Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 14, 2009 6:02 pm We are planning to build with Henley and are going to our first consultation this weekend. We have paid nothing, signed nothing, agreed to nothing.. but in our hearts and minds we've decided because we love the plan and the inclusions and options suit us very well, so are unlikely to change our minds.
But... When you sift through these forums and others there are so many complaints about Henley. It can be a bit daunting. Of course, there are complaints about every single builder, not just Henley and I know that people tend to write when they have a problem more so than when they are happy -so here's your chance. .. If you have something good to say about Henley, say it here! We are a little freaked out and would love some reassurance from those who've had a good experience (although feel free to warn of us any pitfalls we should be prepared for or possibly avoid). Thanks!! Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 2Jan 14, 2009 8:31 pm We are building with them and we are very happy! We had a fantastic consultant who made us feel at ease immediately and he answered all our hundreds of questions and eased our minds about things that worried us. We'd had two bad experiences with the two previous builders who we'd locked a house in with, but this one was different (pity this consultant was snapped up by PD not long after we did our electrical plan with him!)
The only thing which has worried us is not being able to get in touch with our SS and we're up to the roof stage already, but our admin has planned a meeting with him for Monday on site so can't wait! Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 3Jan 14, 2009 8:59 pm Hi bb,
We HAD a very positive experience to begin with. The Sales Consultant was fantastic, and very obliging and patient to all our endless questions! We first signed back in October 2007 when we paid our first deposit to lock in the base price. We had just had pre approval for the loan when my Husband was made redundant before Christmas 07 and threw everything out the window. We picked things up again 6 months later and pretty much kept to our original plans, but just added in a few more extras! Our colour appointment and tender appointment all went very well and smoothly, and there were no problems there at all. It seemed too good to be true (apart from the initial hiccup). We were assigned a Customer Service Administrator to deal with our file for the contract signing (which went well), but after our exsisting house was demolished on 18th October 08, it took until the 5th December to see our final drawings and a second Post Contract Variation. The drawings were dated 17th November, and the PCV 27th Oct. There were no delays with approval through Council (that came through on about the 18th Nov), yet it took them until the 5th Dec to send these important documents to us. Their appalling customer service cost us a rather large delay in proceedings due to Christmas, and we were absolutely furious...which they completely know about. We 'should' have had AT LEAST a slab before Christmas...all we have is a block of growing grass and still no start date. My advice...if you don't hear from them every week with an update on the proceedings, call them yourselves until you speak to your CSA or keep emailing until you get the answers you are after. Or even turn up un announced to Head Office as I did up to 3 times a week to get things sorted. Also, check absolutely everything you have asked for or drawn in (particually the electricals) on your plans. It took them (from Memory) over 2 weeks and 3 sets of plans until they got them right. These things can all happen with any builder, any where, and I know I am not alone with having experienced such delays and poor customer service (not just with Henley). They know they buggered up, but it still didn't make for a very Merry Christmas. It was a very stressful 3 weeks prior, and one which I would prefer not to go through again. Our assigned SS gets back from holidays on 19th (next Monday), so with any luck things will begin that week, and we can finally see something happening after 14 months of waiting... Keep on top of them, keep hounding them (although you do get sick of it), and keep a record of anything discussed over the phone, emails etc (hence the blog and a rather large notebook at home!). We haven't even started the build, but once we do I will be going there almost everyday and taking notes and photos of any possible things that might not be 'quite right'. I am also having an independant inspector go through the place at various stages just to be on the safe side. I'm not spending over $350K to end up with a dud. Be prepared for anything, including lots of sleepless nights and high blood pressure . Everyone assures me it will be worth it in the end...lets hope so!! All the details are on my blog if you feel like reading it! 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: Do you recommend Henley? 4Jan 15, 2009 12:07 am We are also looking to build with Henley in Brimbank Gardens (currently settling the land).
We were recommended to look at Henley by a friend of ours whose brother build with them last year, of all the display home we look at we really the Henley Regatta 288 for the general layout of the house. We are going back to the display house (have been there twice) to take another look and measure a few things also workout what we want to change (hopefully as little as possible to keep cost down). How are they with customer changes? nothing big just mainly thinking of putting the en suite toilet into a closed room (make the shower smaller) and perhaps extending the garage width by something like a meter to more easily fit the two cars in. With there summer sales at the moment it seems to be good value. compare to some of the other builders. Has anyone dealt with the sales people in Caroline Spring? Anyone has tips on dealing with them or squeezing out some more stuff for free or min prices. Re: Do you recommend Henley? 5Jan 15, 2009 8:48 am fruitty generally Henley won't make any changes to a house unless it's one they have as an option.
As for freebies or better prices for things, well we didn't really try as the house we are building has everything we want pretty much. Although our consultant made a mistake when quoting us a price for the bedroom 4 option they offered (making the door of it open in to the hallway with the other bedrooms rather than in to the living room) and that saved us a grand or so Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 6Jan 15, 2009 8:49 am fruitty, Henley have a set range of options for each house. They won't let you make a change that isn't on their standard options.....
In the Henley book I have, I can see two ensuite options, but not an option for an enclosed toilet. Hopefully, that option has been added. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Do you recommend Henley? 7Jan 15, 2009 8:57 am fruitty Anyone has tips on dealing with them or squeezing out some more stuff for free or min prices. You will not have any luck with getting ANYTHING for free, or minimum prices!! They have their 'set' charges for extras, and that is what you will pay!! The Sales Consultants have been fabulous, and very helpful. I went through Narre Warren, then Lyndhurst once they closed Narre. Also just remember that what you see in the display is NOT what you get as the base house...especially with things like electricals. Careful thought and planning needs to go into your electrical plan, as the standard has very few lights, no downlights (if that 's what you like), and very few power points. We spent over $5K upgrading electricals. With structural changes, they have an 'optional floorplans' section in their large coloured book, and that is pretty much all the changes they will do (from what I've read/heard). We didn't really make any other changes 'structually' (moving internal walls, making rooms bigger) other than what was in the book. We did swap the windows in the lounge with the dining and vice versa (that was free!), but there were no other 'added' bits in that change, otherwise we would have had to pay. Oh, and we did add a BIR in the study to hide the junk away. That only cost us about $400 from memory. It's always worth chatting to the Consultants, who can put in a request to see if it's possible...no harm in asking! Another major money pit fall can be the site costs. 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: Do you recommend Henley? 8Jan 15, 2009 9:00 am Hi bb!!
My wife and I have just moved into our H3nley home. About 3 weeks now and we love it. We built the Cott3sloe (refer to my blog if you like). Our experience with H3nley has been a very positive one. The staff assigned to us have been terrific. We dealt with the Narre Warren office and the guys there are great. We felt exactly like you and were very apprehensive about building too but taking advice from people on the forum helped. Our site supervisor was always ready to listen to any issues we had and our admin always followed up on anything we weren't sure about. We did have a change of admin early on but that didn't change the experience we had in any way. My suggestion is to always check the progress of the home and raise anything that doesn't look right earlier rather than later as it will be easier to fix that way. We had some issues during the building progress that were quickly followed up by our site supervisor and the construction manager. Also be sure to have an independent inspector (eg. Kevin) through the various stages of construction it will be worth every cent and also gives you peace of mind. You'll have your ups and downs through the whole process but at the end of it all you'll have something that is actually your own!! http://www.rentfreeatlast.blogspot.com/ Building in Berwick ----------------------------------------------------------- "Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams Re: Do you recommend Henley? 9Jan 15, 2009 9:13 am Stormy - at Lyndhurst, did you deal with L by any chance? He was our consultant and we found him fantastic and so easy to talk to (he has since gone to PD at Marriot Waters) Funny you mention swapping lounge and dining windows - we were just remarking on that yesterday with our house, wishing that we could have swapped them! Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 10Jan 15, 2009 11:30 am Nexus Stormy - at Lyndhurst, did you deal with L by any chance? He was our consultant and we found him fantastic and so easy to talk to (he has since gone to PD at Marriot Waters) Funny you mention swapping lounge and dining windows - we were just remarking on that yesterday with our house, wishing that we could have swapped them! Oh yes! We did deal with 'L'! Both at Narre and Lyndhurst. Interesting to see he has 'gone to the other side' so to speak! Shame, but he will be well loved at PD! He was very patient and offered some fantastic suggestions. We swapped our windows as the two skinny ones were facing north, and the larger one to the south. Much better to have the larger window north to let in more winter sun. The skinnier windows would be fine in the dining, as we can put a buffet in between them as we didn't want a fire/gas heater. One window also helps to light up the stair well. 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: Do you recommend Henley? 11Jan 15, 2009 3:25 pm Yes PD will definitely benevit from L. I forgot to mention, that once we decided to lock in the C0tt3sloe with H3nley, there were only two displays of it in Melbourne - Point Cook and Mernda Both had higher ceilings, but he told us that the one at Narre had the normal ceilings. That display had shut, but he offered to meet up with us at the C0tt3sloe at Narre after he finished up at Lyndhurst one day, and let us in to have a look at the ex display and it's standard roof height!! Talk about going above and beyond Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 12Jan 15, 2009 3:32 pm sorry to go off topic - Nexus did you end up doing the higher ceilings? We are building the henley cooper and havent seen one with the standard ceilings yet your opinion would be greatly appreciated! 2nd build here we come in Whittlesea! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=92617 1st Build - Henley - Cooper in Doreen! (2009) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17354 Re: Do you recommend Henley? 13Jan 15, 2009 4:08 pm CiNnY - we decided to stay with the standard ceilings as we couldn't afford to upgrade in the end, (I extended the ensuite instead lol) but since the C'sloe is a large open plan house, the higher ceilings would suit it well. Personally, I find that the higher ceilings on a smaller or less open plan house tend to make it feel even smaller. You wouldn't think so, but I found that many displays from other builders we looked through which all had the highest ceilings and lots of shut off rooms felt really small for some reason - an odd effect. The Cooper is an open plan house so I think both the higher and standard ceilings would work well in it.
It's a pity that the Narre displays have closed as I'm pretty sure that they all had standard ceilings, and I'm also sure that there was a Cooper there with a Derwent facade. Not that that is any help to you now Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 14Jan 15, 2009 6:22 pm Really, if you put this post up about any builders you will get negative reports.
I have worked for a builder (yes the particular builder mentioned!) and I can tell you the more the client hassles, the more I dreaded getting their calls. But it depends on what sort of relationship you have with them (other clients i heard from a couple times a week and got on great). Also, clients i thought had gotten along with and were happy with their house (last year I stayed behind when we had closed for christmas when everyone else had left to make sure they had their house before christmas!!!) then sent in their questionaire complaining about the service. Can't keep everyone happy! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 15Jan 15, 2009 8:41 pm So far so good with us but we are yet to start on site so that could be another story
Sales consultant was.... ok. We had a fantastic tender presenter who went above and beyond to help us achieve everything we wanted in the house. Admin so far has been on the ball. Hopefully we get assigned a great SS! Re: Do you recommend Henley? 16Jan 15, 2009 9:20 pm We are building with Henley (aka:: Plantation Homes in Qld) and so far everything has been fantastic although we are not at site yet.
As far as ppl mentioning that they do not want to change too much from default as far as plan's are concerned, in Qld this does not seem the case. We have made some structural changes that are not a standard upgrade option and they have been more than happy to accomodate. The admin staff have been fantastic and have always called or replied promptly to emails. Let's hope this band of good communication and effort continues into the build. Nathan Re: Do you recommend Henley? 17Jan 16, 2009 9:14 am ozzroo As far as ppl mentioning that they do not want to change too much from default as far as plan's are concerned, in Qld this does not seem the case. Hopefully Henley down under share the same view as their counterpart in QLD, else it will be a problem for us. We've got 3 things that we are thidking of changing. extend the garage by about a meter sideway to more easily fit the 2 cars in and able to open the doors, preharps increase the fridge space and also most importantly room the toilet in the ensuite up. Apart from those adding the alfresco, it just the standard options of a good layout. Re: Do you recommend Henley? 19Jan 16, 2009 6:43 pm Well extending garage under their standard options mean simply going to three car garage.
However we are extending garage, changing windows, adding windows, removing sliding doors and replacing with bricks, adding additional cupboards in voids (ie structural) and possibly adding a dummy framed plaster wall for future fireplace.. just to name a few changes. Re: Do you recommend Henley? 20Jan 16, 2009 7:34 pm ozzroo Well extending garage under their standard options mean simply going to three car garage. . Nope, we've gone with a "two plus" garage, which is a two car garage plus an extra half space. It still looks like a double but has a window facing the front on the wall closest to the the house. It allows space for a workbench. Building our dream H3nl3y home together House: Cott3sloe Modifications: Extended ensuite, grand dining, grand rumpus, Bedroom 4 option, two plus garage Frame done, roof tiles are on, brickes start this week! Hi, If you give a set of criteria as to what means 'good' to you, it'll give others prompts to respond. We considered Henley early on but there were two factors that… 1 10496 Looking to start the journey of becoming an owner builder in SA. Feeling pretty (overly) confident on the building and construction details, but really struggling to find… 0 8417 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6631 |