it gets read at a very high level of the firm. Good luck.

We looked at PD as well, but found that the upgrades were far more costly. Also, as strange as it sounds, the windows were the real deciding point for us, boutique uses a much better supplier than PD.

Hi Nasher,

I feel your pain. I was looking at Simonds the other day for their 29 sq homes and almost similar amount of upgrades, and I could tell that Boutique's inclusions still came out slightly ahead for the price we paid. One of the threads on Homeone I read previously mentioned PD provides only 7 years structural guarantee. Henley is the only one I know that gives 50 years structural warrantee, and Boutique coming in second with 25 years. I have already thought of pulling the plug as well and I haven't even gone through any of my appointments yet, but I agree with everyone here that the build-up to contract signing has been painful at best as szep suggested.

I too am worried about signing contract (2 hours appointment) on the same day as colours (3 hours), and will definitely be looking to rescheduling contract signing after all the other appointments are done (hopefully they'll let me). Having had a brief read of the HIA contract checklist provided to us, I think it says if you haven't been provided enough time to read through all the contract, DO NOT SIGN.

I think Boutique homes are going through major changes and a bad time for to be dealing with them now. As you said, the problem appears to be systemic - hopefully, and nothing else.

Hi Guys
Unfortunately Szep I sent a fair bit of constructive feedback about 2 weeks ago as I was losing faith in the process, after a week I sent a followup to that feedback as I hadn't heard anything, I then did hear but I made arrangements to discuss the matter further on 2 occasions and was let down ie no or very late communication on both occasions. If this is my escalation route I'm sure you can understand why we are now seeking alternate arrangements. We also have Carlisle homes on our RADAR today. They have 2 very similar houses so will be guided by price and service. Unfortunately mine and Boutiques service expectations differ too much to make this project work.

Must be so disappointing Nasher. If anything you're the customer they should be doing everything to keep happy... the one who hasn't signed their life away to them yet. I actually would've been really interested in Carlisle - their homes look amazing - except they don't build in our area so I didn't even get past their homepage, ha.

Meanwhile, we should be going to lock-up this week. I still can't quite believe how fast things seem to be rocketing along.

It is TJT but I'm trying to treat this as a positive learning experience and will hopefully help us get the house and service we deserve with another builder and at the same time bring their focus to an area that obviously needs some attention. I wish you all well with your builds and hope that all your hopes for a good build are fulfilled.

Nasher - I wish you luck on your quest. It's sad that you have put so much energy and time into the project to walk away, but like others have said, I also thought about walking away. So many times I wished we had of just extended our house and not knocked it down. But now that it is finally underway I am feeling so much better about everything. Our site supervisor is fantastic and the slab guys were great too. Our neighbour has been very stressed (we are building the garage on the boundary) but our SS took the time to meet with them and explain the process. So that alone made me feel good. If I was to find fault this week it was that my neighbours car got cement on it - might have been a better idea to ask them to move their car. (they did help clean the car though, so that was good) We are renting next door to a construction site (two townhouses) and they got cement on my car too, so maybe concrete guys in general don't think about stuff like that???

As everyone has said, once it starts - it happens quickly and that is true for us too. I still stare at our Airlie floor plan and I know that it is the right one for us, and currently I'm glad we stuck it out. I'm sure there will be more mountains to climb, but fingers crossed it continues to run smoothly.

oh and thejamtart - are you building an Airlie too??? I think I know your house, our facade is the same as yours I think. If it's the right one, yours is looking good!!!

Yes we are! Airlie 33 with a few amendments. We picked the Contempo facade & upgraded the cladding to extend around the whole upper story. I'm soo glad we did because I kinda hate the bricks we picked, eek. I think you have the same SS as us too, he seems like a pretty good guy... we're keeping him on his toes haha!

Hopefully you'll find the next few weeks as speedy as we have.

Your work so far will not be waisted. I'm sure you have leant a lot and I hope your next bit is a lot quicker. Good luck.

Update on our Airlie:
Slab went down on Monday and the frame has started today Our tradies seem great. Here are a couple of photos (sorry if you follow my blog or Instagram you will get a double hit) I'm starting to allow myself to get excited now... And I've been really happy with construction staff. ️️️






Can't wait to go past this arvo - yes I'm a stalker (we are renting around the corner - literally)

Very excited for you!!!

Thanks JP79

Hi all, we've been away for a couple of weeks, hence the lack of updates.


So - several months ago I emailed and phoned Boutique to let them know we would be away for the entire month of August (assuming they would take that into account when scheduling any handover-type procedures).

Why were we away for so long? We were on our honeymoon.


A few weeks ago Boutique told us we had to be present for a final inspection on Tuesday the 18th August (tomorrow). In spite of ALL of the broken promises, missed deadlines, questionable workmanship, we effectively cut our honeymoon in half and came back early for this inspection.

We were literally in New York 3 days ago, and landed midday yesterday. At 2pm yesterday (yes, literally the first thing we did after getting back) we inspected the house - and we were absolutely gutted to find that the house is not only NOT finished, it's still so far from being complete it's laughable. I'd estimate it's at least 2-4 weeks based on what I could see missing/wrong, if not more.

Boutique would have known it wouldn't be ready on time for the inspection - but did they tell us? Nope. That's the Boutique way - no communication whatsoever.

So here we are - ruined honeymoon (our once in a lifetime event) - all because of Boutique's TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE customer service and disgraceful communication.

This entire process has utterly destroyed our spirit.

At this rate, we'll be 3+ months OVERDUE (past the 260 build days). And that's the best case scenario.

What's I've learned from this experience:

- DON'T TRUST BOUTIQUE HOMES - THEY LIE ALL THE TIME
- DON'T EXPECT THOROUGH OR TIMELY COMMUNICATION FROM BOUTIQUE HOMES
- DON'T EXPECT QUALITY WORKMANSHIP FROM BOUTIQUE HOMES

Hi TheFarmers,

Building aside, hopefully you enjoyed your two weeks, even though you weren't there as long as you had planned. It is really disappointing to hear your story. In a business relationship there should be mutual trust and respect. Whilst I know they have lost your trust, it is ridiculous of Boutique to ask you to return from your honeymoon early, regardless of if they were done or not. I know we wouldn't have come back, we would have just told them to.......... lets not go there.

On an aside, Boutique have installed the wrong stairs in our house.... Our SS agrees that the stairs installed are not per the contract and they are investigating who is at fault. I think our SS knows that Boutique are going to be at fault as they have to sign off on the stair orders a number of times before they are made, so it is looking like a very expensive 'oops' for Boutique. Hopefully we find out soon about our stairs!

I'd forgotten about that link at the bottom of the emails, and fired off my thoughts on Monday morning. And while I thought I remained calm, I wasn't shy in telling the mystery person at the other end what I really thought of Boutique.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from one of the construction managers (two levels above my SS) and we had a chat. While it was nice to vent my grievances - it's all too little, too late.

Again - there's a massive communication black-hole at Boutique. The impression from the guy I spoke with was "why are you so upset - this is the first I'm hearing any of this". Really? After the countless emails I've sent to the so-called client-liaison officer?

The black-hole of communication pops up so often, it's a wonder any houses get built at all. Just yesterday my SS asked if I'd had a chance to look at the variation (about a replacement rangehood) - the look on his face when I said "yeah, we agreed to it a week ago, didn't they tell you?"... ("No" was the answer)

On the plus side, we've gone through and completed a pre-new-home-presentation check and highlighted all of the mistakes and touch-ups that are needed (paint drips/scratches/missing paint, mortar fixes, cleaning etc). Once those are done (and the fire place, air-con unit, and fridge goes in) we're done.

SS says Friday week for the final presentation. As you can imagine, after more than 320 build days, I'm skeptical.


Moral of the story is, use that link on the emails if your complaints go nowhere.

Also, there's 3 surveys along the way (after the PWC, after signing the full contract, and after handover). I'm told they get reviewed by senior managers. Don't be shy.


EDIT: Just after posting this, I got an email from the client liaison asking if we've sent back the signed variation. Bravo Boutique - you've done it again.

Hi thefarmers,

I know it is a silly question, but do you send the variations back to your liaison via email?