Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 18, 2021 1:43 pm Hello. Been here before. Not focusing on that, focusing on the new build. Wife and I have settled on a Montessa 43 by Henley, with a change to the whole top floor. Moving the master suite to the back changes the layout for the better IMO. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We are building in Exford Waters in Melton Victoria. Block size is 512 (16x32), no easement. House minimum block requirements is 14x30 , so there will be some room to make a small low maintenance garden. Planning on siting the house as close to one boundary as we can to entertain an extended garage with roller door to rear. It's early days. We just put a deposit on the block, chatting with Henley and organising an equity release and construction loan for the new place. At some point I'll set up a proper blog for the purpose of record keeping, as I've seen it be an invaluable tool when it comes to keeping some builders honest. If anyone has built a large double with Henley or have experience with their Reserve range inclusions/pricing, can you give me an idea of the pricing range for: Flooring Refrigerated cooling Site costs Slab upgrades (it's the west so likely H2 soil) And whether the picture Windows are worth it over the awning ones? Many thanks! Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 2Mar 06, 2021 9:51 pm Hi noname, We are building the Montessa 43 as well. I am glad to finally see someone build Montessa in this forum. We are not doing the flooring with Henley. If you do it with henley, prepare to pay between $12k to $$$. I found it is cheaper to do it after handover. Site costs for us are pretty good. We only paid around 5k for site cost. However, this really depends on your land. I am not sure about the soil type. If you give henley your lot number and estate name, they should be able to provide you a fixed site cost. I have upgraded the dining room picture window. It is really stunning! But not the living room one, I personally think it is not worth it. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 4Mar 08, 2021 3:08 pm I've moved away from Henley. I had an absolutely deplorable customer experience with them. After working with a sales consultant on a quote, they ghosted us. No responses to multiple emails, phone messages, sms messages. On going to a display center, the consultants didn't want to switch us to somone else without giving the guy we started with an opportinity to pick it back up. Reluctantly agreed to this. Guess what? No contact. We emailed Henley direct, got no response from that either. It was litterally one of the most ridiculous sales failures I've ever experienced. Probably dodged a bullet if they can't even work with somone to secure a 600k sale. Moved to boutique homes. Couldn't be happier at this point. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 5Mar 08, 2021 3:25 pm Noname I've moved away from Henley. I had an absolutely deplorable customer experience with them. After working with a sales consultant on a quote, they ghosted us. No responses to multiple emails, phone messages, sms messages. On going to a display center, the consultants didn't want to switch us to somone else without giving the guy we started with an opportinity to pick it back up. Reluctantly agreed to this. Guess what? No contact. We emailed Henley direct, got no response from that either. It was litterally one of the most ridiculous sales failures I've ever experienced. Probably dodged a bullet if they can't even work with somone to secure a 600k sale. Moved to boutique homes. Couldn't be happier at this point. From a price and inclusions point of view how do Boutique compare? I assume Henley (and most volume builders) are under the pump trying to get things done before the grants end... Originally I didn't get much love from Boutique hence had more discussions with Henley and Carlisle. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 6Mar 08, 2021 3:38 pm Boutique look more expensive on paper but the price you sign at quote is the price you pay. No tender bullsht. Site costs are calculated and fixed at quote stage too. Also their upgrade categories are really generous in way of choice, so no need to upgrade to cat 7 tiles because their cat 2 has cat +7 Henley comparable options. As to the builder grants, most builders haven't been accepting work to push through to achieve grant eligibility since December. Their processes just take too long to get to contract in the required timeframes. Many people have just been forgoing the grant. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 7Mar 08, 2021 6:15 pm I totally agree with you for the sales process. If we havent build with Henley before, we will definately walk away from Henley. We got a long delay in the sales quote as well. But the colour, tender and contract all arranged in a reasonable timeframe. I can understand this. Just from the people lining up in front of their colour design centre, I can tell Henley is under lots of construction now. However, I wont worried much about tender. From my experience, there is not much price difference between sales quote and tender. They also do tender and contract in one day, which I believe an indication of no price suprise. Otherwise, this wont work. Yes. I do agree Henley's colour upgrade is a little bit tricky. The pricing transparency is very good though. Before signing the sales document, you can get a pricelist for most of the colour items. I also got a quote from boutique homes as well. I found with boutique is at least 50k more expensive than Henley (just for my prefer level of finish, maybe not for everyone). Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 8Mar 08, 2021 6:34 pm It's interesting that even people here seem to be excusing their behaviour. Being busy, doesn't equate to completley ignoring multiple attempts of contacts through multiple avenues. I spoke to Henleys GM after this experience, and he too agreed, this was not ok. Busy had nothing to do with it. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 10Mar 08, 2021 7:05 pm yanshirui Yes. But consider the price difference. What? This comment doesn't make sense. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 12Mar 08, 2021 9:39 pm Noname yanshirui Yes. But consider the price difference. What? This comment doesn't make sense. I mean yes, I do admit henley's sales process is not smooth. The sales consultant is good, as we know each other three years ago on our first build with Henley. It is the amount of construction undergoing delayed my sales process. The pricing team cannot provide me with a reasonable timeframe. What happens to you is not acceptable and no excuse for that. But due to the price difference between boutique and henley, I still prefer henley. Henley is much more cost-effective. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 13Mar 08, 2021 9:42 pm Fore2 yanshirui Yes. But consider the price difference. Yes, Also make sure you consider the rain! I am not sure if I get your point. If you are referring to the quality, henley's build quality is acceptable for me. No major issues from our last build. Re: Doing it again - Henley Montessa 43 14Mar 14, 2021 9:27 am Noname It's interesting that even people here seem to be excusing their behaviour. Being busy, doesn't equate to completley ignoring multiple attempts of contacts through multiple avenues. I spoke to Henleys GM after this experience, and he too agreed, this was not ok. Busy had nothing to do with it. I agree, busy is no excuse for not simply sending an email stating that you have received your emails and you will respond back with answers by whatever date. It could be the case of the that particular sales consultant and not the company as a whole. I put them in the basket if they can't be bothered to respond now and they ghosting you now what are they going to be like when you hit an issue. I also got a quote from boutique homes and it was on the high side too. I haven't ruled them out yet. But I will do a like for like comparision. 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