Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 03, 2012 11:20 am My Partner and I did our colour appointment last night with henley. We are paying $10,000 for all the extras that we would get included with someone like porter davis.. (paint, fibre optical, etc) when i brought this up to henley they said we are a volume builder and no discounts can be applied under no circumstances. they wouldnt even throw in $200 worth of gloss cupboards! originally, we went with henley because of great reviews about the structure.. now i am scared if we change we might end up somewhere that could give us headaches later on.. id appreciate any honest opinions about porter davis, simonds, henley etc.. just to make this decision a bit easier!! is it worth the change? Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 2Oct 03, 2012 2:04 pm You really need to weigh it all up. One builder may have better inclusions but the base price for the house is a lot more than the base price of a house that doesnt have as many inclusions. You need to find a house that suits you that you love, you dont want to always have the regret of gee we got more from the house but the design really isnt what we are looking for or as you said you may get more but the quality really isnt there. There is one builder in your thread title that no way no how I would build with because they have such a bad reputation for their worksman ship (its not your current builder either) so even though they are a lot cheaper the quality doesnt seem to be there. Have you also considered whether some of the things you are getting added to your house can be done after handover, the builders have huge mark ups on things to make a profit on it and you will generally save a fair bit by doing it yourself after handover. For us, we ended up going with a builder who's inclusions were not as good as our second choice, it worked out though becuase the base price of the house was $14k lower than our second choice builder so once we added on what we wanted it came in at about the same price that we were quoted with our second choice builder. Plus we got a slightly larger house with our builder. IMO if you truely love your house, don't change unless you know you can get a much better deal with another builder on a house you equally love.. Thats my opinion only and others may have other ideas Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 3Oct 03, 2012 2:08 pm who did you build with? i am assuming you mean simonds as the builder not to choose? haha... we are doing a lot after hand over but still a lot you cant change after hand over.. we are looking into local builders too, but overall we can find a similar layout at a cheaper price it was more so the reputation of the builder we chose Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 4Oct 03, 2012 2:14 pm We are building with Dennis Family Homes
We went with them due to word of mouth of family and friends who had built with them but more importantly as soon as I walked through the display I got that feeling and that house was the one that I kept comparing all the others to. DFH from what I am told are good with their build and are pretty quick but their admin process is long and tedious! We are just at the early stages of contruction now (slab in the next few weeks) And yes that was the builder I was talking about P.S I saw your other thread and the Lexington is a beautiful design, it was on our maybe pile of about 5 houses but again I kept comparing it to the Hartley Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 5Oct 03, 2012 4:06 pm yeah i love the lexington but with all the extra costs henley charge you for later on in the process it just doesnt seem worth it when i still liked others.. we are looking at different builders now, i havent had a look at DFH but i should! so far we are looking at a local builder who we know and porter davis. i am a bit iffy with PD though.. Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 6Oct 03, 2012 4:12 pm Have you looked at Carlisle, we've been pleased so far with only a few minor hiccups Independent inspector said they were one of the better ones in workmanship and we got lots of inclusions, only paid extra for luxury things (spa, second colours, extra lights etc) Building the Carlisle Sienna 31 at Somerfield Lot 1550 Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 7Oct 03, 2012 4:19 pm i looked at the carlisle displays but the sales person totally ignored us so we just walked out and didnt bother getting a quote.. we also looked at burbank but backed out from bad reviews, but after being on this forum i see there are good/bad for all builders - which only makes the decision harder!! Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 8Oct 03, 2012 4:46 pm like jpc said, i suggest you go with the house you love the most within your price range (with the upgrades) just keep in mind that most upgrades dont get included in your bank's valuation.. at the start of our build we were deciding between PD and Henley, in the end we went with henley coz we loved the house design more and the upgrades at henley prices were reasonable compared to the PD prices. IN MY OPINION pros and cons are: Henley pros: - loved their design - our Sales consultant was great - upgrade costs were reasonable - loved the transparency about their upgrades - great build quality - reasonable inclusions Henley cons: - SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW (maybe just us but everything takes forever and from what i read the build speed can vary as well) - no garantueed build time PD pros: - quick build - set build time PD cons: - Sales consultant was very pushy - upgrades cost were higher there probably other stuff factors i've forgetten Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 9Oct 03, 2012 5:02 pm I have to agree about what Boosho said about PD. The Sales staff were SO pushy! We had trouble getting back out of the sales office at one of the displays the sales rep was so pushy.. yikes! Also, the brick we chose for our house was in the standard range with our builder, with PD it was like a cat 4 or 5 or somewhere about there someone was telling me. Carlisle was our second choice builder, we liked the Westwood, Hampton and Dakota the base price was a lot more than our chosen house but yes they did have a lot of inclusions. Not sure which display centre you went to but to us the Sales guy at the Greenvale - Providence display homes for Carlise was very helpful. They also seem to have a very good reputation If you have only put down your $1000 deposit and have not signed any contracts then you could threaten to walk, not sure if it will get you anywhere but you could try, depends on how much they need the business I guess. Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 10Oct 03, 2012 5:14 pm i sent henley an email just before telling them we MAY walk. she basically said henley is the cheapest so everywhere else will be more expensive. dont get me wrong, they have been great, but they have not seen us as an individual customer and offered us anything different that makes us feel valued! (im sure a lot of the builders are like that though..) Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 12Oct 03, 2012 5:49 pm Our Sales lady from Somerfield was awesome, even took us through a build to get a feel of the house as we bought an essential range and couldnt go through a display Building the Carlisle Sienna 31 at Somerfield Lot 1550 Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 13Oct 03, 2012 5:50 pm Well I dont know that many builder throw much stuff in for free to be honest with you... coz upgrades is where most builders make their money.. you can always try getting a quote from another builder and see what they say.. Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 14Oct 03, 2012 5:52 pm boosho Henley cons: - SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW (maybe just us but everything takes forever and from what i read the build speed can vary as well) - no garantueed build time This isn't true, at least not in QLD. Plantat!on (same as Henley in QLD) guarantee 16 weeks, or they will pay you $300 a week until they finish. luciiaaa1, I've had the same experience, they are super stingy and won't throw in anything extra for free. Settlement: 10.02.13 Slab: 06.03.13 Frame: 08.03.13 Lock-up: 05.04.13 Handover: 03.06.13 Build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59555 Brisbane Photography Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 15Oct 03, 2012 5:55 pm we havent really had any special treatment. just got the quote that was it. im having a meeting with a local builder tonight see what they can offer. they are very flexible, can do your own floors, painting. do anything you want while they build as long as its safe and by somebody with A red card Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 16Oct 03, 2012 6:03 pm [quote="MalinViktoria"] This isn't true, at least not in QLD. Plantation (same as Henley in QLD) guarantee 16 weeks, or they will pay you $300 a week until they finish. luciiaaa1, I've had the same experience, they are super stingy and won't throw in anything extra for free. /quote] No Definitely not Vic, even now the works has started they cant tell me when they expect it to finish.... they definitely dont have guaranteed time frames, just the standard 260 days. Building Henley Monaco Nouveau Q1 - Mernda Villages https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57810 http://razbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 17Oct 03, 2012 6:11 pm boosho MalinViktoria This isn't true, at least not in QLD. Plantation (same as Henley in QLD) guarantee 16 weeks, or they will pay you $300 a week until they finish. luciiaaa1, I've had the same experience, they are super stingy and won't throw in anything extra for free. /quote] No Definitely not Vic, even now the works has started they cant tell me when they expect it to finish.... they definitely dont have guaranteed time frames, just the standard 260 days. That's really bad. I don't think we could sign with a builder that didn't have some kind of guarantee. Even here, $300 a week isn't as good as some other builders, I think Adenbr0ok has a $500 a week policy if they go over time. Settlement: 10.02.13 Slab: 06.03.13 Frame: 08.03.13 Lock-up: 05.04.13 Handover: 03.06.13 Build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59555 Brisbane Photography Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 18Oct 03, 2012 6:26 pm I think it really depends. We're with henley and we had a few extras and upgrades for free. we had a few hiccups along the way but so far so good. we started building(slab poured) on second week of August and we are now on completion stage. Our house is only one storey though & it's not really massive so that can also be taken into consideration about the speed. The paper work was rather slow but the actual build was a lot quicker. When we asked for upgrades & freebies at the time, my sales consultant was happy to give in not to all, but atleast she gave us some. We also find Henley the cheapest(in our case, anyway) and most importantly hubby and I loved their design the most so we were certain when we spoke to our sales consultant that we were going with them. NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the best? 19Oct 03, 2012 6:28 pm Lucia if you are in Melbourne give Carlisle another try. The team at Selandra Rise are brilliant. You can PM for the name of our sales person if you like. We have been blown away by the service, care and cost effectiveness of Carlisle so far. Building the Ascot 35 with Carlisle Homes in Pasadena Estate, Clyde VIC My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59776 Re: NEED OPINION! Henley, Porter Davis, Simonds Whos the bes 20Oct 03, 2012 6:32 pm Henley will give you a time once you have signed your contracts and all the 'extras' are taken into considerations. Our build time was stated at being 310 days (double storey), which would have taken us to early December. Luckily for us we received the keys in September. Standard rate for going over was $250 a week. There is good and bad with every builder. We went with Henley because they had the floor plan we loved without spending extra on trying to change it. They were also the only volume builder who offered Daniel Robertson bricks....and I just HAD to have those! We didn't have anything thrown in for free, and didn't expect to, either. I guess you have to weigh up what is really important to you in terms of upgrades, and what can be changed post handover relatively easily (and maybe cheaper). We spent approx $70K on upgrades... But we have the house we love, and is unique to us 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 Wow that is terrible about the insurance! I guess ideally proof of insurance should be provided prior to first deposit but I'd imagine they would refuse to be out of… 17 14245 There isn't any need to. As I wrote previously, there isn't a set term, there is just commencement based on earlier of contract signing or building permit issue and… 24 13401 Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 6505 |