Henley Lexington Lux Q2 - Williams Landing

Hi ! there..

Finally, we have decided to go with Henley and put deposit on Lexington Lux Q2. Our file will be sent to head office now and can't wait to get a call for colour appointment.

Is there anyone building with Henley in Williams Landing in Melbourne's West ? It would be great to have someone building with same builder in same estate....Please share your experience and looking forward to talk..

cheers..

Hi Spatel,

Nice to see another person on here building the Lexington Q2. We are building this house too and we are currently at roof stage and it's all going well so far. We are in Melbourne south east.

Good luck with your colours, hope you get a call soon!
Lennyn

Hi ! Lennyn, Hows your experience with admin staff in Henley head office ? How long did it took you to sign contract from going into colour selection ? Our land will be titled in Feb next year and seems like they are looking at April start. I wish they can start as soon as our land titles so we don't have to wait. When was yours started ? did they start on time promised ? Do you have any threads/site going ?

Apologies for many questions but too curious for all this..

Hi, no problems about the questions! I am exactly the same.

The staff were ok, the main problem we had was accuracy in the tender and then the contract. We made the mistake of signing the contract with an assurance that the list of mistakes would be rectified immediately in a post contract variation. Well, it took countless emails and phone calls and a couple of months to get it right. Lesson learned!

We did colour selection before tender/contract and actually had a bit of a wait. Our file went to head office and no-one called...a month or so later, we had a call from the customer feedback department asking how our experience had been so far! Needless to say we got assigned an admin that day and got a call to make all our appointments.

Our land was delayed by 12 months so once it was titled we were ready to go. Henley were great at this point. They were straight on it as soon as I told them our land was registered. It took about three weeks I think (and that was from land titling, not from settlement), just to organise final docs, bank finance, planning permit and they have a department that does a final check on all the plans/docs to make sure they are all the same. They got everything almost finalised before we even settled on our land.

They did start on time, there was a few days delay for slab pour as our block was holding a lot of water. However, the SS rang, introduced himself and explained what was going on.

Our roof was supposed to start today but they have been rained off. Bricklayer starts next Wednesday..

I haven't got a thread at the moment but I think Ill start one soon..
Any questions I can help with, just ask, I know what it's like!
All the best

Lennyn,

I appreciate your help here.. i will definitely ask questions if any..cant wait to see your thread..good luck..

Hi ! Lennyn,

We received a call from Henley admin staff introducing her and booked our tender appointment. Actually, we asked our sales girl that we are in hurry as we want to apply land and house loan together so the admin girl tried to took advantage of the situation and asked me to book tender and contract on the same day. I said, i need some more time and can not sign contract without reading it. She then said, it may take long to get all drawing done and i said, its ok as long as we know what we signing against. Also, she havent booked out colour appointment yet. Can you please give some tips on signing all these things and what needs to be careful about ? I know you mentioned about having problem on post contract variations.

Also, can you guide me on how to finish colour appointment (interior and exterior) in 3 hours. The admin girl said we only get 3 hours and can not take more, as extra appointment will be charged. I think this is not fair.

I wish you can help me here and share your experience. You can send me personal message if anything not be said in public.

Thank you and loooking forward to your answer.

Lennyn,

Also, we would like to know about how you going with your build ? I wish you can start some blog so that we can enjoy the ride you enjying now...or may be we can swing by your build to feel how will it look once finished..remember we building the same Lux Q2...cheers

Hi Spatel,

Sounds like things are moving along for you. There is lots of information on the forum about what to watch out for before signing the contract. I am no expert, but from my experience and what I have read from others, the best advice is to check, check and double check. I spent ages looking at every detail on the colour doc, tender, then contract to make sure it was correct. There were mistakes in all three documents that we picked up on. I think signing both in one day would be hard, and a lot of information to check and sign. I don't think I would do it. Plus, why not give yourself some time in between in case you think of anything else to add to the contract. I changed my mind on a couple of things between tender and contract.

Sounds like you have made some good upgrades. We have the Grand Living and Grand Theatre - included in this was wider windows in the living, an extra window in the theatre and another set of triple stacker doors in the theatre too. I am so glad we did this, it looks great.

My advice for the colour selection would be to have a good idea before you go of what you want. I went round all the henley displays before and noted down what I liked in which house. Then at Cosham you can use the reference books to see what colour/style etc was used.. I visited Cosham at least three times before our appointment - I made most of the decisions then. The only thing I didn't know was the tiles, but the consultant helped find what we wanted. I found the three hours was enough time, if you have a good idea of what you want beforehand.
One other thing I did was take a notebook to write down the names of our choices too, then I could cross check it later (without rushing) with the document the consultant types up in the appointment.

I keep meaning to start a thread but I've been so busy, sorry! We are now half bricked and plaster starts next week. It's really starting to come together. Our SS is fantastic, couldn't ask for a better one. He has given us lots of confidence in the quality of the build.

L

Hi ! Lennyn,

Thanks for advice. Sounds like your build is moving fast. Good to hear that you have really good SS. At the moment the girl called me from Cosham wasn't friendly. Hope it ends good..

Keep posted..

We got confirmation on our colour appointment in Dec and than tender ...Hopefully everything goes ok..

We had Colour Appointment a week or so before our Tender, but we did have Tender and Contract Signing on the same day.
We went to Cosham Interiors at LEAST 3 or 4 times before our Colour appointment so we knew 90% of what we wanted. If you like something at a particular display house they have the colour selections for every display house in folders that you can look through so you can confirm which flooring, or which brick they used etc.

They are open most weekends for people to browse, though the times might have changed so call them to confirm.
Also try and go to one of their information sessions which I think they have weekly.
They should be able to give you the options list and options price list for Lexington LUX Q2, then you can already decide which style vanities you want, whether you want overhead cabinets in the laundry or not, etc, well before your appointment.

Write down all your initial choices in a note book (or smartphone etc) and/or on the Options list the give you.

Also if you can't decide on a brick or are deciding between 2, go to the brick manufacturer's display centre and they will give you a list of houses in nearby estates that used that particular brick so you can go see it on a house rather than just a small sample on a wall.

Basically decide as much as you can before the appointment then it will proceed easily and you can spend the most time on the difficult decisions.

With regard to the Tender and Contract signing we had on the same day, we found it fine. You have enough time to skim most of it, but more importantly, as with all contracts there is a cooling off period, so you can take it away and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

We had great communication with our sales person, our cosham interiors person, our construction administrator and site supervisor. They have all been excellent and quick to reply or deal with any concerns. The one person who was bad was our supervisor for contract signing and pre-build paperwork. She never responded to emails, and was hopeless. We specifically added 20+ extra double power points, extra TV points, and wanted to change the lighting plan, and were told by everyone before her that we would do this at our electrical appointment, which would be post contract signing. Which seemed strange to me at the time and I said so, but they said that was how they did it and if we added anything we would not be charged a variation fee.
so after contract I sent multiple emails asking about when we would have our electrical appointment, when she finally got back to us she said the electrical plan had already been done and we didn't need an appointment!
She sent me the electrical plan and it didn't have any of our extra points that were in the contract! So I filled in all the points where I wanted them, and noted where I wanted lights moved etc. She got it changed but it was all at the last minute and stressful when it didn't need to be, all because she never responded to my emails and phone calls, or only responded to some of the questions I would ask.

Good Luck! We are nearly at lockup, I hope your build goes smoothly.

HI ! ugbug

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, appreciate it. Where about u building and which house ? Is there any thread or blog we can look ?

We are building the Geneva Q1 at Wallara Waters in Wallan (amount 15mins north or Cragieburn on the Hume).
I fully intended to do a blog, but our landlords decided to sell the flat we were renting, and as our lease expired we couldn't really do anything about it. We were hoping we could go month to month for 4 or 5 months and then give notice when the house was almost ready and have a leasurely move. But we had to temporarily move into our friend's spare room just before the build started and most of our stuff is in storage, so I never started one.

I would suggest you get the upgrade to the Double Plus Garage, I am so happy we did, there is so much space for a workbench and storage in the garage.

here is a quick view of our floorplan:

Hi everyone

My husband and I are also building the lexington lux Q2. Land is due to be titled in march, however they are only up to gutters so I'm not sure if it will be longer.

We put a holding deposit down a month ago to lock in current price before the price rise and have only just received a quote today after I emailed them Monday to find out what was going on. We are making the master bedroom slightly bigger which was the reason for the holdup.

I have a couple of questions if anyone would be so kind as to answer them. We weren't aware that you could have the grand living and theatre in Q2 I thought this was only an option in the Q1. How much more space do you gain in these rooms? and would you mind telling me the price to upgrade?

Also i plan on visiting cosham multiple times before our colour appointment but was wondering if you can get a price of all the upgrades before this, just so I have a realistic idea of what I can fit into our budget. I'm also nervous about tiles. I've got my heart set on glossy tiles in bathrooms. Is there much range in their standard or cat 2 range and is it a massive price jump between them?

Sorry for question overload. It's such an exciting and nerve racking time. I plan to start a thread/blog once our land is titled. However I'm quite unorganised so this may never happen. Looking forward to hearing more about everyone's builds

Hi Emz, I highly recommend booking for cosham info ssessions on the weekends. These sessions are quite useful. U book in and tell them what u are building as they give u a booklet with all the prices of upgrades and the upgrade prices are based on your actual design. Tiles, flooring, bricks anything that isn't structure so u can have a good idea how much funds u need to keep extra for ur upgrades. I think we had 3 info sessions and probably went another 2-3 times separately. Ask the girls as much questions as u can if u are unsure.
Good luck!

Guys,

Did anyone asked about brickwork above windows being standard ?

where about u building ?

yes, brickwork above windows and external doors is standard.. what is not standard is brickwork above garage roller door.

Hi Spatel, good luck with your colour appointment. Have you gathered some ideas together of what you want?


Emz
We are building the Q2 and we have the Grand living and Grand Theatre. Our total floor plan comes to 277.2sqm, almost 30 squares. It cost $4300, but this was a while ago before the recent price rises. It includes extra triple stackers and window. Some would probably think this is expensive for a small amount of extra space, but I think it makes a huge difference, so is worth it for us.

Another thing we did, which I am really pleased with, was to move the return air. In the Q1, it is in the rear passage, however in Q2, it's next to the butler's pantry. We moved it and increased the pantry by 500mm. This cost a 2 or 3 hundred including extra shelving. It makes the butlers a similar size to the one in the Q1.

The tile selection is good. If you want white/cream glossy tiles, you will find these in Cat 1. We upgraded but not because of colour, because of size. We wanted 300 x 600mm and you have to upgrade for these. And as Pearz said, at the info session you will get a price list for your house so you can budget. Henley are one of the best, I think, for being upfront about upgrade costs.

L

Hi Spatel, we are building in Gisborne in the Rosehill estate.

Thanks Lennyn so good to speak to someone who is building the same house. Your tips and advice are very much appreciate. We will definitely consider the grand living option.

Luckily I'm hoping to go a white tile in bathrooms anyway. Either that or a grey. I agree with you about how upfront henley is with pricing and the fact you can go and visit cosham before your appointment. Other builders should take a leaf out of their book for sure.

One more question if you don't mind Lennyn. How do you find the size of the minor bedrooms? As this did concern me a little. We went to the belle Q2 display a while back and they seemed ok but I know in the Lux they are a tiny bit smaller.