Henley in Melbourne

Our First site supervisor said end of June, New guy isnt saying anythin.
We reckon maybe late August with the way they are going.

I believe all that is left to do, is finish the showers, do the tiling, rendering of the front post (which has been half started) and i guess touch ups.

They just put in the bats in the roof and the ducted heating.

I am surprised they've installed ducted heating that soon. WIth the theft rampant from new building sites, generally this kind of stuff is being put right at the end.

Well, thanks to someone here that contacted Henley on my behalf, things are starting to look up.

So i will keep you up to date.

Thank you.

Ahh! So do we know who the mysterious person is? Perhaps a Henley person is reading the forums?

Perry

Our house has been in this state for the last 6 weeks with no noticable progress whatsoever. We're building with M (you know who). Maybe when their 'person' reads this post we can see some progress with our house soon?

How frustrating is it? I know i hate seeing the house have no work done on it. But what can you do?

Well after seeing the house last night, nothing has moved, so we wait and see.

Cheers

hi there.

Can you PM me the details of the customer service rep you are dealing with? I have this strange feeling that it might be the same one I've been assigned as well. But in my case, there isn't a problem with the communication; there is just no response - none!

Here's a post I put up last night on my blog:

"I was hoping to have more exciting updates than the ones I do have, but it is what it is. We did receive the final drawings for the house last week (Wednesday), after our administrator told us that we would receive them Friday of the previous week, or "early the following week." So, Wednesday wasn't too bad, we promptly signed them and drove them to the Henley office the following morning (Thursday, June 12th), so our file could be moved on to construction phase! We hand delivered the folder to our Admin. and were assured that we'd be hearing from the "New Admin." early next week, that the site supervisor had received the folder and was organizing tradespeople to start the job ("probably early next week") and all was well. So "early next week" came and went and I finally called the 'old admin' today to find out what stage we were at and when we should expect to hear from the new admin and for work to start. I was told that we would for sure hear from them tomorrow, Friday the 20th of June (I think in admin language that means Monday) and that work is being ordered and should start either tomorrow as well, or Monday (again in admin language that means "early next week"), so I'm not holding my breath.

Needless to say it's 2:00 on Friday and I have heard nothing from anybody as to when work will actually start on our site that sits their empty, ready for construction as it has for the past 6 weeks!

Just curious to know what others' experiences are with Henley in terms of 'wait time' from finishing the contract stage (and working with contract admin), to construction stage, work beginning on your site and introduction of 'new admin.' ? It's been 1 week (well almost a week and a half) since we were supposedly turned over to our site supervisor and 'new admin' but haven't heard a word. Is that time frame normal or should I be curious as to what's going on?

Well, were still waiting. They have fixed some of the problems.
What i was surprised at (or not) it looks like they have short delivered the tiles. The Tiler has started on friday and has not come back since. No tiles left in the house for the walls!!!

thats all i will say for now.

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble, french_gal (& others). But I'm not really surprised.

We've been in our house for over three months now (a PD home) & our neighbours to be (a Henley home), who started before us, are *still* building. They've been building for almost a year now. Weeks go by when there's only one or two people on site for a few days (if that) at a time. In fact...we know when the owners are due to come round because suddenly there's a whole flurry of work being done. It's appalling, really.

It seems quite a few builders over commit. Not so much of a problem with PD.

Hello all,
My experience with Henley has been up a down. Initially it was fantastic up until contruction. Several episodes of failure to return calls, ignorant administrators who fail to pass on information to building managers to fix faults. A design error was not rectified after months of raising it with my administrator, then state manager and then national building manager, I had enough. I typed up a poster warning Henley customers of how poor their service is, and how they breached the Buidling Contracts Act of 1993.(inregards to charges of fixing stage before stage completed) I then proceeded to stick these posters all over their display homes, handing then to customers and then interupting consultants to hand then to customers they were talking too. I managed to distribute between 30-40 before being asked to leave. Monday morning 5 missed calls on my phone by 9:30 am. General Manager has directed Henley to correct the fault! If you have the will to make them listen they will. Too many people get ripped off because they don't get out there to tarnish the builder's reputation. A forum like this is good to get feedback from other people. I have saved over $8,000 off contact price because I read the fine points, found errors in their contracts and pursued them. (I got over $800 back from interest charges for payment on a stage not completed). If you have major issues I'm happy to offer advice (not legal) but on how I have tackled them. They are still an apauling excuse of customer service though!

Oh dear...and I'm planning to build my 1st home with them. They've got the best deal at the moment for me and are the only ones well within my budget. Having second thoughts now whether to still go with Henley. Already put down the $550 deposit but its refundable though.

geez,

you're freakin me out. I've almost had enough of sales and their administrators.

The idiot in Caroline springs with the freaky eyes still hasn't told me when the soil test is due and no one has contacted me to arrange colour appointment.

I might have to go to that extent as well.

All i have to say, is if i could do it all over again, i wouldnt choose them.
Too many problems, too many mistakes.

The people at the top might care, but the ones down the bottom dont.
And trying to get anything done properly is very dificult.

Whats funny is the more i talk about it with friends and aquaintances the more Henley horor story's i hear.

Now thats scary. Makes me wonder how many unhappy customers they actualy have.

They might be cheaper and have a better deal, but as far as i can see its not worth the hassle. Personal opinion. Henley would have to pull a miracle to get me to change my mind now.

On another note.

Progress:

The tiler has finished. Looks good. Tho bottom of the walls are not straight so it looks **** house. Will have to point it out tomorrow.

Site meeting tomorrow morning, to write down all the problems and get them fixed.
And apparently a whole lot of stuff is supposed to happen this week.
So it will be interesting to see if it actualy does happen.

Ring the accounts departments and determine what constitutes BASE stage (your words).

If it hasnt been completed, ring them up and state that the works have not been completed, therefore as per your contract payment will be made at the appropriate time..

Business run on cash flow, we all know that, but that is their problem, and not yours to rectifiy by providing funds before works are completed. Why should you pay interest on the draw down payments to fix their cashflow???

Regarding the rock issue, ask them as well. State what you exspected and ask .

We had the same problem, including the rock. Apparently they credit you back at settlement because they have to do some more digging further along the track, and that way if they hit rock, you dont have to pay them as they have your money.

As the guy above said, if you dont think the stage is finished, ring the accounts department and let them know.

Cause what happens as we were told, the accounts department get told that the house should be completed let say in 6 months and that for example stage one takes 2 weeks, and so forth.

Hope i made sense.

So How is everyone going with there building works.

Three weeks ago tomorrow, we had a pre inspection with the site supervisor to write down all the problems.

Very dissapointed to see the lack of progress since then. Plasterer hasnt finished (as of saturday) painters havent come back, brickies havent come back.

This is draging. I feel like we will never move in.

What im not happy about is they have removed the portable toilet.
Why on earth would you remove the toilet when they are still tradies about?

I dont want those filthy smoking dirty tradies sitting on my new toilet.

Quick question, i thought that due to OH&S workers arent allowed to smoke in enclosed area? And if that is correct, why on earth are the painters chain smoking in my house with the doors and windows closed?

Im just over Henley and their cheap tradies. I just want this nightmare to end.

Hey french_gal,

So sorry to hear about your experiences with Henley. Thus far, I would have to say we have taken very different roads with this builder, though I'm not nearly as far along as you are, so much of that road has yet to be traveled. I would hope the work gets completed without anymore hitches soon and you are handed your new home ASAP.

That said, I have a couple of questions for you and feel free to PM me the answers if you wish.

1. In your pre-inspection with your site supervisor, what time lines (if any) did he give you for fixing problems he was taking notes on that day?

2. Do you get a weekly update from your construction administrator? If so, and nothing has been happening on your lot, what has the administrator told you would be happening in the following week when he/she calls? Who is your admin, if you feel like sharing?

I have to say, I receive a weekly call (like clockwork so far since we went to construction) from my admin, to briefly update me on the work that has been going on and then to inform me of what work is next scheduled, usually for the following week. Perhaps you need to get a hold of somebody in management and request some serious changes given the track record you have had, but I'm very curious to know what your admin would have to say on your weekly call.

All the best in the near future and I really hope things turn around for you!

Bry&Cbear

Hey,

We hope it to be finished soon. We are over it now. But we wont buckle down to them either. Im glad your having a better experience then us.
But make sure you keep a dam close eye on your house.
What stage are you at and where are you building? If you dsont mind me asking.

As for your Questions,

1 - The site supervisor and his boss did the pre inspection with us.
Technicaly they wrote all the problems down on the final inspection paperwork, crossing out final for pre inspection.
And on that paperwork it says 14 day's.
On the other hand we know that a couple of the things they had to do would take a bit. We just cant believe they havent finished the plaster work and got the painters in.

2 - Our Construction administrator is useless, never knows anything and we know more than him just by dropping by the work site.
He never calls weekly. Very rare when he does call and when he does he isnt able to answer any questions . We dont hear from our site administrator either. I think his name is Steve.

So all in all its a bit of a downer. But yeah i wish we had had a more pleasant experience with Henley, but what can you do.

But were not backing down. Its supposed to be a new house, not a scratched window frames, crooked walls, chipped walls, cracked mortar, poor brick work house that looks like its already 5 years old.

Good luck building yours. Hope all goes well for you and that everything runs smoothly. and if something doesnt look right to you make sure you tell them straight away.

Ell