Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 67Mar 09, 2018 11:08 am baronx Hi all, sorry I've been under the pump lately and haven't updated this thread. We've decided to move away from Henley and have signed up with Urban Edge, mainly because the wife loves the Autern 54 plan. Just to recap our Saga with Henley.. We paid a deposit for building a Henley Reserve home in May 2017. The initial Sales process was good and they got the estimates and changes approved in a timely manner. The so called “process” fell over when the second deposit was paid and our file was passed onto the Admin department. We thought that we would get a premium service after paying top dollar for their premium "Reserve" homes, but we were wrong. After the file went to the admin office, all communications with the admin was over email. One would expect them to call you and introduce themselves when someone is going to spend half-a-million dollars with them! The appointments we got were months away - color appointment was 3 months, another few weeks for tender, contract appointment was 4 weeks and site start an additional 8 weeks. Almost 7 months in total – when we have a titled block ready to go! To top it off, their base price holds for only 8 months from the date of the initial deposit. After this, they start charging $1,000 for each month until site start as part of their “Future Pricing Matrix”. Our administrator had constantly advised us that all changes to windows & doors need to be discussed at tender. So, during tender, they didn’t have any costs for these - as these had to be quoted before-hand and tender was supposed to be just finalising the items. Even the person handling our tender was annoyed at the staff ! Then we were asked to do the tender process over email. Except now, it took a month for them to send the initial quotes! When we sent the changes to tender through, it took another month for them to come back with some changes still missing. During all this, we raised our concerns with the administrator, who in turn always made it our problem. We were surprised to get the same response when we escalated this to her team lead. In the end, they extended their “Future Pricing Matrix” by a month saying the problem is on our end & from there on were going to charge us $1,000 per month of delay. Having built with another big builder before (PD), I can say that I was surprised at the level of arrogance of the staff towards the clients. Just a passer by baronx ... very interesting to hear this... We did the same (was planning to build the Amalfi 33) ... we walked away after tender. Past the Sales stage we didn't get a good impression of their customer service. We have a 1.2-1.6m fall and we did not want a big cut and fill. This was communicated to them well before we signed up the sales quote. Surprise!!! at tender the proposal was a 1.2 cut and fill.... We were so mad.... just walked away and went to Arden homes... comparatively to Henley, Arden has been way fabulous... few bumps along so far but they have been fabulous in helping sort them... _________________________________________ Regards Manj https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88256 Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 68May 27, 2018 11:21 am We also recently walked away from Henley - after the first deposit. We were so disappointed with their lack of communication and service that we had little confidence that the process after we signed would be smooth and timely. We got the feeling that they didn't really want or need our business - they were too busy (maybe understaffed?). Having seen several mentions of this, and new restrictions on changing/customising areas of the build, we are happy in our decision to move away. Also - when we signed with our new builder - we got a prompt call from our SCR, a detailed conversation outlining the process step by step, and she has been awesome since then with answering queries via email - so not the same with all builders. Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 69May 27, 2018 12:43 pm Building the Henley Electra - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=87341 Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 70May 27, 2018 1:25 pm Hey eskay, we are building a customised Harvard with Simonds. Similar layout etc to Electra but with a parents retreat upstairs Their staff have been awesome so far, from sales to CRC and colour selection, nothing is too much trouble and communication has so far been great. Site start hopefully next month. Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 71Feb 09, 2021 7:48 pm baronx Hi all, sorry I've been under the pump lately and haven't updated this thread. We've decided to move away from Henley and have signed up with Urban Edge, mainly because the wife loves the Autern 54 plan. Just to recap our Saga with Henley.. We paid a deposit for building a Henley Reserve home in May 2017. The initial Sales process was good and they got the estimates and changes approved in a timely manner. The so called “process” fell over when the second deposit was paid and our file was passed onto the Admin department. We thought that we would get a premium service after paying top dollar for their premium "Reserve" homes, but we were wrong. After the file went to the admin office, all communications with the admin was over email. One would expect them to call you and introduce themselves when someone is going to spend half-a-million dollars with them! The appointments we got were months away - color appointment was 3 months, another few weeks for tender, contract appointment was 4 weeks and site start an additional 8 weeks. Almost 7 months in total – when we have a titled block ready to go! To top it off, their base price holds for only 8 months from the date of the initial deposit. After this, they start charging $1,000 for each month until site start as part of their “Future Pricing Matrix”. Our administrator had constantly advised us that all changes to windows & doors need to be discussed at tender. So, during tender, they didn’t have any costs for these - as these had to be quoted before-hand and tender was supposed to be just finalising the items. Even the person handling our tender was annoyed at the staff ! Then we were asked to do the tender process over email. Except now, it took a month for them to send the initial quotes! When we sent the changes to tender through, it took another month for them to come back with some changes still missing. During all this, we raised our concerns with the administrator, who in turn always made it our problem. We were surprised to get the same response when we escalated this to her team lead. In the end, they extended their “Future Pricing Matrix” by a month saying the problem is on our end & from there on were going to charge us $1,000 per month of delay. Having built with another big builder before (PD), I can say that I was surprised at the level of arrogance of the staff towards the clients. Hi baronx, We are looking at both Henley and Urban Edge. Your story about Henley gave me shivers. Are you able to let us know how your build experience was with Urban Edge - is it a happy ending? Regards...Adam. Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 72Feb 10, 2021 2:23 pm Hi Adam, we didn't end up signing with UrbanEdge as that was an utter waste of time & money. You can read more about the issues we experienced here : https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=93905. There is also a group on FB for people who are building with them. I'd suggest research there too.. We ended up building with Porter Davis & really happy with the outcome. Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 73Feb 10, 2021 2:34 pm baronx Hi Adam, we didn't end up signing with UrbanEdge as that was an utter waste of time & money. You can read more about the issues we experienced here : https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=93905. There is also a group on FB for people who are building with them. I'd suggest research there too.. We ended up building with Porter Davis & really happy with the outcome. Thanks baronx - that is very useful info. We are very appreciative to learn for your experiences. The 7 year warrantee is a bit of a turn-off for PD, but they do seem to have a good reputation. We are also hoping to get a raft slab and PD say they won't do that. We are building on a new estate in Werribee close to the river, and really don't want any slab issues. What slab did PD do for you?https://www.homeone.com.au/member/baronx We are definitely going with our own independent building surveyor - we feel it's a must have. If they are not prepared to have some professional scrutiny while building, then what are they really doing with our money and our home?!? Re: Henley Reserve - Cullen 45 .. Build Cancelled ! 74Feb 10, 2021 4:53 pm I gave up on the Raft slab as it was almost impossible to have our own surveyor, get a raft slab & keep the costs down with a volume builder. All volume builders use a waffle slab to keep the costs down & so did PD. Good thing was that we could nominate our own surveyor with PD & our surveyor checked the slab at various stages which reassured me that it was a sound build. 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 10505 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17591 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9565 |